Knights of the Round

Download Knights of the Round and join King Arthur, Lancelot, and Perceval on a thrilling adventure to save the kingdom! This classic side-scrolling beat 'em up game features beautiful pixel art and challenging battles. Will you become a legendary knight? Play now!
a game by Capcom
Genre: Fighting Games
Platform: SNESSNES
Editor Rating: 6.5/10, based on 7 reviews
User Rating: 8.3/10 - 7 votes
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See also: RPGs, Medieval Games, King Arthur Games

Hark ye, lords and ladies. Heft Excalibur, the legendary Sword in the Stone, and prepare to seek the Crail. Forsooth, thy quest is honorable, but its lack of fun may sorely try thy patience.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Despite a time-honored game play formula in the tradition of such greats as Golden Axe, Knights of the Round, which is based on a classic arcade title, doesn't cut it as a 16-bit game. Slow, repetitive game play dulls the edge of this otherwise-average game.

As either Arthur, Lancelot, or Percival (each with different knightly strengths), you pursue the Grail through seven stages of side-scrolling hack-n-slash, hack-n-slash, hack-n-slash action. Other than trying to leap astride a horse, strategy is limited to increasing your power, defense, and speed by whacking the tar out of every enemy in sight.

ProTip: It's a heck of a lot easier to defend yourself from the back of your horse -- for example, against the Stage 2 Boss.

A standard cache of power- ups await you, including chests of riches that increase your experience points (earn 'em by, guess what, hacking- n-slashing your foes). Power orbs, 1-ups, and more are scattered hither and yon.

The controls are easy to learn (jump, attack, and block), and your knight has a few tricks up his sleeve, such as his Mega Crush Sword Attack and the ability to attack while riding a horse. (Psst... you can turn the horse around... just hit Button B.)

A Day with the Knights

Large sprites (especially the horse) are impressive, and appropriately Arthurian graphics serve as a backdrop for the action. Fortunately, there's no sign of the sprite flicker seen in this game's precursor, King of Dragon.

The average tunes fail to stir the blood, but they don't detract from the action. Requisite grunts and groans punctuate the swordplay.

If you can back your, foes off the side of the screen, you can sometimes manage to continually slash them as they try to return. But if you put your own back to the side of the screen, you can easily fight off advancing foes.

Chivalry Isn't Dead

There's nothing all that bad about Knights of the Round, but it's not spectacular enough to stand out from the crowd. For the most fun, stick with the two-player mode. If you cut your teeth on Golden Axe and other classic hack-n-slash games, Knights of the Round'll be the kind of crusade you'll enjoy. If you can't abide this type of action/adventure, let someone else search for the Holy Grail.

  • Use the Mega Crush Sword Attack sparingly. It uses up a lot of health and usually isnt necessary.
  • If you manage Jo block an enemy attack, you'll be temporarily Invincible.
  • Don't let yourself be surrounded by enemies. If they're hacking at you from both sides, you'll have a hard time defending yourself.

Download Knights of the Round

SNES

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • Pentium II (or equivalent) 266MHz (500MHz recommended), RAM: 64MB (128MB recommended), DirectX v8.0a or later must be installed

Game Reviews

Effectively characterizing the soul of arcade beat ’em-ups, Knights of the Round combines absolutely absurd ideas with mesmerizingly fun and chaotic gameplay. Its hard not to love the craziness that accompanies a typical round of this game – it has everything from cool attacks and powerups, to interesting enemy designs, all the way to a surprisingly interesting level of strategy when playing each time. Supporting up to 2 players to maximize the amount of ridiculousness, there’s no limit to the amount of fun that two people can have when trying to mow down Garibaldi’s minions in an arcade style game that is a lot like Final Fight (another game from the likes of Capcom) and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat ‘em ups that were all the rage during the golden years of arcades.

Unite Britain

There’s not a lot to say in terms of story for Knights of the Round other than a quick plot summary. The storied knight Arthur has been training to pull out the sacred sword Excalibur. Upon doing so, he realizes his purpose in life is to unite Britain under his rule and usurp the evil king Garibaldi. With the help of Merlin, the wizard, along with Lancelot and Perceval, he sets out on an epic quest to conquer the old world under a new flag. That’s all well and good and creates an intriguing background which gives your chaos a bit of meaning without getting in the way of the fun.

Focusing on graphics and sound design, there’s nothing too much that’s interesting about either. They’re both run of the mill in terms of arcade games and are well made for what they are. I do particularly find the soundtrack for each stage to be fun – they’re all upbeat, intense, and just overall purpose to decimate a bunch of nameless minions to. Like I previously noted, the graphics are good and had a decent amount of dedication directed towards them, though nothing truly stands out to me.

