Released for the NES in North America in 1989
My Play Time: Roughly 9 Hours
Played on: Wii Virtual Console (500 Points)
First Impressions...
When I decided to buy and play King's Knight, I didn't really realize what I was getting myself into. I found out, quickly, that this game is actually known for it's ungodly difficulty level, particularly during the game's final stage, and for it's unfriendly controls.
It's really easy, cynical, and unfortunately trendy to beat up on old games. My first inclination is, of course, to talk about how ridiculous King's Knight can be and how dated it is - but I don't want to do that. Anybody could talk about that, and anybody who plays this game can figure it out for themselves. Instead, I enjoy celebrating games, even this one with it's punishingly difficult controls and level design.
Overview...
King's Knight is a shooter from Square. Weird, eh? On top of looking a bit like Final Fantasy, the four main characters are even based off of classic fantasy staples; Knight, Wizard, Thief and ... Dinosaur? Really, there's a dinosaur in this game...
So here it is -
Tread warily into this game; King's Knight is not for the weak of heart. I played this one for nine hours, and at least six of those hours were spent trying to master the game's final stage.
King's Knight does feature some novel concepts. In some ways, it was ahead of it's time for a shooter. The player spends the first part of the game controlling four different characters, each journeying through their own vertical scrolling stages. During the initial stages, characters collect power-ups and spells that will aid them through their own level and, inevitably, through the final level. Of course, gaining levels and becoming stronger goes hand-in-hand with modern games - most modern games can be considered RPG-hybrids by classic standards - but King's Knight features an additional element that can still be considered notable. During the game's final stage, all four characters come together to form one super-team.
And that's where things get problematic!
The easiest way to put it is like this. Your four-man super-team is one giant hit box, four times as vulnerable as a regular character! Coupled with the game's already dodgy controls and underdeveloped basic mechanics (your weapon fire sometimes travels through enemies, especially in the final stage), maneuvering your party becomes something of an obstacle in and of itself. Even dodging basic enemy fire is a feat!
Well, anybody who has read a review of King's Knight could probably tell you all of this, so I won't go into much more detail. Suffice to say that I don't think I've ever cursed quite so much while playing ANY game. I was so in over my head that I actually started looking for walkthroughs online (I'm generally pretty anti-walkthrough). Regardless of the age this game shows, there will still be people, myself included, looking forward to the opportunity to play this obscure part of Square's past.
Long story short, I did NOT beat this game. But I tried, and I tried damn hard! So did I give up? ... Of course not. I was so insistent that everybody around had to ask me why I kept playing a game that was causing me so much frustration. So read on and you'll get the whole story.
King's Knight features a continue mode. The game would be impossible without it, but the actual function of the continue mode is unique and noteworthy. When you continue your game at the title screen by pressing select, you can choose to replay any of the four initial stages to take a crack at making your characters stronger. If you just want to get back to the final stage, you can press start on the continue screen. The ultimate downfall of continue mode in this game is... HOW EASY IT IS TO DELETE YOUR PROGRESS!!!!
So, after some nine hours of King's Knight turmoil, torturing my friends with the music, my swears and my rants, I pressed start accidentally at the game's title screen instead of select ... and felt my heart sink to my stomach. Everything I had done up to that point was deleted.
I will return to this title eventually, just to settle a score with a certain final dragon. But for now, I'm following my friends' advice and taking a needed break from King's Knight.
Final Thoughts...
Far be it from me to deride classic games - they carry their own individual weight in the annals of game history - but I seriously can only recommend King's Knight to gamers interested in the history of early NES shooters and, far more specifically, in the history of Square's earlier titles (this game was released before they became known for Final Fantasy). It's also sort of worth checking out, at the very least to see what Sakaguchi and Uematsu were up to before they became known for their more famous work.
It's interesting to note that the first four stages of King's Knight and the game's final stage feel like two different games. Still, if you want to experience King's Knight without the hardship, check out this guy's video. He makes it look easy. Really, you would never believe how hard this game actually is from watching this video.
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