is a

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Game Studio and published by

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

. It is the third game in ''

Babylonian Castle Saga The is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco, for arcades and home video game platforms. Beginning in 1984 with the arcade title ''The Tower of Druaga'', the series wo ...

'' series which started with the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

arcade game, ''

The Tower of Druaga is a 1984 Arcade game, arcade action role-playing maze game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling the golden-armored knight Gilgamesh, the player is tasked with scaling 60 floors of the titular tower in an effort to rescue the ...

''. The game was ported to the Nintendo Switch in the Japanese game compilation

Namcot Collection , also known as ''Namco Museum Archives'', is a 2020 product bundling, video game compilation published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Originally released in Japan for the Nintendo Switch, it was later localized for international territories as t ...

in August 2020, as DLC.

Plot

The story of ''The Quest of Ki'' acts as a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to ''The Tower of Druaga''. It occurs shortly after the demon Druaga has stolen the Blue Crystal Rod and taken to a tower originally built by the Sumer Empire, in which the god Anu had destroyed. The goddess

Ishtar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in S ...

gives the priestess Ki a golden tiara that enables the power of flight, and sends her to the tower in order to retrieve The Blue Crystal Rod. The game then follows her doomed quest to the top of the tower, with help from the dragon Quox. Upon reaching the 60th floor, Ki reaches the Blue Crystal Rod, but Druaga splits the rod into three pieces and transforms Ki into stone, leading up to the events of ''

''.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling

platformer A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

with one hundred levels. In each level, the player's goal is to pick up a key and open the door leading to the next area. Various enemies, including slimes, ghosts, and wizards, appear on each floor, and any contact with them results in death. Ki has no weapons, and thus can not damage or defeat any of the enemies. Her only abilities are to dash and jump. As long as the player holds the jump button down, Ki can rise indefinitely into the air. However, contact with the ceiling or dashing against a wall will cause her to drop to the ground and become stunned for several seconds. This mechanic of floating and getting stunned from bumping against the walls or ceiling is similar to the 1983 Atari vector arcade game, ''Major Havoc''. Many of the levels consist of puzzles in which the player must carefully regulate the height and direction of Ki's jumps. Each stage in the game contains one or more treasure chests, which hold various items. Although many of the items bestow helpful abilities, the effects only last for the floor on which they were found. After completing the game, players can gain access to forty bonus stages. These stages contain cameos from the ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

'' ghosts and the enemies from ''

Dig Dug is a maze game, maze arcade game developed by Namco in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them unde ...

''.

Notes

References

1988 video games Japan-exclusive video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Platform games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video game prequels Inanna {{The Tower of Druaga

Plot

Gameplay

Notes

See also

References