A History of Korean Gaming

MoleMole Wars - IBM PC (1994)

MoleMole Wars was just a little demo team Artcraft put together while they were still developing Lychnis. In it, two players controlling weird animals (who return as enemies in Lychnis) have to fight each other in a small sideview arena. The game was freely distributed via newsgroups.

Lychnis - IBM PC (June 1994)

In cooperation with Softmax, Artcraft created Lychnis, which is introduced at the Softmax profile.

Lars the Wanderer (라스더원더러) / Lars the Wonderer - IBM PC (November 1995), Mobile (April 2002)

Not the greatest day in the world of Lars the Wanderer: His medieval homeland is invaded by tiny yellow smilies in futuristic machines. Fortunately, a more bening visitor from the future has appeared in the king's palace with Mimi, the daughter of the mad scientist who built all the machines. Together the two set out to eliminate the smiley threat, which leads them across the kingdom and even into the future, which looks like it's lifted straight from Mega Man X.

Although Lars the Wanderer is mostly a sidescrolling action platformer, there are a few RPG elements in the form of experience points (strategically banking on levelups is essential, as they completely heal Lars) and a variety of spells to learn. At the beginning of each section, Mimi asks if she should accompany Lars, whereupon she's controlled by a second player. She doesn't have any spells, but attacks enemies from afar with her mighty shotgun. The first half of the levels are strictly linear, only towards the end they become a little more labyrinthine. In between stages the wanderers visit towns where they can chat with villagers and buy supplies, similar to the Wonder Boy in Monster World games.

More than any later Softmax game, the graphics still betray the same sense of aesthetics as Lychnis, although the colors aren't as pastel dominated. Unfortunately, the difficulty curve can be very frustrating and enforces a lot of grinding.

In 2002 Lars became one of the first classic Korean DOS games to be ported to mobile phones, now officially misspelled as "Lars the Wonderer". Divided into three episodes, it introduced a much more elaborate inventory with a seperate screen and more different swords, armors and tools.

Lars the Wanderer (Mobile)

개미맨 2 (Gaemi Man 2) / Antman 2 - Windows (1998)

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Sometimes it's better to rip-off the best than trying to invent everything anew, and Antman 2 only stole from the very best. Its influences in Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes are all too obvious. The weapons seem like lifted straight from Treasure's masterpiece (sans the combination mechanic), and the characters can grab enemies, slide around and execute a variety of special moves. The graphics, on the other hand, are more akin to Metal Slug, and just as in that series powerups are gained by saving hostages, although here they are all young women instead of the bearded, half-naked guys in Metal Slug.

While Antman 2 never reaches the genius of any of its role models, it's still an outstanding run 'n gun, and definitely the best of its kind from Korea. It's a bid sad that it drops the other two characters from the first game, instead they're replaced by an ordinary guy with no suit. As a true hommage to arcade run 'n guns, of course 2-player simultaneous gameplay is also featured.

Antman 2 was also published in German speaking countries, following the usual budget model with low print runs, and is thus fairly rare.

Sting (스팅) Windows (December 23, 1998)

Produced by Orange Soft in cooperation with Gravity, this game will be introduced at the Orange Soft profile.

Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity (악튜러스) - Windows (December 14, 2000)

Created in cooperation between Sonnori and Gravity, this game is introduced at the Sonnori profile.

Ragnarok Online (라그나로크온라인) - Windows (November 1, 2001 [open beta]; August 3, 2002)

Ragnarok Online was the last Gravity game that was developed with participation of company founder Kim Hakgyu before he left the company to create Granado Espada with IMC games. Loosely based on a comic book series by Lee Myungjin (Eojjeonji...Jeonyeok), the game uses a 2.5D Engine similar to Arcturus, but this time for an MMORPG. Ragnarok is the original global mega hit among Korean MMORPGs. Available in 66 countries, Gravity claims the game is played by 40 million people world wide17. The game definitely is the main source for Gravity's success and chairman Kim Jeongryul's fame, not least thanks to extensive advertisement and merchandising. There is a Ragnarok Trading Card Game (which spawned an online version by Zeonix & Yahoo! Korea), dozens of mobile spin-offs (see below), countless Guidebooks, comics and Ragnarok-themed lifestyle books, and even an anime series made in Japan, where Ragnarok is ridiculously popular.

