Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II
Encyclopedia
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II is a platforming
adventure
video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES) developed by UK-based company Zippo Games for Rare. it was published by Acclaim
and released in North America in December 1989 and in Europe on March 27, 1991. It is the sequel to Rare's 1987 title Wizards & Warriors. In Ironsword, the player controls the knight warrior Kuros as he ventures in the land of Sindarin. He must defeat the evil wizard Malkil, who has assumed the elemental
forms of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Kuros must collect the parts of and assemble the legendary "IronSword" in order to defeat Malkil, who resides at the top of IceFire Mountain.
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was developed by Zippo Games' founder Ste Pickford and was the first game that he developed for the NES. Steve Hughes also assisted in development, while Rare's video game composer David Wise did the music and sound. Pickford wanted to expand on the previous Wizards & Warriors game. Having experience with developing computer games, Pickford used various animation and graphics techniques to try and show off the NES' graphical capabilities. In addition, Acclaim hired Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni
to pose as Kuros on the game's cover.
The game was fairly well-received, selling 500,000 copies in North America and 50,000 copies in Europe. Various video game magazines praised Ironsword for its size, graphics and sound, detailed characters and bosses, and gameplay. Other reviews criticized its lack of originality as compared to other games that were released at the time. The game led to led Zippo Games to develop additional games for Rare on the NES such as Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
and Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power. Ironsword won "Game Player's NES Excellence Award" from Game Players
magazine as one of the better NES titles of 1990.
video game where the player controls the best warrior in the land, Kuros, as he explores the land of Sindarin to defeat the evil wizard Malkil. This time, Malkil has taken the form of the four "Elementals", based on the Greek classical elements – Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water – to stop Kuros in his quest. The objective is to assemble the legendary "IronSword", the only weapon that can defeat Malkil, and defeat the evil wizard who lies at the peak of IceFire Mountain. In the game, players can move Kuros left or right, or make him crouch with the control pad; the buttons allow Kuros to jump, to use his sword or a magic spell to defeat enemies, to access the "Magic Spell Screen", or to pause the game. Kuros has a life meter
which decreases every time he sustains damage from an enemy or a dangerous projectile, or if he falls for too long a distance. Along the way, players can collect chicken and brew to replenish Kuros' life meter. Kuros loses a life when his life meter runs out, and the game ends
when he loses all his lives. However, players may continue and restart the game where they left off up to two times; players may not continue the game after completing the Earth domain.
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II consists of four level
s called "domains" – each named after the four elementals. In each domain, Kuros must find a golden artifact which belongs to the domain's "Animal King" and return it to him. Upon doing so, the path to the second part of the domain will appear. In the second part, Kuros must find the magic spell necessary to defeat the boss
– the domain's Elemental; without the spell, it is impossible to damage the boss. Once the elemental in each stage has been destroyed, Kuros obtains a piece of the IronSword, which is needed for the final battle on Icefire Mountain. Throughout the game, players must collect items, spells, and money to progress. Money helps buy magic spells; more powerful weapons, shields, and helmets; keys to open locked treasure chests, and additional food. Treasure chests, located throughout the game, contain one of the following items: additional money, magic spells, or weapon and armor upgrades. In the domains, players can visit Inns where they can buy food, keys, or items; they may also participate in a "Bonus chance" game where they may gamble their money to see which cup a bouncing skull will fall into.
In the game, magic spells help against enemies and Elemental bosses; some are bought, while others must be found. Magic spells include "The Familiar Spell" which turns enemies into money and helps retrieve golden objects, the "Dragon Tooth Spell" which turns enemies into food, the "Asp Tongue Spell" which slows down enemies, the "Silver Fleece Spell" which makes Kuros temporarily invincible, and the "Water Spout Spell" which creates an upward column of water that allows Kuros to reach high places. Many of the magic spells are of limited use and disappear over time. Other magic spells are necessary to defeat the Elemental bosses. These spells are found in each of the four domains and include "Windbane", "Blightwater", "Firesmite", and "Earthscorch". These spells can only be used in the levels in which they are obtained and consume magic upon usage; players can obtain additional magic by collecting small, floating, gold bubbles that appear randomly.
