King of Dragons

"The best Capcom beat 'em up for the SNES/SFC."

Here it is, Capcom's finest side-scrolling brawler for the Super Nintendo / Super Famicom. Combining a large and diverse playable cast, a deep level up engine, and over a dozen stages - King of Dragons is a wonderful experience. How does it stand up against the many rival beat 'em ups on the same console? Here is my review..

Graphics 8/10

Although small, the character and enemy graphics in King of Dragons are fluidly animated and quite detailed. The background environments are nice enough, with many foreground objects such as pillars or rubble aiding the immersion factor. The bosses on the other hand, are quite large and often have several moving parts (the dragons in particular). While not as pretty as some of the other beat 'em ups released around the same time, it is porting graphics from the 1991 arcade game.

Sound 8/10

The stage music is rather enchanting, although I'd rank Knights of the Round a little higher in quality. There are 16 levels, each with different music - making even the smallest arenas (the boat passage) feel unique. Battle noise is above average, and there are quite a few combat sound effects in this game due to the upgrading weapons. For example, the wizard's whooshing fireball sounds nothing like his final attack - an electrical crackle. Not all of the enemies in this game have death cries, but many of them have individual noises accompanying their demise (skeletons have a shattering sound, for example). Overall this category is pretty solid: both it and the graphics made up for by the next few areas of the review.

Control 10/10

This isn't one of those beat 'em ups where you can tap the attack button half-heartedly and break through the enemies ranks. The battles are intense and thought requiring - and the controls allow this to function perfectly. As a bonus - you can even map your shield to an individual button or have it pop on automatically, a feature not in the original arcade game. Lastly, there was no response lag or poor button layout (the controls were customizable regardless). In short - the controls in The King of Dragons are top notch.

Game-play 10/10

It's not every day I rate a beat 'em up with a perfect game-play ranking, but King of Dragons earns it. The array of characters each possess such differences in design that playing the game through again with an alternate choice feels almost like a new experience. The combat is pretty clever, and even old cliches like mashing the special attack or getting all the enemies on one side of you isn't a guaranteed victory. The special attacks themselves are incredible, with the option of knocking around the magical orbs through the stage until you really need to use them. In a lot of beat 'em ups, you begin to grow tired of the constant enemy floods and simply wait to see what the next level or boss looks like. Not in this game - where trying to defeat everything that moves rewards you with experience points and upgrades your character from a dinky warrior to an unrivaled killing machine. At some point, even using the health-sapping special moves is pointless because you have grown so powerful in your normal attacks. Some people would mention that this game reuses bosses several times, to which I point out these "recycled bosses" play complete different than the first time around. Fighting the two cyclops bosses employs an entirely different strategy than just going against one. The ice-breathing dragon operates in a unique matter when compared to the earlier fire expelling one. Even so, there are 16 levels, almost all of them ending with boss fights - creating an epic wayfaring experience. I don't see how some reviewers on Gamefaqs can insult this game, as it offers one of the most engaging and deepest combat engines for 16-bit beat 'em ups.

Replay value 9/10

Aside from the lack of a versus mode or multiple endings - The King of Dragons has everything a person could seek for in replay value. There is a large cast of characters who play nothing like one another, and have a unique upgrading ability. There's always the motivation to go back and try to get every possible experience point and unlock the absolute highest level for your characters. With two players, the game is even more frantic - as you mix and match fighting styles and try to steal all the items for yourself. If I had more free time before reviewing this, I would have gone back and beaten the game again with the other four characters. The King of Dragons rates very high in this area of the review.

Overall 9/10

The King of Dragons is a classic beat 'em up, and could quite possibly be the best one on the SNES/SFC system. Even though an arcade perfect form exists on Capcom Classics Collection 2 for the PS2/XBOX - this version is worth owning. Due to a declining interest in owning physical copies of retro games, you should be able to pick this up for under $10. The King of Dragons is a must-have side-scrolling brawler - get it now!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/07