Beat Down Garibaldi

The gameplay is what makes Knights of the Round worth playing every single time. No, it really is nothing special in itself either, however, all of the pieces just feel like they go together to me. The medieval setting feels awesome when you’re blocking multiple enemies and pulling off counterattacks. The controls are tight, responsive, and even have a bit of weight to them which is impressive for the time. The weight doesn’t exactly last long since it is an arcade beat ‘em up and you can instantly recover and continue the slaughter.

What I also liked was that each playable character (2 on SNES, 3 on the actual machine) have slightly different abilities. Arthur is fast and moderately powerful, having a special slash attack, Lancelot is another swordsman that is fast but weak and can perform a jumping kick, and Perceval is the strongest and slowest character but is the only character that can dash and perform a ‘Giant Swing’ to deal great damage. Along with the rewarding level ups, the diversity in gameplay for each character provides a lot of replayability. Plus, the challenge in progressing through the seven stages and beating each boss is a great feeling.

7

Another classic arcade game with a decent amount of challenge and great gameplay to match. Its not especially unique but is absolutely worth any free time you have to throw at it.

Pros:

  • Neat enemies
  • Crazy ideas and setting
  • Good gameplay that is fair but difficult

Cons:

  • Not exactly a unique arcade game
  • Powerups and abilities are cool, but standard
  • Repetitive
  • Manufacturer: Capcom
  • Machine: SNES
  • Range: action
  • Players: 1, or 2 cooperative
  • Levels: 7
  • Difficulty: medium

Get ready, fighting fans - Capcom's got some medieval mayhem for your vicious little appetites. Knights of the Round sounds like a fantasy RPG, but it's much more an action game in the Final Fight 2 tradition.

You'd think once Arthur pulled Excalibur from its stony prison that all would be peaceful in Camelot. But alas, other knights and kings would have nothing to do with the upstart youngster. So Arthur conferred with Merlin, and the two decided that the only way to unite England is to find the Holy Grail. Knights of the Round sends Arthur, Lancelot, and Percival out on a quest to return peace and prosperity to Camelot.

Knights of the Round may not quite live up to the Final Fight series, but its lush medieval setting is a welcome change from gritty urban streets. The wide variety of moves at your disposal also makes it exciting to play. If you've always wanted to be a knight in shining armor, here's a good place to start.

  • Manufacturer: Capcom
  • # of players: 1 or 2
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Number of Levels: 7
  • Theme: Action

It was bound to happen. The incredible success of the arcade smash has now been brought to the screens of the Super NES! The game is played in the usual side-scrolling manner, but there are many differences that make this title unique from the rest. First off, you have three characters to choose from. There is also the possibility that you'll get the opportunity to find a sturdy mare to ride upon and double your attack power. But the most unique feature is a level-up system where your character will become more powerful and even change into a different, more experienced fighter upon reaching a certain score! You can also have a friend join in to increase the amount of fun when storming a castle! A nice conversion that should please any fan of the arcade game!

Boss 1: Scorne

The vile scum has attacked an innocent village! Go down and wipe them out completely. Be careful when you go up against Scorn. He is very skilled with his giant pike!

Boss 2: Braford

Stage Two will have you battling your way through forests and prairie-lands. Once you make it to the castle entrance, Braford the swordsman will attack riding atop a gallant mare!

Boss 3: King Arlon

You now enter King Arlon's gigantic castle. Here you will be able to get a horse for battle. Be careful when you meet up with the Silver King himself. He's really tough!

  • Manufacturer: Capcom
  • Machine: Super NES

This is another side-scrolling, hack-and-slash medieval adventure where you can choose from one of three fighters. The two-player simultaneous is a big plus, and the Bosses are challenging. A good translation of the arcade.

  • Manufacturer: Capcom
  • Machine: Super NES
  • Theme: Action

Knights of the Round for the Super Nintendo is one action-packed game you won't want to miss!

Still hot from the arcades, this game has you choosing from three of the fabled knights of the Round Table. You can be the brave King Arthur, the mighty Percival or the elegant Lancelot.

As you travel through the realm, you'll face countless enemies who are out for your blood. Fortunately you can power-up your weapons and armor by increasing your experience points in battle. Collect enough and you'll get more armor for your warrior.

If you are looking for a good game where you hack lots of bad guys to pieces, Knights of the Round has it all - plus it's stress relieving.

Knights of the Round for the Super Nintendo is one action-packed game you won't want to miss! Still hot from the arcades, this game has you choosing from three of the fabled knights of the Round Table. You can be the brave King Arthur, the mighty Percival or the elegant Lancelot.

As you travel through the realm, you'll face countless enemies who are out for your blood. Fortunately you can power-up your weapons and armor by increasing your experience points in battle. Collect enough and you'll get more armor for your warrior. If you are looking for a good game where you hack lots of bad guys to pieces, Knights of the Round has it all--plus it's stress relieving.

Snapshots and Media

SNES/Super Nintendo/Super Famicom Screenshots