Capcom's remastered Dungeons & Dragons duo comes with 'vampirism' and six other 'house rules'

When Capcom's two Dungeons & Dragons arcade classics come to consoles this summer, the bundle will bring with it a faithful adaptation of both Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara, complete with options to emulate the look and feel of the originals on a modern HD television, a vault packed with classic images for the game and four-player drop-in cooperative play.

The collection, named Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, will also include a set of game-changing "house rules" that can make the game easier, harder or just very different, said Dan Pantumsinchai, product manager for the Iron Galaxy-developed game.

The game is due out on the PlayStation Network, Wii U eShop and Steam for $14.99 and Xbox Live Arcade for 1,200 Microsoft Points this June.

As with other Capcom arcade remakes by Iron Galaxy, the game will feature an array of display options for connoisseurs of the arcade classic. The original sprites for the Dungeons & Dragons-themed brawler have all been uprezzed. The game also includes a lot of filters which can do things like smoothing or turning scan lines off or on. The double pack of games includes the ability to play in the original arcade aspect ratio, widescreen or a pseudo arcade mode that superimposes the playfield onto a cabinet frame. Because the original game featured four players on two screens, there's also an option to mimic the look of playing a game on two distinct cabinet-mounted screens, Pantumsinchai said.

The game's drop-in, drop-out play means that players can create public or private games that can be joined on the fly by other gamers.

While the team went to great efforts to leave the original titles untouched, they did fix some of the classic's "game breaking" bugs, including the ability to make certain characters invulnerable to damage by switching hats, nicknamed the "highlander mode." Pantumsinchai said he wasn't sure if the team had removed the naming glitch, that often led to the game freezing or resetting, but said it was likely they did.

"To my knowledge a lot of those bugs have been fixed," he said. "A lot were game breaking."

Another change to the gameplay is the addition of "house rules," a set of in-game modifiers that can be turned on or off and stacked, that alter the way the game behaves. The game features a total of seven of these rules and each of them are unlocked with vault points, which are earned by completing a variety of challenges in the game.

• Unbreakable: Equippable items have infinite durability
• Enemy rush: A time attack mode where the game clock starts with 30 seconds and the clock increases with each enemy killed.
• Vampirism: Gives health for every attack you deal an enemy
• Lockpick: All chests are open.
• Hedgehog: Every time you take damage it depletes your gold and if you run out of gold it's game over
• Elimination mode: Find out who can survive the longest, no bonus points are allowed
• Make It Rain: Enemies and chests drop tons of loot.

Another tweak to the game is the inclusion of unlockable levels. As you progress through the game's original levels you unlock them, making it possible to eventually start from any level of the game.

Iron Galaxy and Capcom worked with current D&D IP owner Wizards of the Coast in recreating this game, Pantumsinchai added.

"They are really excited," he said. "They have been really cooperative."