As technology marches forward, gamers have come to expect more, graphically and technically, from their MMORPGs than ever before. It's funny, however, how even though we demand prettier pictures out of our games, there are some of those classic RPGs that still hit us with waves of nostalgia, every time we think back to those countless hours spent playing on our Super Nintendos, Playstations, or even PS2s. In fact, it was really only a matter of time before a someone decided to tap into those classic sprite graphics to bring us some pure, good old fashioned fun in an MMORPG format.

That game, of course, was Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online, a 2D sprite-based, side-scrolling MMORPG that was released a few months back in September, 2009. Since then, DFO has seen two large-scale updates, in the form of their "Dawn of Retribution" patch, a month or two back, and their latest, the "Threshold of Power" patch, which saw a level cap increase to 50, and a plethora of new abilities added into the game. Of course, we, here at ZAM, were already enamored with the nostalgic fun of Dungeon Fighter Online, but now that the game is firmly moving forward into 2010, we decided to sit down with Luis Reyes, the Associate Producer for Dungeon Fighter Online, to dig deeper on their classic 2D MMORPG.

The "Threshold of Power" update is now live in Dungeon Fighter Online, and it brings a number of changes to the game. The level cap has been raised to 50, seven new dungeons have been added, and new quests and skills have been introduced to the beat 'em up MMO.

To celebrate, the team will be hosting double exp and double drop rate events this weekend from Jan. 30-31. The event will be held from 3-5 p.m. PST each day, so be sure to sign in during that window to enjoy the exp/drop boost.

Dungeon Fighter fans around the world may (finally) be breathing a sigh of relief at this announcement, as the North American port of the Korean "Dungeon & Fighter" had experience requirements that were sometimes double the amount required for their Japanese and Korean counterparts. With this new update, called the "Dawn of Retribution," the team is also implementing two other major game play changes, as well as a Christmas Event, in order to improve DFO for all parties.

In addition to the lowered experience curve, dungeons have been modified to be easier for most players, and the opening tutorial has been revamped to better welcome new players to the game. Monsters in the early stages have also been toned down, in order to allow players to advance much quicker than before.

Finally, Nexon has also announced their "Holly Jolly DFO Christmas Celebration," which lasts from Dec. 16th to January 5th, where, for one randomly selected hour every day, 'snow' will fall on the land and players will receive a 20% EXP bonus when clearing her dungeons. Players can also visit Seria in town, who will be giving out fun little Christmas quests and apparently spreading "holiday cheer."

2-D side scrolling Streets of Rage fans might be happy to hear that just two days ago, Nexon finally opened the doors to Dungeon Fighter Online's much anticipated item shop. While the item selection in itself is quite small, with the shop selling the standard "upgraded" mana pots, hp pots and upgraded bank vault storage, the real cause for celebration is the implementation of the avatar system which allows players to buy pieces of randomized clothing to suit up their in-game characters. Unfortunately, since the system is completely random, the chances of finding a piece of clothing that looks good and has the bonuses that you want are quite slim. Either way, you can check out the store by clicking the "Item Shop" icon in-game, and see for yourself if there's anything that interests you!

Nexon has also commemorated the launching of their item shop with the start of an avatar contest and an "item shop milestone madness contest." Players who have at least one piece of avatar clothing may take a picture of themselves engaging in action, which they can then submit to be judged and be eligible for 10,000 Nexon points! The avatars will then be voted upon to find the top five, and these grand prize winners will recieve an additional 25,000 Nexon points. As for the "item shop milestone madness contest," the 10,000th, 20,000th, 30,000th, etc to 100,000th purchaser of Nexon points will recieve an extra handful of Nexon points in relation to what milestone they helped the team hit with their purchase.

Remember, you can check out ZAM.com's official Dungeon Fighter preview here to see if this is a game worth checking out!

The Dungeon Fighter early access beta ended this morning to pave the way for the open beta, which begins tomorrow and runs through Sept. 28. Instructions on how to participate can be found here, which basically require you to create a Nexon ID and download the game client. The team will be holding an open beta launch event that will offer players both in-game and physical prizes, so be sure to participate if you're interested in trying out the game while earning some rewards.

For more on Dungeon Fighter, check out  Christopher "Pwyff" Tom's reaction to the game. "I was pleasantly surprised at just how much fun I was having with this game," he said, while acknowledging the action MMO is focused mainly on combat.

One of the most important lessons I've learned in life has come from the ancient adage to never judge a book by its cover. Interestingly, while I may disagree with the literal understanding of this cliché (book covers are a decent way of judging the style and quality of a book!), it's when you apply the metaphorical wisdom of this proverb that you really start to learn something. If, for example, one were to apply this saying to an MMORPG, I suppose the best iteration would be to say "never judge an MMORPG by its graphics or the theoretical game mechanics that you can derive from reading about it on Wikipedia."

Sounds fair enough.

Actually, I've never been very good at following sound advice so, unfortunately, prejudge was exactly what I did when I downloaded Neople's simple beat 'em up side scrolling MMO, Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO). I anticipated I would find something akin to Dragonica Online, but… worse. Imagine my delight, however, when I discovered that, while Dungeon Fighter was pretty much what I expected from an MMO of this type, the guys over at Neople are also well aware of what DFO is (and isn't!) and so I was pleasantly surprised at just how much fun I was having with this game.

Nexon America has announced the early access beta for Dungeon Fighter Online will begin on Sept. 15. The beat 'em up arcade-style RPG is scheduled to launch in North America later this year, and any characters created during the early access beta will be retained by players to use in the live version. If you plan on playing this game, you may want to take this opportunity to get a head start on your character.

So how do you get into the early access beta? Well, GameSpot is giving away 50,000 keys, and more should be available at 1UP.com starting today. Players who participated in the closed beta have been given five keys each to distribute, so you can ask them for keys as well.

More information on registering for the early access beta can be found here. Keep reading after the jump for the full announcement.

Anyone interested in Nexon's Dungeon Fighter that's going to be coming to North America sometime in 2009? Apparently they are going to be showcasing a preview at Comic Con this year, but Massively has managed to snag a trailer of the game that introduces the five classes, the Slayer, the Fighter, the Gunner, the Mage and the Priest. There is also a short gameplay clip at the end, but if you're really interested in the game, you can just snoop around Youtube for some pretty good examples of how the game plays. For those of you too lazy to watch those, Dungeon Fighter has been out in Korea and Japan for quite some time now; it's a 2D side-scroller that basically plays like Streets of Rage with a lot more comboing involved.

Either way, you can check out the trailer clip from Massively right here.