King's Knight (NES) - Full Run with No Deaths

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Published on October 4, 2020 9:29:40 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9VZmxBWZU4

Game:

King's Knight (1986)

Duration: 20:55

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26

Full no-death run of King's Knight (キングスナイト) for the NES/Famicom, made by...Square Soft? This was played on a real NES with real cart.

Stage Listing:
00:00 - Start
00:05 - Stage 1 Start - Knight 'Rayjack'
01:15 - Stage 1 Cave
03:57 - Stage 2 Start - Wizard 'Kaliva'
04:19 - Stage 2 Cave
07:49 - Stage 3 Start - Monster 'Barusa'
08:16 - Stage 3 Cave
11:38 - Stage 4 Start - Kid Thief 'Toby'
12:56 - Stage 4 Cave
15:08 - Stage 5 Start - Help The Princess!
19:36 - Final Boss + Ending

So I was indeed a little shocked to see that the name Square Soft attached to King's Knight when I first fired it up. I know that they have dabbled in shoot em ups a bit, such as the excellent Einhander on the PS1, but I had no idea they made one as far back as the NES days.

At first glace King's Knight does appear to be a straight forward shoot em up, but that isn't really true when you delve a bit deeper. For starters, there is absolutely no score, so you really can't judge how well you are doing at a glance. What the game does grant you is numerous icons that are hidden inside the destructible terrain that will upgrade your character.

There are upgrades for your speed, defensive and offensive capabilities, and also your ability to jump up and down from terrain levels. There are also icons that look like arrows that will refill your life or drain it (only pick the ones up that point upward).

Finally, there are the special icons that you need to pick up in order to actually beat the game. And that is really the main problem, if you miss even a single one of these you cannot beat the game and are now playing the game in an unwinnable state. In fact, you won't even know this until the final stage when you can actually use them. Some of these icons are located in the hidden "dungeon" levels that appear in each stage. Did I mention that if you miss a single one of these dungeons you also lose the game?

In the first four stages of the game, you play as different heroes and need to level them up in preparation for the final battle that takes place in the last stage. When you reach the last stage, you now play as a group, and must navigate your party as a combined unit. This is the part of the game where you move around one of the largest and most awkward hitboxes in shmup history, with things being nearly impossible to dodge at points.

You must also pick the correct party member (via icons that rotate your characters around) at particular parts of the level in order to cast their spell to get through certain areas.

Now remember those secret icons I was talking about earlier? Those are what actually let you cast the spells. Now make a note right now if you ever plan on beating this game, you must absolutely collect all 4 of the "double bar" icons and the "double v" icons. Those are the spells that the thief and monster can use respectively, and are required for getting to the final boss.

In addition to all of that, you must also have all 4 party members alive for the last battle against the dragon. In this fight, you must have each party member take turns in damaging the boss, otherwise you cannot kill it.

So that's pretty much it...I think I covered everything. It took all of that text to describe a game that when you actually know what to do, takes only about 20 minutes from start to finish to beat. All I can say is what the hell was Square thinking with all this obscure crap you need to do? In a genre that prides itself on the "simple to learn, difficult to master" mantra, King's Knight throws that all out the window and forces you through a strict and narrow path, with no room for error.

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