| Knights of the Round | |
| Developer: | Capcom |
| Publisher: | Capcom |
| Composer: | Isao Abe |
| Genre: | Beat 'em up/hack and slash |
| Modes: | Single-player, up to 3 players co-op (2 players in the SNES version) |
| Platforms: | Arcade, Super NES, CPS Changer |
| Arcade System: | CP System |
is an arcade game released by Capcom in 1991.[1] A side-scrolling beat 'em up based loosely on the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the game features an action role-playing video game-like level advancement system, with fighters automatically being upgraded to new weapons and armor as they advance through the game. An arcade edition of the game was included in Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle as one of seven titles released digitally for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in September 2018.[2]
Arthur, who had been training himself to be a great knight, pulled out the sacred sword Excalibur from the rock. After pulling it out, Arthur realized his destiny was to become the first King of the Britons. Merlin then sends Arthur and his two closest companions, Lancelot and Perceval, to overthrow the evil king Garibaldi and to unite Britain.[3]
The gameplay is similar to other Capcom beat 'em ups, such as Final Fight and Capcom's previous hack-and-slash fantasy title The King of Dragons. There are seven stages, each with its own boss and a variety of generic enemies that try to stop the players' progress. The fights rely strongly on the blocking ability, which is triggered by pressing the attack button, then pressing the joystick away as the opponent strikes. If successful, the player gains a few seconds of invincibility with which to counter-attack, but if no one strikes the player's character while holding the block, they will tire and drop their guard, making them vulnerable to attack. Blocking is vital in certain cases, since some bosses will be vulnerable only after their attack has been blocked by the player.
As in most beat 'em ups, a desperation attack is performed by pressing both the attack and jump buttons simultaneously. This kills off most enemies on the screen, but the player loses a little bit of health every time he uses it.
At various points in the game, the players get to ride a horse, where they can attack enemies on horseback. The horses can stomp on enemies by pressing the joystick two times forward. On occasion, bosses and certain enemy characters can ride horses as well.
There are three playable characters:
The game was ported to the Super NES in 1994,[4] in for the PSP in 2006, as well as Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox and in 2018, in Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.
In Japan, Game Machine listed Knights of the Round on their March 1, 1992 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles such as .[5] RePlay also reported the game to be the sixth most-popular arcade game at the time.[6] Play Meter also listed Knights of the Round to be the fifty-first most-popular arcade game at the time.[7]
Sinclair User scored the arcade version a 78/100, writing that players who enjoyed Golden Axe would enjoy Knights of the Round.[8] Anthony Baize, writing for Allgame, called it a "solid" beat 'em up title with "cool" mythological characters.[9] Reviewing the SNES version, GamePro praised the quality of the sprites but was critical to its slow and repetitive gameplay.[10] In 2018, Complex ranked the game 89th in their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time" list.[11]