''Dragon Knight 4'' (ドラゴンナイト４) is an erotic

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

developed 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 ''-sa ...

and released only in Japan for several platforms between 1994 and 1997. In 1994, the game first became available for PC

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

NEC PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more th ...

and

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 Megahertz, MHz Motorola 68000 Central processing unit, CPU, 1 Megabytes, MB of Random Access Memory, RAM ...

, with a censored version ported to the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...

in 1996 and later to the

PC-FX The is a 32-bit home video game console developed by NEC and Hudson Soft. It was released in 1994 and discontinued in February 1998, as NEC's final home video game console. Based on the NEC V810 CPU and CD-ROM, it was intended as the successor ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

and

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

in 1997. It was also adapted into illustrated novels and an anime miniseries. ''Dragon Knight 4'' is a continuation of the '' Dragon Knight'' series, and a sequel to ''

Knights of Xentar ''Knights of Xentar'' is an erotic role-playing video game published for MS-DOS compatible operating systems in North America by Megatech Software in 1995. It was originally published as ''Dragon Knight III'' (ドラゴンナイトIII) in Japa ...

''. ''Dragon Knight 4'' has a new protagonist, Kakeru, the son of Takeru from the previous games.

Gameplay

The game features a

turn-based In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...

battle system, with the player in control of up to eight additional characters. Allies and enemies are both separated into statistically distinct classes: swordsmen, archers and sorcerers, with certain armour and weaponry being appropriate to each.

Plot

The central character of ''Dragon Knight 4'' is Kakeru (カケル) (voiced by Megumi Ogata), the son of Yamato Takeru, the protagonist of the earlier games in the series, and the sorceress Luna. At the outset, the player is informed of the wizard Lushifon's plot to destroy civilization and must guide Kakeru through a number of battles to defeat Lushifon.

Release

The original DOS, FM Towns and PC-98 versions of the game feature erotic scenes.

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-own ...

removed these aspects before re-publishing the game for the SNES, PC-FX and PlayStation platforms. A third remake brought the game into the third dimension and brought back the

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

scenes.

Other media

The original soundtrack ''Dragon Knight 4 Complete Music File'' was released by NEC Avenue. Media Works also published a three-volume manga by Togashi in 1997–1999. Two different illustrated novelization were published. A

three-volume novel The three-volume novel (sometimes three-decker or triple decker) was a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. It was a significant stage in the development of the modern novel as a form of popular litera ...

was written by Rei Marimura, illustrated by Masaki Takei, and released by

Wani Books is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehis ...

in 1994–1995. The second, two-volume novel was written by Youko Kagura, illustrated also by Masaki Takei, and released by

Kill Time Communication is a Japanese science fiction and fantasy ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Kill Time Communication. Its target readership is males between their teens and thirties. The first volume was released on July 25, 2006, and ran in bimonthly volum ...

in 2007–2008. A two-volume anime

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 ...

of two episodes each was produced by Dangun Pictures and released by

Pink Pineapple Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

in 1998–1999.

Reception

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...

'' included it on their list of Top Ten PC-FX Games, commenting that "visually this is one of the more attractive PC-FX titles available and it's ably assisted by a moderately deep and engaging battle system, not to mention a half-decent storyline."''Retro Gamer'' 53, page 10.

References

External links

* (Windows) * (FM Towns)
''Dragon Knight 4''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

''Dragon Knight 4''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

Anime

*Official website
D-1
an

* {{ELF 1994 video games 2007 video games Banpresto games DOS games Eroge ELF Corporation games FM Towns games Japan-exclusive video games NEC PC-9801 games PlayStation (console) games Sega Saturn games PC-FX games X68000 games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in Japan Windows games Single-player video games