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.
Open world
According to "Game Informer"s Kyle Hilliard, "Hydlide" (1984) and "The Legend of Zelda" (1986) were among the first open-world games, along with "Ultima". IGN traces the roots of open-world game design to "The Legend of Zelda", which it argues is "the first really good game based on exploration", while noting that it was anticipated by "Hydlide", which it argues is "the first RPG that rewarded exploration". According to GameSpot, never "had a game so open-ended, nonlinear, and liberating been released for the mainstream market" with "The Legend of Zelda". According to "The Escapist", "The Legend of Zelda" was an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay, with an expansive and cohesive world, inspiring many games to adopt a similar open-world design.