The Knights of Valour trilogy (三国战纪, lit. Saga of the Three Kingdoms) is a series of Beat 'em Up arcade action games made by Taiwan's IGS (International Games System Co.) studios.
Taking cues from the arcade classic Warriors of Fate, combined with elements from IGS's then-recent success Oriental Legend, the trilogy is an abridged retelling of the Chinese literary classic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, combined with plenty of fantastical elements.
The original trilogy is enough of a success to warrant multiple spin-offs and remakes, spanning eleven entries with the most recent being a 3D remake in 2015.
In all the games, players can select between the novel's Five Tiger Generals (and various others, right up to a Japanese pirate and a kitsune):
- Zhuge-Liang, the advisor of the Shu Kingdom, re-imagined as a Badass Bookworm who wields a sword in tandem with his trademark fan;
- Guan Yu, the famed Chinese war God and easily the most iconic character in the novel;
- Zhang Fei, the sworn brother of Guan Yu, and a powerhouse Mighty Glacier;
- Huang Zhong, the Old Soldier and expert archer whose quiver holds unlimited arrows; and
- Diao Chan, a capable warrior with her twin knives.
Levels in each game are based on the novel's most iconic events, including the Yellow Turban Uprising, Battle of Guandu, Naval War at Red Cliffs, and assorted wars and incidents.
The Knights of Valour series contain examples of:
- Action Bomb: The second game have floating Sky Lanterns, loaded with gunpowder which somehow homes in on you and explodes on contact.
- Airborne Mook: Giant eagles trained by the enemy will attack you in outdoor areas now and then, staying in mid-air out of your reach before periodically swooping down to attack.
- Anachronism Stew: Zhang He from the second game, at various points during his boss fight, will attack by breakdancing. Via supporting his body with his hands as he spins around to lash out by kicking. In the Three Kingdoms era. Granted, the fact that the players can obtain various superpowers is a clear indicator that the game isn't really aiming for historical accuracy, but still.
- Animorphism: One of the rarer power-ups, which can transform enemies into a random harmless animal for a short period of time, like rabbits, lizards, rodents, and the like. Including bosses! You can One-Hit Kill them in their animal state, though bosses tend to move faster and revert back to human in a shorter time.
- Artistic License – History: Besides characters from Three Kingdoms having superpowers (a huge stretch from what history portrays them to be), and that historical characters like Zhuge-Liang and Sima Yi which are portrayed in history as wise scholars who never saw combat now capable of kicking ass with assorted weapons; there's also the Flaming Ox Formation being used in-game by Cao Cao's army from the Shu Kingdom, when in real-life it's the Qi Kingdom who employed this particular stratagem.
- Asian Fox Spirit: One of the later entries from 2008 allows a kitsune named Inugami as one of the playable characters. No word as to what a Japanese fox-spirit is doing in Three Kingdoms-era China...
- Bamboo Technology: The enemy's ranks include wooden automations, which moves around jerkily while trying to attack with their fists.
- The Battle Didn't Count: Very early on in the second game, you fight Duan at night, but then he tells you to wait until the next day. Then they start running until the next day, and then you fight him again. He doesn't regain any health between night and day, so this seems kind of pointless.
- Battle in the Rain: The first stage of the second game have you battling enemy soldiers in the ruins of a village amidst heavy rain.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: It's an adaptation of the Battle of Red Cliffs from the Three Kingdoms, the iconic moment of the Shu heroes fighting Cao Cao's forces on burning boats is a must. There's also levels in burning mansions, forests, caves, and various environments.
- Bears Are Bad News: You encounter a polar bear in a wintery area in the first game, which is hostile and attacks you on sight. It seems to be the only one of it's kind though. And then played straight when the third game starts throwing bears as regular enemies.
- BFS: The third game have an enemy variety who uses European-style broadswords instead of the jian (given the setting), several times larger and thicker than other weapons. These broadswords are so heavy that the users have to literally drag them around, but if they managed to hack you with it you lose at least a third of your life instantly.
- Blade on a Rope:
- Zhang He from the second game uses a flail with hooked blades on each end as his weapon.
- For the players, it's possible to obtain the Tiger's Claws, a pair of hooks connected by a fine chain for performing ranged attacks.
