The Tower of Druaga (Arcade/PS1) - ALL Clear - 1,123,380

The Tower of Druaga
©1984 Namco
At first glance, this game doesn't look all that interesting. It's yet another maze-based game from Namco, where you control the super slow knight Gil climbing a 60-floor tower (is it even possible for a tower to be that large?) to rescue the maiden Ki from the demon Druaga. To complete each floor, you find a key and open a door. And there's some enemies you fight off here and there with a simple sword. Sounds kinda boring, right?
Oh, if only it were that simple.
Beneath the surface is perhaps one of the most cryptic games ever. This game is riddled with secrets that no casual player would ever be expected to find, even after an insane amount of trial and error. Specifically, the treasure chests that spawn on almost every floor. Not only are many of their contents super helpful for your journey, they're also mandatory if you wish to properly complete the game, and missing them will inevitably doom you to failure no matter what you try. And of course, the game doesn't give you any clues on how to spawn these treasures or even that they exist.
Fortunately, in the 38 years that this game has been out for, it has been figured out and completely solved. Nowadays, there are numerous walkthroughs one can use to find all the treasure chests and beat the game, which is pretty much necessary if you hope to get anywhere. Not knowing the secrets can make it super frustrating at first, but once you figure it all out, a lot of the treasures actually make the game easier, and therefore much more enjoyable to play. Some treasures inhibit your progress and must be avoided. With the exception of the Blue Necklace on Floor 46, every treasure I collect in this run is either mandatory or too helpful to not pass up.
I've decided to make my own contribution with my own walkthrough, based on the one from this game's StrategyWiki page. Not only does this show the floor layouts, treasure requirements/descriptions, and enemy counts on each floor, but I also took the liberty of including some helpful information for each floor in the game that I've gained from experience and want to share with you. I originally planned to make it a video, but given that I suck at video editing, we'll have to settle for this mediocrely formatted Google Doc. Hopefully it's still good enough for you: docs.google.co...
Even when you know all the secrets, this game is still very difficult and relies a lot on luck. The floor layouts, treasures on each floor, enemies on each floor, and treasure requirements are always the same from game to game, but similarly to Toy Pop, Gil's spawn point, enemy positions, and the key and door's positions will be random each time you play, eliminating nearly every possibility of making consistent strategies for each floor. Some floors are more generous than others and can easily be completed regardless of RNG, while others screw you over if you don't get lucky with spawns. You are on a time limit for each floor, plus the longer it takes you to complete the floor, the more likely you are to be killed.
Another annoying factor is the enemies. A lot of them can be ignored (unless you need to kill them for treasures), but two factions are just plain irritating. The first are the magicians that appear on several floors to shoot varying kinds of spells at you. They can somewhat be manipulated, but what makes them the most frustrating is that if you even rush A LITTLE BIT to get ahead of them, they are very likely to catch you by surprise and kill you unavoidably. The Wizards--the orange magicians that shoot spells through walls--are by far the worst offenders, especially when there's more than two of them, and the other kinds aren't much better.
Then you have the Will 'o Wisps. Dear fucking God, these enemies are terrible. Thankfully, there are treasures that grant you immunity to them, but until you collect them you are at the mercy at their high speed, hard to predict patterns, and invulnerability. You get too close to them while you're in their path, you're dead, no buts about it. Other enemies like Knights, Ropers, and Dragons are pains to kill due to Gil's invisible vitality system (another annoying aspect of this game), and thank God it's rarely ever required to even get near them. Even Slimes are a nuisance, especially the ones that move quickly and/or shoot spells.
Overall, there's a lot to understand about this game, and until you do, you're going to have a tough time. It was fun to learn all the secrets and the mechanics of this game, and I have a much fonder appreciation for this game now than I used to. It was still a pain (albeit a quick one) to get this 1CC, though, and there's a lot of close calls throughout this run, especially the end stretch.
Played on my Playstation 2 using Namco Museum Vol. 3. This port is nearly arcade-identical minus a slightly different treasure requirement on Floor 31.

[@SuperViperT302]

Since I know there's a chance someone might ask: I am not opposed to also making videos for the PS1 Another Tower and Darkness Tower versions of this game. However, it is very unlikely that they would be 1CCs, as those games are even harder than this one and way more cryptic, so I'm not sure how I'd want to go about doing it. Also, if you didn't read the description, here's my (probably more detailed than necessary) walkthrough for this game: docs.google.com/document/d/1ib_16WYmWUyOuoyKx9-26_729PdgxjmRf-TjRXJhc7Q/edit?usp=sharing

[@wariomultiretrogaming628]

This game hava an ending ?

[@Bloodreign1]

A basic one after 60 floors, surprisingly the Game Boy version has a better ending.

[@dangunheadachron1603]

This game is fucking impossible even with a guide. Those mages are cheap asf

[@patrickholt8782]

Those orange wizards have no mercy.

[@powerstones7722]

Neither does Druaga

[@celinesenden4142]

40 anniversary

[@sylvie8875]

Thank you for creating this video and your guide. With your help, I managed to 1CC the game.

[@BlueBidyaGame]

Hey! I'm always looking for other channels that do PS1 content. I love this stuff. Liked and subbed :)