is an action role-playing video game developed and originally published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-CD in Japan on March 26, 1993 and later in North America by Turbo Technologies on October of the same year. A sequel to 1989's Dungeon Explorer, it is the second installment in the eponymous franchise. Set a century after the fall of alien king Natas in the original Dungeon Explorer, players assume the role of one of the eight main characters tasked with recovering the Ora stone from the evil magician Fades, who stole it from king Earl II to resurrect Natas in order to save the land of Oddesia from destruction while also rescuing princess Miriam of Solis, who was taken as hostage by a monster. Though it was initially launched for the TurboGrafx-CD, Dungeon Explorer II was later re-released through download services for various consoles. Dungeon Explorer II was met with mostly positive reception from critics and reviewers alike since its initial release on the TurboGrafx-CD, with praise directed towards the graphics, audio, gameplay and multiplayer.
Gameplay
Dungeon Explorer II is an action role-playing game with dungeon crawl and hack and slash elements that is played in a top-down perspective like its predecessor, where players assume the role of one of the eight main characters tasked with recovering the Ora stone from Fades, an evil magician who stole it from king Earl II to resurrect the deceased alien king Natas in order to save the land of Oddesia from destruction while also rescuing princess Miriam of Solis, who was taken as hostage by a monster as the main objectives. Like its predecessor, each character belongs to a specific class and their abilities vary primarily in their black and white potion as well as statistics, however each character can also be upgraded into new classes. All extra lives are shared between players and once all lives are lost, the game is over, though extra lives can be obtained by playing a gamble minigame against the Grim Reaper. As with the first entry, the game supports up to five players simultaneously. A password system is also featured.
Synopsis
Plot
Dungeon Explorer II takes place a century after the events occurred in the original Dungeon Explorer. After the death of alien king Natas, the Ora stone was in the hands of people from Oddesia once again, restoring peace across the land and preventing evil from entering the for many years until Fades, a faithful follower of Natas who resurrected him after killing king Earl II and stole the Ora stone from him, leading Oddesia into the path of destruction as a result. Around the same time, princess Miriam of Solis was captured and taken as hostage by a monster known as Mynos the Man-Bull while visiting Ardeen. A group of eight characters are tasked with retrieving the Ora stone to save the land of Oddesia, while rescuing Miriam from her captivity.
Characters
Dungeon Explorer II initially features eight playable characters at the start, while more playable characters can be unlocked by performing certain tasks during gameplay:
Dungeon Explorer II was first previewed through video game magazines in 1992, while its release date was postponed several times before release. The soundtrack was composed by Yoshio Tsuru of Compozilla, although he is not named as such in the credits of the game. American publisher Working Designs were responsible for the English localization. Dungeon Explorer II was first published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-CD in Japan on March 26, 1993 and later in North America by Turbo Technologies on October of the same year. On May 21, 1993, albums containing music tracks from the game were published exclusively in Japan by Hudson Soft. Due to its late release towards the end of the add-on's lifecycle, the North American release has since become one of the more expensive titles on the platform, with copies of fetching over US$200 on the secondary video game collecting market. The title has received multiple re-releases in recent years on various digital distribution platforms such as the Virtual Console, PlayStation Network and Nintendo eShop.
Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer
A heavily modified version of Dungeon Explorer II, titled Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer, was made for the Super Famicom and was released in Japan on October 27, 1995.
Reception
Dungeon Explorer II was met with mostly positive reception from critics and reviewers alike since its initial release on the TurboGrafx-CD.