- Brutish Bulls: An element lifted from the Three Kingdoms novel; occasionally you'll fight wild bulls enslaved by Cao Cao's forces, with daggers attached to their horns and burning hay tied to their tails, causing them to charge in and out of the area in a blind attempt to trample you until you killed them.
- Carry a Big Stick:
- One of the bosses, Cai Mao, wields a powerful steel mace with studs on them.
- Duan, a boss in the first two games, uses a mace coated with blades and can even shoot the blades at you from a distance.
- Chain Pain: The muscular mooks wearing horned helmets in all games swing thick chains as their weapon.
- Character Level: The score meter levels up your character when a certain amount of points are achieved; leveling up was less subtle and was only at the end of each stage in the second installment. Level 70 was the max level to reach in the third game's HD installment.
- Circling Birdies: Inflict enough consecutive hits on enemies will stun them, resulting in circling stars over the heads. Hit them one more time in this state to kill them instantly.
- Crosshair Aware: Yuen Shao from the third game will spam airborne projectiles from his war machine. The game will alert you of where his attacks will hit, via crosshairs on the floor where you're standing, and you're given seconds to move aside or get blasted from above.
- Damage Sponge:
- Lu Bu in all games have multiple life bars all stacked upon each other, pops in and out of the boss area, and deals devastating damage with his spear attack, making the fights against him as long as expected.
- Yuen Shao from the third game, thanks to commanding a massive war machine which charges in and out of the boss area. Your attacks deal Scratch Damage on his vehicle and you barely have a window of opportunity to attack him while avoiding his projectiles. Expect the battle against Yuen to last for at least 5 minutes.
- Dark Action Girl: There are female mooks serving Cao Cao's ranks, who proves to be even more capable fighters than the male low-level soldiers. The first boss is notably a female sergeant named Sun Ji.
- Deadly Disc: The ninja enemies use bladed discs as their weapons, either slashing you from up close of throwing them as ranged projectiles. There's also a power-up allowing you to spam a dozen discs that circles around you cutting up surrounding foes.
- Defeat Means Playable: In the second and third game, certain bosses upon defeat will be given an option to spare or execute them (including Lu Bu!) – choose the former and they will join your ranks, and you're allowed to swap characters with the ex-boss for a short period of time, usually just for performing a special attack before returning to your character.
- Dual Wield:
- Female mooks are usually armed with two knives. As does Diao Chan, one of the heroes.
- Zhang Liao wield twin jians in battle.
- Cao Ren and Gan Ning, bosses from the second game, both use two spears in tandem.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: You'll spend a lot of time killing animal-based opponents, including scorpions, snakes, eagles, panthers, tigers, floating sky lanterns, all which ignores onscreen enemy soldiers to target you.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: It is possible to obtain the water power-up in burning environments (such as the Red Cliff navy battle and the burning forest). Said power-up release tidal waves that splashes across the screen and deals damage to all onscreen enemies, but doesn't extinguish the flames in the area for reasons unspecified.
- Giant Mook: Muscular soldiers and overweight mooks, taller and larger than the common foot soldiers, and can appropriately take more punishment before they expire.
- Guide Dang It!: The second game has probably one of the most unintuitive "alternate route" conditions you may ever see in a beat-em-up, which includes sparing a very specific boss by letting the timer run out in the only time you may ever have to do that in the genre, to unlock an entire extra path that doubles the game length.
- Gratuitous Ninja: ... nope, you didn't misread a few sentences above, this game contain ninja enemies. In China, during the Three Kingdoms period. Although there are historical evidence that ninja originates from China before making their way to Japan
. - Healing Herb: You can collect raw ginseng to boost your health.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Like every other game, including Warriors of Fate which is the inspiration behind this one, health is replendished through food, including drumsticks, meat buns, tea and cakes.
- Improbable Infant Survival: The first game's first level is a rescue mission where you set off to rescue Liu Bei's son, Liu Shan (named "Adou" in-game, just like his real-life counterpart). You managed to rescue the boy at the end of the stage, only for Cao Cao's sergeant, Sun Ji, to arrive with a legion of her mooks. Cue a boss battle with Adou caught in the middle, and despite the heavy fighting, all attacks (yours, Sun Ji, enemy soldiers) will completely miss the boy as Adou wanders around randomly onscreen.
- Magic Knight: Zhuge-Liang, Sima Yi and Zhang Jiao from the novels are now reimagined as sorcerors, and they can kick as much ass as they can cast different spells.
