História dos RPGs

História dos Console RPGs:

The earliest console RPG was Dragonstomper (1982) on the Atari 2600. Black Onyx would later be cited as the inspiration for Chunsoft to create the 1986 NES title Dragon Quest (called Dragon Warrior in North America (the series would retain that name until the 8th game in the series)). This was followed shortly by ports of the computer RPGs Wizardry and Ultima III, as well as a number of Japanese RPGs, such as Phantasy Star (1987) from Sega, and Final Fantasy (1987) from Squaresoft. These games proved popular and spawned their own series of sequels. (The Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series remain popular today, Final Fantasy more so in the West, and Dragon Quest in Japan.)

The original Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy both borrowed heavily from Ultima. For example, saving must be done by speaking to the king in Dragon Quest. In order to rest and get healed, the characters must visit the king (Dragon Quest) or stay the night at an inn (Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy). The games are played in a top-down perspective, much like the Ultima games. The combat style in Dragon Quest was borrowed from the Wizardry series of computer role-playing games, and Dragon Quest's medieval setting is also remarkably reminiscent of Ultima.

Dragon Quest did not reach North America until 1989, when it was released as Dragon Warrior, the first NES RPG to be released in North America, and, thus, one of the major influences on early CRPG development. Many early console RPGs were essentially clones of Ultima and various other PC RPGs until the genre came into its own in the following years.

The next major revolution came in the mid 1990s, which saw the rise of optical disks in fifth generation consoles. The implications for RPGs were enormous—longer, more involved quests, better audio, and full-motion video. The explosion of Final Fantasy VII's sales and the ascendance of the PlayStation were proof of this and represented the dawning of a new era of RPGs. Backed by a clever marketing campaign, Final Fantasy VII brought the first taste of CRPGs to many of the new gamers brought in by the Playstation gaming console. Subsequently, CRPGs, previously a niche genre, skyrocketed in popularity.

In 1997, a new Internet fad began, influenced by the popularization of console RPGs. A large group of young programmers and aficionados began creating and sharing independent CRPG games, emulating the gameplay and style of the older SNES and Sega Genesis games. The majority of such games owe their achievement to simplistic software development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series.

The best-selling CRPG series worldwide is Pocket Monsters. It has sold over 186 million units as of April 2008. The second and third best-selling series worldwide are Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, respectively. As of July 7, 2008, Final Fantasy has sold 85 million units, while Dragon Quest has sold over 45 million units.

Fonte: wikipedia.org