The King of Dragons

The King of Dragons is a 1991 side-scrolling beat 'em up by Capcom in which players travel through the kingdom of Malus to defeat the monsters that have taken over, as well as their leader, the red dragon Gildiss. The setting is very similar to that of Dungeons & Dragons and other medeival fantasy worlds, with familiar monsters such as Orcs, Gnolls, Harpies, Wyverns, Cyclopes, and Minotaurs. The game has 16 levels, though many are quite short.

Much like Knights of the Round, King of Dragons features RPG-like leveling. Characters' health bars, range and other attributes increase as they level up. Along the way, different weapon and armor upgrades can also be picked up.

Elf
The elven archer has the best range and speed of all the characters, but the worst defense, weak attack strength, and no shield.

Wizard
The wizard wields only a magical staff. He has fairly low defense and speed, but the best magic and the second best range. His attack power is weak early on, but extremely powerful later in the game.

Fighter
The fighter has the second strongest attack power, and fairly good range and speed, as well as a shield. The only thing he lacks is magic, at which he is the weakest.

Cleric
The cleric is the most balanced character in the game. He has fairly good magic and attack strength, as well as the best defense, although he is a bit slow. He also carries a shield and gains levels much faster than anyone else.

Dwarf
The dwarf has the strongest attack and the second strongest defense, is fairly quick, and also has a shield. However, he has the worst range and weak magic.

The game was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994 and will be a part of Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2, which is to be released for the PlayStation Portable in late 2006.

Trivia
This was one of the many Capcom games to feature the Yashichi power-up item. There are three hidden throughout the game, each giving the player an extra continue.