The game utilises a top-down overhead perspective, where players move the controllable character in two dimensions. As the player moves around in a world map, he or she may encounter battles which are turn-based with a time point system: both movements and attacks sap a bar on the top of the screen, and the character's turn ends when the bar is depleted. As this is a role-playing game, experience points are collected for defeating enemies which are used to level-up playable characters. For the main protagonist, Atorushan, stronger attacks are made available through key items collected in the game called the Emerald Graces. These transform him into a dragon to unleash a powerful attack, at the cost of reducing his HP when used.
Plot
A long time ago, dragons and humans lived in peace in the land of Ishbahn. Lord Tiridates, believing the existence of dragons among humans defiles Ishbahn, places a curse that kills dragons in the area. Some of the dragons manage to escape and find refuge in Draguria, where a dimensional rift prevents humans from crossing it. At the start of the game, a ship wrecks on the coast of Draguria. The protagonist, a Dragon Tribe youth named Atorushan seeks the friendship of the sole survivor, a human girl named Tamryn by the White Dragon, leader of the tribe. The girl is nurtured by the dragons of the land, but 12 years later she leaves as she wants to find happiness with those of her own kind. Atorushan breaks off his left horn and gives it to her as a means of summoning him should she need assistance. 3 years after this incident, Atorushan is called by the White Dragon as the aforementioned horn was blown. Granting him a silver scale to keep him from perishing under the curse of Ishbahn, the White Dragon sends him there to tend to Tamryn. Upon arriving, Atorushan learns that the entirety of Ishbahn is under attack by evil armies controlled by Tiridates. To stop him and remove the land's curse, he needs to find the 5 Emerald Graces, dragon-based treasures scattered around the land, and resurrect the Emerald Dragon, the greatest of all dragons destined to bring about a miracle.
Sequel
Akihiro Kimura successfully crowdfunded a sequel audio series titled Elemental Dragoon in 2015. It is based on ideas that were proposed for a sequel to Emerald Dragon back in the 1990s but never got off the ground due to apparent copyright issues. The series was designed to get around copyright issues and to hopefully allow Akihiro Kimura to generate interest for a true sequel to Emerald Dragon and regain the copyright.
