Crossed Swords (ALM-002 ~ ALH-002)

In Crossed Swords, players take on the role of a knight venturing across a troubled land to aid those suffering under the threat of monsters and demons. This third-person action game, released in 1991 by Alpha Denshi Co., tasks you with battling these creatures using swordplay and magical abilities. As you progress, opportunities arise to acquire special weapons to assist in your quest for peace. The gameplay involves direct combat against enemies, utilizing an eight-way joystick and a simple control scheme of two buttons: one for slashing attacks and another for thrusting or channeling magical power through the knight’s sword. Running on SNK's Neo-Geo MVS hardware, Crossed Swords represents Alpha Denshi’s second foray into the action role-playing genre on that platform. A sequel, Crossed Swords 2, was later released on the Neo-Geo CD in 1995, building upon the original game’s foundation of heroic adventure and sword-based combat for two players.