IGN: Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts Peek #1 IGN: Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts Peek #1

The villain Natas has seized the throne of Odessia and is terrorizing the land. The people's final hope is that he can be prevented from acquiring an artifact, the Ora Stone. Hudson's Dungeon Explorer is considered a pioneer title in the action RPG genre. Released in 1989 for the TurboGrafx, the single- and cooperative multiplayer game offered the Elf, Fighter, Thief, Warlock, Witch, Bard, Bishop and Knome classes. Items were significant; equipment like rings, winged boots and crowns improved the character's statistics when equipped. Also noteworthy was the way enemies would spawn continuously until you managed to eliminate their source.

Next month, Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts will bring this classic property to the PSP and DS handheld platforms. Despite sharing the same name, they are separate games. In the former, you take on a quest to find a lost kingdom. To help in accomplishing this task, which will involve defeating demons and other monsters plaguing the countryside, you first learn weapon and fighting skills called Ancient Arts. These will prove invaluable in your encounters, as will special abilities known as Big Bang Arts that, when properly executed, will allow multiple characters to combine the power of their attacks.

Includes three exclusive screenshots

The Unique Big Bang Arts Fighting Style

On a quest and ready to uncover the fate of a legendary kingdom, you will prepare to battle demonic forces and monstrous creatures as you encounter epic battles and own an arsenal of assorted weapons. Players are trained in weaponry and mystical forces as Warriors of Ancient Arts. In Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts, hundreds of variations of weapons, armor and equipment can be chosen and upgraded throughout the adventure to defeat enemies. Players have the ability to choose their warfare style with more than 150 different kinds of fighting arts, one of them being Big Bang Arts, a fighting style unique for the PSP system.

Big Bang Arts can be performed by overlapping the Art Sights from multiple party members. The strength of the resulting attack will increase according to the number who do so.

So what are the Big Bang Arts and how does this distinctive fighting style work? In the PSP system version of the game, they are abilities that allow up to three players to team up to increase their destructive power in the ad hoc multiplayer mode. They essentially harness the power of all three characters at one time in order to unleash a devastating attack on the enemy. Since the game is action-oriented, timing is of extreme importance to executing them.

Big Bang Arts can be performed by overlapping the Art Sights from multiple party members. The strength of the resulting attack will increase according to the number who do so. You will be able to unleash a very powerful attack if you and your fellow adventurers all use your attacks with precision timing. Big Bang Arts also have attributes (P27), so you should use the right ones on the right enemies.

To unleash Big Bang Arts, there are several important moves you must perform. First, you must move your Art Sight to a single monster. Keep it in place while other party members' move theirs to the same enemy. Second, press the 'a' (O) or 's' (X) button once others have done so. Last, the Art Sight timer will begin to turn. Press the 'f' (O) or 's' (X) button right when the timer reaches the activation point.

Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts will also be available for the DS, but the Big Bang Arts feature is exclusive to the PSP version. Both will ship in mid-February, and both games update the classic series with an all-new engaging story and introduce new RPG play elements never seen before in a handheld release.