Rare wasn't always the "Banjo-Kazooie" studio. Before they were making masterpieces for the Nintendo 64, they were a scrappy UK developer called Ultimate Play the Game, and they were trying to figure out how to make the Nintendo Entertainment System do things it wasn't designed to do. Wizards and Warriors NES is the result of that experimentation. It is a strange, floaty, neon-colored fever dream of a platformer that somehow became a staple of early 90s childhoods despite—or perhaps because of—its bizarre design choices.
Most people remember the cover art. Honestly, it's more famous than the game itself. It features Fabio Lanzoni, the legendary romance novel cover model, dressed as a barbarian. He’s standing there with a sword, looking incredibly intense. It’s peak 1987. But once you blow the dust out of the cartridge and shove it into the console, you realize the game isn't a gritty barbarian simulator. It’s a vertical, treasure-hunting madness where your character, Kuros, jumps like he’s on the moon.
The Weird Physics of Elrond
If you grew up playing Super Mario Bros., the first five minutes of Wizards and Warriors NES feel like a mistake. Mario has weight. Mario has momentum. Kuros? Kuros has a vertical leap that defies every law of Newtonian physics. You tap the A button and he shoots into the air like a guided missile. He doesn't fall; he drifts.
This floatiness is actually the game's secret weapon. Rare designed the Kingdom of Elrond as a vertical playground. Most NES games at the time were strictly left-to-right affairs. You walked, you jumped over a pit, you kept going right. Rare decided that was boring. They built massive, sprawling forests and cavern systems where the goal was to climb. You weren't just trying to reach the end of a level; you were hunting for colorful gems to pay off local knights who guarded the boss doors.
It’s basically a fetch quest masquerading as an action game. But it works. The incentive to explore every nook and cranny of the hollowed-out trees in the first stage is driven by a genuine need for currency. You need those blue gems. Without them, that knight isn't moving. It’s a primitive version of the "collect-a-thon" genre that Rare would eventually perfect with Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie. You can see the DNA of their future success right here in 1987.
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Why the Unlimited Continues Changed Everything
Back in the day, NES games were notoriously "Nintendo Hard." Developers used high difficulty to hide the fact that their games were only 30 minutes long. If you died in Contra or Ghosts 'n Goblins, it was back to the start. Good luck.
Wizards and Warriors NES took a different path. It gave you unlimited continues.
You die, you come right back. You lose your score, sure, but you keep your items. You keep your progress. This was revolutionary for a kid in the late 80s. It meant that anyone—regardless of skill level—could eventually see the end of the game and defeat the evil wizard Malkil. It turned the game from a test of reflexes into a test of persistence. David Wise, the legendary composer who would later write the soundtrack for Donkey Kong Country, provided the music here too. The title theme is a moody, driving piece of synth-rock that makes you feel like you’re about to do something important, even if you’re just jumping on a red eagle for the tenth time.
Breaking Down the Legendary David Wise Soundtrack
We have to talk about the music. Seriously. David Wise is a god-tier video game composer, and his work on the Wizards and Warriors NES soundtrack is some of the best the 8-bit era ever produced. Most NES music was "bleep-bloop" chirping. Wise used the console's limited sound channels to create atmosphere.
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The "Forest" theme isn't just a catchy tune. It’s evocative. It feels damp. It feels mysterious. When you transition into the "Caverns," the music shifts to something more claustrophobic. It’s incredible what he was able to do with just three pulse waves and a noise channel. If you listen closely to the boss music, you can hear the beginnings of the complex layering he’d use years later.
The Gear and the Grind
The game is packed with power-ups that actually change how you play. It wasn't just "fire flower makes you shoot fire." In Wizards and Warriors NES, you’re looking for specific items like the Cloak of Darkness or the Boots of Force.
- The Staff of Power: Let's you shoot bolts of energy. Essential for survival.
- The Potion of Levitation: Makes your already insane jump even more ridiculous.
- The Dagger of Throwing: Basically turns you into a ninja.
The problem? The combat is... janky. Let’s be real. Kuros swings his sword in a way that makes it look like he’s trying to swat a fly with a wet noodle. There isn't much "weight" to the hits. You often take damage just by touching an enemy, and since enemies respawn the second they leave the screen, the game can feel like a constant war of attrition. You aren't "beating" the enemies so much as you are vibrating through them while swinging your sword wildly.
It shouldn't be fun. On paper, it sounds frustrating. But because the movement is so fast and the continues are so generous, the jank becomes part of the charm. You develop a rhythm. Jump, swing, grab the gem, move up. It’s a vertical loop that keeps the dopamine hitting just enough to keep you climbing.
The Malkil Legacy
The villain, Malkil, is supposedly a former mentor to Merlin. That’s the "lore" provided in the manual. Rare was always good at giving their games a bit of flavor that made the world feel bigger than it actually was. Even though the "story" is just text on a screen, the environmental storytelling in the later levels—like the castle and the final climb—actually builds a decent amount of tension.
When you finally reach the top and face Malkil, it isn't some complex multi-stage fight. It’s a chaotic mess of sprites and projectiles. But winning feels like a genuine achievement because of the sheer distance you’ve traveled. You’ve gone from the bottom of a forest to the literal clouds.
How to Play Wizards and Warriors Today
If you want to revisit Wizards and Warriors NES, you've got a few options, though it's surprisingly underrepresented on modern platforms.
- Original Hardware: Nothing beats the original NES and a CRT television. The input lag on modern TVs can make the floaty jumping feel even weirder, so a CRT is the "purist" way to go.
- Evercade: The game appeared on the Oliver Twins Collection for a while, though licensing for Rare games is always a bit of a nightmare because Microsoft now owns the studio.
- The Rare Replay Problem: Strangely, this game is not on Rare Replay for Xbox. This is a huge bummer. The theory is that Nintendo might still hold certain publishing rights or there are complexities with the original licensing from Acclaim.
Honestly, the best way for most people to experience it now is through the secondary market. Prices for a loose cartridge are usually pretty reasonable—anywhere from $10 to $20 depending on the condition of the label. It’s a common game because it sold incredibly well back in the day.
Actionable Tips for New Players
If you’re booting this up for the first time, keep these things in mind. First, don't worry about killing every enemy. They respawn instantly. Your goal is the gems. Get the gems, find the key, get out. Second, learn the "edge" of the screen. Enemies spawn based on your position, so you can sometimes "despawn" a difficult bird or bat just by moving the camera slightly back and forth.
Finally, don't ignore the hidden rooms. The game is full of fake walls. If a wall looks suspicious, try walking through it. Rare loved hiding treasure behind invisible boundaries, and finding these caches is the only way to ensure you have enough gems for the later knights.
Wizards and Warriors NES is a relic, but it’s a fascinating one. It represents a moment in time when a small group of British developers were showing the world that the NES could do more than just replicate arcade games. It was the start of an era that would eventually give us some of the greatest games ever made. Even if Kuros moves like he's made of helium, his first adventure is a journey worth taking at least once.
Go find a copy. Plug it in. Experience the Fabio cover art in all its glory. Just don't expect the physics to make any sense.
Next Steps for Retro Collectors:
Check the back of your cartridge for the five-screw versus three-screw variants. The five-screw versions are earlier production runs and are generally more sought after by NES completionists. Also, keep an eye out for the sequels, IronSword and Kuros: Knight of the Realms, which expanded on the mechanics but never quite captured the weird, singular magic of the original 1987 release.