Players may also increase their score by defeating enemies or by collecting items. Hidden along the way are "Relics of Sindarin", which are worth many points when collected. At the end of the game, players with a high enough of a score can place their names in the "IronSword Hall of Fame". However, the list resets when the console is turned off. The game also includes a password
feature in which players can obtain a password from the "Magic Spell Screen" to use to continue the game at a later time, even after the console has been turned off.
and released for the Commodore 64
, Atari ST
, and Amiga
in 1988. New to the technical capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System
, the Pickford brothers visited Rare and were pleased with their NES library, though they thought they were backtracking by deciding to develop games for the console. According to Ste Pickford: "The NES seemed primitive by comparison, sub-Commodore 64. But the games were ten times better than everything being released for home computers, which we appreciated, and we wanted to try to make games as good as that." Rare decided to hire Zippo Games to develop this Wizards & Warriors sequel; Pickford remarked: "Rare showed us Wizards & Warriors and asked us to develop the sequel, and pretty much left us to it." Rare felt that Zippo Games was trustworthy enough to develop the sequel without much help from them.
Development started in early 1989, when the Pickford brothers were still learning about the NES and what it could do. At the same time, as being new to developing console video games, they were also learning about the market aspects and Nintendo
's policies and restrictions on games. Feeling that the graphics in most of the games in the NES library were poor, they placed emphasis on the graphics and animation. Pickford was particularly pleased with the animation of the enemy eagles and their movement. Rare assisted with the sound, and all of the game's background music was composed by video game composer David Wise, whom Pickford said "did a fantastic job on IronSword". As far as gameplay was concerned, they tried to expand upon its predecessor, introducing more adventure-based gameplay and additional RPG elements such as magic, inns, and money.
of Ghosts 'n Goblins
that he developed a couple of years earlier. Moreover, the Pickford brothers were trying to resemble Ghosts 'n Goblins and similar games by Capcom
as part of their attempt to earn the rights to develop the game from Rare. For the map screen, Ste Pickford used specific character data in the ROM
itself, used the font from elsewhere in the data that was inserted separately, and overlaid
the Elementals' floating heads over the top of the graphic. According to Pickford: "The job of graphic was always about 30% drawing, and about 70% fiddly technical stuff (which was why so many terrible artists – people who couldn't draw at all – made decent video game artists back then, if they could manage the technical side of things well enough)."
In developing the game's graphics, Ste Pickford translated black and white sketches into the character maps in the game. For the bosses, the plan was to use the entire screen while involving as few moving sprites as possible "to fool the player into thinking the whole thing was alive". The same was done with the "Dragon King", which was not one of the game's bosses; the dragon's head and neck were composed of sprites, while the rest of the body was considered part of the background. The dragon's neck stretched out vertically due to NES hardware sprite limitations horizontally.
The animation of the eagle (the "Eagle King") that transports Kuros to the Wind Elemental was one of Ste Pickford's first graphics which he drew for the NES. It was done in Deluxe Paint
for the Amiga with sketching done my mouse - without assistance from graphics tablet
s or other scanners. He took eagle drawings from a book on animals in motion by Eadweard Muybridge
. Pickford wanted to show off the possible graphical capabilities of the NES; he said, "I wanted to do something 'flashy' early in the game, trying to show off my amazing graphic art skills on the rather primitive NES. We were working on Amiga and ST games at the same time, so were always trying to push the NES with bigger and better graphics, right from the start of our work on the machine." The eagle consisted of only three colors and between 11 and 17 sprites per frame of animation. There was a smaller version of the same eagle, which was used as a regular enemy in that level.
