Gargoyle's Quest II

"Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness, known in Japan as Red Arremer II (レッドアリーマーII Reddo Arīmā Tsū), is an NES video game released by Capcom in October 1992. Despite being the second game in the series, it is actually the prequel to Gargoyle's Quest (Makai Mura Gaiden: Red Arremer in Japan) for the Game Boy, and features a similar gameplay style, which combined RPG elements with side scrolling action. The game was ported to the Game Boy in 1993 under the name Makai Mura Gaiden: The Demon Darkness. That port was scheduled to be released in North America in July 1993, according to that month's Nintendo Power (#50), but it was cancelled.

Firebrand is a young warrior in training in his hometown of Etruria. One day, while Firebrand is training in a small, alternate dimension, the Black light suddenly appears and destroys his home. When he returns successfully from his training, he is told to hurry to the King by another ghoul just before it dies. Upon defeating Nagus, Firebrand is able to meet with King Morock, who informs Firebrand he is on the brink of death. Before dying, he gives Firebrand the Spectre's Fingernail and Firebrand sets off on a journey to unravel the mystery of the Black light.

The gameplay is almost identical to the previous Gargoyle's Quest game. Traversing the Ghoul Realm is done via an overhead map view while action areas, such as dungeons and bridges, are sidescrolling. A few minor differences between this game and the original Gargoyle's Quest are the lack of random encounters and the addition of the Magic Tornado. Firebrand also moves much faster on the overhead map than he did in the first game. Though the game was released in 1992, it still utilized a lengthy password system."

Source: Wikipedia, Gargoyle's Quest II , available under the CC-BY-SA License.