The Black Onyx is a 1984 role-playing video game released in Japan, developed by Bullet-Proof Software, with development led by Henk Rogers. It was one of the first successful Japanese-language RPGs, having sold 150,000 copies, and helped familiarize the Japanese public with RPGs. It was originally released for the NEC PC-8801, and ported to several other platforms. The Famicom version featured completely redesigned gameplay, a new map, and was retitled Super Black Onyx. The SG-1000 version was one of the last official releases for that console, succeeded only by Portrait of Loretta.
The player can create a five-member party, or can ask friendly encounters to join the party to fill empty slots. The party will explore the dungeons under the town of Utsuro to obtain the legendary Black Onyx. Doing so will break the curse which binds the town in eternal night. The combat system has no concept of distance, so there are no bows or similar missile weapons. There are melee weapons, shields, and armor, however. The hospital in town can offer 'examinations' which display the PCs' stats.
There is a bank in town where the heroes can deposit money. This protects money from thieves; but there is no interest on the deposits, since there is no time system. The labyrinth under the town has several entrances, each hidden in one of the locations of the town. The labyrinth has six floors corresponding to the six colors the computer can display. These must be solved in the proper order (which depends on the platform) in order to create the stairway to the Black Tower, where the Onyx resides.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of The Black Onyx was designed for the Sega SG-1000, which was first 8-bit Sega video game console manufactured
in the years 1983 - 1985. It was launched on the same day as much more successful NES console and with exceptions, it was sold only in Japan.
The unit price of SG-1000 was 15,000 yen, the same price as for NES. Console was not very successful and after 2 years was withdrawn from the market.
More information about Sega SG-1000 can be found
here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
2 different online emulators are available for The Black Onyx. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game The Black Onyx are summarized in the following table:
If you like The Black Onyx you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here
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This version of The Black Onyx was designed for the Sega SG-1000, which was first 8-bit Sega video game console manufactured
in the years 1983 - 1985. It was launched on the same day as much more successful NES console and with exceptions, it was sold only in Japan.
The unit price of SG-1000 was 15,000 yen, the same price as for NES. Console was not very successful and after 2 years was withdrawn from the market.
More information about Sega SG-1000 can be found
