089 · WIZARDS & WARRIORS
You are Kuros, a powerful knight who enter the woods of Elrond. Legend says that a powerful wizard named Malkil has has gone completely mad during his years and turned his powerful magic to the dark side. FOR MORE NESTALGIA as well as show notes and links check out www.NEStalgiacast.com
Show notes
- Introductions
- Development
- Rare
- Second Game, first to America before even Japan
- Rare used to use graph paper and type the data in
- Acclaim
- Rare
- First Impressions
- I can’t believe in just one month a new billiard game has completely dethroned the only other billiards game available for the system.
- Objective
- The game follows the hero Kuros, the "Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur", as he is tasked with saving the Princess from the evil wizard Malkil in the Castle Ironspire with the forests of elrond.
- Explore levels, obtain 3 keys, have enough gems for the boss fight
- Gameplay
- Controls
- Exploration and Combat
- Unlimited Continues, START RIGHT WHERE YOU DIE!
- Collecting Keys, Gems, and Boss Fights
- Is this an early collectathon that Rare will become known for?
- Power Ups
- See below Table
- The Cutting Room Floor
- A map special item is fully programmed into the game, but is unattainable by normal means. Pressing Select will allow you to bring up the map screen at any time rather than just at the beginning of each level. The map will also track where you are in the level. It would have come in handy in the early part of the game, especially in the purple caves.
- Music by David Wise
- djpretzel: You started writing the main Wizards & Warriors theme when you were still in school, as a means of using arpeggios to suggest a chord progression. Relative to the elaborate soundtracks being composed for big-budget, Hollywood-scale games these days, this theme is relatively simple, yet more gamers remember it (and ReMixers arrange it) than many modern scores. Is simple better?
- Simple is always better. For something to sound simple, there has usually been a whole development cycle behind it. When I hear a piece of music and think, "I could have done that" – I now think there has probably been a very involved process to hone down the melody to get to the final result. In the early days of video game music, with the limited resources we had at our disposal, the melody was incredibly important. To some extent this has been taken over by other musical elements, that in an ideal world, we would have liked to have used way back when we only had 3 channels to use.
- djpretzel: You started writing the main Wizards & Warriors theme when you were still in school, as a means of using arpeggios to suggest a chord progression. Relative to the elaborate soundtracks being composed for big-budget, Hollywood-scale games these days, this theme is relatively simple, yet more gamers remember it (and ReMixers arrange it) than many modern scores. Is simple better?
- Sequels and Spinoffs
- followed by three sequels
- Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II (1989)
- Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power (1992)
- Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear (1990) GAMEBOY
- Worlds of Power Book
- Matthew, and ordinary guy, finds himself in the middle of a quest full of danger — a quest through caverns of fire and ice, forests and treacherous castles, all the while fighting against a wizard with terrifying powers.
- Also included game hints!
- followed by three sequels
- EGL (Mike, Sean, Joe, Sam)
- Equipment
- All equipment is found in chests and stay in your inventory forever unless replaced by a higher level item (Battle Axe of Agor replaces Dagger of Throwing).
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Dagger of Throwing | Allows you to throw a dagger when pressing B, it's range depends on how long you hold the B button, and how many upgrades you have. It does 1 damage and can be found on the first stage. It also allows you to pick up items by throwing it at the item (does not work for monster dropped items), and breaking acorns or torches. |
| Battle Axe of Agor | Allows you to throw one of two axes (depending how many upgrades you have) by pressing B. Works like the Dagger of Throwing, and also replaces it when you pick this up. It does 2 damage and can be only found on the third stage. It also allows you to pick up items by throwing it at the item (does not work for monster dropped items), and breaking acorns or torches. |
| Shield of Protection | Allows you to block certain attacks when facing the attack or projectile when not swinging sword (as this moves the shield). This can be found on the first stage. |
| Potion of Levitation | Allows you to levitate in the air for an indefinite amount of time by holding Up. While levitating, you can jump, making it possible to reach higher platforms than you could otherwise. This can be found in stage 2. |
| Feather of Feather Fall | Although the name is a bit redundant, this item allows you to fall at a slower pace when holding Up. This item allows you to not take any damage when falling at great heights by holding up before hitting the ground. This item also allows you reach horizontal distances you couldn't otherwise. This can be found in stage 2. |
- Special Equipment
- You can only have one of these items at a time. Containers that they come in stay in the stage, so you may swap the items as you wish. To use these items, use the Select button.
- Name Description Boots of Force Allows you to kick monsters doing 3 damage. Also allows you to open chests that you would normally need a key for. Supposedly the instruction manual says you can also open doors this way, but doesn't work ingame. Cloak of Darkness This item allows your character to become invisible, surprisingly this does not deter enemies at all (lazy coders?), instead it decreases all damage taken by 1, considering all enemies only do 1 damage to you, this item does absolutely nothing good for you. Wand of Wonder This item shoots a freezing projectile that will freeze an enemy for a couple seconds. It does not freeze bosses, instead it inflicts 1 damage. Boots of Lava Walk Allows you ride the moving flame walls, while allowing you to still take damage when walking on lava, strange giving it's name (more lazy coding?). Horn This item reveals hidden doors within on screen when used. The doors will disappear when leaving the screen. It is only really useful on stage 4, as there is many hidden doors. Staff of Power This item shoots 4 projectiles doing 2 damage each.