Virtually Overlooked: Wizards & Warriors

Rare made a name for themselves on the NES with completely awesome games like Solar Jetman, Cobra Triangle, and Battletoads, as well as unfortunate stuff like Beetlejuice and Taboo: the Sixth Sense. But of their numerous NES games, perhaps the best is a simple action-platformer about a guy in thick armor who kicks open treasure chests in order to bribe knights.

Wizards & Warriors follows Kuros, a knight of the derivatively-named kingdom of Elrond, as he rescues a series of identical maidens (with names like "Grizelda") strung up in caves. On the way, he fights giant bats, ghosts, stationary birds, animate rocks, and various other nuisances. His journey takes him from a forest, to a cave, to another cave, to a few more caves, to a cave inside a tree, to a (cavernous) castle.
His main weapon is a sword that he sort of wiggles a little bit in front of him. He can also attack enemies during a jump, if his sword happens to be pointed directly at the enemy as he jumps, and no other part of him touches the enemy. The sword is almost useless, and most fighting is done as a battle of attrition -- either the enemy will die first or Kuros will.
What makes Kuros a bit less useless, and what makes the game special, is the unique collection of powerup items. Treasure chests are all over the game; some are already open, but others require a key of a certain color. Most of these chests contain gems (used to pay off knights to allow you to exit a level), but many contain items like the Dagger of Throwing, the Boots of Lava Walk, the Potion of Levitation, and the Wand of Wonder. Kuros has inventory slots that allow for one item of each type. Unique items like the Potion and the Feather of Feather Fall never get replaced, but, for example, one pair of boots will replace another.

Since there's no way to know what's in a chest (aside from memorizing item locations), you're guaranteed to replace the two coolest items in the game with junk. The Staff of Power shoots projectiles that do tons of damage. This item only appears once, but its replacement, the Wand of Wonder, is all over the place. It freezes enemies and does less damage.



The Boots of Force are the best item in the game, allowing Kuros to kick open treasure chests like a true guy wearing metal shoes. They also do more offensive damage than anything else. This will no doubt be replaced by something like the Cloak of Darkness (which makes Kuros invisible to you but not to enemies).

Temporary powerups also appear in the game. There's a cuckoo clock that temporarily freezes all enemies, and three potions that alter his abilities while a jaunty tune plays. Blue potion makes Kuros faster for a few seconds (and turns him pastel blue), and the pink potion coats, so it's the only one you need makes Kuros jump higher. The red potion renders Kuros invincible temporarily. It makes him look exactly like the red-clad knights who guard the level exits, which suggests that those guys have a serious red potion habit. This explains their willingness to look the other way in exchange for gems.

Wizards & Warriors appears to have been destined for arcades, or designed to imitate arcade games. Like other Rare games of the time, Wizards & Warriors has an attract mode (with amazing music, just like the rest of the game has) and a high-score list with name entry. This also explains the complete lack of consequences for death: when you run out of lives, you can continue in the exact location you left off, as if you've input another quarter in a machine.
All three Wizards and Warriors games featured shirtless barbarian types on the American boxes, which is baffling, considering that in-game, Kuros was basically one hundred percent metal. Famously, the second game, Ironsword, featured Fabio on the box. We can't believe he's Kuros!