Sword Dancer

It is said that the country of Suzaku is protected by the spirit of the legendary White Dragon, a mythical benevolent being. A young maiden known as “dragon sorceress” always resides in the temple. Her protectors are young men which are called “sword dancers”. One night, the current dragon sorceress, a girl named Setsuna, was attacked by a horrifying monster. Her sword dancer, Hien, tried to save her; but the monster was stronger and flew away with the girl. The young hero swears to bring her back, restoring his honor and the peace in his country.

Sword Dancer has top-down navigation, linear story progression, automatic leveling up, and randomly appearing enemies, which effectively makes it a Japanese-style RPG; however, unlike in most other games of the genre, the battles here aren’t turn-based. Taking place on small side-scrolling areas, the battles switch to action gameplay, with the hero being able to jump, duck, and execute different kinds of attacks.

Various characters will join the party, but the player can only control one at a time. Any character can be chosen to be the lead of the party, and hence the active character in battles.