Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King
Publisher: Ninja Division/Soda Pop Miniatures
Release Date (US): May 2015
MSRP: $99.95
Number of Players: 1 to 6
Playing Time:  90 minutes and up
Age Rating: 14 and up
Product #: NJD SPM210501
ICv2 Rating: 2.5 Stars out of 5

When I was young, my friends and I would have LOVED Super Dungeon Explore.  There is no doubt in my mind that we would have played it over and over again, spending uncountable enjoyable hours of mindless monster bashing.  After all, we played exactly the kind of video games that were the inspiration for this long-running series of boardgames.  One of the most compelling features is the ability to play the game in two ways:  as a "one against many" overlord-style game, or as a pure co-op against the card-driven "A.I.", either of which would have been perfect for that group.

Summary:  Whether you are playing the "Classic Mode" (overlord style) or "Arcade Mode" (co-op style), the goal of Forgotten King--like all Super Dungeon Explore games--is to wade through hordes and hordes of monsters, destroy their "spawn points" until the "dungeon boss" appears, then slay him with all of your righteous hero powers.

The heroes, of course, must work together to fulfill these goals, winning or losing as a team.  Along the way, they can capture valuable "loot" and "treasures" that will enhance their abilities, giving them an edge against later foes.

The action takes place on a lavishly illustrated modular gameboard using FANTASTIC plastic models from Soda Pop Miniatures.

Originality:  There have been a lot of board games inspired by video games.  These have succeeded in capturing the essence of their inspiration to varying degrees.  Mostly, though, never accomplish the feel of a video game.  Not so for Super Dungeon Explore!  It really does feel like you’re playing a classic "button masher" arcade game, slogging your way through uncountable hordes of (nearly) mindless foes, gradually fighting your way through tougher and tougher monstrosities before you face the ultimate boss battle.

Presentation:  In a word: fantastic.  The models are gorgeous, and they give you a ton of them.  The boards, cards, and tokens are all beautifully illustrated, and the cartoony graphics style is perfect for the flavor of the game.  Unfortunately, in some ways the graphics are a little bit too much.  It is often difficult to identify the exact nature of the spaces on the board:  what type of terrain applies on which spaces.  Sorting out the wealth of icons and symbols on the cards takes a little bit of work at first also.  But once you get the hang of that, things begin to move more smoothly.

But what really deserves mention are the 58 fully-assembled molded plastic models in the box.  They are very well sculpted, with excellent detail, and clean molding.  True, they don’t come painted, but for a “lead head” like me, that’s actually a selling point.  I could easily enjoy painting up the lot.

Quality:  Ninja Division and Soda Pop Miniatures did not scrimp on the quality of the components.  The box is sturdy despite the great weight it’s asked to hold.  The two rulebooks are full color and glossy throughout.  The cards are good quality and should stand up well to repeated play.  The tokens are thick and sturdy.  All of the plastic models in my copy were in excellent shape, without the rampant breakage that often afflicts games with high "toy value" like this one.

However, I did find the rulebook(s) to be frustrating, to put it mildly.  The rules are often obscure, it is difficult to find rules in the heat of play, and it wasn’t until halfway through the second playing that a lot of the concepts really clicked.  Definitely read through the rules (twice) and play a game (solo) before you try to teach anybody Super Dungeon Explore.

MarketabilityForgotten King is part of a long-running series of Super Dungeon Explore game sets and expansions.  And this fact really oozes through the experience.  Early in the rulebook, you are told that you should add more cards, models, and pieces than what comes in the box.  They even kindly give you a mini-catalog that shows some of the awesome stuff you didn’t get.  For some, this may be a big plus.  After all, if you love the game, why wouldn’t you want more of it?  But when we discovered that there were components in the box that we couldn’t use because we didn’t have the right expansion for them, that was rather a disappointment.  Maybe Forgotten King isn’t the right place to "jump in" to Super Dungeon Explore.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the real selling point for Forgotten King is the graphics and the awesome models.  Comparing what you get in the box to the going rate for models on the market, the almost-100-dollar price tag becomes pretty reasonable.

Overall:  Forgotten King is not really a good way to introduce new gamers to the hobby of boardgaming, despite the cute pictures and video-game style.  There are a lot of heavy rules to keep track of.  This is a meaty game that requires a lot of decision-making and tactical thought.  On the one hand, that gives it a huge amount of appeal to me.  On the other hand, the nature of the game creates an experience that feels very repetitive.  Move a couple spaces, roll a lot of dice.  Take some wounds.  Roll a lot more dice.  Heal some wounds.  Kill a bunch of baddies, and watch them respawn and do it all over again.  This is less a problem with the "Classic Mode" than it is with the "Arcade Mode," mostly because the rudimentary Arcade Mode "A.I." is really just pretty random.  It’s hard to build a solid strategy against a completely random opponent.

Once you get over the hurdles to playing the game, Forgotten King really can be a lot of fun.  But it’s a long game, more suitable to a rainy afternoon than a quick evening with friends.  And it doesn’t offer a truly evolving tactical situation to keep things fresh and interesting from turn to turn.  Add to that the unshakeable feeling that what you get in the box isn’t really a complete game, but just a starter set that you have to add a lot of expansions to in order to really experience it.  Though it’s a strong effort and beautifully produced, I’m afraid it’s just not going to be a favorite in my group.  But hey, at least I’ll have fun painting those awesome models…  Sadly, I can only give this game 2.5 out of 5.

--William Niebling