The Krion Conquest (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
294A playthough of Vic Tokai's 1991 action-platformer for the NES, The Krion Conquest.
The Krion Conquest is exactly the sort game that you would've expected from Vic Tokai's American publishing house in the NES's later years. They had a knack for localizing odd-ball, distinctly Japanese titles that seemed to end up with cult-followings - games like The Clash at Demonhead and Golgo 13.
It's a platformer that clearly takes many of its design cues from the Mega Man. You play as "Francesca" (seriously?), a witch who is summoned by a girl (is that Priss from Blade Runner?) being hunted down by Krion robots. The game was originally intended to bear the license of an 80s anime based on The Wizard of Oz, and even with most of the cutscenes missing from the US version, you can clearly see the original intent.
Francesca has all sorts of weapons her disposal, all selectable from a submenu. Her default form sees her firing chargeable shots from the end of her wand, like a (pre-mega buster) mega buster. The broom ability allows her to create a controllable flying platform (like Rush Jet), the ball ability allows her shots to bounce off of walls (like the Gemini Laser), and the pink outfit allows her to inflict huge damage to everything on-screen at the expense of half of her health gauge. The shield and freeze abilities are exactly what you'd expect them to be.
Like Mega Man, each of the stages is sub-divided into smaller, connected rooms that focus on specific challenges - sometimes it'll be as simple as killing an aimlessly wandering enemy, while others might be crossing long, spike-lined corridors without a floor beneath you. Each set of three stages is then capped off with a boss battle: following a seizure-inducing intro screen that features useless information (including a lot of meaningless numbers and a "message from you're [sic] friends"), you get to fight some sort of crazed robot that inevitably has a weak-spot that is easiest hit with the ball ability.
The game plays well, but it's to its detriment that it's such a derivative work. The Krion Conquest doesn't compare favorably to the Mega Man games. Much of the game can be cleared using just one or two of Frankie's abilities, leaving most of her forms as useless window-dressing. This may be the net result of having all of the forms available right from the beginning, but the game feels unbalanced, not to mention somewhat under-developed, as a result.
The Krion Conquest is a pretty good-looking game though. It (unsurprisingly) resembles Mega Man with its robotic enemies, level designs, and user interface, but the color schemes are vivid and appealing, the level of detail in the sprites and backgrounds looks nice, and it doesn't flicker and slow down too badly in most instances. The last boss is also pretty awesome to look at. The music is crazy catchy, but it's repetitive and its sound is somewhat "beepier" and less refined than the Mega Man games ever had.
If you're looking for a solid shooter/platformer that may have flown under your radar, The Krion Conquest is a fun game. It's unoriginal and fairly easy, but the gameplay is sound and enjoyable, and the whole thing has a lot of goofy personality.
If you'd like to see the original Japanese game (in English), you can find my recording of it here: https://youtu.be/CubTbCSn3wQ
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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