- Magic Staff:
- As Sima-Yi from the novel has been reimagined as an Evil Wizard in the first two games, his weapon is a skull-headed staff which can cast attacking spells.
- Zhang Jiao from the third game wields a magic sceptre which can blast thunderbolts.,
- Making a Splash: The tidal wave power-up hits an entire area with blasts of water, dealing damage to enemies on the same elevation as your character.
- Misplaced Wildlife: The first game have an area in a wintery environment where you fight a polar bear in Cao Cao's base. In Three Kingdoms-era China. Possibly justified however, Cao Cao might have purchased the animal internationally (which seems likely, as said polar bear is a one-of-a-kind Unique Enemy).
- Panthera Awesome: There are panthers and lions in the enemy ranks, usually being kept and unleashed by barbarian mooks. The first stage even have an optional secret room filled with panthers, while a later level in a forest have a secret area full of tigers.
- Playing with Fire:
- The fire power-up, which unloads fireballs and fiery explosions clearing the area of enemies and burn enemies with every hit inflicted.
- Zhang He, the flail-swinging boss, can coat his flail with flames and inflict damaging burns with each swing.
- Power Floats:
- Zhuge-Liang can activate a spell that allows him to float instead of walk, faster and easier to dodge attacks with.
- Some of the enemy generals from the novel have been re-imagined as wizards, and as such they use their magic to float about instead of walking. Notably Sima Yi and Zhang Jiao, two of the magic-based bosses.
- Rolling Attack:
- Duan from the second game can (somehow) curl himself into a spiked wheel and charge at you with a difficult-to-avoid rolling tackle.
- There's a mook enemy disguised as a Chinese wine urn, rolling into the stage and capable of running you over. When they stop rolling, they stick their hands and legs out and fight you up close.
- Scary Scorpions: You'll find plenty of gigantic scorpions in underground areas, and occasionally kept in chests and crates by the enemies. There's also a power-up that allows you to attach scorpions on enemies to sting them.
- Shield-Bearing Mook: Enemy soldiers armed with shields with faces of demons and fearsome beasts painted on are a recurring mook, their shields having the on them. Said shield increases their defense slightly, but you can spam attacks through them or try attacking from behind.
- Shock and Awe:
- The lightning power-up allows you to rain thunderbolts into your enemies.
- The sorceror boss riding on a crane can drop lightning balls from above.
- Sima Yi's staff can drop lightning on you, which he spams regularly in all the games.
- Siege Engines:
- Cao Cao's army will occasionally wheel siege machines into the area, including catapults, harpoon launchers, and spiked chariots. These machines can expectedly deal a lot of damage and takes a lot of hits before they're destroyed.
- Yuen Shao, a boss from the third game, commands one of these to attack, and his vehicle is huge. As well as bristling all over with all kinds of weaponry and an insane amount of health to boot.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: Fat mooks armed with dynamites are another recurring enemy type, where their projectile will remain where they're dropped for a couple of seconds before exploding and can damage the player if caught in the blast.
- Totem Pole Trench: The third game's first boss, the Zhang siblings Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang – where Bao, the smaller one (who's the size of a child!) will sit on his brother’s shoulder as Zhang Liang does all the attacking.
- Xenafication: The female characters from the novels are all given this treatment when they become playable characters. Diao Chan, the most iconic of the bunch, in the novel was a concubine whose role is to seduce Lu Bu and stop a political uprising, but she's now a Blade Enthusiast expertly slicing up enemies everywhere she goes. Same goes for Lady Huang Yue-ying (Zhuge-Liang's wife, given the same badass treatment as her husband), the Qiao sisters, Lady Zhen and other women from the novel.
- War Elephants: Meng Yi, a boss from the second game charges into battle with an elephant as his steed. When the boss' health is halved, the elephant promptly ditches Meng Yi and leaves, and the rest of the battle is between Meng and the player.
- Whip Sword: Muscular soldiers armed with thick, sectioned swords are another enemy variety. They can extend their weapons like a whip when you're out of range, capable of covering half a screen.
- Wolverine Claws: A new enemy from the third game, an Amazon Brigade of women fighters armed with clawed gauntlets.
- World of Action Girls: Thanks to the Xenafication above, female characters transplanted from the novel into the game are all action girls in their own right. And then there's the large number of female mooks and generals in all the games, all of them capable of holding their own in a fight.
