The Tower of Druaga
Jeremy Parish argues that action RPGs were popularized in Japan by "The Tower of Druaga". It was released for arcades in June 1984, and was intended as a "fantasy version of "Pac-Man", with puzzles to solve, monsters to battle, and hidden treasure to find". Its success in Japan inspired the development of "Dragon Slayer" (1984) and "Hydlide" (1984). "Dragon Slayer", "Hydlide" and "Courageous Perseus" (1984) "vie for position as genre precedent" according to John Szczepaniak, and there was an ongoing rivalry developing between the "Dragon Slayer" and "Hydlide" series over the years. "The Tower of Druaga", "Dragon Slayer" and "Hydlide" were influential in Japan, where they influenced later action RPGs such as "Ys", as well as "The Legend of Zelda".