History VideoGame / KingsBounty

''King's Bounty'' is a video game made in 1990 by Creator/NewWorldComputing. The gameplay was much like the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' games of today -- enough that 3DO would release a UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} port titled ''Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff'' a decade later – but rather than controlling an entire kingdom you played a single hero with a salary and unit limit determined by level, rank, and other things.

All of the modern sequels can be purchased through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and [=GamersGate=].

* ActionGirl: Amelie in ''Armored Princess'', and the Sorceress in the original game.

* AffectionateParody: The [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal recent Russian reboot]] of the game doesn't take itself very seriously, and constantly lampoons fantasy tropes. Possibly an IndecisiveParody, because it plays many of the stuff unflinchingly straight.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Demons, though you can find (and even marry) an AffablyEvil Succubus.
* AnimateDead: The Necro Call spell

* BlessedWithSuck: The White Dragon Sketz in ''Armored Princess'' was gravely injured by magic after helping the Dwarves of Montero in their war, and sook refuge in the Temple of Sorrow, where the gem prevented him from dying. However, the sufference brought on by this method was too much to bare, so he asks you to kill him if you want the Gem of Sorrow.

* ArbitraryMinimumRange: Ranged units are limited to melee attacks if there's an enemy unit adjacent to them- not only can they not use their main weapon against the adjacent enemy, they can't fire at anyone else either. In most cases, they only attack at half strength, but there are some exceptions to this rule.

* BalefulPolymorph: One of the avaible spells briefly transforms a troop of soldiers in sheep. In ''Dark Side'', you can meet an Ogre who was cursed by a mage and now is forced to spend half of his life transformed into a little girl.

* TurtlePower: The very first boss in ''The Legend'' is a colossal turtle manipulated by an evil orc shaman. After her defeat you can summon her to depower said orc shaman when you find him.

* DifficultySpike: The Land Of The Dead in ''Legend''. Until this point, you can usually get through most fights with minimal loss, but here you'l face an onslaught of booth heroes and roaming armies much stronger than you, and since almost every creature you can recruit here are undead and if you don't have tolerance, (a big possible if you haven't focused much on the mind skill tree) you will face a huge morality penalty to your other troops by recruiting them, forcing you to trek back to the previous area every time to reinforce (since pretty much everything you'l face are also undead, the [[DiscOneNuke Hypnotize+Sacrifice combo won't work]]). In the the later part of it, you'l also start seeing armies with [[DemonicSpider Black Dragons]] on a regular basis, who thanks to having the greatest speed and initiative in the game always go first in a fight and can reach you from the other end of the arena, making it pretty much a guarantee that you'l loose troops to them.

* HorseOfADifferentColor: In ''Dark Side'' you can have Hyena-riding Goblins and Orcs archers riding wolves.

* LethalLavaLand: Demonis. Sheterra in the sequel.

* LizardFolk: A new faction introduced in ''Armored Princess'', they tend to include reptilian monsters and even dinosaurs in their ranks. They also [[FantasticRacism hate pretty much]] ''all other races'', including the Undead and the Dragons.

* NaginatasAreFeminine: The amazons in ''Dark Side'' tend to wield large naginata-like glaives, alongside Blood Priestesses. Both can attack enemies from a distance.

** The orc character Bagyr does this to the happiest women he has to submit.

* PlotTailoredToTheParty: Invoked in ''Dark Side'', in order to gain enough influence to challenge the Spirit of Light and enforce the Spirit of Darkness you have to: corrupt the three happiest women in the world (Vampire), seduce the three most faithful men (Succubus) and ruin the three happiest women in the world (Orc).

* MadScientist: Various necromancers and the demon doctor Asclepius in Sheterra.

* NaginatasAreFeminine: The amazons in ''Dark Side'' tend to wield large naginata-like glaives.

* PlotTailoredToTheParty: Invoked in ''Dark Side'', in order to gain enough influence to challenge the Spirit of Light and enforce the Spirit of Darkness you have to: corrupt the three happiest women in the world (Vampire), seduce the three most faithful men (Succubus) and force the three greatest champions of Light to turn against their own (Orc).

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Necromancer of Nameless Island will react in disbelief if Amelie says she wants to learn his arts, claiming that women are too easily scared of mice, rats and spiders to be good Necromancers.

