History VideoGame / TheTowerOfDruaga

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both have steps that must be all be done to complete both floors (and the game for the latter). Failure to complete the steps required to complete both floors (including not to die, lose a life, and get a game over in Floor 60), you can kiss your progress goodbye on the game's last two floors.

* ''[[VideoGame/NightmareOfDruaga The Nightmare of Druaga]]'' (2004): A ''VideoGame/MysteryDungeon'' installment and (non-canon) sequel to ''The Return of Ishtar''. Three years after Druaga's defeat, Gil and Ki plan to marry, but when the sorceress Skulld attacks, dark secrets tied to the Tower of Druaga incident are brought to light.

** This is one of the few arcade games to not have a gameplay demo sequence[[note]]Other games to not have one include ''VideoGame/SpyHunter II'' (the arcade game, not the later sequel to the Platform/PlayStation2 game), and ''VideoGame/{{Xenophobe}}'', both by Creator/{{Midway}}.[[/note]]. When the machine is turned on, it starts with the title screen, the scrolls to the high score list, then back to the title screen, them it goes to the game's OpeningNarration, then back the title screen, and it keeps going like that from there.

''The Tower of Druaga'' is a 1984 arcade game released by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]], about a knight named Gilgamesh (or "Gil" for short) who has to climb a monster-infested tower in order to defeat the demon Druaga and rescue Ki (pronounced "Kai"), a shrine maiden in service to the goddess Ishtar. It is infamous as the high-water mark of [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/The_Tower_of_Druaga player-directed cruelty]] in video games -- the acme of the old-school style where video games existed to challenge and defeat the player.

* NintendoHard: Almost sadistically so for an arcade game, even by arcade game standards. You have to make a cruel crawl through 60 floors, all with monsters that can one-shot you and treasures that are mandatory for finishing the game.

The first three games of the above list, as well as the [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of ''The Tower of Druaga'' for the UsefulNotes/PCEngine, were developed by Game Studio, the company founded in 1985 by Masanobu Endoh (AKA: "Evezoo End"), creator of the original game.[[note]]He was also the creator of VideoGame/{{Xevious}}.[[/note]]

** This is one of the few arcade games to not have a gameplay demo sequence[[note]]Other games to not have one include ''VideoGame/SpyHunter II'' (the arcade game, not the later sequel to the UsefulNotes/Playstation2 game), and ''VideoGame/{{Xenophobe}}'', both by Creator/{{Midway}}.[[/note]]. When the machine is turned on, it starts with the title screen, the scrolls to the high score list, then back to the title screen, them it goes to the game's OpeningNarration, then back the title screen, and it keeps going like that from there.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both have steps that must be all be done to complete both floors (and the game for the latter). Failure to complete the steps required to complete both floors (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), you can kiss your progress goodbye on the game's last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both have steps that must be followed to complete both floors (and the game for the latter). Failure to complete the steps required to complete both floors (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), you can kiss your progress goodbye on the game's last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both have steps that must be followed to complete both floors (and the game for the latter). Not following those steps (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), you can kiss your progress goodbye on the game's last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both have steps that must be followed to complete both floors (and the game for the latter). Not following those steps (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on the game's last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both have steps to complete both floors. Screw those up (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on the game's last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both in a ''very precise'' order. Screw those up (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on both floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both in a ''very precise'' order and movement pattern. Screw those up (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on both floors.

* KaizoTrap: Floors 59 and 60 involve defeating Druaga and grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but both in a ''very precise'' order and movement pattern. Screw those up (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on the last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Druaga himself appears on Floor 59. Floor 60 simply involves grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but in a ''very precise'' order and movement pattern. Screw those up (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might, with the latter through means or ways of dying in Floor 60), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on the last two floors.

* KaizoTrap: Druaga himself appears on Floor 59. Floor 60 simply involves grabbing Ki and Ishtar... but in a ''very precise'' order and movement pattern. Screw this up (and [[GuideDangIt all things considered]], you might), and you can kiss your progress goodbye on the final floor.

** Instances if the player fails to do floor 60's objectives:

Each floor of the tower has a hidden treasure for the player to discover; some of these treasures, such as the Blue Crystal Rod, are essential to completing the game. The game, however, [[GuideDangIt offers no hints]] on how to find these treasures, which depending on the floor might involve anything from killing enemies in a certain order to walking over one or more points in the maze to crossing paths with a certain enemy to entering a special code to none or several of the above. The final floors with Druaga, Ishtar and Ki are especially tricky because certain missteps can cause Gilgamesh to be ZAPPED back to a lower floor.

The game spawned an irregularly released series of games, known as the "Babylonian Castle Saga", which is (very vaguely) inspired by Mesopotamian mythology:

!!This video game series provides examples of:

** On the other hand, continuing when you haven't made the game unwinnable is quite useful, since you get to keep all of your treasures. Not only that, as proof you weren't expected to beat it on one coin, when you beat the level you died on, you get *all of your points back* that you lost on continue.
* CreatorCameo: In ''Return of Ishtar'', one of the rooms, labeled "Dead End", features a long hallway leading to a small room with a man slumped over in an office cubicle, dead. Using Gil's magic to revive the man warps you to another room. The man is series creator Masanobu Endoh. [[{{Pun}} Yes]], that does mean there's a "'''dead End'''oh" in the room labeled "Dead End".

* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Well, in Druaga’s defense, he didn’t build the tower, but he did take it over and rebuild it once he had the chance.

''The Tower of Druaga'' is a 1984 arcade game released by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]], about a knight named Gilgamesh (or "Gil" for short) who has to climb a monster-infested tower in order to defeat the demon Druaga and rescue Ki (pronounced "Kai"), a shrine maiden in service to the goddess Ishtar. It is infamous as the high-water mark of [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/The_Tower_of_Druaga player-directed cruelty]] in videogames -- the acme of the old school style where videogames existed to challenge and defeat the player.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Tower_of_Druaga_logo_7123.jpg]]

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The OpeningNarration of the first game is this for the most part, but has a slight grammatical mistake, saying that "the golden knight Gilgamesh 'weared' gold armor". The Famicom port corrects this.

* RecapEpisode: One of the features accessible on the title screen of ''The Blue Crystal Rod'' is a prologue chapter, which details Druaga's imprisonment and subsequent release, Gil's training, Ki's capture by Druaga, and Gil's ascent of the Tower of Druaga to defeat Druaga, save Ki and reclaim the Blue Crystal Rod.