Development of the game's title screen was inspired by loading screen
s that were used in most computer games at the time; the objective was to create a nice-looking graphic while waiting for the game to load, even though the NES, more rooted in arcade traditions, did not require that. Pickford spent most of his character space on the title screen image; he was limited in the number of available colors due to the more limited graphic capabilities of the NES (as opposed to most home computers), as it was more designed for scrolling and animation and not for stationary graphics. The sword in the title screen used character sprites and used a different palette from the picture of Kuros himself; the sword had to be vertical as the NES hardware did not allow for too many sprites horizontally. Pickford planned to use and completed an Ironsword logo of his own when Acclaim
made him use their planned logo, which he said "was a bit more bland and blocky, with detail that didn't work very well at such a low pixel resolution".
in Las Vegas, Nevada
and was displayed with other games to be released later that year by Acclaim. It was mentioned as a future game in the May 1989 premiere issue of video gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly
. It was also covered in GamePro
s premiere issue in May 1989. Finally, it was previewed by Nintendo Power
in its July–August 1989 issue.
For the game's cover, Acclaim hired Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni
to pose as Kuros; Fabio was presented on the cover bare-chested and without armor. When Zippo Games saw the image of the cover a week prior to its release, they were perplexed. According to Ste Pickford, "Our jaws hit the floor when we first saw this image (which was, being merely the developers, probably about a week before the game's release). Why on earth did they choose a photograph of a bare-chested barbarian to promote a game starring a knight in shining armour?" Pickford added that "We used it as an example of the lack of imagination of Americans", while suggesting that having an actual suit or armor would be too costly to use for a photo shoot. Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was released by Acclaim
for the NES in North America in December 1989 and in Europe and Australia in 1991. It managed to sell about 500,000 copies in North America and about 50,000 copies in Europe. Following the game's release, Zippo Games would proceed to develop its next game for Rare, Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
; they would eventually also release the third installment in the Wizards & Warriors series, Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power.
The television advertisement consisted of a boy who is shown playing the first Wizards & Warriors game when a Conan the Barbarian
-lookalike enters his room after having defeated a monster and hands him a copy of Ironsword. After describing the brief plot and shortly showing clips of the game, the Conan-lookalike leaves his room while exclaiming, "The fate of the world is in your hands! Back vile beast!" At the end of the commercial, after briefly playing Ironsword, the boy opens the door in his room, only to find his dog, who now has smoke coming from his behind.
. Steve Harris said that the game was very large and expansive, noting that it "is so big, and has so much to offer, most of the competition pales by comparison". Ed Semrad called the game "a worthy sequel that fortunately is better than the original", similarly noting the game's size as well as difficulty. Donn Nauert appreciated the game's good graphics which complement the adventure theme, but he noted that some of the precise movements that are required in various areas may cause some frustration in gameplay. Jim Allee praised all the aspects of the game, saying "if you liked Wizards & Warriors, you'll love Ironsword". All four reviewers lauded the game's involving gameplay and graphics.
The game would also be featured in the magazine's September 1989 issue, in which it was named the magazine's "Game of the Month"; it also featured the game's box art, with Fabio, on the cover. The reviewers, the U.S. National Video Game Team, noted that the game was superior to its predecessor as well as other games released at the time, noting that it was particularly better than Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
. They praised its well-detailed and thought-out graphics, the inclusion of well-drawn out large bosses and supporting characters, the sound which "has an eerie tone that sets the mood for the whole game", and additional features which expanded upon the game's predecessor. They concluded that Ironsword was "one of the most welcome Nintendo Entertainment System games in a long time". The game was also one of the featured games in the November–December 1989 issue of Nintendo Power, where it received six pages of coverage and featured a poster of the game. Game Players
magazine awarded Ironsword the "Game Players NES Excellence Award" as one of the best games for the console in 1990.
The game was also featured in UK-based magazine Mean Machines
in May 1991. Matt Regan said that he was not impressed with the game, saying that similar platforming games such as DuckTales
and Gremlins 2: The New Batch
were superior to Ironsword and had a more original approach in gameplay. He also criticized the fact that players cannot hit enemies while in mid-air. However, he noted the game's good gameplay. Julian Rignall
also said that the game was fun, but it was not spectacular. However, just as Regan noted, Rignall said that the game did not offer anything special like with better titles such as Mega Man 2
or Super Mario Bros. 2
. However, he noted the game's good graphics and challenge, though both noted that the backgrounds "are slightly bland". Both reviewers said the game was well-presented with good introductions and a password mode, easy controls, fair challenge, and "fairly good tunes and effects which fit the action well". Overall, they said that Ironsword was "a fun but ultimately limited game that will appeal to platform fans".
