Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara cover art

Game entry

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

1996 · Beat 'em up, Action RPG, Arcade · Saturn, Arcade · Capcom

After 71 duels settled by the community, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara stands no. 4,362 among the best video games of all time on GameForever, with 1,382 ELO points and 31% of wins. Its best standing outside the world ranking: no. 49 out of 56 (1996).

World rank

no. 4,362

ELO score

1,382

Wins

31%

Duels played

71

About Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

Shadow over Mystara is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up with role-play elements that make it stand out from other similar games released at the time.

In addition to the original four heroes found in its predecessor, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (Cleric, Dwarf, Elf and Fighter), Shadow of Mystara adds a Thief and a Magic-User to the selection. Furthermore, with the inclusion of two separate versions of each character's sprite set, the game allows up to two players to select the same character (in Tower of Doom each of the characters could only be selected once), effectively giving the game 12 "different" characters to choose from. The two Clerics and two Magic Users also have subtle differences within their spell books.

The controls are using four buttons: Attack, Jump, Select (brings up a small inventory ring around the character allowing the player to choose what item is set in the Use slot) and Use. The Cleric, Elf and Magic-User also have two extra rings for their spells, with the Jump button used to switch from ring to ring. While the game uses the same kick harness as the previous game, the Select and Use buttons are reversed.

Shadow over Mystara also introduced a selection of special moves which are executed by moving the joystick and tapping the buttons in certain combinations, in a way similar to the Street Fighter series. The characters (except for the Magic-User) have a Dashing Attack as well as a Rising Attack which can be used to combo monsters or even juggle them in the air. Most characters (again, with the exception of the Magic-User and also Cleric) also have a Megacrush, a move common to nearly all of Capcom side-scrollers, which damages all enemies standing close enough to the character but in turn also damaging the player themselves.

ELO progression

Score moved from 1,500 to 1,382 ELO points over the last 170 days.

Head-to-head

Direct record on the most played match-ups.

In the same genre

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Keep exploring

Around this spot

The games Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara sits between in the world ranking.

The standing

Where Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara ranks

The world rank mixes every family of games. Here is where Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara stands in each of the ones it belongs to. Its best standing, all families considered: 49 out of 56 (1996).

Where Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara ranks
Ranking Position Games competing
World ranking 4,362 5,035
Beat 'em up 144 163
1990s 587 659
1996 49 56

The community

The debate

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