The King of Dragons

The King of Dragons is a 1991 Medieval European Fantasy-themed Beat Em Up/Hack and Slash with a spice of Action RPG from Capcom, released first in arcades and later ported to the SNES in 1994. The game is very similar in gameplay to Knights of the Round, specially in its level-up system, but it has also weapon upgrading similar to Magic Sword. Each of the 5 selectable characters has their own strenghts and weakness, and they gain experience with each slain Mook and treasure picked. Added to this is a total of 8 swords and shields, found in certain treasure chests, which enhance their attack and defense even more.

The story is set in the fictional kingdom of Malus, where the evil red dragon Gildiss has woke up after years of slumber. Following his rise, hordes of monsters loyal to him start raiding Malus, spearheaded by the Dark Wizard from Castle Garenos. With even the knights of Malus and princess Mari unable to face this threat, the task lands upon a group of wandering adventurers who have just come to Malus at the right time.

The game has 5 playable characters, originally only referred by their character class, but later given official names in one of Capcom's artbook compilations.


 * Derek, the Fighter: A 26 years old swordsman, wielding an assortment of sword (including a broadsword and scimitar). He's a well-rounded character in all stats save magic strength, which he sucks at, making him the ideal starting character.
 * Regie, the Wizard: A 28 years old magician who fights by throwing magic blasts from his staff. He wields different types of staves, some of which grants him a two-hit ability. He's a Glass Cannon, with rather low defense and speed, but compensates with great range and (obviously enough) magic strength. Rather than shields, he finds different amulets to boost his defense.
 * Reval, the Elf: A typical elven archer. He's the Fragile Speedster, having the highest speed stat but mediocre attack and lousy defense. His bows increase the speed he can fire his arrows.
 * Aldo, the Cleric: A 34 years old Gentle Giant who prefers maces and the like over sharp weapons. He's the Mighty Glacier, with great strength (both physical and magical) and the highest defense, but slow like a snail. He's also able to heal his allies alongside him after picking up a healing item.
 * Vargas, the Dwarf: The very small axe-wielding dwarf. He's the Lightning Bruiser, with good speed and great defense stats, but has weak magic strength and lacks range. Though his small size works for him in avoiding certain attacks.

This game provides examples of:

 * All There in the Manual: As stated above, the characters' names.
 * A Load of Bull: The Minotaur boss.
 * An Axe to Grind: Vargas and the Minotaur boss.
 * An Ice Person: The Ice Wyvern and the Black Knight.
 * The Archer: Reval. There are also black-armored archer Mooks.
 * Automatic Crossbow: Used by the werewolf mooks.
 * Badass Beard: Vargas.
 * Baleful Polymorph: The frog spell.
 * Barbarian Hero: Derek.
 * Big Bad: The Red Dragon Gildiss.
 * The Dragon: The Dark Wizard.
 * The Big Guy: Aldo.
 * Bolt of Divine Retribution: The only explanation for the Great Dragonian's rather random demise.
 * Black Knight: One of the bosses, even named as such.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He appears to be wielding a scimitar and moves like a Ninja.
 * Blob Monster: A variety of Mook, it crawls along and tries to electrocute you.
 * Breath Weapon: Gildiss (of course), the two Wyverns and the Dragon Rider bosses.
 * Carry a Big Stick: Aldo.
 * Character Level
 * Credits Montage
 * Crossover: All the good guys and Gildiss appear in the crossover quiz game Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2.
 * Degraded Boss: The Minotaur gets demoted into a Mini Boss, while the Dragon Rider goes all the way down to Giant Mook status.
 * Dem Bones: Mook enemies.
 * Distressed Damsel: Only reason Princess Mari exists at all.
 * Dual Boss: The Royal Knights and the second Cyclops battle.
 * Dragon Rider: The identical-named boss and his Palette Swapped mooks. Though the dragons in question are more like 2-legged dinosaurs.
 * Drop the Hammer: Aldo gets a few of these.
 * Elemental Powers: Each hero has his own magic attack Cast From Hit Points, per the norm in the genre. These attacks are also available in the form of flying spheres that, when hit, activates the magic.
 * Everyone Calls Him Barkeep
 * Everythings Better With Princesses: Princess Mari.
 * Evil Old Folks: Dark Wizard.
 * Evil Sorcerer: The Dark Wizard.
 * Giant Spider: Multiple ones, at the boss fight with the exact same name.
 * Hyperactive Metabolism
 * Inexplicable Treasure Chests
 * Chest Monster: Teethed chest monsters, at that.
 * In the Hood: Regie and the thief Mooks.
 * Lizard Folk: A variety of mooks. The Great Dragonian, on the other hand, is a Dragonian Folk.
 * Lost Woods: Trent Wood.
 * Luckily My Shield Will Protect Me: Derek, Vargas and Aldo can pick up shields to increase their defense.
 * Magic Wand: Regie's Weapon of Choice.
 * Medieval European Fantasy
 * Mummy: Mook enemies.
 * Palette Swap: The Royal Knights are a green and red swapped version of the Black Knight (albeit with new heads). There's also the grey-swapped Cyclops in the second Cyclops boss fight, and the ice-powered second Wyvern.
 * Playing With Fire: Gildiss (duh!), the Fire Wyvern, the Dragon Riders and the Dark Wizard.
 * Power Floats: The Dark Wizard.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Well, not that much. Gildiss is a typical western dragon, right up to the secret hoard of treasures he guards in a limestone cavern.
 * Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Vargas.
 * Our Elves Are Different: Reval.
 * Our Mermaids Are Different: Mermen are Elite Mooks that go hopping all over the place with their sharp tridents.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: Most common mook enemy. There's also the first boss, the Ork King.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: Two Mook varieties: those wielding Automatic Crossbows and those wielding spears.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Mari led the knight force against Gildiss...too bad she creates more problems that way.
 * Shout Out: The Great Dragonian's design bears a close resemblance to the Dragon Knight bosses in Capcom's older Beat Em Up Black Tiger.
 * Storming the Castle: The focus on stages 8/9 (Malus Castle), 11 (a fort) and 12/13 (Castle Garenos).
 * Teleport Spam: There's a wizard Mini Boss who just loves this tactic.
 * The World Tree: Trent.
 * Whip Sword: The Great Dragonian has one.