Wizards & Warriors

1987 · Action Platformer · NES

About Wizards & Warriors

Wizards & Warriors (1987) is Rare's NES action platformer in which the knight Kuros fights through the forests and caves of Elrond to defeat the wizard Malkil and rescue a princess.

Wizards & Warriors in Depth

Kuros, "Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur", sets out across the Kingdom of Elrond to defeat the evil wizard Malkil, who holds the princess captive in Castle IronSpire. He climbs through the trees of the Elrond forest to reach caves and tunnels, explores caverns of ice and lava, crosses a second forest and finally reaches the castle, a series of mazes where keys open doors and other captive damsels may be rescued before the final duel with Malkil. Kuros attacks with his Brightsword, in the air or by holding it in position, and with other weapons and magic.

The aim is to collect weapons, magic, gems and treasure to overcome enemies and hazards. Gems are needed to bribe the creature guarding the entrance to the next level, and each level ends with a boss empowered by Malkil's black magic, whose meter shows how tough it is, how many hits it needs and what kind of weapon will hurt it. Items hide inside acorns, torches and colour-coded chests that need matching keys, including the Boots of Force for kicking open chests and doors, potions of invulnerability, speed and jumping, a shield, the Potion of Levitation and the Dagger of Throwing. Kuros's life drains over time as well as from damage and is restored by meat, and continuing keeps items but resets the score.

Making Wizards & Warriors

UK-based Rare developed it for the NES, and Acclaim released it in North America in December 1987, followed by Japan in July 1988 and Europe in January 1990. Magazines including Nintendo Fun Club News, Nintendo Power and VideoGames & Computer Entertainment praised its graphics, sound, challenge and arcade-style play; Nintendo Power nominated it for Best Graphics & Sound and Kuros for Best Character in its 1988 awards, though it won neither, while Power Play criticised its "stale gameplay". Computer Gaming World's Arnie Katz called it "engaging and well-programmed". Retro Gamer later called it "technically well ahead of other games for the console at the time" but felt unlimited continues made it easy. Three sequels followed, starting with Ironsword in 1989.

Wizards & Warriors Trivia

In Japan it is titled Densetsu no Kishi Elrond (Legendary Knight: Elrond), published by Jaleco.
It was Acclaim's first game as a domestic publisher rather than localiser.
It was Rare's second NES game, after Slalom.
David Wise composed the soundtrack.
Nintendo Power called it the best game for the NES Advantage controller.