* VideogameCrueltyPotential: The Sacrifice spell in ''Legend'' and its sequels allows you to sacrifice one troop to reinforce another. Nothing stops you from sacrificing hordes of peasants in order to summon demons, while still getting hailed as a hero...

[[http://tasvideos.org/1145M.html The original can be beat in less than ten seconds]].

''King's Bounty'' is a video game made in 1990 by Creator/NewWorldComputing, the gameplay was much like the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' games of today -- enough that 3DO would release a UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} port titled ''Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff'' a decade later – but rather than controlling an entire kingdom you played a single hero with a salary and unit limit determined by level, rank, and other things.

''King's Bounty'' was a video game made in 1990 by Creator/NewWorldComputing back when they were still young and filled with hope and dreams, the game play was much like the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' games of today -- enough that 3DO would release a UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} port titled ''Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff'' a decade later – but rather than controlling an entire kingdom you played a single hero with a salary and unit limit determined by level, rank, and other things.

King's Bounty was [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff popular enough in Russia]] to spawn a couple of unofficial fan sequels for the Amiga called ''King's Bounty 2'' and ''3'', unrelated fan remake for MS-DOS also called ''King's Bounty 2'' (neither of these are available in any language but Russian), several [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual successors]] of varying quality and finally a series of modern sequels for the PC which got translated into English. The first of these sequels is called ''King's Bounty: The Legend'', and was followed by ''King's Bounty: Armored Princess'', which got a expansion pack called ''Crossworlds'' with additional modes. A third game titled ''King's Bounty: Warriors of the North'' was released in October 26th, 2012. Most agree that ''King's Bounty: Armored Princess'' with expansion is the best of the three, while ''King's Bounty: Warriors of the North'' is weaker due to being developed by another developer with previous developer only supervising the beginning stage of creation and also being mainly the same game with numerous yet not groundbreaking changes and additions. The latest entry in the series, called ''King's Bounty: Dark Side'', was released in August 2014. Unlike previous installments this one focuses on using "evil" troops.

[[http://tasvideos.org/1145M.html The original can be beat in under 0.3 seconds]].

!!!Games

* UnwinnableByMistake:
** It is possible to run out of troops and money to buy them, making it almost impossible to continue since money is mostly gained from killing wandering armies and completing quests (which mostly involve killing wandering armies).
** In the ''Legend'' reboot, one can find eggs, seeds, and such on the ground that can be converted from items to troops, as well as occasional friendly troops that join for free; it's possible to scrape together enough forces this way to win a few fights and start putting your army back together. But those are only available in limited supply, and if you run out...

* {{BFS}}: Zerock's basical attack consist in turning in a colossal sword and dive on the target.

** ''Armored Princess'' not only has Demon King Baal as the overaching (but absent) antagonist, but also a trio of villains responsible for the current state of the islands, including Demenion, usurper of Verona and holder of the Gem of Hatred, Zigaldis the Dark Elf and the giant Lizardman Z'thau, owner of the Gem of Strength.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: In the Italian translation there's an egregious misshaps with the Orcs and Ogres: the game opts to use the translations "Orco" (which originally stood for Ogres but can fit for both) and "Orchetto" (famously used to translate Orc in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'')... except that it calls the Orcs "Orchi" and the Ogres "Orchetto" rather than the other way around.

* BlackKnight: One of the strongest Undead units and EvilCounterpart to Knights and Paladins. In ''Armored Princess'', one of your possible companions is Moro Dark, who's TheAtoner and believes that by fighting alongside him he will be able to purify his evil heart([[RedemptionRejection or you can just slay him in battle]]).

* LizardFolk: A new faction introduced in ''Armored Princess'', they tend to include reptilian monsters and even dinosaurs in their ranks.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: The most technologically advanced race.

** Any single "enemy hero" you can run into in ''Armored Princess'' is this, as for each of them there's an NPC who's willing to pay a bounty for their death. If you get rid of them before talking to the relevant character, then you won't get the extra reward.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Giant snakes. One of the Rage Spirits is the only exception to the trope.

* WorthyOpponent: Karador the Death Knight in ''The Legend'' considers you one when defeated.

* LethalLavaLand: Demonis.

** Mage Amelie.

%%* BigBad:
%%** The Wicked Dragon Haas in ''Legend''.
%%** Arech Dragonbreath in the original.
%%* BigGood:
%%** King Mark.
%%** King Maximus in the original.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: You, on many occasions.
* DemBones: Common undead units, as melee or archers.

