A few things could make this a pretty great game... but those things aren't present.
King of Dragons started as an arcade game; thus, it was designed to get as many quarters as possible. It's painfully evident that when it was converted to SNES, nothing was changed to make it more enjoyable.
You begin the game by picking one of five players. If you are a single player (which, on VIZ, you are) then the mage and cleric aren't even worth considering.
As the game progresses you realize that whenever you use magic IT DRAINS YOUR LIFE BAR. This made the makers of the arcade game a lot of money, but it's insulting to the at-home player. Furthermore, the spells do very little damage -- so magic is, for the most part, not worth using.
The game progresses and there are boss fights. These are decent, except for the dragon in level 3 (or 4?). IT WALKS RIGHT PAST YOU before it starts flying again and you can't hit it. This kind of stunt is typical of old games, but it's still annoying.
As you play, you collect gold and gems that are used for absolutely NOTHING. WTF? Oooh, High score. Who cares if you can't get food to live?
Perhaps the worst thing about this game, however, are the upgrades. An UPGRADE is supposed to make you more powerful, and these do; however, each level the enemies become equally stronger. It's like saying, "Your new sword does +5 damage, but all the enemies now have +5 damage negating abilities." The upgrades make your gear look different, but are otherwise garbage. This is most evident when trying to fight the lizard men and the mummies.
Lastly, you only get two continues. That's just insane.
As the title suggests, this game needs to be hacked. There are a few changes that would make it SO MUCH BETTER.
1) Make gold and gems useful for something -- like buying health between rounds, since THE GAME DOESN'T REFILL YOUR HEALTH EACH LEVEL.
2) Upgrade the UPGRADES.
3) Allow created characters to be saved (think Gauntlet -- if I've raised an archer to level 7, I should be able to start at level 7 every time if I load my game).
4) Add 1UPs to the loot that can be won from chests.
5) Allow for 5 Continues
6) Create a separate mana bar for magic and have it regenerate naturally overtime.
7) Add more dialogue -- why are we saving the Princess? Maybe each character could come with a background story?
In summation, The King of Dragons has the potential to be an enjoyable side-scrolling game. Potential that is currently squandered in the game's "Arcade Form" (seriously, if Arcade gamers could continue using quarters, why would the designers limit it to two continues?). If the necessary changes are made, I see no reason why this game couldn't easily be a nine or a ten. The levels are well-designed, they have short transitional levels to make the storyline flow (i.e. quick battles on a ship) and nice looking graphics.
A few things could make this a pretty great game... but those things aren't present.
King of Dragons started as an arcade game; thus, it was designed to get as many quarters as possible. It's painfully evident that when it was converted to SNES, nothing was changed to make it more enjoyable.
You begin the game by picking one of five players. If you are a single player (which, on VIZ, you are) then the mage and cleric aren't even worth considering.
As the game progresses you realize that whenever you use magic IT DRAINS YOUR LIFE BAR. This made the makers of the arcade game a lot of money, but it's insulting to the at-home player. Furthermore, the spells do very little damage -- so magic is, for the most part, not worth using.
The game progresses and there are boss fights. These are decent, except for the dragon in level 3 (or 4?). IT WALKS RIGHT PAST YOU before it starts flying again and you can't hit it. This kind of stunt is typical of old games, but it's still annoying.
As you play, you collect gold and gems that are used for absolutely NOTHING. WTF? Oooh, High score. Who cares if you can't get food to live?
Perhaps the worst thing about this game, however, are the upgrades. An UPGRADE is supposed to make you more powerful, and these do; however, each level the enemies become equally stronger. It's like saying, "Your new sword does +5 damage, but all the enemies now have +5 damage negating abilities." The upgrades make your gear look different, but are otherwise garbage. This is most evident when trying to fight the lizard men and the mummies.
Lastly, you only get two continues. That's just insane.
As the title suggests, this game needs to be hacked. There are a few changes that would make it SO MUCH BETTER.
1) Make gold and gems useful for something -- like buying health between rounds, since THE GAME DOESN'T REFILL YOUR HEALTH EACH LEVEL.
2) Upgrade the UPGRADES.
3) Allow created characters to be saved (think Gauntlet -- if I've raised an archer to level 7, I should be able to start at level 7 every time if I load my game).
4) Add 1UPs to the loot that can be won from chests.
5) Allow for 5 Continues
6) Create a separate mana bar for magic and have it regenerate naturally overtime.
7) Add more dialogue -- why are we saving the Princess? Maybe each character could come with a background story?
In summation, The King of Dragons has the potential to be an enjoyable side-scrolling game. Potential that is currently squandered in the game's "Arcade Form" (seriously, if Arcade gamers could continue using quarters, why would the designers limit it to two continues?). If the necessary changes are made, I see no reason why this game couldn't easily be a nine or a ten. The levels are well-designed, they have short transitional levels to make the storyline flow (i.e. quick battles on a ship) and nice looking graphics. 
User Notice 
also after you kill the boss it refills your health, just not all the way, it only refills 12 points
