Basement Brothers dropped a new PC-88 Paradise episode on December 21, 2025 covering Gandhara: Buddha no Seisen, a 1987 Enix action RPG that nobody outside Japan has ever heard of. The game features Buddhist mythology as its narrative foundation – you’re contacted by the bodhisattva Akasagarbha (known as Kokūzō in Japanese Buddhism) who warns that the demon king is hunting for the sacred Ashes of Buddha. These holy relics protect eight different worlds, and your job as a sword-wielding warrior is to find them first while fighting constantly respawning enemies through hostile top-down environments.
The gameplay closely resembles the original Legend of Zelda released just one year earlier in 1986. You navigate through areas fighting enemies with your sword, gain experience points to level up, purchase rations to stay alive, and unlock magical spells to supplement combat. It’s simple action RPG mechanics executed on the NEC PC-88, one of Japan’s dominant home computers during the 1980s. The game also released on MSX and Sharp X1 platforms, demonstrating Enix’s multi-platform strategy before Dragon Quest made them a console powerhouse.
The Buddhist Setting Nobody Expected
Gandhara takes its name from the historical Kushan Empire capital (modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan regions) founded in the 1st century BC. The Kushan rulers were Buddhists, and Gandhara became one of the most flourishing Buddhist states in ancient history. The game doesn’t attempt historical accuracy – instead it draws from pure Buddhist mythology featuring deities in their distinctly Japanese incarnations that developed over centuries of cultural adaptation.
The narrative framework centers on protecting sacred relics from demonic forces. The Ashes of Buddha serve as protective talismans maintaining balance across eight worlds, and the demon king’s plot to neutralize them creates the existential threat driving your quest. This premise taps into Buddhist cosmology’s concept of multiple realms or worlds existing simultaneously, with spiritual forces constantly battling to maintain or disrupt cosmic order.
Western gaming rarely explores Buddhist themes despite the religion’s massive global following and rich mythological traditions. Greek gods get endless adaptations in games like God of War and Hades. Norse mythology dominates through Marvel’s Thor and countless Viking-themed titles. Japanese Shinto elements appear in games like Okami. But Buddhism’s complex philosophy and vast pantheon of bodhisattvas, deities, and demons remains largely untapped by game developers despite offering compelling narrative potential for spiritual combat and moral complexity.
The PC-88 Platform That Built Japanese Gaming
The NEC PC-8800 series (commonly called PC-88) dominated Japanese home computing during the 1980s. Released in 1981, the PC-88 became the platform where many legendary Japanese developers cut their teeth before transitioning to consoles. Enix published extensively for PC-88 before Dragon Quest’s Famicom success made them primarily a console publisher. The platform hosted early works from companies that would become industry giants – Square, Falcom, Game Arts, and many others.
PC-88 games featured distinctive aesthetics driven by hardware limitations. Graphics used limited color palettes with detailed pixel art rather than the sprites-on-background approach common to console games. Music came from FM synthesis chips creating the characteristic chiptune sound that defined 8-bit PC gaming. Text-heavy interfaces reflected keyboard input rather than gamepad controls, making adventures and RPGs natural fits for the platform.
Approximately 2,365 PC-88 games never left Japan according to preservation efforts. This massive library remains largely unknown to Western gaming history despite its crucial role in developing genres and design philosophies that influenced console gaming worldwide. Many innovations credited to console games actually appeared first on Japanese PCs – early JRPGs, dating sims, visual novels, and bullet hell shooters all trace roots to PC-88 and similar platforms.
The Enix Before Dragon Quest
Gandhara represents Enix before they became synonymous with Dragon Quest. The company started as a publisher in the early 1980s, running programming contests offering $5,000 prizes to hobbyist developers who submitted quality games. Out of hundreds of entries, Enix selected the best for publication on PC-88 and competing platforms, quickly building a reputation for quality that attracted top talent including Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura.
These two programmers teamed up to create Dragon Quest for Nintendo’s Famicom in 1986, the same year Zelda released and one year before Gandhara. Dragon Quest became a massive hit that defined Japanese RPGs, with Dragon Quest II selling millions when most successful PC games sold only tens of thousands. This console success shifted Enix’s focus away from PC publishing toward Famicom and later Super Famicom development, leaving behind a substantial PC-88 library that remains largely forgotten.
