History VideoGame / WizardsandWarriors

* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The city of Piedup from the third game is a lot more vertical than your average city would be. It's handwaved by the manual as having been built as an experiment in space conservation, though this doesn't really explain how a city of houses on wooden platforms is able to support a massive castle on top without collapsing under its own weight.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: While the sequels averted this, the original game was very forgiving regarding death. You come back to life on the exact spot at which you died, unless it was a boss fight, in which case you restart the boss fight. "Game Over" and continuing is treated as nothing more than just coming back to life again, could be done infinitely but would reset your score to zero.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/46995_ironsword_wizards_warriors_ii_nes_front_cover.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:[[LadyNotAppearingInThisGame Fabio Not Appearing In This Game]]]]

Released in 1987 by Acclaim, developed by British company Creator/{{Rare}}, ''Wizards and Warriors'' features KnightInShiningArmor Kuros hopping through the kingdom, in search of his beloved (and nameless) [[SaveThePrincess Princess]], abducted by token EvilSorcerer Malkil. Along the way, he'll rescue any OTHER [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]] he happens to stumble over, along with picking up a variety of magical odds and ends.

Kuros and Malkil were also regular characters on the cartoon segment of ''WesternAnimation/VideoPower'', with the latter himself also appearing on the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' episode "Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street.

* AutoScrollingLevel: All of the thief class challenges in the third game involve puzzling through an auto scrolling platform section.

* CriticalAnnoyance: Getting low on health will trigger a musical ditty that will not stop.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Subverted in the third game. Fewer enemies will try to kill you if you're correctly dressed in the relevant area; A knight in the castle, a thief in the city, and a wizard in the underworld will attract a lot less attention than, say, a knight in the underworld, a thief in the castle, or a wizard in the city. Lampshaded by the manual

** The final level in the first game. Bribing the knight guarding the door to Malkil requires 100 gems. Only about 65 are are out in the open which requires [[RandomDrop killing countless enemies to randomly drop]] the 35 gems necessary to proceed. [[spoiler: Or finding the well-hidden secret rooms.]]
** The platforming elements in this game can range from tricky (numerous sloped areas) to downright hellish. Be prepared to lose a lot of lives trying to land perfectly on every floating platform in the 3rd wizard trial in ''W&W 3''.

* ItemGet: Kuros will triumphantly raise the different class trophies above his head in the third game.

** The final level in the first game. Bribing the knight guarding the door to Malkil requires 100 gems. Only about 65 are are out in the open which requires [[RandomDrop killing countless enemies to randomly drop]] the 35 gems necessary to proceed.

** The four animal guardians in ''Ironsword'' really want their golden objects back.
** Although in two of the cases said guardians appear to be [[JustifiedTrope too large]] to [[FridgeLogic leave the room they occupy]].

* GainaxEnding: For the third game. Malkil explodes, leaving a PortalDoor. Kuros jumps into it and ends up in the future.

* GiveMeYourInventoryItem: Give Me Your Gems: The knight guarding the door to the boss in each level can only be placated by handing over the indicated amount of money. [[InvincibleMinorMook No, you can't kill him, no matter how much you may want to]]. But, the gems aren't actually subtracted from the player's total.

* LetteredSequel: The UsefulNotes/GameBoy title is ''X'' even though it was released third chronologically.

* MultiMeleeMaster: Kuros, while primarily [[HeroesPreferSwords being a sword wielding knight]], can make use of other weapons, such as daggers, staffs and axes. In the third game, he even wields three different types of sword.

* NintendoHard: The first isn't particularly hard due to infinite continues. The sequels, respectively, give you two continues, and NO continues.

* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Kuros loses his memory in the third game's intro when Malkil blasts him off the top of a mountain.

** One at the end of each level. They're even labeled as such.

* ContemptibleCover: The boxart of the second game features Fabio in barbarian garb.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Subverted in the third game. Fewer enemies will try to kill you if you're correctly dressed in the relevant area; A knight in the castle, a thief in the city, and a wizard in the underworld will attract a lot less attention than, say, a knight in the underworld, a thief in the castle, or a wizard in the city.

* FallingDamage: Kuros will not take fall damage but long falls will stun him for a few moments.

