Action role-playing game
An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure, "The Legend of Zelda", which served as the template for many future action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as "Dragon Slayer" and "Hydlide," which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, "The Legend of Zelda" featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since.
Neutopia
GameSpot's Austin Shau reviewed "Neutopia" in November 2007 and said progression through the game was "quick and direct" but was also more linear, unlike with "Zelda". He praised the game for its variety of environments, which he said "helps to combat monotony", but he noted the lack of detail in the graphics itself. He also criticized the game's sound, in which he said the background music was a series of "grating instrumentations" while also pointing out the low-quality TurboGrafx-16 sound chip. IGN's Lucas Thomas called "Neutopia" "one of the most shameless "Legend of Zelda" clones ever created" in nearly every aspect. He praised one of the differences in the presence of the fire rod, which he said "is unlike any weapon the 8-bit Link ever wielded"; he also noted the clean, crisp graphics and a good quality soundtrack. However, he criticized another difference from "Zelda", that "Neutopia" had poor collision detection, saying that it can lead to additional damage to Jazeta, which causes the power of the fire rod to decrease and lead to the annoying "beeping sound" just as in "Zelda". In general, Thomas said that, despite its lack of originality, "Neutopia" is a good TurboGrafx-16 game which has deserved all the praise it has received.