Cave Noire for Gameboy fantranslation released

[getter77]

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1707/

I had no idea this one was even out there, let alone as far back as 1991.   

Cave Noire is a bit difficult to pidgeonhole into any particular genre classification. It’s most similar to roguelikes; dungeons are somewhat randomized, there’s a heavy emphasis on player improvement and strategy instead of just grinding experience, and it’s very easy to die. It’s also sort of a puzzle game, as you don’t gain levels in the traditional sense at all and it’s to your great advantage most times to learn how to avoid enemies instead of trying to plow your way through them. There’s also no guessing game to play with items; everything you pick up is immediately “identified” and comes from a very small list of tools.

There are several types of objectives with ten levels of increasing difficulty each, for a total of 40 variations to explore. And some of those later ones get very, very difficult!

It took them about a couple months of work as they underestimated the technical difficulties the game had in store for them.

[Legend]

I checked this out. It's pretty cool.

I wouldn't really call it a roguelike, though it does have similarities. I don't think all the levels are truely randomly generated, but I think it draws from a pool of pre-designed floors and places them in a random order. The monsters and items in chests are random too I think, but still not quite in the same way as a roguelike.

The monsters don't seem to follow you. They seem to move in predefined sequences. It still makes for tactical combat, but also a little bit of a puzzle aspect. They only engage you in attack if they are right next to you.

It has permadeath in a way. If you die in the dungeon, you have to start over again.  But your [rogress as far as how many quests you have completed is still saved.

There is no real character progression. You can find items to boost your stats, but hey are all lost once you leave the dungeon. Whether you die or leave because you completed the quest, you still lose all your items and stat boosts. Items are identified from the get go too.

I would say overall, it is an interesting and enjoyable game. A bit like a puzzler mixed with light roguelike elements and an adventure/dungeon theme.

One thing it could really use is a high score system. After you complete a quest, each new floor generates an exit to the dungeon. This gives you the option of leaving the dungeon to officially complete the quest or to keep going deeper and push your luck. The problem is that there is no real incentive to keep going after you complete the quest requirements because any goodies you find will be lost when you leave the dungeon.