Black Tiger

Black Tiger is Capcom's 1987 fantasy action game: an armored barbarian with a morning-star flail and throwing daggers fights through eight quests of goblin-infested castles and dragon lairs to free the elders of his realm. It is the often-overlooked middle child between Ghosts 'n Goblins and R-Type in Capcom's arcade lineage - and it is better than its relative obscurity suggests.

Two systems give it depth beyond the genre's usual run-and-jump. First, the shop: keys open treasure chests holding zenny, and the shops hidden in each stage sell armor upgrades, a longer flail chain and time extensions - RPG-lite economy inside an arcade action game, remarkably for 1987. Second, the zone structure: every stage is a sprawling multi-area map with secrets off the main path, and the timer (buyable extensions) pressures exploration rather than punishing it. The dragon bosses bookend the quests with real bullet-pattern fights, and the whole thing carries Capcom's sprite craft at its late-80s peak. Its Famicom conversion, Black Tiger on NES, is a solid but heavily reworked cousin.

• ▸A shop and upgrade economy (armor, flail chain, time) inside an arcade game
• ▸Eight sprawling multi-zone quests with real secrets off the path
• ▸Morning-star flail reach upgrades that change combat feel
• ▸Dragon bosses with proper bullet patterns