In the NES version, players control Kuros, a knight from the Kingdom of Elrond, as he sets out to defeat the evil wizard Malkil, who holds the princess captive in Castle IronSpire, located deep within Elrond's forests.
In the Famicom version however, as implied in the Japanese title Densetsu no Kishi Elrond (伝説の騎士エルロンド lit. Elrond the Legendary Knight), Elrond is the name of your knight from the Kingdom of Melad (メルラド, Merurado). His quest is to defeat the evil wizard Black Anis (ブラック・アニス, Black Anisu), who has captured the seven princess sisters in Castle Hydra (ヒュドラ, Hyudora), located within Forest of Dark and Terror (暗闇と恐怖の森).
The idle screen in NES version, where Kuros is the yellow guy in the middle.The idle screen in Famicom version, where Elrond is the yellow guy in the middle.
The game screen in the NES version.The game screen in the Famicom version. Notice that Elrond has already obtained the Potion of Levitation in the first stage.
In the NES version, Kuros has a life bar of twelve bars, and starts with two lives. In the Famicom version however, Elrond uses a life point system, and does not have extra lives, so that if his life points are drained to zero, it is an instant game over.
The Meat, which restores two bars of Kuros' lost life (NES version), will increase Elrond's life points by 200 instead (Japanese version). Additionally, while Kuros starts a stage with a full lifebar, Elrond starts with 1500 life points instead, and can collect meat to gain more life points above the starting value.
In the NES version, Kuros cannot use more throwing items if there are already max numbers on the screen. In the Famicom version however, when Elrond tries to use more throwing items, the older one will disappear.
In the NES version, if Kuros has got Wand of Wonder or Staff of Power, he needs to press every time in order to shoot out projectiles. In the Famicom version however, as long as Elrond has either of these items, all of his normal attacks will shoot out projectiles, without needing to use the button.
While both versions use the same stage terrain, the object layout in both versions are different. For example, the exterior of the Forest of Elrond 1 in the NES version is flooded with monsters, and both of the treasure boxes inside the trees contain diamonds. In the Famicom version, in the Forest of Dark and Terror 1, the exterior does not have enemies, and one of the aforementioned treasure boxes will contain a Potion of Levitation.
Some of the minor enemies are different in both versions. For example, the ghosts from the NES version does not appear in the Famicom version.
Many bosses in the Famicom version will not turn into a pack of spirits when defeated, as they do in NES version.
The Rock Face boss explodes into rocks instead of souls in the Japanese version and some bosses appear in different orders in the Japanese version too.
Final Battle
After Kuros has defeated Malkil in the NES version, he can safely reach the exit and rescue the last princess. In the Famicom version however, as soon as Elrond beats Anis to dust, the room will start to tremble, and rocks will fall from ceiling, dealing 500 damage per hit, until Elrond reaches the exit.
every time in order to shoot out projectiles. In the Famicom version however, as long as Elrond has either of these items, all of his normal attacks will shoot out projectiles, without needing to use the 