"The worst Squaresoft game I've ever played"

King's Knight is a Squaresoft title released on the NES. I never heard of it until about 10 years ago when a friend found it in a yard sale. I didn't end up playing it until today despite owning it for a year as part of my Squaresoft collection. Is it worth playing though?

The princess has been taken by an evil dragon so it's up to a knight, a wizard, a monster and thief to save her. That's the entire plot but I guess it works. I really didn't care for the ending though.

The graphics in this game aren't half bad. The enemies look pretty cool and there is enough variety in them. They might lack in animations but they still look good. Even the levels themselves look good with their themes of desert, forest and whatever.

The sound in the game really didn't do anything for me. There's one song and having to hear it in every stage made me want to rip my hair out by the end. Sound effects are limited to the sound of things being hit and power-ups being collected,

Control is very easy in the game. Shoot with one button, move with the d-pad. It really doesn't require much explanation. I found it to be rather responsive as well.

The idea behind King's Knight is to mix a shoot'em up with an RPG feel. The game is made up of five levels. One per characters. Each character kind of plays the same but some are stronger than others.

The main idea is to find all of the hidden items in the stages and finish each stage alive. You can reach the final stage with just one guy left but it will be very hard.

In the game you scroll up towards the top of the screen. You shoot enemies to kill them and land masses to get rid of them and reveal items or whatever. The game does have a nice power-up system and while it's no more than life up, life down or better attack, it does keep things a little interesting. In the final level there are items that switch who you're controlling.

The game isn't very long but you'll either need a guide or many play the game a number of times to find all of the hidden items. The final stage itself is perhaps the only challenging part due to the lines up unbreakable blocks unless if you have certain attack. Kind of annoying and it really cheapens the game. Why allow it to continue on when a character dies if you need him later on?

I really can't recommend King's Knight. It's one of the most boring games I've played on the NES and I really must say it's one of Squaresoft's worst titles, if it isn't in fact the worst all together. Avoid this game even if you're a fan of the company.

Story - 6/10
Graphics -8/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay value - 4/10

Final Score - 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10 | Originally Posted: 08/24/07

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