''Dragon Knight'' (ドラゴンナイト) is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

-themed

eroge An ''eroge'' ( or , ''erogē''; ; a portmanteau of ''erotic game'' , ''erochikku gēmu'') is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. In 1982, Japan's Koei, founded by husband-and-wife team Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa (and later known for strate ...

role-playing video game and the original entry in the ''Dragon Knight'' franchise that was originally developed and published by

ELF Corporation , stylized as élf, was a Japanese eroge studio. One of its most popular games is '' Dōkyūsei'', a pioneering dating sim, which has had a sequel and been turned into adult OVA series. The character design of the main villains from the ''- ...

in 1989. Its remake was created by

NEC Avenue was a Japanese music and video game publisher. History NEC Avenue was founded in 1987 as a record label within NEC. NEC Avenue eventually got involved with video games, and secured licenses to produce console versions of arcade titles from Sega ...

in 1995. Both versions were released only in Japan. The game was adapted into an anime film in 1991 and was followed by '' Dragon Knight II'' in 1990.

Gameplay

Gameplay-wise, ''Dragon Knight'' is a

dungeon crawler A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "Dungeon#In fiction, dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may ...

typical for its era (similar to that of early ''

Wizardry ''Wizardry'' is a series of role-playing video games, developed by Sir-Tech, that were highly influential in the evolution of modern role-playing video games. The original ''Wizardry'' was a significant influence on early console role-playing ...

'' games). The exploration and combat are shown from the

first-person perspective A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...

using a 2D engine, combat in the game is turn-based and enemies are encountered randomly (a similar system was also used in the first sequel). With each new floor, the mazes becomes more sophisticated (in the remake there is a helpful

mini-map A mini-map or minimap is a miniature map that is often placed at a screen corner in video games to aid players in orienting themselves within the game world. They are often only a small portion of the screen and must be selective in what details ...

with grid coordinates), and enemies are getting stronger. The fights in the first game are difficult and unbalanced. The protagonist can attack, defend, and use spells and items to fight monsters (up to six (three in the remake) at once).

Plot

In the kingdom of Strawberry Fields (ストロベリーフィールズ), a place inhabited only by women, the Goddess' Tower has protected the land and its people for generations. Then one day, the monstrous Dragon Knights, corrupted by evil and led by the demon Gazelbaan (ゲイゼルバーン), descended upon the tower, and the people of Strawberry Fields suddenly find themselves threatened by his army of monsters, who have turned the goddess Aquarina (アクァーリナー) to stone and captured the warrior women, demanding the six gems that are a source of magical power of the goddess to be delivered to them or else they would kill their hostages. Answering the plea for help from village girl Luna (ルナ) (voiced by

Noriko Hidaka , better known by the stage name of , is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and narrator. She played Minami Asakura in ''Touch'', Akane Tendo in '' Ranma ½'', Satsuki Kusakabe in '' My Neighbor Totoro'', Near in '' Death Note'', Jean Roq ...

), the young warrior and traveler Yamato Takeru (ヤマト・タケル) (voiced by Akira Kamiya) takes them on. Luna's mother is voiced by

Rei Sakuma is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and narrator from Tokyo, Japan. She is best known in Japan for her voice work in the long running children's series ''Soreike! Anpanman''; her most famous role in the English-speaking world, however, i ...

. On each floor of the Tower there are captured females for Takeru to rescue from rapists.

Release

The game was originally released in 1989 for the PC88, PC98 and MSX, followed by the

Sharp X68000 The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan. The initial model has a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM, and lacks a hard drive. The final model was released in 1993 wit ...

version in 1990. The 1995 remake ''Dragon Knight & Graffiti'' for the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

was developed and released by

. Two

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

s: ''Dragon Knight: Treasure King of Water Chapter'' (ドラゴンナイト～水の宝王篇～) and ''PC Engine World—Dragon Knight & Graffiti'' were released in Japan by Datam Polystar in 1990 and by NEC Avenue (distributed by Nippon Columbia) in 1995, respectively. An

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

anime adaptation was released by Polystar on the VHS and LD in 1991.

Soft Cel Pictures A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gree ...

distributed the English version in the VHS format. It was also re-released on DVD in 2003. The cast included Yasunori Matsuno as Takeru and

Yūko Mizutani was a Japanese actress, voice actress, narrator and singer from Ama District, Aichi. Throughout her career, she worked with Production Baobab, and was working with Aoni Production at the time of her death. Mizutani was best known for her anim ...

as Luna.

Reception

On release, ''

Famicom Tsūshin formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' scored the PC Engine remake a 22 out of 40, also giving it an 8 out of 10 in their Reader Cross Review.読者クロスレビュー: ドラゴンナイト&グラフィティ. ''Weekly Famicom Tsūshin''. No. 342. p. 33. 7 July 1995.

Sequel

References

Information fro
the Russian article
at Square Faction and the Japanese Wikipedia.

External links

*
''Dragon Knight''
at MobyGames
''Dragon Knight''
at Hardcore Gaming 101 *

of ''Dragon Knight'' (PCE) {{ELF 1989 video games Dungeon crawler video games ELF Corporation games Eroge Fantasy video games Japan-exclusive video games MSX2 games NEC PC-8801 games NEC PC-9801 games Role-playing video games X68000 games TurboGrafx-CD games Video games developed in Japan