The constant popularity is even more astonishing considering the fact that since its original commercialization, the game remained on a monthly subscription basis until April 6th, 2011, when Gravity and Gung-Ho switched to a free-to-play model with optional VIP membership19.

ROSE Online (로즈온라인) - Windows (September 15, 2004 [open beta]; January 20, 2005)

Originally under the working title Seven Hearts (세븐하츠)20. Trigger Soft was working on the cutesy, free-to-play MMORPG when the developer was bought by Gravity. ROSE Online (ROSE is short for "Rush On Seven Episodes," whatever that's supposed to mean) also became their last game before the team was disbanded. Servers were shut off April 25th, 2007.

Requiem Online (레퀴엠 온라인) - Windows (July 21, 2007 [open beta]; October 2007)

Poster

Advertised as an "Hardcore MMORPG", Requiem introduced a surprisingly dark tone from Gravity after the more casual and cartoony Ragnarok and ROSE Online, presenting an edgy Sword&Sorcery world with a strong horror vibe.

라그나로크 온라인 2: 세계의 문 (Ragnarok Online 2: Segye-ui Mun) / Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of The World - Windows (May 28, 2007 [open beta])

라그나로크 온라인 2: 레전드 오브 세컨드 (Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of the Second) - Windows (February 22, 2012 [open beta])

Gravity didn't wait too long to start work on a followup to their cash cow franchise. Ragnarok Online 2 was first introduced to the public at Tokyo Game Show 200521, but it took two more years before the game was freely playable in an Open Beta22. This lasted until August 2nd, 2010, when Gravity decided they'd have to go back to the drawing board and closed the service for another period of active development23. The open beta phase of the new Ragnarok 2 starts February 22nd, 2012.

Pucca Racing: World Bike Tour (뿌까레이싱) - Windows (August 2, 2007 [open beta]; September 20, 2007)

Artwork

Pucca is Korea's answer to Hello Kitty: A character designed for the sole purpose of maximum merchandising. Gravity's fun racer based on the franchise is the company's only non-RPG with a lifespan to speak of - it lasted until June 21, 2010.

W Baseball (W 베이스볼) - Windows (August 23, 2007)

Artwork

Like most online sports games in Korea, W Baseball was extremely short-lived, despite featuring Korea's most popular discipline, Baseball. Service ended on June 25, 2008, less than a year after its inception.

Body Check Online (바디첵온라인) - Windows (August 29, 2007)

Poster

Released a week after W Baseball, the more serious yet arcade-styled ice hockey sim Body Check Online didn't last much longer. The end came on September 1, 2008.

Ragnarok DS (라그나로크 DS) - NDS (June 25, 2009)

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For anyone who loves the grindfest of an MMO but doesn't want to play with other people (although there is a special dungeon that can be tackled by up to three players teaming up through WiFi), Gravity brought Ragnarok to the DS as a predominantly single player experience. Or was it Gung-Ho? Western sources, first and foremost Wikipedia, are very keen on stressing the "fact" that Gung-Ho developed the game, while Gravity's homepage clearly lists the game as the Korean company's own creation. Either way the game, which was localized into English by Xseed, hasn't been received well.

Dragon Saga (드래곤사가) - Windows (May 24, 2012 [open beta])

Dragon Saga was another "casual" Fantasy MMORPG by Gravity, although apparently it was not very successful. Even a crossover with Ragnarok Online that introduced several iconic creatures from Gravity's biggest hit24 couldn't save the game from being shut down on July 24, 2013, exactly 14 months after it entered open beta status. In November 2013, smartphone game developer Funnygloo announced that it would bring back the game on mobile devices, though25.

Poster

Mobile Games - (2002-present)

Ragnarok Scarlet Poster

Gravity started putting out mobile versions of classic Korean PC games like Lars the Wanderer, first Ragnarok spin-offs and several original titles by contracting the independent developer Mobile Nature in 2002. The exact circumstances are unknown, but eventually Mobile Nature became Gravity Mobile. When Gravity bought into Neo Cyon in 2005, however, all mobile developments were relocated there. Recently Neo Cyon also entered the smartphone app market with the Japanese iPhone version of the Action RPG Ragnarok Violet.