(Image credit: Atari)

Released in 1981, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was the first grid-based first-person RPG—what we nowadays call blobbers—and it proved enormously influential. Its art was rudimentary: the monochrome dungeon halls were a series of white lines carefully placed to simulate the feeling of moving through a three-dimensional environment. Leaving the ruggedness of its "3D" world exploration aside, it was an unprecedentedly complex and immersive take on the CRPG, and the American-developed series sold loads—especially in Japan.

The earliest Wizardry games varied a lot depending on the platform: DOS and Commodore 64 versions were as described, but the Nintendo ports were graphically much more vivid, with evocative fantasy pixel art.…