* DragonsVersusKnights: Knights deal bonus damage to Dragons.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * IdleAnimation:

* KillerRabbit: Cute pet dragon.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Fairly standard except for the Emerald Dragons, which don't have a breath attack nor the usual immunity to fire (but does have good fire resistance). Instead, they can drag enemies to them and damage nearby enemies while restoring some mana to the hero. They also hail from a dying world called Ultrax where they lived in caves because even the rocks burn due to the purple light of its iridescent sun.

%%* OurElvesAreDifferent: Not one, but two archers.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Tolkienian to the max, but not always evil.

* RockMonster: Cyclops.

King's Bounty was [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff popular enough in Russia]] to spawn a couple of unofficial fan sequels for the Amiga called ''King's Bounty 2'' and ''3'', unrelated fan remake for MS-DOS also called ''King's Bounty 2'' (neither of these are available in any language but Russian), several [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual successors]] of varying quality and finally a series of modern sequels for the PC which got translated into English. The first of these sequels is called ''King's Bounty: The Legend'', and was followed by ''King's Bounty: Armored Princess'', which got a expansion pack called ''Crossworlds'' with additional models. A third game titled ''King's Bounty: Warriors of the North'' was released in October 26th, 2012. Most agree that ''King's Bounty: Armored Princess'' with expansion is the best of the three, while ''King's Bounty: Warriors of the North'' is weaker due to being developed by another developer with previous developer only supervising the beginning stage of creation and also being mainly the same game with numerous yet not groundbreaking changes and additions. The latest entry in the series, called ''King's Bounty: Dark Side'', was released in August 2014. Unlike previous installments this one focuses on using "evil" troops.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Recruiting [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons Black Dragons]] for your army in ''Legend''. On paper; their huge damage output, great speed, and complete magic immunity sounds awesome, but utilizing said speed in any major capacity (i.e, tie up archers) will make them a huge target for the enemy's melee troops, and since you can only have an handfull of them at every time, can't heal them (said magic immunity applies to your spells as well) and the sheer amount of enemy's with fire resistance you'l face at this point of the game (all their damage is fire based), their only reliable practical use is the fact that their high initiative means you always go first in fights by having them ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard unless your opponent also has Black Dragons, that is]]) .

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: ''Armored Princess'' replaced the Chest of Rage with a pet dragon.

* ActuallyFourMooks: As usual, groups of enemies are represented by the model of the strongest creature on the map but can be composed of up to nine stacks in actual combat. One of the possible skills a hero can take in ''Legend'' and ''Armored Princess'' is centered around improving how accurately the number of mooks in a stack is displayed.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Not one, but two archers.

''King's Bounty'' was a video game made in 1990 by Creator/NewWorldComputing back when they were still young and filled with hope and dreams, the game play was much like the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' games of today – enough that 3DO would release a UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} port titled ''Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff'' a decade later – but rather than controlling an entire kingdom you played a single hero with a salary and unit limit determined by level, rank, and other things.

King's Bounty was [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff popular enough in Russia]] to spawn a couple of unofficial fan sequels for the Amiga called King's Bounty 2 and 3, unrelated fan remake for MS-DOS also called King's Bounty 2 (neither of these are available in any language but Russian), several [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual successors]] of varying quality and finally a series of modern sequels for the PC which got translated into English. The first of these sequels is called ''King's Bounty: The Legend'', and was followed by ''King's Bounty: Armored Princess'', which got a expansion pack called ''Crossworlds'' with additional models. A third game titled ''King's Bounty: Warriors of the North'' was released in October 26th, 2012. Most agree that ''King's Bounty: Armored Princess'' with expansion is the best of the three, while ''King's Bounty: Warriors of the North'' is weaker due to being developed by another developer with previous developer only supervising the beginning stage of creation and also being mainly the same game with numerous yet not groundbreaking changes and additions. The latest entry in the series, called ''King's Bounty: Dark Side'', was released in August 2014. Unlike previous installments this one focuses on using "evil" troops.

* BigBad: The Wicked Dragon Haas in ''Legend''.
** Arech Dragonbreath in the original.
* BigGood: King Mark.
** King Maximus in the original.

* DeadpanSnarker: You, on many occasions.