Wizards & Warriors is a platform video game developed by Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was developed. It was published by Acclaim and released in North America in December 1987 and in Europe on January 7, 1990. In the game, the player controls Kuros, the "Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur", as he appears in the kingdom of Elrond, to defeat the evil wizard Malkil. Malkil holds the Princess of Elrond prisoner in Castle IronSpire, deep in the forests of Elrond. The player fights through forests, tunnels and caves while collecting keys, treasures, weapons and magical items. Wizards & Warriors was the second game that Rare released for the NES, following the ski simulator Slalom (1987). In the months surrounding its North American and European releases, Wizards & Warriors was featured in a number of video game magazines, including Nintendo Fun Club News, Nintendo Power, and VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. The game was praised for its graphics, sound, difficulty, and arcade-style gameplay. In 2010, Retro Gamer called Wizards & Warriors "a unique experience for NES gamers in 1987" that was "technically far ahead of other games for the console at the time", but attributed the game's relatively low difficulty to being unlimited To allow sequels without penalty. Wizards & Warriors was followed by three sequels: Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II (1989), Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power (1992), and Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear (1990).
Wizards & Warriors is a platformer where players control Kuros as he walks through the woods from Elrond to Castle IronSpire, where he must defeat Malkil and rescue the princess. After the game starts, the map will be displayed briefly for players to see. After that, the gameplay begins. Starting in Elrond Forest, players must explore the trees above and inside to find items and get into the caves and tunnels. There the players collect the various magical objects and treasures. You have to find your way through caves filled with both ice and lava. After that, players battle their way through a second set of woods before getting to Castle IronSpire, where the player must walk over the castle to enter. The castle is made up of a series of mazes in which players will have to use keys to open doors and possibly find other girls who can be rescued. At the end there is the final confrontation with the magician Malkil.
Players use the D-Pad to move horizontally and crouch. Kuros can attack enemies with his lightsaber or with other weapons and magic. He can attack enemies in the air or while standing by holding the sword in position. The goal of the game is to collect the various weapons and magic as well as the gems and treasures along the way. Players use these items to get past enemies and other obstacles and hazards. Players collect gems to “bribe” the creature that guards the entrance to the next level. If the players don't have enough gems, they won't be able to advance to the next level. At the end of each level there is a boss creature that has been empowered by Malkil's black magic. Bosses have a "Black Magic Power" measurement of the enemy that shows how difficult the boss is, how many hits it takes to defeat him, and what type of weapons to use. Kuros has a life meter that decreases over time and as he takes damage from enemies. Players will lose a life when Kuros' life meter runs out, but when restarting they will keep any items they received up to that point. The game ends when all three lives are lost, but players have the choice to continue and start over at the level where they lost their last life. If you continue, players will keep all items received up to that point, but their score will go back to zero. Along the way, players can fill up Kuros' life meter by collecting pieces of meat that are scattered across the levels.
Along the way, players collect many items that will help Kuros on his way. Acorns, torches, and treasure chests contain items that players can collect. Chests are color-coded and require a key of that color to open the chest. The same color coded keys are used to open doors with matching colors. Some weapons and magical items will be replaced once the player has collected a new item, but others will remain as the game progresses. Items include: "Boots of Power" that can open chests and doors; Potions that give Kuros temporary invulnerability, extra speed, or extra jumping ability; Gems to bribe the guardian at the end of the level; a shield to protect against enemy attacks; the “Levitation Potion” that enables Kuros to float upwards; the “dagger of the throwing” and the “battle ax of the agor”, which are thrown at enemies and return like a boomerang; the "Feather of Feather Fall," which slows Kuros' rate of fall; the “magic wand of wonder” and “wand of power”, which shoot ice balls and fireballs, respectively; the "cloak of darkness" that makes Kuros invisible to enemies; the "Boots of Lava Walk", with which Kuros can walk on the lava; "Exploding Eggs" that destroy all enemies on the screen; "Alarm clocks" that stop all enemies for a short time; Knife and ax upgrades, and an item known simply as the "horn" (trumpet), which many players were confused about because it seemed useless, was used to reveal hidden doors to gem caves in some places. Other valuable treasures increase the player's score and include coins, balls, goblets, and entire treasuries. Rescuing the virgins in the levels also increases the player's score.
Wizards & Warriors puts the hero of the story, Kuros, the "knight warrior of the books of Excalibur" against the main opponent, the evil wizard Malkil. He was considered one of the greatest magicians in the country, so Merlin was one of his students. However, the aging Malkil has gone mad and has begun to use his magic for evil. As a result, Malkil has captured the princess and is keeping her imprisoned in Castle IronSpire deep in the woods of Elrond. The protagonist of the game, the brave knight Kuros, is asked to venture through the woods of Elrond. He is armed with the legendary lightsaber, a sword powerful enough to defeat demons, insects, undead and the other creatures that have fallen under Malkil's spell. With the sword he dares through the forests of Elrond and the various caves and tunnels and to IronSpire Castle, where he must defeat Malkil and save the princess.
