Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES, 1989)
Graphics-7 Sound-8 Control-8 Challenge-8 Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-9* Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Some interesting power ups (small dragon power ups (reduces your hit box but also firepower, second one adds two baby dragons by your side like gun drones) - can be combined with another power up, temporary invincibility power ups (the second gives you a stronger pink dragon but you also lose extra heads), earthquake bombs - takes out ground targets for a short time (there's also a ground-based smart bomb - ARC ver.), )
Air and ground enemies and weapons
Health bar in a shoot 'em up (3/6 hp)
Two endings (different, worse one in easy mode)
More consistent movement controls
Decent cutscenes besides the text intro
Some interesting level design (breakable walls in levels 4 & 6, moving walls in level 5, speed tunnel in level 6, level 8 continuously shifts from dark to lit, alternate paths in level 9/castle)
Some decent bosses (plant base, exploding skeleton dragon, spider queen, level 7 shelled boss, level 8 living gate) and good final boss (two forms) - most have only one pattern/phase
Sprites are easier to distinguish from background elements here
Gaining three heads doesn't make you as big a target in this version
Decent dialogue (good translation)
+/-
Fairly frequent checkpoints overall
No difficulty options (ARC ver. had them) - instead your performance in the added intro level/level 0 determines the difficulty by giving you either the gold dragon or the blue dragon: Gold Dragon has two health bars (6 hits), and firing in the air is faster by default (you don't need 3 Fire Ups.) There are less levels (goes from the water level to the sixth part of the last level), as well as a fake ending to the game
Randomized power ups
Hidden maiden power up after each level (some appear at random, most if you're not doing well)
Negative power up: Skull - Reduces fire power, head, speed, and other colors of dragon. Becoming small makes you lose your additional heads so it's often a negative as well
Number of heads is independent to amount of health
No health power ups
Can't shoot both weapons at once
Firepower is downgraded after taking a hit
Somewhat forgiving hit detection (the heads and wings have no hit box)
Kinda short second level
While there is auto-fire it's pretty slow for the default dragon unless at max power - not an issue in emulation and the green and white dragon forms have proper auto-fire
No horizontal scrolling
-
*Only two continues! (3 lives per continue and you can gain a few more)
Very short invincibility time after taking a hit
Can't manually adjust your speed (you move slower when flying downwards, but you move faster than in PCE version)+you lose speed from taking hits
Some parts are a lot harder if you die and respawn
The first three bosses go down too quickly if you're upgraded and the phoenix fight is a bit simpler and the fifth does as well, level 6 boss does as well, easy level 9 mini-boss (this one is for dramatic effect though kinda like the fake ending in DKC)
Some slowdown and flicker
Trial & error (some surprise attacks like the exploding boulders in level 2, speed tunnel, invincible snakes in level 7, non-damaging walls in level 9, dead ends in level 9)
No backwards attack
No weapon/form inventory and sometimes you'll get stuck with one weapon for a long time
No health refill after bosses
A bit repetitive and slow paced at times
Somewhat bland and simple music at times compared to other versions
Green dragon's weapon is too similar to the standard one
Can't see your lives until you die
Fewer enemies and shots on screen overall
Kinda bland backgrounds overall
Sometimes easy to miss a power up as they move pretty quickly off screen
The earthquake bombs are too rare and there are no other alternate ground weapons
Notes:
-Maiden appearances:
Area 1: The maiden always appears, leaves a message.
Area 2: Appears if your Firepower is below three, restores your energy.
Area 3: Appears at random (50% chance), gives a 1up.
Area 4: Appears if your Dragon has less than three heads, restores energy.
Area 5: Appears at random (50% chance), gives a 1up.
Area 6: Appears if your Dragon has less than three heads, restores energy.
Level Design-7 Frustration-9* Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Some interesting power ups (small dragon power ups (reduces your hit box but also firepower, second one adds two baby dragons by your side like gun drones) - can be combined with another power up, temporary invincibility power ups (the second gives you a stronger pink dragon but you also lose extra heads), earthquake bombs - takes out ground targets for a short time (there's also a ground-based smart bomb - ARC ver.), )
Air and ground enemies and weapons
Health bar in a shoot 'em up (3/6 hp)
Two endings (different, worse one in easy mode)
More consistent movement controls
Decent cutscenes besides the text intro
Some interesting level design (breakable walls in levels 4 & 6, moving walls in level 5, speed tunnel in level 6, level 8 continuously shifts from dark to lit, alternate paths in level 9/castle)
Some decent bosses (plant base, exploding skeleton dragon, spider queen, level 7 shelled boss, level 8 living gate) and good final boss (two forms) - most have only one pattern/phase
Sprites are easier to distinguish from background elements here
Gaining three heads doesn't make you as big a target in this version
Decent dialogue (good translation)
+/-
Fairly frequent checkpoints overall
No difficulty options (ARC ver. had them) - instead your performance in the added intro level/level 0 determines the difficulty by giving you either the gold dragon or the blue dragon: Gold Dragon has two health bars (6 hits), and firing in the air is faster by default (you don't need 3 Fire Ups.) There are less levels (goes from the water level to the sixth part of the last level), as well as a fake ending to the game
Randomized power ups
Hidden maiden power up after each level (some appear at random, most if you're not doing well)
Negative power up: Skull - Reduces fire power, head, speed, and other colors of dragon. Becoming small makes you lose your additional heads so it's often a negative as well
Number of heads is independent to amount of health
No health power ups
Can't shoot both weapons at once
Firepower is downgraded after taking a hit
Somewhat forgiving hit detection (the heads and wings have no hit box)
Kinda short second level
While there is auto-fire it's pretty slow for the default dragon unless at max power - not an issue in emulation and the green and white dragon forms have proper auto-fire
No horizontal scrolling
-
*Only two continues! (3 lives per continue and you can gain a few more)
Very short invincibility time after taking a hit
Can't manually adjust your speed (you move slower when flying downwards, but you move faster than in PCE version)+you lose speed from taking hits
Some parts are a lot harder if you die and respawn
The first three bosses go down too quickly if you're upgraded and the phoenix fight is a bit simpler and the fifth does as well, level 6 boss does as well, easy level 9 mini-boss (this one is for dramatic effect though kinda like the fake ending in DKC)
Some slowdown and flicker
Trial & error (some surprise attacks like the exploding boulders in level 2, speed tunnel, invincible snakes in level 7, non-damaging walls in level 9, dead ends in level 9)
No backwards attack
No weapon/form inventory and sometimes you'll get stuck with one weapon for a long time
No health refill after bosses
A bit repetitive and slow paced at times
Somewhat bland and simple music at times compared to other versions
Green dragon's weapon is too similar to the standard one
Can't see your lives until you die
Fewer enemies and shots on screen overall
Kinda bland backgrounds overall
Sometimes easy to miss a power up as they move pretty quickly off screen
The earthquake bombs are too rare and there are no other alternate ground weapons
Notes:
-Maiden appearances:
Area 1: The maiden always appears, leaves a message.
Area 2: Appears if your Firepower is below three, restores your energy.
Area 3: Appears at random (50% chance), gives a 1up.
Area 4: Appears if your Dragon has less than three heads, restores energy.
Area 5: Appears at random (50% chance), gives a 1up.
Area 6: Appears if your Dragon has less than three heads, restores energy.