Enix’s 1980s PC catalog includes fascinating experiments that would be completely overshadowed by Dragon Quest’s success. Jesus (an Alien-inspired adventure game set on an orbital space station), the first Fist of the North Star video game adaptation, and E.V.O.: Search For Eden (which later received a completely different Super Nintendo version) all came from Enix’s PC era. Gandhara sits among these curiosities as evidence of creative experimentation before franchise management became the company’s primary business.
The Basement Brothers Preservation Effort
Basement Brothers operates a YouTube channel dedicated to exploring obscure Japanese PC games, particularly titles for PC-88 and PC-98 platforms. Their PC-88 Paradise series has produced 78 episodes covering forgotten games that rarely receive English-language coverage. The hosts (Neo-Alec, Mr. Jakes, and Sturat) play through these titles with commentary explaining historical context, development background, and cultural significance Western audiences typically miss.
The Gandhara episode demonstrates their typical approach – they don’t just show gameplay footage but research the game’s Buddhist mythology inspirations, explain Enix’s publishing strategy during this era, and compare Gandhara to contemporary action RPGs like Zelda to help viewers understand how it fit into 1987’s gaming landscape. This educational framework transforms what could be simple gameplay videos into gaming history lessons that preserve knowledge about an underexplored era.
PC-88 preservation faces unique challenges. Hardware degrades over time, making original systems increasingly rare and unreliable. Many games exist only on floppy disks that are deteriorating physically. Documentation is scarce because Japanese gaming magazines from the 1980s weren’t systematically archived. Projects like Game Preservation Society work to digitally preserve PC-88 software before physical media becomes unreadable, while channels like Basement Brothers document gameplay for future researchers and curious gamers.
Why Buddhist Gaming Themes Remain Rare
Gaming rarely explores Buddhist themes despite the religion having over 500 million followers globally. Western game development dominates the industry, naturally favoring mythologies from Western popular culture – Greek, Norse, and Christian imagery appear constantly because developers draw from their own cultural backgrounds. Japanese developers could theoretically explore Buddhist themes more frequently given Buddhism’s deep integration into Japanese culture, but they tend to favor Shinto mythology or secular anime aesthetics instead.
The complexity of Buddhist philosophy might intimidate developers worried about misrepresentation. Buddhism encompasses diverse traditions – Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana – each with distinct practices, deities, and cosmologies. Getting it wrong risks offending practitioners while alienating players unfamiliar with the nuances. Safer to stick with Greek gods where everyone accepts loose interpretations as entertainment rather than risk controversy over religious representation.
Commercial concerns also factor heavily. Publishers question whether Buddhist-themed games would find mainstream audiences in predominantly Christian Western markets. Marketing departments worry that religious content limits appeal compared to more universal fantasy settings. These financial calculations ignore successful examples like Journey (which draws from spiritual journey archetypes including Buddhist pilgrimage concepts) and Asura’s Wrath (incorporating Hindu and Buddhist mythology), but risk-averse publishers prefer proven formulas over experimental themes.
What Makes Gandhara Worth Remembering
Gandhara represents a road not taken in gaming history. Imagine if Buddhist mythology became as common in games as Greek or Norse pantheons. Instead of fighting Zeus and Odin repeatedly, players might encounter Mara (the demon of desire who tempted Buddha), various bodhisattvas as allies or antagonists, and navigate moral systems based on karma and enlightenment rather than simplistic good-versus-evil binaries. The philosophical depth could elevate game narratives beyond typical power fantasy tropes.
The game also demonstrates Enix’s willingness to experiment before corporate consolidation homogenized their output. Modern Square Enix (formed from Enix and Square’s 2003 merger) focuses primarily on established franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts. The appetite for publishing weird one-off titles like Buddhist action RPGs disappeared as budgets ballooned and shareholders demanded predictable returns on investment.
From a pure gameplay perspective, Gandhara offers simple Zelda-like action that probably hasn’t aged particularly well. The constantly respawning enemies create tedium, the level-up system adds minimal depth, and technical limitations restrict what the game can accomplish mechanically. But its historical significance as an example of religious mythology in gaming and its position in Enix’s pre-Dragon Quest catalog make it valuable beyond just entertainment value.
The Lost PC Gaming Era
Japanese PC gaming from the 1980s represents a parallel gaming history that developed independently from Nintendo and Sega’s console dominance. While Western gaming moved from Atari to Nintendo to PC gaming, Japan maintained robust PC gaming culture on platforms like PC-88, PC-98, MSX, FM Towns, and Sharp X68000. These systems hosted thousands of games spanning every genre, many pioneering concepts that console games would later popularize.
