It's almost always been the same. Enter an arcade in any era, be it the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s, and you'll be hard pressed to find a role playing game. People just don't want to stand around in an arcade and play an RPG, as it usually takes too long. Still, a scant handful of these games have krept up in the arcades, though they've all been action/RPG's, that gorgeous melding of experience points and action, of treasure and fighting.
 
Cadash has to be one of the first, coming in around the same time as SNK's Neo-Geo MVS with games like Magician Lord. Created by those ecentric guys over at Taito, who always seem to come up with a new game every time they make something, and now ported to the genesis, Cadash retains nearly all of its features, except for the four player capability, leaving only you and a friend to brave the hordes of beasts in these subterranean realms.
 
Graphically, Cadash features large character sprites (or at least it did, for its time) who animate moderately well, be it casting spells, jumping over chasms, or wielding armor and weapons. Enemy design and animation is also interesting, though it does feature the standard orcs, gnomes, and other fantastical beasties of yore.
 
At the outset of the game, you select one of four characters. You've basically got two kinds of characters; fighters and magic users. You know, the old guy with a magical cane and a buff, Arnold-esque dude with a sword. Regardless of its cliche' character selection, Cadash is an enjoyable action/RPG with more of an emphasis on the action. There's really no "level up" or experience point limit to access levels and there's always something to fight, be it the weak minions of evil or some of the larger enemies that tend to fill up half the screen.
 
Audibly, Cadash doesn't put forth much effort with weak first generation sounding effects and music. There's really nothing too special about any of it and it hardly ever seems to enhance the gaming experience.
 
Though it's aged quite a bit since it's arcade debut, Cadash is still an enjoyable action/RPG that always keeps the emphasis on the action. Grab a friend and head into some action/RPG nostalgia!