Arcade Archives The Tower of Druaga

Genre: Top-Down Arcade

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Namco Museum, along with Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaga ’88, Pac-Man, Pac-Man Vs., Rolling Thunder, Rolling Thunder 2, Sky Kid, Splatterhouse, and Tank Force. It is also included in Namco Museum Arcade Pac, with all of the above games plus Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus. Also, the Nintendo Entertainment System version of this game is included in Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1, along with the Nintendo Entertainment System versions of Dig Dug, Dragon Buster, Dragon Spirit: The New Legend, Galaxian, Mappy, Pac-Man, Pac-Man Championship Edition (8-Bit Demake), Sky Kid, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, and Xevious. Check out this page for a breakdown of which games can be found in multiple releases on Nintendo Switch.)

The Tower of Druaga is a Top-Down Arcade game created with the intent of being a fantasy take on the Pac-Man formula, with players taking the role of a knight moving through mazelike corridors up the floor of a tower filled with enemies, with players needing to grab the key and get to the door on each floor. This game was somewhat influential, with many seeing it as a precursor to games like The Legend of Zelda. This game was originally released in Arcades in 1984, and was later ported to numerous other platforms.

I don’t think anyone is likely to be charmed by Tower of Druaga’s presentation in the modern era. It’s simple 2D pixel art visuals are repetitive, not very detailed, and overall pretty boring, and there’s not much to talk about with its chiptune music and sound, either.

While it may have been influential in its time, Tower of Druaga is an absolute slog of a game by today’s standards, with your character moving agonizingly slow. Even worse, this game’s “combat”, if you can even call it that, seems mindless and nonsensical. Quite frankly, this game felt torturous to play.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to get as far as they can in one run. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

At $8, the Arcade Archives release of The Tower of Druaga is insultingly overpriced, and players looking for a better deal do have other options. For under $30, the Namco Museum Arcade Pac includes The Tower of Druaga plus 11 other games, including multiple good ones. You’re spending a bit more, but you’re getting a much, much, much better deal than this Arcade Archives release.

With this being the case, I see absolutely no reason you should ever buy the Arcade Archives version of The Tower of Druaga. Or any version, for that matter, unless it comes in a bundle with other, better games. But in this release, at $8? That’s a hard no if ever there was one.

tl;dr – The Tower of Druaga is an Arcade-style maze game that is absurdly slow-paced. This game is an absolute drag. What’s worse, this release charging $8 for this game is a total rip-off when you get this game and 11 others in Namco Museum Arcade Pac. If you want this game, just get that bundle instead.

Grade: F

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