The PC gaming era ended when Sony’s PlayStation democratized 3D gaming and made consoles the dominant platform even in Japan. Suddenly the technical advantages PCs held over consoles evaporated – PlayStation could do 3D graphics at consumer-friendly prices while PC development became increasingly expensive. Publishers abandoned PC platforms for PlayStation, leaving behind vast libraries of games that never transitioned to new platforms.
This history matters because it challenges Western-centric narratives about gaming evolution. We tend to tell stories where gaming progressed linearly from arcade cabinets to Atari to Nintendo to modern consoles. But Japanese PC gaming existed as a thriving parallel track with its own genres, aesthetics, and business models that influenced console gaming while remaining largely invisible to Western audiences. Understanding this broader context reveals gaming as more diverse and experimental than simplified historical narratives suggest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Gandhara: Buddha no Seisen?
A 1987 action RPG from Enix for PC-88, MSX, and Sharp X1 platforms. You play a warrior protecting sacred Buddhist relics from a demon king through Zelda-like top-down combat across multiple worlds.
Who are the Basement Brothers?
A YouTube channel (Neo-Alec, Mr. Jakes, and Sturat) creating long-form content about obscure Japanese PC games. Their PC-88 Paradise series has 78 episodes covering forgotten titles from the 1980s-1990s.
What is the PC-88?
The NEC PC-8800 series, Japan’s dominant home computer platform during the 1980s. It hosted approximately 2,365 Japan-exclusive games and was crucial to early Japanese game development before console gaming took over.
Why hasn’t Gandhara been released internationally?
It came out in 1987 on Japanese PC platforms that had minimal Western presence. The game was never localized because Western markets focused on Atari, Commodore, and Apple computers with completely different software libraries.
Did Enix make other Buddhist-themed games?
Not prominently. After Dragon Quest’s 1986 success, Enix focused on that franchise and other console RPGs. Gandhara represents their experimental PC publishing era before becoming primarily a console-focused company.
Can you play Gandhara today?
Through emulation using PC-88 emulators, though you’ll need the game files and some technical knowledge. The game was never officially re-released or ported to modern platforms.
Why don’t more games use Buddhist themes?
Western developers favor familiar Western mythologies, while commercial concerns about religious representation and market appeal make publishers risk-averse. Buddhist philosophy’s complexity also intimidates developers worried about misrepresentation.
What other PC-88 games should I know about?
Thexder (innovative robot platformer/shooter), Ys I & II (action RPG series that became huge), Snatcher (Hideo Kojima’s cyberpunk adventure), and early Dragon Quest titles all appeared on PC-88 before or alongside console versions.
Why This History Matters
Gandhara represents gaming roads not taken and histories largely forgotten by Western audiences. Buddhist mythology could have become as common in games as Greek pantheons if developers continued exploring religious themes with Enix’s experimental spirit. Japanese PC gaming could have remained a thriving parallel track to console development if market forces hadn’t consolidated around PlayStation. These alternate possibilities reveal that gaming’s evolution wasn’t inevitable but rather shaped by business decisions and cultural factors that could have gone differently.
The preservation work by Basement Brothers and organizations like Game Preservation Society ensures these forgotten games don’t disappear entirely as hardware fails and physical media degrades. Future gaming historians will reference these videos and digital archives when studying how different regional markets developed distinct gaming cultures. Without this documentation, entire chapters of gaming history would exist only as incomplete information in deteriorating magazines and fading memories.
Most importantly, exploring obscure titles like Gandhara reveals that creativity and experimentation defined early gaming more than conventional wisdom suggests. We remember the hits like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but forget the dozens of weird experiments publishers greenlit because budgets were low enough to justify creative risks. Modern gaming could benefit from recapturing some of that experimental spirit rather than endlessly iterating on proven formulas.
Watch Basement Brothers’ Gandhara episode on YouTube to see this forgotten Buddhist action RPG in action. Explore their complete PC-88 Paradise playlist for 78 episodes of obscure Japanese PC gaming history. Support preservation projects that digitize aging software before it becomes unplayable. And remember that gaming history is far weirder and more diverse than mainstream narratives suggest – you just need to dig deeper than the usual greatest hits compilations to discover the fascinating experiments hiding in forgotten corners of the medium’s past.