Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 52:36

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Here is my full playthrough of Knights of the Round on Normal difficulty done live on IGTV

Follow me on instagram @CabinSNES_fever to join me live or via my reviews and uploads to witness me take down all the games currently in my SNES colleciton, following on from having already beaten all 234 licenced UK releases for the NES. I only use original carts, no cheats & no save states.

REVIEW:
-Part of Capcoms Medieval inspired arcade trilogy of beat em ups that saw a port to the SNES, tho very scarcely in the PAL region.
I'm unsure how historically accurate each offering is, but I like to think Capcom did their research so I'll just accept that 9ft, 900lb fire spawning knights were a staple of the time.

In this encounter, everyone's favourite medieval wizard; Merlin, tasks King Arthur & his knights (well 2 of them), to battle 7 stages packed with a healthy variety of armoured foes & difficult bosses. The challenge is no understatement, Capcom deliver a game that's very true to its arcade routes in difficulty but also to the high standards in gameplay & control that one expects from them, rendering damage taken usually always the players fault.

Like all Beat'em ups of the era, there's a rthymn to playing the game successfully. Unlike many, a reliance on blocking rather than spamming certain attacks is most effective!

A block can only be held for 2 seconds before your character becomes fatigued & then defenseless briefly, meaning its crucial to master quickly removing & reapplying the block button at regular intervals to avoid a fatigued state. The importance of blocking also benefits from a brief period of invincibility gained after a successful block. This window allows you to unleash attacks without fear of damage. In principle it sounds easy, however the AI, while still predictable, often proves considerbaly more intelligent than first given credit for. Bosses all pose serious danger too, which until you've mastered the block/attack game, you'll likely be heavily punished!

With 2 lives & 9 continues given as standard, it may seem pretty generous at first, tho once you realise most damage sustained takes a 3rd of your lifebar & inexperience against bosses gobbles fistfuls of lives, you realise it's barely enough! I beat the game on my final life!

All cheers at the end as Merlin brandishes round the Holy Grail like some kind of Medevil pimp. If he already had the Grail, why is he getting Arthur to do the hard work anyway?