Dungeon Explorer is an interesting game. Simply put, it's like a cross between the Atari coin-op hit Gauntlet and a standard console rpg. For the most part you'll spend your time crawling around the countless dungeons in the game destroying groups of enemies and their lairs. This aspect of the game is almost identical to Gauntlet. Another similarity is the ability to select from a wide range of different character classes, each with different strengths and weakenesses. The developers of Dungeon Explorere decided to differentiate their game from Gauntlet by throwing in some console rpg elements as well. You'll have to travel to various villages and talk to all of the people in order to find information on the many quests you'll have to complete throughout the game. Dungeon Explorer has all of the arcade-style action you'd find in Gauntlet, but with a nice rpg twist that adds a little more depth to the game.

If you've ever played Gauntlet, you'll know what to expect in Dungeon Explorer. As you talk to people in the game you'll be given various tasks to complete. These tasks generally involve you going underground into one of the game's many dungeons. You'll have to wander around these dungeons shooting at enemies and defeating their lairs. At some point, you'll come across a boss that you'll have to defeat in order to gain a crystal. As you accumulate crystals, your character will advance and become more powerful. If you get into trouble, you can always use a healing potion to restore your health, but once you run out of lives, it's game over.

There are 8 different classes to choose from in Dungeon Explorer including: fighter, thief, warlock, witch, bard, bishop, elf, and knome. Each character has their own strengths and weakenesses and it's up to you to choose which character will best suit your playing style. Each character has the use of a white potion and black potion. What these potions do depends on which of the 8 classes you choose to use. Some characters specialize in magical attacks whereas others specialize in healing magic. You move around using the control pad. One button controls your firepower and the other casts your magic spell. You can toggle between the white and black magic spells by pressing the select button. The game's simple control scheme makes it an easy game to quickly pick up and get into, but playing the game in single-player mode might prove to be a little too difficult for some players. The game allows up to five players to play at once and this is really the ideal way to play the game. The only downside to using several players is that it ends up making the game a little too easy at times, at least until you progress further into the game.

Visually Dungeon Explorer is a mixed bag. In some areas the game looks outstanding and shows a good amount of color and detail, yet other areas look rather plain. Most of the world above ground looks quite good, unfortunately you don't spend a lot of time there. The various dungeons do show a lot of variety in their look, so you'll at least usually have something new to look at. The bosses in the game are really the best part of the game, so they at least give you something to look forward to at the end of each dungeon. Dungeon Explorer doesn't show nearly the detail found in later Turbografx-16 games, but considering it's one of the earlier titles, it's not half bad.

Dungeon Explorer is another title that has a good hucard soundtrack. It's very reminiscent of many of the computer role-playing games of the mid-80's. It's still a MIDI soundtrack, but at least the developers put a little effort into it and it really paid off. There are quite a few different musical tracks and there's really not a bad one in the bunch. Many of the earlier Turbografx-16 titles were a little shaky with their soundtracks so it's nice when you come across one that's actually this good.

When you get right down to it, Dungeon Explorer is really nothing more than a Gauntlet/RPG hybrid. That's certainly not a bad thing, but the game doesn't offer much in the way of innovation so everything in the game feels a little too familiar at times. If you're a fan of the Gauntlet games or enjoy a good dungeon crawler, this is probably a game you should check out. Those expecting a deep rpg experience might find the arcade-style action of this game a little too redundant. Overall Dungeon Explorer is a solid effort and while it doesn't offer much in the way of new ideas, it does take two different types of fantasy games and rolls them into a very playable game. Dungeon Explorer is a good single-player game, but it's much more enjoyable experience with multiple players.