Exvania

Exvania (エクスバニア) is a Japan-exclusive arcade game that was released by Namco in 1992.

Gameplay
Four medieval-style characters (Ward, Emilio, Charles and Carl) fight for control of the land. They do so by battling through levels of various castles, trying to gain control of each one. When one player has won three matches, he gains control of the castle and the game progresses to the next castle. Each castle has a different theme, i.e. Lava, Water, etc. The game plays very similarly to Hudson's Bomberman series. Each player begins each match in one of the four corners of the screen. Opponents can only be killed with bombs, though the whip weapon stuns them temporarily. The goal is to trap the other players with bombs, killing them, or to otherwise force them to walk into the path of an exploding bomb. Every few levels, a large dragon is found walking around freely. The dragon gets stronger as levels progress, and in later levels begins breathing fire and attacking the players in other ways. If the dragon is successfully killed, power-ups will appear all around him. Other enemies, such as blobs of slime and walking skeletons, appear as the levels progress. They cannot kill the players, but can significantly stun them in various ways and are a big nuisance. They are easily killed, but become more numerous with each level. Chests fill each level, and can be broken with the whip. Each chest contains a power-up, such as speed shoes, boomerang, extra bombs, larger bombs, and more. The final level pits the winning player (the player who has won the most matches and who controls the most castles) against a witch. After defeating the witch, the game ends.