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was listed at #64 in IGN
's list of "Top 100 NES Games". Reviewer Sam Claiborn said that the game was more expansive than its predecessor and that it featured many of the good graphics, gameplay, and usage of Middle English
. He also noted that "Fabio's bare-breasted likeness smoldering on IronSword's cover art that made this game a smash hit with kids and moms alike". Website GamesRadar
praised the game's music, especially the title theme; Brett Elston said it set a serious tone for the game, saying "its heavy, droning beats mix with a fantasy-minded melody that make it sound like a funeral dirge in the Shire".
The game's cover, which features Fabio, has received significant coverage from many gaming websites. IGN
listed Ironsword as having one of the most notable covers in video game history, listing its cover as the 2nd best of all time behind Ninja Golf
. Conversely, 1UP.com
listed Ironsword as having one of the worst covers of all time, comparing it to the cover for Mega Man
. GameSpy
listed it as the 4th worst video game cover in history, saying that "thanks to the presence of Fabio on the cover, gamers got confused and thought they had accidentally picked up one of their mom's romance novels". In a retrospective of the NES for the console's 25th anniversary, Nintendo Power wrote that "the game's quality will be forever overshadowed by Acclaim's choice of Fabio as the cover model".
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
adventure
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
(NES) developed by UK-based company Zippo Games for Rare. it was published by Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
and released in North America in December 1989 and in Europe on March 27, 1991. It is the sequel to Rare's 1987 title Wizards & Warriors. In Ironsword, the player controls the knight warrior Kuros as he ventures in the land of Sindarin. He must defeat the evil wizard Malkil, who has assumed the elemental
Elemental
An elemental is a mythological being first appearing in the alchemical works of Paracelsus in the 16th century. Traditionally, there are four types:*gnomes, earth elementals*undines , water elementals*sylphs, air elementals...
forms of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Kuros must collect the parts of and assemble the legendary "IronSword" in order to defeat Malkil, who resides at the top of IceFire Mountain.
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was developed by Zippo Games' founder Ste Pickford and was the first game that he developed for the NES. Steve Hughes also assisted in development, while Rare's video game composer David Wise did the music and sound. Pickford wanted to expand on the previous Wizards & Warriors game. Having experience with developing computer games, Pickford used various animation and graphics techniques to try and show off the NES' graphical capabilities. In addition, Acclaim hired Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni
Fabio Lanzoni
Fabio Lanzoni ; born March 15, 1959), widely known simply as Fabio, is a famous international Italian fashion model, spokesperson and actor who appeared on the cover of hundreds of romance novels throughout the 1980s and 1990s....
to pose as Kuros on the game's cover.
The game was fairly well-received, selling 500,000 copies in North America and 50,000 copies in Europe. Various video game magazines praised Ironsword for its size, graphics and sound, detailed characters and bosses, and gameplay. Other reviews criticized its lack of originality as compared to other games that were released at the time. The game led to led Zippo Games to develop additional games for Rare on the NES such as Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship is the third video game in the Jetman series. It was designed and developed by Zippo Games for Rare and released in the US by Tradewest in 1990, and in Europe by Nintendo, for the NES...
and Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power. Ironsword won "Game Player's NES Excellence Award" from Game Players
Game Players
Game Players was a monthly video game magazine founded by Robert C. Lock and published by Signal Research, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The original publication was titled Game Players Strategy to Nintendo Games...
magazine as one of the better NES titles of 1990.
