I love a good retro inspired title. So when Dragon Fantasy popped up for review, I decided to give it a go. NES role playing games are fun, but they tend to show their age after a few hours of play. Dragon Fantasy manages to recreate both of these kind of experiences down to a T. The graphics are fun and colorful, the battle system is very easy to learn and the story is simple and enjoyable. But the grinding and overall short nature of the game makes it feel like a game that has great potential, but never fully realizes it.

The game’s story is told in three chapters. The first and longest chapter has you as Ogden, a former hero who is forced to come out of retirement to deal with the Dark Lord who has arrived to cause mischief for he and the royal family. The second chapter is a side story, dealing with Prince Anders and his travels to an ice cavern, the same where his father perished, in search of an interesting item that plays into the overall story. The third is another side story, with a thief and his niece looking to escape their surroundings. There’s also a fourth chapter not related to the others that’s based on the Minecraft world, looking to retrieve creator Notch’s hat from a dragon. The game very much has an Earthbound feel to it; there’s humorous descriptions during battle (such as Ogden wishing he’d stay retired whenever he falls in battle) as well as in the script itself. I wouldn’t say it’s as witty or as deep as Earthbound, but it works and I enjoyed it for what it was. Going through all of these different stories are fun, but they’re over just as you feel like you’re getting to know the characters. It’s weird that it’s fun at the same time, but the experience is so superficial and out of place in an RPG it feels pretty weird, to say the least.

It’s funny; one of the things that I didn’t like in Earthbound Beginnings (a game that came out in 1989 for the NES) was the huge amount of grinding I had to do that made the game a bore. Dragon Fantasy is nowhere near as long (under 10 hours) but there’s still some hefty grinding to do if you want to make things easier in battle. A good example is early in the game where a sword would do wonders for the next dungeon. It’s 700 gold for that sword, and with enemies dropping 20 coins at the most, it’s a long while before I can get that sword. While I like that Muteki Corporation wanted to carefully recreate the NES RPG experience, grinding isn’t something that I particularly liked in those RPGs, and would rather do without in 2015.

The NES-era presentation is faithfully represented. There’s two modes to look at - the default version has enhanced graphics that make it feel and look more like a early 16 bit title, such as Final Fantasy IV. The original mode, which was seen in the original iOS version of the game, comes with more 8-bit flair and has NES inspired music. The music itself I didn’t find as memorable, but it was faithful to what games sounded like at the time, so at the very least it worked well there. Overall, the presentation is as authentic of a NES experience as possible, but nothing that makes it truly stand out from other games that go with the retro NES aesthetic.

Dragon Fantasy is a fun game while it lasts. It feels like a title that’s starting to get really fun right as the game ends. The game never takes itself seriously, so it’s fun to go through and experience the story and settings. But the experience is a short one, shorter than those NES games it replicates, and that’s with the grinding the game requires. If you’re looking for a fun, retro inspired title, this may be it. Just be ready to run into many rock based enemies.