Dragon Slayer

Dragon Slayer was released in Japan in 1984. It was later ported to Game Boy (1991) and Saturn (1997 Falcom Classics). It is officially labeled as role-playing game, but it is rather an action-puzzle game.

Genre
Dragon Slayer is officially labeled as a role-playing game, but it actually lacks almost all of the characteristics of the genre. First of all, it is completely devoid of any text, dialogue or interaction with peaceful characters; furthermore, it also lacks any permanent upgrade to the hero's attributes: enemies can not only steal any item in the hero's inventory, but they can also permanently reduce his attributes.

Because of this and because of other gameplay elements, Dragon Slayer is definitely closer to an action-puzzle game. In particular, many areas play a lot like The Adventures of Lolo, plus the continuous spawning of enemies reminds of Solomon's Key. These are two major series in the action-puzzle genre.