The story is set in the fictional kingdom of Malus, where the evil red dragon Gildiss has woken up after years of slumber. Following his rise, hordes of monsters loyal to him start raiding Malus, spearheaded by the Dark Wizard from Castle Garenos. With even the knights of Malus and Princess Mary unable to face this threat, the task lands upon a group of wandering adventurers who have just come to Malus at the right time.
The game has 5 playable characters, originally only referred by their character class, but later given official names in one of Capcom's artbook compilations.
- Derek, the Fighter: A 26-year-old swordsman, wielding an assortment of swords (including a broadsword and scimitar). He's a well-rounded character in all stats save for magic strength, which he sucks at, making him the ideal starting character.
- Leger, the Wizard: A 28-year-old magician who fights by throwing magic blasts from his staff. He wields different types of staves, some of which grant him a two-hit ability. He's a Glass Cannon, with rather low defense and speed, but compensates with great range and (obviously enough) magic strength. Rather than shields, he finds different amulets to boost his defense.
- Reval, the Elf: A typical elven archer. He's the Fragile Speedster, having the highest speed stat and range, but lousy defense. His bows increase the speed with which he can fire his arrows.
- Aldo, the Cleric: A 34-year-old Gentle Giant who prefers maces and the like over sharp weapons. He's the Mighty Glacier, with great strength (both physical and magical), but slow like a snail. He's also able to heal his allies alongside him after picking up a healing item.
- Vargas, the Dwarf: The very small, axe-wielding dwarf. He's a hard-hitting speedster, with good speed and great defense stats, but has weak magic strength and lacks range. Though his small size works for him in avoiding certain attacks.
This game was one of the seven classics re-released in Capcom's 2018 Beat 'em Up bundle.
This game provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: Vargas, Aldo, Reval, Leger, and... Derek?
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Hydra and Gildiss. They're so big you don't even see their whole bodies.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: The only explanation for the Great Dragonian's rather random demise.
- Black Knight: One of the bosses, even named as such. Somewhat of a Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot, as he appears to be wielding a scimitar and moves like a Ninja.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Some characters you meet have dialogue which appears to be messed-up English. Even the end title screen says "Thank you for your playing."
- Blob Monster: A variety of mook, it crawls along and tries to electrocute you.
- Breath Weapon: Gildiss (of course) as his main attack (which is also the most damaging attack in the game), the two Wyverns, the Hydra, and the Dragon Rider bosses.
- Crossover: All the good guys and Gildiss appear in the crossover quiz game Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2.
- Damsel in Distress: The only reason Princess Mary exists at all.
- Degraded Boss: The Minotaur gets demoted into a Mini-Boss, while the Dragon Rider goes all the way down to Giant Mook status.
- Draconic Humanoid: The Great Dragonian. He's much bigger than the normal enemies but smaller than the colossal bosses, wears armor, and uses a Whip Sword.
- The Dragon: The Dark Wizard, ironically the symbolic dragon to the literal dragon.
- Dragon Hoard: Gildiss is fought in a chamber drowning ing gold and treasure.
- Dragon Rider: The identical-named boss and his Palette Swapped mook subordinates, although these are wyverns and 2-legged dinosaurs more than actual dragons.
- Elemental Powers: Each hero has his own magic attack Cast from Hit Points, per the norm in the genre. These attacks are also available in the form of flying spheres that, when hit, activate a magic attack.
- Evil Is Bigger: With the exception of the Dark Wizard, all the bosses in the game are much larger than the playable characters, ranging from simply being being the size of big human like the knight bosses and the Orc King, to outright giants like the Minotaur and Cyclops. Then there are the big ones, such as the Hydra and Gildiss.
- Giant Spider: Multiple ones serve as the boss fight with the exact same name.
- Hammer of the Holy: Aldo the Cleric, a monk, dislikes bladed weapons, and fights with a mace instead.
- An Ice Person: The Ice Wyvern, one of the Hydra's heads, and the Black Knight.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: They often float down from the sky.
- In the Hood: Leger and the thief Mooks.
- Lizard Folk: A variety of mooks. The Great Dragonian, on the other hand, is a Dragon Folk.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Derek, Vargas, and Aldo can pick up shields to increase their defense, and proper directional presses can even block some attacks.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: The Cyclops. It's one of the largest bosses you face.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Mermen are Elite Mooks that go hopping all over the place with their sharp tridents.
- Our Orcs Are Different: Most common mook enemy. There's also the first boss, the Orc King.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Two Mook varieties: those wielding Automatic Crossbows and those wielding spears.
- Palette Swap: The Royal Knights are green- and red-swapped versions of the Black Knight, albeit with fancy helmets instead of a bare head. There's also the grey-swapped Cyclops in the second Cyclops boss fight, and the ice-powered second Wyvern.
- Playing with Fire: Gildiss (duh!), the Fire Wyvern, one of the Hydra's heads, the Dragon Riders, and the Dark Wizard.
- Power Floats: The Dark Wizard.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Mary led the knight force against Gildiss. Too bad she only creates more problems that way.
- Shout-Out: The Great Dragonian's design bears a close resemblance to the Dragon Knight bosses in Capcom's older Beat 'em Up Black Tiger. He also looks an awful lot like Goldar.
- Storming the Castle: The focus on stages 8/9 (Malus Castle), 11 (a fort) and 12/13 (Castle Garenos).
- Younger Than They Look: The supposedly 28-year-old wizard Leger looks like he's at least in his late thirties or his forties.
