Dragon Unit / Castle of Dragon

Dragon Unit (Castle of Dragon) is a fantasy/ action video game developed and published by Athena Co. Ltd in 1989. Athena Co. Ltd is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1987. The company released several relatively famous fantasy video games such as Crows, Thunder and Lightning, Sword Master, and Daioh.
Dragon Unit’s background story (which is displayed on the attract screen) is largely based on the bravest Knight in a fantasy kingdom, who is charged with the mission to rescue the captured princess and defeat the dragon king. For decades, the kingdom has been taken hostage by Darklarza the dragon king, this has caused the king to go on exile and appoint Gareden (the knight/hero) to deliver the kingdom from evil grasp.

The hero sets out on his journey in a side scrolling adventure that takes him through different fantasy-themed landscapes. He is armed with his sword, shield, spiky mace, fire sword and double-bladed axe. While the sword and shield are the only default weapons your hero gets to hold, others are subsequently acquired when he gets power-ups. Advanced weapons like flaming projectiles are gotten from a red orb and slashing lightning are gotten from green orbs, these weapons can be acquired on rare occasions during your quest. Your objective is simple, slash and destroy every hostile that stands in your way to make it through each level alive. However, each level comes with unique bosses and hostiles.

The first screen starts with an image of the princess in the hands of the dragon king saying “help me”. The next screen shows the layout of the first 6 stages. Your Knight appears on screen with a few similarly dressed knights. Your hero has a blue armour, while the dragon kings knights are donned in dark green armour. Apart from the knighted enemies, there are torches and monsters to be slashed, and falling chandeliers to be avoided. There also flying monsters who can fly past without causing significant harm to your knight, however, it is much safer to slash them on sight with your sword. The bosses are cloaked ghosts, holding spears and shields. They throw fire at you, but your flamethrower is designed to serve you perfectly well in situations like this. As you long as you move your night from the path of the fire being thrown by the cloaked ghosts, you will make it out alive to the next stage. If you are able to complete a stage fast enough, you earn bonus points.

The second stage takes place in another castle, the stage is short compared to the first one. You get to fight all hostiles under 3 to 4 minutes and the bosses are relatively easy to beat. This is where the platform gameplay is introduced, you are required to use the jump button more often. You also have to avoid sharp blades randomly emerging from the earth, as they can slice your hero in an instant and cause him to lose a life. Other death traps to look out for are the sporadic arrows, coming from the right side of the screen.
In this level, there are power-ups that can replenish your health. There are also hourglasses that can earn you gauntlets and speed boots when they are filled to the brim. The gauntlet renders you invincible for a couple of seconds, while the speeds boots increase your speed for a limited time as well.