When Dragon Spirit was released in 1987, it was originally released as a Namco arcade game, though it was later ported to Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Sharp X68000, TurboGrafix-16, and ZX Spectrum under the same name. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System under the name Dragon Spirit - The New Legend. I have no idea why they tacked "The New Legend" on, since the gameplay seems to be the same, but hey, whatever; it's on Nintendo, and that's all that matters.
As I've said said before now and will continue to say, the story is quaint, but it's a good kind of quaint. Quaint like reading by candle light, not quaint like sacrificing a pig everytime you do something wrong. Anyway, the story....After a millennium of captivity, a serpent demon named Zawell escapes imprisonment and kidnaps Alicia, princess to the kingdom of Mitgult. A young, crafty soldier named Amul is selected to rescue the princess and destroy Zawell. In praying to the gods for strength and courage, he points his sword high toward the heavens. Suddenly he is transformed into an all-powerful blue dragon, bestowed with special powers; a gift from the gods to aid him in his quest.
Dragon Spirit is one of those games that you never forget after you play it just once. It's story is rather cliché and the names are strange (Zawell? What...?), but the game is an unforgetable experience. There are 12 levels to the game if you include the very first part that you don't even have to beat to proceed, though not many people count that, bringing the level total to 11. Anyway, you're a dragon flying around killing stuff. You have two attacks; an aerial attack and a ground bombardment. I think this sort of dimentional distinction is pretty impressive for the 8-bit Nintendo, even if you can't actually change altitudes. After each level, there is a boss at the end, and the levels are all WAY harder than the bosses. Like. WAY harder.
Presentation - 8.5. From the title screen to the pointless intro level, this game has "EPIC" written all over it, and they make sure you know how epic their game is.
Graphics - 8. For the NES, they're really not bad. 8-bit was capable of more, as we saw in later games like Mario 3, but by no means did Dragon Spirit have poor graphics for the time and system capabilities.
Sound - 9. The music on the title screen and text screens isn't bad, and the music in the game itself is pretty chipper and upbeat. Cool music + Good game = One happy old school gamer.
Gameplay - 9.5. This game is way more fun than one would expect when watching someone else play it, and it's addicting. Being able to continue from the level at which you died makes one want to persist and beat it.
Lasting Appeal - 9.5. You won't forget this game. If you play it once, you won't forget it. You might forget the story or the names or the order of the levels, but the gameplay itself is so great, you'll always remmber.
Overall Score - 9.2
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