King of Dragons

"The timing is the thing."

King of Dragons ranks as the high point of the endless deluge of Final Fight clones that hit the Super Nintendo in its heyday. An arcade adaption (aren't they all?) side-scroller beat 'em up, King of Dragons throws a few wrinkles into the genre, but suffers from the banal self-parody that plagues all ''clone'' type games like Fatal Fury and Fighting Force.

The background is more or less a mosaic of standard fantasy fare: the King of the realm fears that his kingdom is threatened by a malevolent treasure-hoarding dragon, and he sends a group of five noble warriors out to battle the beast in order to save the land. The story cribs much from classics like Tolkein's The Hobbit, but it grinds the key themes of heroism and good vs. evil into a mash that could really fit into any game with a medieval flair.

Graphically speaking, King of Dragons passes mediocrity by a hair. The colors in each side-scrolling stage are loud and contrasting; the visual elegance achieved by such titles as Super Metroid and A Link to the Past is simply not to be found. Trees are vibrant green, and the paths upon which you travel are colored with an eye-soring shade of yellowish brown. The quantity of stages, however plays to the game's strength. There are many stages (over 15 in all), each with distinct themes; one takes place on a pirate ship while another mucks through a dark haunted forest. Capcom throws so much at your eyes that the occasional irritating color is lost in the mix- just as they did with the story, everything is mashed together in a streamlined fashion. You never get the feeling that you are playing a game full of visual inspiration.

The music is passable. There is a short, fast-paced trumpet ditty that repeats as you progress between stages; this jingle-like rhythm is indicative of the rest of the tracks. It is short enough to forget and annoying enough to be forgotten. In short, the tunes are present when you play but fade as soon as they fall on the ears: much like a colorless summer movie, King of Dragons' audio opts for immediate, bland entertainment over a more risky (but potentially fruitful) score. This is a true shame. On the upside, the sound effects are nice. The characters groan and scream as enemies slash at them with swords and spears loudly clanging. It give you the feeling of medieval warfare, and it makes you wish the game's developers spent this much care in producing the background music.

The characters themselves are faceless, watered-down Dungeons and Dragons classes: there is a Cleric, Wizard, Fighter, Elf, and Dwarf. While five is a generous selection for a Super Nintendo side-scroller, these warriors have rather bland differences.

The game institutes a bit of RPG genius by giving these heroes the ability to gain experience and level up; this progression is simplistic as compared to Final Fantasy games but it is a nice change of pace from the tried and true rules of the genre. It also allows a small degree of depth within the character selection: certain heroes like the Cleric level up quickly, meaning you will have an extra measure of offense and defense against higher level enemies over, say the Wizard who levels up the slowest. However, the Wizard becomes the most powerful character by the game's end; this type of strategy is nice to see in this type of game. It gives you more to consider than the usual ''strength vs. quickness'' quandry that the Final Fight series throws at you.

However, other than that King of Dragons feels flat. There are two types of limited magic (fire and lightning) to use in addition to traditional swordplay; however, each character possesses the skill to use only one of these types of magic throughout the game. This is even more shallow than earlier games, such as Golden Axe and that's a real shame. The physical battling is the usual button-mashing, although you can also defend yourself with your shield by pressing the back button on the crosspad just as you are attacked. This is another nice small feature that should have been developed more. Too often you are stuck sludging through scads of similar-looking enemies with the same slash move. The control scheme is even less encouraging: Capcom left it almost untouched from Final Fight, with an Attack button and a Jump button (with only the Magic button added for variety).

The overall quest is uninspiring as well: it is here that the game's dearth of stages becomes a burden. For fifteen stages plus, you are swarmed by palette-swapped clone enemies that require no strategy to defeat. In fact, even the damage you receive seems scripted- the enemies will hit you once every dozen encounters or so no matter how good you get at using the battle system. The Boss monsters are usually large and well-drawn, but they rarely break the mold of large, lumbering behemoth. Even the last, biggest baddies are simply going through the motions; there is nothing to get excited about.

However, at its core King of Dragons is a solidly produced, Capcom-flavored Final Fight clone with a sprinkle of personality to make it commerically viable. This is what happens when a trailblazing game hits it big- the watered-down cash-ins flood the market (see also Knights of the Round, released in roughly the same time frame as KofD). The game is mildly fun to play through, but it will no doubt collect dust on your shelf once the ''newness'' of it wears thin. However, if you just can't get enough of the one-dimensional orgy of violence that is Final Fight and you have an affinity for knights, maidens, and magic, King of Dragons would be good choice for you.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/22/00, Updated 07/22/00