Gameplay
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II is a platformingPlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video game where the player controls the best warrior in the land, Kuros, as he explores the land of Sindarin to defeat the evil wizard Malkil. This time, Malkil has taken the form of the four "Elementals", based on the Greek classical elements – Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water – to stop Kuros in his quest. The objective is to assemble the legendary "IronSword", the only weapon that can defeat Malkil, and defeat the evil wizard who lies at the peak of IceFire Mountain. In the game, players can move Kuros left or right, or make him crouch with the control pad; the buttons allow Kuros to jump, to use his sword or a magic spell to defeat enemies, to access the "Magic Spell Screen", or to pause the game. Kuros has a life meter
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
which decreases every time he sustains damage from an enemy or a dangerous projectile, or if he falls for too long a distance. Along the way, players can collect chicken and brew to replenish Kuros' life meter. Kuros loses a life when his life meter runs out, and the game ends
Game over
Game Over is a message in video games which signals that the game has ended, often due to a negative outcome - although the phrase sometimes follows the end credits after successful completion of a game...
when he loses all his lives. However, players may continue and restart the game where they left off up to two times; players may not continue the game after completing the Earth domain.
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II consists of four level
Level (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
s called "domains" – each named after the four elementals. In each domain, Kuros must find a golden artifact which belongs to the domain's "Animal King" and return it to him. Upon doing so, the path to the second part of the domain will appear. In the second part, Kuros must find the magic spell necessary to defeat the boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
– the domain's Elemental; without the spell, it is impossible to damage the boss. Once the elemental in each stage has been destroyed, Kuros obtains a piece of the IronSword, which is needed for the final battle on Icefire Mountain. Throughout the game, players must collect items, spells, and money to progress. Money helps buy magic spells; more powerful weapons, shields, and helmets; keys to open locked treasure chests, and additional food. Treasure chests, located throughout the game, contain one of the following items: additional money, magic spells, or weapon and armor upgrades. In the domains, players can visit Inns where they can buy food, keys, or items; they may also participate in a "Bonus chance" game where they may gamble their money to see which cup a bouncing skull will fall into.
In the game, magic spells help against enemies and Elemental bosses; some are bought, while others must be found. Magic spells include "The Familiar Spell" which turns enemies into money and helps retrieve golden objects, the "Dragon Tooth Spell" which turns enemies into food, the "Asp Tongue Spell" which slows down enemies, the "Silver Fleece Spell" which makes Kuros temporarily invincible, and the "Water Spout Spell" which creates an upward column of water that allows Kuros to reach high places. Many of the magic spells are of limited use and disappear over time. Other magic spells are necessary to defeat the Elemental bosses. These spells are found in each of the four domains and include "Windbane", "Blightwater", "Firesmite", and "Earthscorch". These spells can only be used in the levels in which they are obtained and consume magic upon usage; players can obtain additional magic by collecting small, floating, gold bubbles that appear randomly.
Players may also increase their score by defeating enemies or by collecting items. Hidden along the way are "Relics of Sindarin", which are worth many points when collected. At the end of the game, players with a high enough of a score can place their names in the "IronSword Hall of Fame". However, the list resets when the console is turned off. The game also includes a password
Password (video games)
In many video games of the 8-bit and, to a lesser extent, 16-bit eras , after a level was beaten and/or when all continues were used, the game would display a password, that when entered in the game would allow the player to return to this part in the game...
feature in which players can obtain a password from the "Magic Spell Screen" to use to continue the game at a later time, even after the console has been turned off.
Development
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was developed by UK-based computer game company Zippo Games, headed by John and Ste Pickford; this was the first game Zippo developed for fellow UK-based video game company Rare. At the time, Zippo Games had just completed a previous game titled Cosmic Pirate - a game that was published by Palace SoftwarePalace Software
Palace Software was a British video game publisher and developer during the 1980s based in London, England. It was notable for the Barbarian and Cauldron series of games for 8-bit home computer platforms, in particular the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64...
and released for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, and Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
in 1988. New to the technical capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, the Pickford brothers visited Rare and were pleased with their NES library, though they thought they were backtracking by deciding to develop games for the console. According to Ste Pickford: "The NES seemed primitive by comparison, sub-Commodore 64. But the games were ten times better than everything being released for home computers, which we appreciated, and we wanted to try to make games as good as that." Rare decided to hire Zippo Games to develop this Wizards & Warriors sequel; Pickford remarked: "Rare showed us Wizards & Warriors and asked us to develop the sequel, and pretty much left us to it." Rare felt that Zippo Games was trustworthy enough to develop the sequel without much help from them.
