Play Black Onyx Online

Black Onyx came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1984, published by Bullet-Proof Software. It was one of the early role-playing games on the system, arriving before many players had a clear idea of what an NES RPG could be. You start by forming a party of adventurers, either creating your own five members or convincing characters you meet in the dungeons to join you and fill any empty slots.

You control this party as you explore the multi-floor labyrinth beneath the town of Utsuro, searching for the legendary Black Onyx to break a curse of eternal night. The game proceeds screen by screen; you delve through dungeons, fight monsters in a turn-based combat system that focuses on melee weapons, and manage your equipment and gold. There is a bank in town to deposit money, keeping it safe from thieves, and a hospital where you can check your party's stats. The labyrinth is color-coded across six floors, and you must solve them in a specific order to unlock the stairway to the final tower. Progress is slow and deliberate, with the dungeons feeling expansive and easy to get lost in. Playing it feels like a methodical, sometimes grueling, crawl through a vast underground world.