http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/the-appeal-of-dark-fantasy-in-video-games/
This is an interesting subject and it got me thinking. Dark fantasy is more than just a genre you see in bookshops due to all those books about vampires. In general it's as Sean says the horror element, the physical presence of evil.
As a kid I often looked at these things and saw them as being stuffy or boring. Oftentimes they still are but I've come to embrace a lot of these games positively.
It was when he started giving examples that I really started thinking of more examples. Could the Mother series for example be seen as dark fantasy? For the most part probably not or if it can be it's very subtle.
Majora's Mask is definitely dark fantasy.
My first experiences with dark fantasy games came from Dark Castle, Warlock and Dungeon of Doom on the Macintosh. The introductions to all those games really show off the dark fantasy element and it stays throughout all of them.
Mystic Quest on the Game Boy at first glance seems more obtuse than dark but then you start playing and hear that music and come across all those characters dying and finding yourself thrown into a big lonely world full of monsters and it's definitely dark fantasy then.
Kid Icarus Of Myths and Monsters was definitely dark, playing as an angel and fighting mythological greek monsters like Medusa and the Minotaur, not to mention the Grim Reaper that screams when it sees you.
He says Kirby's not dark at all but I would say Milky Way Wishes definitely has some dark elements in it.
Hoo hoo.... Banjo-Kazooie! Wow that definitely has dark fantasy involved.
Donkey Kong Country 2 has the darkest mood of the trilogy and I'd say that's why it's the favourite of so many people online.
Solstice on NES, now that's a textbook definition of a dark fantasy video game if I've ever seen one.
For more recent examples, Pandora's Tower is delightfully dark and fantastical. Last Story on the other hand is too goofy and more focused on glamour rather than dark fantasy.
How about Pokemon? There's Lavender Town with it's ghosts that couldn't be identified without some device. Maybe this is one of those examples that's defined by the fan. Remember the amazing Pokemon Ghost Black ReTold, the fanmade visual novel for the Nintendo DS?
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