Kuros and Malkil were also regular characters on the cartoon segment of ''WesternAnimation/VideoPower''.

* [[GiveMeYourInventoryItem Give Me Your Gems]]: The knight guarding the door to the boss in each level can only be placated by handing over the indicated amount of money. [[InvincibleMinorMook No, you can't kill him, no matter how much you may want to]].
** Coincidentally, this only appeases the guard, since the gems aren't actually subtracted from the player's total.

Released in 1987 by Acclaim, developed by British company {{Rare}}, ''Wizards and Warriors'' features KnightInShiningArmor Kuros hopping through the kingdom, in search of his beloved (and nameless) [[SaveThePrincess Princess]], abducted by token EvilSorcerer Malkil. Along the way, he'll rescue any OTHER [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]] he happens to stumble over, along with picking up a variety of magical odds and ends.

The other games in this series are ''Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II'', released for the NES in 1989, ''Fortress of Fear: Wizards and Warriors X'', released for the GameBoy in 1990, and ''Wizards and Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power'', for the NES in 1992.

* LetteredSequel: The GameBoy title is ''X'' even though it was released third chronologically.

* EvilSorcerer: Malkil.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Malkil.

* UselessUsefulStealth: See above about the Cloak of Darkness.

* HyperactiveMetabolism:
** Food typically heals in all of the games.
** Not so much in the second game, since small chickens will restore health, [[DeathByGluttony but large chickens can kill a weakened Kuros]].

* GainaxEnding: For the third game. Malkil explodes, leaving a GiantSwirlyThing. Kuros jumps into it and ends up in the future.

** This is much more apparent in ''Ironsword'', since many of the items collected do absolutely '''nothing''' to improve Kuros' abilities, [[CosmeticReward they just change his appearance.]]

* SkeletonKey: The level three thief ability in the third game is a skeleton key which "will let you into any door you like!"

* SkeletonKey: The third level of the Thief gets one of these. With it, Kuros can open any door or brown window.

* AutoScrollingLevel: All of the class challenges in the third game involve puzzling through an auto scrolling platform section.

* [[LadyNotAppearinginThisGame Fabio-Not-Appearing-In-This-Game]]: Fabio depicts Kuros as a barbarian on the second game's cover despite Kuros ingame actually being a knight.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: The first game has plenty of damsels for you to rescue, though.

Released in 1987 by Acclaim, developed by British company {{Rare}}, ''Wizards and Warriors'' features KnightInShiningArmor Kuros hopping through the kingdom, in search of his beloved (and nameless) [[SaveThePrincess Princess]], abducted by token EvilSorcerer Malkil. Along the way, he'll rescue any OTHER [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]] he happens to stumble over, along with picking up a variety of magical odds and ends, [[PowerupLetdown some of which may prove more useful than others]].

''Wizards and Warriors'' is essentially a platformer with dungeon-crawler elements and mild RPG elements. Players had to roam through large levels looking for enough gems to pay their way to a boss fight, and could collect keys, treasure, and special items along the way, while dealing with a 5-item inventory limit (with specific items using specific slots).

Would go on to spawn two NES sequels and one for the GameBoy. Kuros and Malkil were also regular characters on the cartoon segment of ''WesternAnimation/VideoPower''.

* ContemptibleCover: The boxart of the second game features... uh... Fabio. No kidding.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover artwork for all four games depict Kuros as a half-naked barbarian, despite the fact that he's a KnightInShiningArmor in the games. Likewise, Malkil appears on the cover of the first game as an ashen-skinned EvilOverlooker but when you get to him he's a bearded wizard with bright sky-blue robes. He finally gets the "shadowy sorcerer" look in the Gameboy game, ''Fortress of Fear''.
* CriticalAnnoyance: Getting low on health will trigger a musical ditty that most likely will cause you to promptly leap to your death.

* DirectionallySolidPlatforms: Sometimes.

* GiantSpider: One of the bosses.

* KnightInShiningArmor: Kuros, though he's always shown as a barbarian type in cover art. [[WesternAnimation/VideoPower And on TV]].

** Kuros wields the Brightsword in W&W1, then the titular Ironsword in the sequel once it is assembled.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: We've got plenty of damsels for you to rescue, though.