The Legend of Zelda (video game)
"The Legend of Zelda" is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern role-playing video game (RPG) genre. Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points, it had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for the action role-playing game genre. The game's fantasy setting, musical style and action-adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, non-linear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs, including "Crystalis", "Soul Blazer", Square's "Seiken Densetsu" series, "Alundra", and "Brave Fencer Musashi". The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game.
Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished
"The Games Machine" compared the game to "The Legend of Zelda", stating that "in many respects, the character detail and all-round presentation make it the better game visually," and concludes that "Ys" is "one of the top-rank RPGs around," giving it a score of 90%. "Computer Gaming World"s Scorpia in 1993 called the computer version of "Ys" "a fairly simple entry with a few puzzles to solve ... interesting mainly for seeing what the Japanese do in terms of lightweight CRPGs".