is a 1991 side-scrolling hack and slash

Hack and slash

Hack and slash or hack and slay, abbreviated H&S or HnS, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat. "Hack and slash" was originally used to describe an aspect of pen-and-paper role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs, MMORPGs, and video games in general...

 arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 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...

 that allows players to choose from five characters (Elf

Elf

An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...

, Wizard

Wizard (character class)

The Wizard is a type of magical character class in certain role-playing games and computer role-playing games. Wizards are considered to be spellcasters who wield powerful spells, but are often physically weak as a trade-off. Wizards are commonly confused with similar offensive spellcasting...

, Fighter, Cleric

Cleric (character class)

The Cleric, Priest, or Bishop is a character class in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games. The cleric is a healer, usually a priest and a holy warrior, originally modeled on or inspired by the Military Orders...

, and Dwarf) in order to travel through the kingdom of Malus and defeat the monsters that have taken over, as well as their leader, the red dragon Gildiss. The setting is very similar to that of Dungeons and Dragons and other medieval fantasy worlds, with familiar monsters such as Orcs, Gnolls, Harpies, Wyvern

Wyvern

A wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...

s, Cyclopes

Cyclops

A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...

, and Minotaurs. The game has 16 levels, though many are quite short.

Much like Capcom's Knights of the Round

Knights of the Round (video game)

is an arcade game released by Capcom in 1991. A side-scrolling beat 'em up based loosely on the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the game features an RPG-like level advancement system, with fighters getting new weapons and armour as they advance through the game, however...

, King of Dragons features an RPG-like level advancement system. Points scored for killing monsters and picking up gold count towards experience, and the character gains levels at regular intervals. With each level, the character's health bar increases, other attributes such as range improve, and the character also becomes invulnerable for a few seconds. Along the way, different weapon and armor upgrades for each character may also be picked up.

King of Dragons features a simple control system that consists of a single attack button, and a jump button. By pressing both buttons, the character unleashes a magical attack that strikes all enemies in screen (its strength varies according to the character used) at the expense of losing energy. The fighter, cleric and dwarf can also use their shield to block certain attacks by tilting the joystick back right before the impact.

Elf

The elven archer has the greatest range and speed of all the characters. However, he can not equip a shield and he suffers from low defense and weak attack strength. Furthermore, the elf's defense never increases through the course of the game and his jump is slower than that of both the Fighter and Wizard. By obtaining better bows the Elf increases the speed at which he fires arrows and their range, while arrow upgrades increase attack strength.

Wizard

The wizard wields only a magical staff. He has fairly low defense and average speed, but the best magic and the second best range. His attack power is weak early on, but extremely powerful later in the game. The speed at which the Wizard attacks does not improve, but is alleviated by the multi-hitting ability of his later staves. Defense is improved by various magical upgrades such as rings and amulets.

Fighter

The Fighter has the second strongest attack power. His range and speed easily outperform the other shield-carrying heroes (Cleric and Dwarf) and his jump is faster and higher. The Fighter gains HP the fastest and his speed can make his defense almost as good as the Cleric's. The main thing he lacks is magic, at which he is the weakest.

Cleric

The cleric is the largest hero in the game. He has fairly good magic and attack strength, as well as the best defense, although he is a bit slow and has the worst agility of the bunch, able to make only short, and slow hops. He also carries a shield and gains levels much faster than anyone else. His recovery, after using the shield, is the fastest in the game. Whenever the cleric picks up a healing item he heals his teammates too, although it depends on the other character how often this works.

Dwarf

The Dwarf, as his name suggests, is the smallest target of the five. He has the slowest melee attack speed and the second strongest defense, is fairly quick, and also has a shield. The Dwarf has also the longest jump; however, he has fairly weak magic and the worst range: every third strike is a ranged strike (unlike the Cleric and Fighter who alternate between a close and ranged strike). Thanks to his short height, the dwarf cannot be hit by ranged attacks from enemies.

Ports

The game was ported to the Super NES

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 in 1994. This port reduces the number of simultaneous players down to 2. The sprites' size were also reduced moderately. It is also possible to assign the magic attack and shield defense to different buttons.

The arcade version is part of Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2, which was released for the PS2 & Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

 in November 2006. This was also in Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

.

Game features

This was one of the many Capcom games to feature the Yashichi power-up item. In this game, there are three hidden throughout the game, each giving the player an extra continue. Also, although it might be a coincidence, the game's overall style and setting are very similar to the games Capcom later made using the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

license in the mid '90s. However, the gameplay was greatly changed.

The music in this game was composed by Yoko Shimomura

Yoko Shimomura

is a Japanese video game composer. She has been described as "the most famous female video game music composer in the world". She has worked in the video game music industry since graduating from Osaka College of Music in 1988...

. Some of the monster voices are identical to those made by Toho

Toho

is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

 Kaiju

Kaiju

is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....

 such as Anguirus

Anguirus

is the second Kaiju to appear in the Toho franchise. Anguirus appeared only a year after Godzilla in the 1955 Toho film Godzilla Raids Again...

 and King Ghidorah

King Ghidorah

is a kaiju, a fictional Japanese monster featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films...

.

External links

• The King of Dragons at 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...
  
  
• The King of Dragons at The Killer List of Videogames
  Killer List of Videogames
  The Killer List of Videogames is a web site featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for players."....