Wizards & Warriors was developed by UK-based video game company Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released by Acclaim in North America in December 1987; it was later released in Europe on January 7, 1990 by the same company. It was released in Japan by Jaleco under the title Densetsu no Kishi Elrond (伝説騎士 Legend ルロンド, Legendary Knight Elrond) on July 15, 1988. The game would be Rare's second NES release after Slalom. The game's soundtrack was composed by video game composer David Wise.
Wizards & Warriors was featured in Nintendo Fun Club News - the forerunner to Nintendo Power - which gave a brief overview of the gameplay. The game would be featured again in the November-December 1989 issue of Nintendo Power, where it was selected as the best game for the NES Advantage controller. The joystick would allow players to focus on other strategic game elements. In 1989 Wizards & Warriors was nominated by the magazine for "Best Graphics & Sound" and "Best Character" (Kuros) for the "Nintendo Power Awards '88", but won neither of the categories. It was also featured in a 1989 issue of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. The reviewer praised the challenge of the game and the need to solve problems - specifically the need to use various items besides the lightsaber to defeat some enemies and advance in the game, and the need to find hidden rooms to hold the required items. However, he found that the high level of difficulty is offset by the ability to pick up exactly where the player left off. Overall, the reviewer praised Wizards & Warriors for its "excellent graphics and sound", the arcade-style gameplay and the general challenge.
German magazine Power Play praised the game's good graphics, sound and extras, but criticized the "stale gameplay". Arnie Katz reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, stating, "Wizards and Warriors debunks the claim that all video games are unbridled target shooting. This engaging and well-programmed action-quest provides a satisfying, in-depth gaming experience." In a retrospective of the entire Wizards & Warriors series, UK-based Retro Gamer magazine gave a positive review of the first title, stating: "Kuros' first adventure was 1987 a unique experience for NES players and technically well ahead of other games for the console at the time. The review said that despite being a platformer, the game placed a lot of emphasis on finding treasure and items. The review revealed that most players found a bug in a relatively easy difficulty level, most symbolized by its unlimited continuation, in which players can pick up exactly where they left off. According to the retrospective, in 1988 Rare featured Wizards & Warriors Zippo Games touring Rare and their NES library. Rare asked her to develop a sequel to the game that would become Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II. In another Rare retrospective as part of the company's 25th anniversary, GamePro looked back at the game and called it "unique at the time" due to the unlimited number of additional players it received. Wizards & Warriors has received little coverage from modern video game websites. Video game website GamesRadar dubbed the game's opening theme "Game Music of the Day," noting that the theme "suggests from the moment you turn on the game that knights, wizards, goblins, and who knows what else." going to collide in a battle so epic it's destined for a Frazetta painting. "
JC Fletcher of Joystiq called the game "a simple action platformer about a man in thick armor who opens treasure chests to bribe knights". He also notices the variety of good and bad items such as the "staff of power" which inflicts a lot of damage on enemies, and conversely the "cloak of darkness" which says "makes Kuros invisible to you but not to enemies". He said the game has an arcade feel to it, with unlimited sequels, a high score list, a name for high scores, and good music. Jef Rouner of the Houston Press praised the game's music and animation, noting its high level of difficulty, especially during boss fights. IGN listed Wizards & Warriors at number 56 on its "Top 100 NES Games" list. Reviewer Sam Claiborn said the game was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons-type RPGs, but it went on to incorporate action-platform elements along with more traditional RPG elements. Columnist and comedy writer Seanbaby criticized the game for items that did not work as intended, including the "Cape of Darkness" and the "Boots of Lava Walk".
Wizards & Warriors was released by Acclaim in September 1989 as a standalone handheld game as part of a series of the company's handheld ports that also included WWF WrestleMania Challenge, Knight Rider, 1943: The Battle of Midway and Rocky. Kuros and his nemesis Malkil were - along with the title characters of Kwirk and BigFoot, Tyrone of Arch Rivals and characters from NARC – featured in the 1990 animated series The Power Team, part of the video game review show Video Power. Malkil appeared in an episode of Captain N: The Game Master entitled "Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street", in which the game's world was referred to as "Excalibur" rather than Elrond. Wizards & Warriors was one of the eight games developed for the Worlds of Power series of NES game adaptations published by Scholastic Corporation. The novella was written by series creator Seth Godin under the pseudonym "FX Nine". The book was the only one in the series where no effort was made to highlight the protagonist's weapons on the cover.
On the cover, however, Kuros' loincloth has been airbrushed on both sides to more completely hide its underside - which is more visible on the cover of the game itself. The novel is about a boy named Matthew who has difficulty using his imagination on a creative writing class when he accidentally brings his father's knight figure to life. He is then taken to the land of Elrond to help Kuros defeat Malkil. As with the other books in the series where no one actually "died", all of the creatures they killed were made out of the lives of the people of Elrond, and when a creature was killed, a person returned to their normal state brought back. Further in the novel, the two rescue Kuros' sister in the pink caves. While Matthew was invulnerable at the beginning of the mission when the two approached the evil wizard, he becomes more vulnerable to attacks from Malkil's villains.
More articles on Games and Poetry:
The Black Eye - Blackguards 1 - Immerse yourself in an unpredictable world
Originally posted on 2021-01-10 14:41:00.