Role-playing video game
Typically action RPGs feature each player directly controlling a single character in real time, and feature a strong focus on combat and action with plot and character interaction kept to a minimum. Early action RPGs tended to follow the template set by 1980s Nihon Falcom titles such as the "Dragon Slayer" and "Ys" series, which feature hack and slash combat where the player character's movements and actions are controlled directly, using a keyboard or game controller, rather than using menus. This formula was refined by the action-adventure game, "The Legend of Zelda" (1986), which set the template used by many subsequent action RPGs, including innovations such as an open world, nonlinear gameplay, battery backup saving, and an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. The game was largely responsible for the surge of action-oriented RPGs released since the late 1980s, both in Japan and North America. "The Legend of Zelda" series would continue to exert an influence on the transition of both console and computer RPGs from stat-heavy, turn-based combat towards real-time action combat in the following decades.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
The gameplay of "Oracle of Seasons" and "Ages" is similar to that of "", copying basic controls, graphics, and sounds from the Game Boy title. Like most "The Legend of Zelda" titles, exploration and combat take place from an overhead perspective. Link uses a sword for his primary attack, complemented by secondary weapons and items. Basic items, such as bombs and a boomerang, are common to both games. Some new items are exclusive to one game, usually with a counterpart in the other, with similar uses (e.g. the slingshot in "Seasons" and the seed shooter in "Ages" both shoot seeds, while the magnetic gloves in "Seasons" and the switch hook in "Ages" are used to access otherwise unreachable areas via special targets). Unlike most "Zelda" titles, a sword and shield is not always equipped when the player possesses them; they can be assigned like any other item into either of two available slots. Most of each of the games is spent finding the eight Essences (Essences of Nature in "Seasons" and Essences of Time in "Ages"), each hidden in a dungeon—a large, usually underground, area containing enemies and puzzles. Each dungeon culminates with a boss that guards the Essence.