No. 4: King of Dragons
3 Player Fantasy Fighting Game from CAPCOM

King of Dragons. CAPCOM (1990). In the late 1980s and early 1990s CAPCOM consistently produced top quality video games, mostly involving a fighting theme. Indeed, the legacy of the Street Fighter series to the 1-on-1 fighting game formula lives on to this day. Far from the best scrolling beat-em-up game there ever was, King of Dragons is here for its charm and for its nostalgic connotations. Times were hard back in 1991 and the highlight of the week would be going into town (London) on a Friday and hitting the arcades before going on to the pubs and clubs. Games you could get value for money from were top of the bill, so Nici and I would throw a 50 pence piece in the King of Dragons machine for 3 credits, fire up a 2-player game, and whoever got the furthest took the 3rd credit. What can you get for 50p in an arcade nowadays eh? A 1 in 10,000 chance at scooping up a teddy from the limp-gripped crane machines or about 3 1/2 seconds of false hope from a fruit machine. Oh and 2 minutes of  tongues from that slapper in Margate. But we won't mention that.

Up to three players could participate in KOD, choosing one of five archetypal fantasy characters:

Fighter, Cleric,  Wizard, Elf or Dwarf. This sideways scrolling slash fest was  based loosely on traditional European myth and legend, with minotaurs, orcs, giants and of course dragons all putting in an appearance.

The KOD world was spread over 16 levels, with end of level and mid-level bosses common. Each had a rather simple method of defeating, so after a few dozen plays, you could begin to get good progress on a single credit. I've completed the game using 3 credits, and I suspect it's possible to do using just the one.

Treasure chests yielded a mix of gold, jewels, food and one-shot smart-bomb type spells. The power-ups gained from experience points (well, your score really), were permanent bonuses to offence and defence alternately. There were some bunnies in this game, which is nice.

Featured: 3-players co-operatively, Great fantasy atmosphere, Dragons.

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