![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/assets1.ignimgs.com/2017/04/28/bardstale-1493421865165_1024w.jpg)
You’d better have graph paper on hand before you dive into this dungeon crawler, because it offers no map of the intricate mazes you’ll find inside. To begin, you can customize up to six adventurers, with professions like warrior, rogue, hunter, and magician. True to the title, the bard is probably the most useful, because his songs cast spells that help out your entire party. The game lets you explore towns and dungeons one grid square at a time, with turn-based combat that uses a loose version of Dungeon & Dragons’ die rolls. In the mid-‘80s, gamers were hungry for this kind of adventure. That’s probably why The Bard’s Tale showed up on tons of computer platforms, as well as the NES.
- The actual title is Tales of the Unknown: Volume I: The Bard’s Tale. Later games in the series dropped everything but the subtitle.
- Printed on the front of the PlayStation 2 disc is the line, "For A Really Disturbing Image... Flip Disc Over." On the back? Just the reflective mirror of the disc.