Retro Review: Fatal Labyrinth (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)

[@IDreamOfRetro]

I know Roguelike is a dirty word now, but it was innovative then, especially on consoles. How does Fatal Labyrinth stack up in 2023? Anyone remmeber this one? Any fans out there?

[@leestanford2452]

I play this all the time on my switch. It’s included in the sega Genesis collection. I really like it.

[@微笑む犬]

@IDreamOfRetro It's kinda like a same familiar game that I've played and finished it recently called Dragon Crystal on the Sega Game Gear since it has a several assets from the game Fatal Labyrinth though that game is much forgiven when it comes to difficulty and that's fine with me imo.

[@BryanCorley]

I've heard of this game but never played it. I LOVE Roguelikes! My wife just started playing a bunch of Rogue Legacy 2 so now I'm back into that game too! Thanks for the education!

[@chumorgan443]

I liked how each step needs to carefully considered. Positioning is everything in this game.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

So addictive when you learn from your mistakes

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

I absolutely love this game and luckily for me as a kid one of the video rental places nearby had it. As a kid I kinda liked it but had no idea what I was doing. It wasn't until years later when I played Dragon Crystal on the Master System via emulation that suddenly everything clicked and went back to the original Fatal Labyrinth. One trick that I do that makes the game much easier especially when you're starting out is that you can toss any item in the game at an enemy. When it hits the enemy then not only will it identify what the item is but if it's cursed, blindness or something that would have been unfavorable to you instead it's unfavorable on the enemy, lol. Also, any weapons or items that I don't need instead of dropping them I will throw them at an enemy to do damage for 1 turn. Finally, while sometimes axes can be great for doing heavy damage it's not always worth the amount of times your attack will miss so I tend to stick with spears and swords. While you're swinging and missing hoping for that one big attack to land the enemies in the game tend to have better accuracy than you do which wears you down fast each turn. It's a shame how Sega created arguably the first console pick up and play Rogue-like before everybody else yet it's hardly talked about and often overlooked. It's also too bad they stopped at Dragon Crystal and this when it could have easily transitioned into the 32-Bit Saturn and beyond generations of gaming up to now. 😇

[@IDreamOfRetro]

These are some wonderful tips, love it! Thank you. I'm with you that I wished it continued

[@professorpenne9962]

throwing an item at an enemy to identify it is a great idea

[@Mia-dt3gl]

I’ve always had a soft spot for Fatal Labyrinth because that was the first game I experienced on the Sega Channel (watching my dad play it).

[@chriswheatley3146]

I remember renting this back in the day. It is quite fun. It was also sold as a 'budget' title (around $30 if I remember correctly), so it was cheap compared to other RPG style games.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

Budget friendly is always nice

[@aaronmoore6275]

I have this on one of those 86547 in one, chinesium plug-n-play jobs. Had it on Fusion, too. Lots of fun for late, weird nights.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

So cool!

[@professorpenne9962]

the talk about mega net brought up memeories of having sega channel here in the usa. good times.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

I always wanted that but it wasn't offered in my area sadly.

[@AlakazamASMR]

This is a great video overview of this classic little game ❤

[@IDreamOfRetro]

Thank you very much. I feel it's a game that deserves more love and maybe will find more of an audience today than back then. Thanks for watching.

[@BryanCorley]

Watch out for the uncooked meat that is covered in monster poop!

[@IDreamOfRetro]

😂 not in this world!

[@SonofSethoitae]

I'd love to see your take on Super Hydlide. One the one hand, it's pretty ambitious and forward thinking, but on the other it has way more retro jank than its contemporaries like Legend of Zelda.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

This is a series that I've never played and always meant to. Sometimes these janky games will carry a special place in my heart as they are the underdog. I will definitely put it on the short list! Keep an on the channel and maybe we will have something in the near future! Thanks for the tip.

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@IDreamOfRetro If you do get to Super Hydlide and find that the retro jank is a bit too much, there is a fan patch that rebalances the game a bit. I've played it both ways, and while the jank doesn't bother me like it bothers some people, I can't say I didn't enjoy the QoL improvements in the patch the second time.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

@@SonofSethoitae What were some of the changes made?

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@IDreamOfRetro There are technically two patches under the name Refined and Rebalanced. The Refined patch leaves the actual mechanics alone, it just cleans up the font and translation so that everything is clearer and easier to understand. Monster names, spell names, etc, were edited for clarity and so on. The Refined and Rebalanced hack has all that plus it over hauls all the monsters and weapons in the game to even out the difficulty curve. Rewards (both money and XP) have been increased to make it less grindy, and I think they may have toned down the food mechanic? There's a full readme on the RHDN page iirc.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

I'll have to give that a look, thanks for the info

[@Nov-5062]

Ugh I hated this game, probably because I didn't understood how to play. I always got hit by enemies and couldn't hit them back with the hero's short, stabby hands, and so I ate food from the inventory to restore my health, but then the hero became slow and fat from all the food so I got hit more till I died. Rince and repeat. It was so scarring to the point that I don't wanna play it again. I liked talking to the NPCs in the town before you enter the castle though

[@niemand7811]

Fatal Labyrinth is actually to this day the only true experience to tell what Rogue the video game from 1980 was like. Anything else is neither like Rogue nor anywhere close. After playing this game myself and watching some videos about "roguelikes" I kept falling further down the rabbit hole where every sign tells me how stupid people are and I can't ignore it because it seeps into my mind like a drug. Peoiple are stupid for not knowing Fatal Labyrinth and not knowing what "roguelike" really means.

[@IDreamOfRetro]

So glad you had a connection with the game!

[@Elitekross]

🤓 um actually.... rogueLIKEs are characterized by a complete lack of ling term progression, and typically, items being completely randomnized, rogueLITES have the progression charteristic to modern games like binding of issac and rogue legacy

[@Elitekross]

Just got this from the classic collection, it's very fun

[@IDreamOfRetro]

Thank you so much for watching!