Arcade Archives: Castle of Dragon

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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Castle of Dragon (Athena, 1989)

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Although there's only one selection available on the title screen, both the Castle of Dragon and Dragon Unit title screens are included, available from the Preference Settings (alongside the usual 'adjust game speed' option) but as far as I know there's no difference besides the names. As explained by ohfivepro though, despite what MAME showing this option as a dip switch setting, this wasn't the case, you had to specifically rewire the board to make the title change, and the same with the four different copyright string options (Athena, Athena / Taito, Seta / Romstar and Seta / Taito- Taito had no involvement with the game!). Regardless of title screen chosen, the game is partially edited- the Medusa boss in Stage 2 uses the bikini sprite that you'd see when the board was wired to use the Seta / Taito or Seta / Romstar copyright string rather than the topless one from the Athena or Athena / Taito string, and the middle finger in the photo seen in the one credit clear ending has been edited out.

The Kingdom of Wenlary is in crisis! The princess has been kidnapped by the wicked dragon Zuriv and locked her away in the top floor of the castle. Fortunately, there is hope, as two young kings, Duke and Narda, suit up and head off to rescue her, fighting Zuriv's minions and navigating dangerous traps along the way. There's plenty of items to pick up as you journey to the top of the castle, including speed-up boots and three different weapons- your starting sword, a mace with an extending chain and an axe you can use as a projectile- as well as two time-limited special weapons to launch flames or lightning from your sword. In a pinch, you can press all three buttons to use up a magic spell to damage everything on-screen, but you only get one per stage (and per continue), so use it wisely. Many dangerous monsters and foes lie in wait... Will the princess be rescued or is all lost? Only the two kings know the answer.

Oh boy, now this is a video game. Castle of Dragon is a bit of a fascinating mess, there's a lot going on here. The first thing I always think of here is the soundscape- using the Seta X1-010 chip (thanks to HokutoNoShock for finding that info), the game relies heavily on very short and crunched-up samples, leading to short songs and deeply cronchy, scrunchy audio, a distinction shared with other games using thie hardware like Meta Fox. As for the game itself, it's very strange, with odd-feeling movement, a shield mechanic for deflecting enemy projectiles that's a little awkward to utilise (although it is very useful), shifting game mechanics where some stages allow you to step into the background and others don't, boss battles that can be over in seconds if you get right up in their face, the speed-up boots that make your character absurdly fast once you pick up enough so you can just zip through the stages... In fact, ohfivepro's Caravan Mode video shows that the game can be beaten before the five minute timer ends! It also describes the game as a 'disasterpiece' which, yep, that seems apt. It's very jank, and the presentation is really gaudy with a deeply-saturated colour palette... But I kinda just look at this one in amazement, you know? Video games can truly be magical sometimes, even if they're not great, and Castle of Dragon absolutely fits that bill.