Game that started/made item dropping?

What's the oldest videogame where enemies turn into items like food or "energy tanks"/"mana" when killed? kinda like this. When i say "oldest" I mean Older Than NES.

edited 29th Apr '14 9:38:28 AM by ShanghaiSlave

I know D&D had a treasure table you could roll on to see what random magical stuff the goblin you just killed was apparently carrying but not using.

erm, That's technically correct but we're in the Videogame subforum? should have specificed video game in the OP. editing.

EDIT: also, you seem to have ignored the linked comic.

edited 29th Apr '14 9:39:11 AM by ShanghaiSlave

I think that the implication is that it was imported from the other medium, meaning that whichever game did it first didn't invent the idea. Enemies vanishing to be replaced by suddenly-appearing items may simply be an adaptation of D&D-style loot mechanics, with the vanishing of the enemies coming from a desire on the technical side to not keep the enemy sprite around (or have a "dead enemy" sprite to keep track of).

edited 29th Apr '14 9:44:14 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

If you specify video games, you'll probably end up with something like Wizardry or Might and Magic. I don't know which one came first. I would suggest Ultima, but I don't think the early ones had item drops.

The earliest games where it was a thing were mostly inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, so yeah.

edited 29th Apr '14 10:17:38 AM by Zendervai

4. I'm not looking for "who invented it". I'm looking for "who did it first in video games". but that sure is a worthy trivia.

Also, I'm not sure how turning into meatbuns or fried chicken, or E Tanks relates with dungeons and dragons.

...

Wait. are you all reading "item drop" as "enemy leaves behind items"? I'm looking for this actually.

this one. which videogame did this first? people turning into items to represent Item Dropping?

Aah, I see—while I had read the comic, your intent wasn't clear to me—I did indeed think that you were talking about "enemies dropping arbitrary items of any sort", rather than specifically about "enemies being replaced by their dropped items as a representation of the previous". My apologies!

In that case, I have no idea, I'm afraid. ^^;

Hmm... The first to implement any sort of item-dropping mechanic (in the broader sense) would probably be the same as the first to implement the specific "replace enemies with items" mechanic, simply because the latter is probably the easiest and least resource-intensive means of implementing the former.

I would guess that it was probably an early RPG, or perhaps a shooter.

edited 29th Apr '14 3:44:40 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

I know the Zelda games do this. The enemy dies, and poof, instant item. Technically, rpg's do the same thing, you just don't see the action of you picking up the item they dropped after being killed.

I can't remember for sure if Akalabeth or Ultima I had item drops, I think the enemies only dropped gold in a non-physical way. Now Ultima III (1983) definitely had enemies be replaced with treasure chests upon death, but it wasn't in the automatic procedure this topic seems to request (you initiated combat by touching an enemy sprite on the map, and it was first when you exited the combat screen that the enemy sprite had been replaced with a chest). Dragon Slayer II Xanadu (1985) is the first RPG I can say for sure had enemies be replaced with items in such a manner (for example kill enemy, bread appears on the ground), and it was probably beat to it at that point.

edited 29th Apr '14 9:53:42 PM by Lemurian

Lemurian >> Wow. that is the exact thing i'm looking for!

Thanks!

Ars Thaumaturgis >> It's okay man. at least you tried.