The King of Dragons is a classic beat ‘em up set in the fantasy world of Malus, which for over a hundred years has been terrorized by the red dragon Gildiss. As the player you’ll choose from one of five classes before setting out to hunt down Gildiss and put an end to his dark reign once and for all. On your adventure across the game’s sixteen stages your hero will fight, level up, collect treasure, and use powerful magic to defeat the creatures of darkness before eventually facing off against the mighty red dragon himself. With strong RPG elements, crisp controls, unique bosses, and a balanced difficulty curve, The King of Dragons is rightfully considered one of the definitive beat ‘em up experiences on the Super Nintendo.

Audio (17/20)

If we’re going to write about The King of Dragon’s audio design it has to focus on the music. Not only did we enjoy some of the catchy stage tracks like “Treasure in an Old Castle” along the way, but we were pleased that that the appropriately themed and high energy music continued right until the very end when the credits rolled and the lower key “Casting” montage played. Now admittedly not every track immediately stuck in our mind like the epic “Cave of Hydra” does, but all of them fit the medieval fantasy theme flawlessly and that’s what really counts. From the very first level’s “The Orc Village” to the final boss music that played as we kicked some “Red Dragon” ass, the soundtrack was with us every step of the way.

We can’t only talk about the music though, and the classic arcade sound effects are here in their full glory. Whether it was the bones of a skeleton we just dispatched clattering to the ground, or the satisfying death squeal of a dragon rider’s mount falling to our mace, the game’s audio does a good job of immersing you in the combat. Unfortunately not every part of the action is done justice by the sound effects, and we were disappointed that the enemy block sound effect neither sounds like the ring of steel-on-steel… or changes based on enemy type. And that even worse than this - smashing open a chest or pot made no sound at all. This is obviously us nitpicking though and the satisfying “ching” of picking up a bag gold, or “bloop” of collecting a gem more than makes up for the audio design’s otherwise minor transgressions.

Overall we found the audio design of The King of Dragons to be a solid and capable backdrop to the mashing fun. And while it wasn’t a critical hit in all regards, it’s more than enough to carry the gameplay and it’s theme through to the game’s epic conclusion.

Visuals (19/20)

While initially we didn’t have high hopes for the visuals after seeing the hideous title screen, imagine our joy when despite this terrible first impression every character, enemy, boss, item, and background in the games looked fabulous. F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S. While it is tough to choose a favorite, I think our favorite would definitely have to be the backgrounds which are beautifully detailed and constantly changing.

When we started our adventure we also immediately noticed that The King of Dragons does two important things right. The first of these things is that the relative scale of everything on the screen is balanced. Both the enemies and our heroes were front-and-center but not oversized, and while bosses felt intimidating they managed it without taking up the entire screen. The second of these is that every character, enemy sprite, and projectile was distinct, which meant getting hit was always because we had made a mistake, and never because we lost track of our player or an on screen threat.

This visual design alone would have been enough to put the game in our good books, but when we discovered that equipment upgrades not only made us stronger, but actually changed our adventurer’s appearance and animations that really put it over the top. And while we wouldn’t actually recommend the combo to conquer Gildiss, you need to try a co-op run upgrading the Elf’s bow and Wizard’s magic just to see how big of an impact the visual changes from the equipment upgrades can be.

Last (but certainly not least) we should mention the visual design of the animation and shadows. Watching for enemies and bosses to telegraph their next move it’s obvious that the visuals are more than pure aesthetic or theme. A lot of personality was added to each and every opponent and the corresponding animations are much more than just visual appealing, they telegraph enemy attacks effectively making them a fundamental element of the game design.

The King of Dragons’ artwork and themes are some of the best to be had in the genre. It’s variety of characters, vibrant colors, beautiful environments, and solid animation make it heads above most games on the console.

Gameplay and Controls (19/20)

We’re just going to say it. The King of Dragons has the best best ‘em up gameplay on the console. And before you ask, yes we understand how controversial that statement is and yes we have played Turtles in Time. Now set down your pitchforks and let us explain why.

First off, the game gets the core components of the genre’s gameplay formula perfect. Which is to say the hit detection is consistent, the enemy groups are diverse, crowd management is challenging, moves are appropriately telegraphed, and boss strategies are varied. These elements combined with the five unique classes the player has access to means that there’s slightly more strategy required here than in other titles on the console. And frankly, we don’t think any of the other entries have the differences between the playable characters feel as noticeable, balanced, or fun.

That said, we can’t give even The King of Dragons perfect marks by modern standards as there’s two notable points in the game that suffer from a bit of slowdown. A fact which is particularly disappointing due to the rest of the gameplay experience being so flawless. A second lesser grievance we have is that the “Manual Shield” mechanic is set to ‘OFF’ by default and it’s explanation is tucked into an otherwise completely useless manual.

