Arkista's Ring....Hmmm.... This truly is one of the great sleeper hits of the NES. Partially because of it's release only in (or mostly) European countries I had never heard of it until a few weeks ago when it was mentioned by a friend of mine, JediSamurai of Mega Man fame. Out of the sheer strangeness of the title I was intrigued to find it and give it a go. My initial shock was enough to have this game go down in my top favorite NES games. I remember thinking "It's like Rogue and Gauntlet fused together for the NES gone horribly, horribly right"...

After the first few levels, it seemed clear that this game deserved an International release. As the game progresses it seems to grow on you, all of a sudden I wasn't playing a simple puzzle-like adventure game, I was playing Arkista's Ring, the puzzle-like adventure game.

You control a green haired, cross bow wielding Elf named Christine in a quest to gain possession of Arkista's Ring, a powerful artifact similar to the Amulet of Yendor in Rogue. To gain control of it you must fight your way through 31 levels of endless Ninjas and Scorpions. By defeating a set number of enemies on each stage, a key appears allowing you to leave the level. Alas, it is not that simple even with the key. You also must find the REAL exit, which may take some wandering and adventuring. On the final level you fight the final boss (of course), which, is actually a piece of cake compared to the last few levels (like Bowser :P).

In total their are 32 different levels to play through, although the game does loop around. The second quest is a lot harder though. The enemies are even faster and provide more challenge than it seems possible to beat at certain points, ie the swarming Ninja's of level 31. The game does end though..*sigh* (thank god). You have to loop around until you reach level 125, then, you win! Amazing!

Good graphics, original gameplay (for the NES) and music that does not make you go as insane as some other games, all bring it together for Arkista's Ring. I would definitely recommend buying it to any NES gamer. It has great qualities and it is a B on Mike Etler's Rarity List, truly an amazing game.