Hello retro gamers! today I have some game recommendations for fans of the Empyrean series of books by Rebecca Yarros, as of today 2 books of the series have been published (Fourth wing and Iron Flame) with the third one (Onyx Storm) set to be published in 2025. I personally have not read the books but my wife has, she recently read both in two weeks and she absolutely love them. One day in one of our trips to Ensenada Mexico while I was driving she told me the stories of the main characters going into blattle and fighting while riding their dragons, the love drama, the dragons and their magical and her need of getting her hands in the upcoming book. When we got home I decided to play some old video games and got the idea of writting this post, the recommendations are in no particular order and yes, most of games have the word “Dragon” in their titles.
1- Dragon Breed
Just like in the battles that the books talk about you get to fight enemies in this game while riding a dragon. Dragon breed is a horizontal scrolling shoot em up, released in 1989 for the arcades by Irem the company that brought us R-type, ports of this games were published for PCs of the time like the Comodore 64, the Amiga and the ZX spectrum. Like in many other shoot em ups you get different power ups by collecting different orbs that turn the dragon a different color and have different strength levels, the dragon also spits fire, the character desing is on spot and the backgounds are fantastic.
2- Dragon Gun
Dragon Gun! my favorite game in this list! this on rail light gun shooter was only released for the arcades in 1992 by Data East, it does not have a port for home consoles or pc’s I play it in my mame cabinet at home. The original cab had 2 guns shaped like little dragons and has small peakers in their sides so you could hear “advice” given by your dragons. The game is a little graphic, you dont get to fight on top a dragon but you summon one everytime you shoot a bomb.
Dragons, zombies, huge skeletons with armor, flying stone heads and giant insects are some of the enemies that you get to shoot in this game.
3-Dragon Rage
Dragon rage, the most recent game in this list! publised by the 3DO company and released in 2001 for the beloved PS2 in this game you get to play as a dragon named Cael that flies around breathing fire, lightning, freezing and dropping rocks on top of orcs, you do this to save dragons from extinction. my experience with this game is limited because I’ve only played it one but I remember being very entertained by the cool gameplay and being impressed by the graphics which were very high en by then’s standards.
4-Dragon saber
Publisghed by Namco and released for the arcades, and the PC engine in 1991 Dragon saber is the sequel to Dragon spirit, both games are top view shoot em ups where you get play as a prince that transforms into a dragon, in both games the level design is pretty good in my opinion and the levels are pretty challenging offering good replay value and the enemies are very well designed, both games were released for the arcades and if you happen to find one make sure you check it out.
5-Dragon Blaze
Dragon blaze, originally released in 2000 for the arcades, this game also has a ps2 port that was released 2006 and I just discovered today that the game can also be downloaded for the nintendo switch. The game has 4 characters to choose from, each with his/her dragon. The dragon itself can be used as a weapon or to collect different items in the screen because this game gives you the option to get off the dragon. If you are also fan of dodonpachi and similar you will definitely like this one.
I really hope you check out this games, once again thank you for visiting and keep playing!!