Development started in early 1989, when the Pickford brothers were still learning about the NES and what it could do. At the same time, as being new to developing console video games, they were also learning about the market aspects and Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's policies and restrictions on games. Feeling that the graphics in most of the games in the NES library were poor, they placed emphasis on the graphics and animation. Pickford was particularly pleased with the animation of the enemy eagles and their movement. Rare assisted with the sound, and all of the game's background music was composed by video game composer David Wise, whom Pickford said "did a fantastic job on IronSword". As far as gameplay was concerned, they tried to expand upon its predecessor, introducing more adventure-based gameplay and additional RPG elements such as magic, inns, and money.
Graphics and animation
Ste Pickford developed the gameplay map for Ironsword. According to him, he basically copied the map that was used in a conversion portPorting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
of Ghosts 'n Goblins
Ghosts 'n Goblins
is a 1985 platform game developed by Capcom for video arcades and has since been released on several other platforms. It is the first game in the Ghosts'n Goblins franchise.-Gameplay:...
that he developed a couple of years earlier. Moreover, the Pickford brothers were trying to resemble Ghosts 'n Goblins and similar games by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
as part of their attempt to earn the rights to develop the game from Rare. For the map screen, Ste Pickford used specific character data in the ROM
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, sometimes referred to as a cart, is a removable enclosure containing read-only memory devices designed to be connected to a computer or games console....
itself, used the font from elsewhere in the data that was inserted separately, and overlaid
Overlay (programming)
In a general computing sense, overlaying means "replacement of a block of stored instructions or data with another" Overlaying is a programming method that allows programs to be larger than the computer's main memory...
the Elementals' floating heads over the top of the graphic. According to Pickford: "The job of graphic was always about 30% drawing, and about 70% fiddly technical stuff (which was why so many terrible artists – people who couldn't draw at all – made decent video game artists back then, if they could manage the technical side of things well enough)."
In developing the game's graphics, Ste Pickford translated black and white sketches into the character maps in the game. For the bosses, the plan was to use the entire screen while involving as few moving sprites as possible "to fool the player into thinking the whole thing was alive". The same was done with the "Dragon King", which was not one of the game's bosses; the dragon's head and neck were composed of sprites, while the rest of the body was considered part of the background. The dragon's neck stretched out vertically due to NES hardware sprite limitations horizontally.
The animation of the eagle (the "Eagle King") that transports Kuros to the Wind Elemental was one of Ste Pickford's first graphics which he drew for the NES. It was done in Deluxe Paint
Deluxe Paint
Deluxe Paint is a bitmap graphics editor series originally created by Dan Silva for Electronic Arts .The original version was created for the Commodore Amiga and was released in November 1985...
for the Amiga with sketching done my mouse - without assistance from graphics tablet
Graphics tablet
A graphics tablet is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper. These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures...
s or other scanners. He took eagle drawings from a book on animals in motion by Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard J. Muybridge was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States. He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible...
. Pickford wanted to show off the possible graphical capabilities of the NES; he said, "I wanted to do something 'flashy' early in the game, trying to show off my amazing graphic art skills on the rather primitive NES. We were working on Amiga and ST games at the same time, so were always trying to push the NES with bigger and better graphics, right from the start of our work on the machine." The eagle consisted of only three colors and between 11 and 17 sprites per frame of animation. There was a smaller version of the same eagle, which was used as a regular enemy in that level.