Other highlights of the gameplay include the magic orbs, traps, hidden continues (yashichi), and gathering of treasure which disappears after a short time if not collected. The most fun of these probably being the magic orbs which come from treasure chests and can theoretically be ‘bounced’ forward through the level to be used at ideal times.

As for the controls, every character has the same button layout with a jump, regular attack, and a magic attack. Magic attacks are naturally powerful inflicting damage on all enemies currently on screen at the cost of some of your own health, but are notably more powerful on the wizard and elf. Of course if you’re playing as the fighter, dwarf, or cleric your weaker magic is offset by the ability to block enemy attacks. With these chums you’ve got the option to set Manual Shield option to ‘OFF’ or ‘ON’, with ‘OFF’ resulting in your character automatically (but inconsistently) blocking enemy attacks, while ‘ON’ requires you to press the ‘back’/’away’ on the d-pad just before the attack lands to successfully perform a block at your discretion.

Add to the above a challenging but fair difficulty curve and The King of Dragons is the definitive SNES brawler for us. Now bring on the hate and pitchforks TMNT lovers.

Story and Presentation (17/20)

Considering no one we’ve ever met plays beat ‘em ups for the story, imagine our surprise to find that The King of Dragons does a solid job of telling one. Not that you’re going to find any plot twists, surprise endings, or even a proper hero’s arc here but the premise IS sound and there’s even a few minor characters with some light humor along the way.

In classic arcade cabinet fashion a lot of the story is actually packed into the ‘demo’ portion that plays before you hit start, with a local shopkeep telling you Gildiss “must be stopped” and a tavern goer warning of “rampaging monsters”. From here though you’ll have to get some action under your belt before you’ll get to see any more NPCs to help color the world of Malus. Obviously we don’t want to oversell the featherweight narrative but playing through the levels we genuinely came to love the little plot moments like when the tree casually hits you with a “Hey Buddy” right after saving it’s life.

Unfortunately not all elements of the presentation are up to snuff. The prime example of this being the title screen, which as we covered in the visuals section makes a terrible first impression. In a similar vein, there’s also the seizure inducing and almost unreadable font of the ‘Stage Complete’ text which tarnishes defeating each boss. And since we’re complaining we might as well mention the nonsensical Options Menu entry labeled “Extra Joy” which is actually just the Special/Magic ability mapping.

Obviously we’re nitpicking again though because while there are a couple misses in the presentation, there’s also some memorable flourishes like the world map stage selection animation, the falling sequence with the minotaur boss, and merfolk leaping onto the ship deck. And none of the problems described managed to distract us for very long from our quest to rid the world of Malus and save the poor countryfolk.

Systems and Design (20/20)

The systems in The King of Dragons can only be described as ‘rock solid’.

In terms of most notable aspect for a game of this genre, we think the RPG elements and levelling up of characters being driven by the collection of gold and gems might be the cleverest. Transforming treasure dropped by enemies from mere score fodder to key gameplay element by having it equate to experience is incredibly smart. And layering in the fact that treasure disappears after a relatively short period of time to give the players another risk/reward mechanic is even smarter.

The second design element worth mentioning are the hidden continues/credits which you can find throughout the levels. Represented by Capcom’s “yashichi” symbol (a small red and white pinwheel), these powerful little orbs can be found in hidden chests throughout the game that are partially or even fully obscured behind foreground elements. As arguably the most powerful mechanic, we enjoyed how these not only provide your run the extra gas it needs to get it across the finish line but also highlighted the decision for continues to be shared across players when playing with a friend. This conscious change from the arcade experience to a shared pool of credits felt like the game designers genuinely considered the different play experiences. And the decision to embrace a more co-operative approach was especially nice when there’s a skill gap between the players wielding the controllers.

In terms of level design there’s not much to talk about outside the variation in the enemy groups being well handled. With magic attacks, the food/potions which replenish health, and crowd control tactics all interacting smoothly the systems really do all come together flawlelessly. In a genre that modern player’s have criticized as shallow or repetitive, The King of Dragons stands as a testament that if you’re willing to spend the time looking, there’s more than meets the eye.

Summary (92/100)

The King of Dragons offers a classic beat 'em up experience where players choose to play as one of five classes and brawl their way across sixteen stages in an attempt to defeat the red dragon Gildiss. While the story is lightweight, the presentation and RPG systems that support it elevate the Super Nintendo title as a standout title in its genre. The game comes equipped with a quality soundtrack and authentic arcade sound effects which come together with the detailed backgrounds, high quality sprites, and distinct animations to create an immersive atmosphere. Despite minor flaws like the very occasional slowdown, the gameplay and systems which underpin it are truly best-in-class. Rocking a solid core gameplay loop and balanced difficulty curve Capcom has undoubtedly created one of the best, if not the best, beat 'em up in the SNES library.

*Image Source Credit