Development of the game's title screen was inspired by loading screen
Loading screen
A loading screen is a picture shown by a computer program, often a video game, while the program is loading or initializing.-Loading times:Loading screens that disguise the length of time that a program takes to load were common when computer games were loaded from cassette tape, a process which...
s that were used in most computer games at the time; the objective was to create a nice-looking graphic while waiting for the game to load, even though the NES, more rooted in arcade traditions, did not require that. Pickford spent most of his character space on the title screen image; he was limited in the number of available colors due to the more limited graphic capabilities of the NES (as opposed to most home computers), as it was more designed for scrolling and animation and not for stationary graphics. The sword in the title screen used character sprites and used a different palette from the picture of Kuros himself; the sword had to be vertical as the NES hardware did not allow for too many sprites horizontally. Pickford planned to use and completed an Ironsword logo of his own when Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
made him use their planned logo, which he said "was a bit more bland and blocky, with detail that didn't work very well at such a low pixel resolution".
Release
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was first unveiled in North America as part of the 1989 Winter Consumer Electronics ShowConsumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and was displayed with other games to be released later that year by Acclaim. It was mentioned as a future game in the May 1989 premiere issue of video gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
. It was also covered in GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
s premiere issue in May 1989. Finally, it was previewed by Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
in its July–August 1989 issue.
For the game's cover, Acclaim hired Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni
Fabio Lanzoni
Fabio Lanzoni ; born March 15, 1959), widely known simply as Fabio, is a famous international Italian fashion model, spokesperson and actor who appeared on the cover of hundreds of romance novels throughout the 1980s and 1990s....
to pose as Kuros; Fabio was presented on the cover bare-chested and without armor. When Zippo Games saw the image of the cover a week prior to its release, they were perplexed. According to Ste Pickford, "Our jaws hit the floor when we first saw this image (which was, being merely the developers, probably about a week before the game's release). Why on earth did they choose a photograph of a bare-chested barbarian to promote a game starring a knight in shining armour?" Pickford added that "We used it as an example of the lack of imagination of Americans", while suggesting that having an actual suit or armor would be too costly to use for a photo shoot. Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was released by Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
for the NES in North America in December 1989 and in Europe and Australia in 1991. It managed to sell about 500,000 copies in North America and about 50,000 copies in Europe. Following the game's release, Zippo Games would proceed to develop its next game for Rare, Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship is the third video game in the Jetman series. It was designed and developed by Zippo Games for Rare and released in the US by Tradewest in 1990, and in Europe by Nintendo, for the NES...
; they would eventually also release the third installment in the Wizards & Warriors series, Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power.
The television advertisement consisted of a boy who is shown playing the first Wizards & Warriors game when a Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
-lookalike enters his room after having defeated a monster and hands him a copy of Ironsword. After describing the brief plot and shortly showing clips of the game, the Conan-lookalike leaves his room while exclaiming, "The fate of the world is in your hands! Back vile beast!" At the end of the commercial, after briefly playing Ironsword, the boy opens the door in his room, only to find his dog, who now has smoke coming from his behind.
Reception
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was initially reviewed and received positive ratings in the June 1989 issue of Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
. Steve Harris said that the game was very large and expansive, noting that it "is so big, and has so much to offer, most of the competition pales by comparison". Ed Semrad called the game "a worthy sequel that fortunately is better than the original", similarly noting the game's size as well as difficulty. Donn Nauert appreciated the game's good graphics which complement the adventure theme, but he noted that some of the precise movements that are required in various areas may cause some frustration in gameplay. Jim Allee praised all the aspects of the game, saying "if you liked Wizards & Warriors, you'll love Ironsword". All four reviewers lauded the game's involving gameplay and graphics.
The game would also be featured in the magazine's September 1989 issue, in which it was named the magazine's "Game of the Month"; it also featured the game's box art, with Fabio, on the cover. The reviewers, the U.S. National Video Game Team, noted that the game was superior to its predecessor as well as other games released at the time, noting that it was particularly better than Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, known in Japan as , is an action-adventure role-playing platform game produced by Konami. It was originally released for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan 1987 and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1988. It is the second Castlevania...
. They praised its well-detailed and thought-out graphics, the inclusion of well-drawn out large bosses and supporting characters, the sound which "has an eerie tone that sets the mood for the whole game", and additional features which expanded upon the game's predecessor. They concluded that Ironsword was "one of the most welcome Nintendo Entertainment System games in a long time". The game was also one of the featured games in the November–December 1989 issue of Nintendo Power, where it received six pages of coverage and featured a poster of the game. Game Players
Game Players
Game Players was a monthly video game magazine founded by Robert C. Lock and published by Signal Research, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The original publication was titled Game Players Strategy to Nintendo Games...
magazine awarded Ironsword the "Game Players NES Excellence Award" as one of the best games for the console in 1990.
The game was also featured in UK-based magazine Mean Machines
Mean Machines
Mean Machines was a market-leading multi-format gaming magazine released between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Its style was popular with gamers of the time for its irreverent humor, anarchic editorial tone and style, and its sometimes outrageously outspoken reviews.- Origins :In the late...
in May 1991. Matt Regan said that he was not impressed with the game, saying that similar platforming games such as DuckTales
DuckTales (video game)
DuckTales is a video game based on the Disney animated TV series of the same name. It was first released in the United States for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Capcom in 1989. In this game, Scrooge McDuck travels around the world collecting treasures to become the world's richest duck. The...
and Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (video game)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch - also known as in Japan - is a video game developed and published by Sunsoft in conjunction with the movie Gremlins 2: The New Batch.Sunsoft released versions for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy in 1990...
were superior to Ironsword and had a more original approach in gameplay. He also criticized the fact that players cannot hit enemies while in mid-air. However, he noted the game's good gameplay. Julian Rignall
Julian Rignall
Julian "Muppet" Rignall is a longterm publishing veteran with experience launching and managing numerous video game magazines and websites...
also said that the game was fun, but it was not spectacular. However, just as Regan noted, Rignall said that the game did not offer anything special like with better titles such as Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2, known in Japan as , is a platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second installment in the original Mega Man series. The game was released in Japan in 1988, and in North America and PAL regions the following years. Mega Man 2...
or Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2, often abbreviated SMB2, is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1985 game Super Mario Bros. The game was also remade as part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection for the Super Nintendo Entertainment...
. However, he noted the game's good graphics and challenge, though both noted that the backgrounds "are slightly bland". Both reviewers said the game was well-presented with good introductions and a password mode, easy controls, fair challenge, and "fairly good tunes and effects which fit the action well". Overall, they said that Ironsword was "a fun but ultimately limited game that will appeal to platform fans".
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II was listed at #64 in IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's list of "Top 100 NES Games". Reviewer Sam Claiborn said that the game was more expansive than its predecessor and that it featured many of the good graphics, gameplay, and usage of Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
. He also noted that "Fabio's bare-breasted likeness smoldering on IronSword's cover art that made this game a smash hit with kids and moms alike". Website GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
praised the game's music, especially the title theme; Brett Elston said it set a serious tone for the game, saying "its heavy, droning beats mix with a fantasy-minded melody that make it sound like a funeral dirge in the Shire".
The game's cover, which features Fabio, has received significant coverage from many gaming websites. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed Ironsword as having one of the most notable covers in video game history, listing its cover as the 2nd best of all time behind Ninja Golf
Ninja Golf
Ninja Golf is an Atari 7800 video game which combines scrolling beat 'em up with golf simulation gameplay. It has gained some renown in recent years for its outlandish subject matter and unique blend of gameplay styles.-Gameplay:...
. Conversely, 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
listed Ironsword as having one of the worst covers of all time, comparing it to the cover for Mega Man
Mega Man (video game)
Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the first game in the original Mega Man series and the entire Mega Man franchise...
. GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
listed it as the 4th worst video game cover in history, saying that "thanks to the presence of Fabio on the cover, gamers got confused and thought they had accidentally picked up one of their mom's romance novels". In a retrospective of the NES for the console's 25th anniversary, Nintendo Power wrote that "the game's quality will be forever overshadowed by Acclaim's choice of Fabio as the cover model".
External links
- The Official Pickford Bros. Website listing (Note: release date incorrectly listed as 1988 on MobyGames page)