Dragon Unit, also known by its international release title Castle Of Dragon, is a 1989 arcade side-scrolling Hack and Slash-style action game created by Seta Corporation, made in the style of Rastan.
In another High Fantasy setting, a peaceful kingdom was unexpectedly attacked by the fearsome dragon, Zuriv, who wiped out most of the land and abducted its princess. Two young knights named Duke and Narda (players 1 and 2, evidently) sets off on a rescue mission as they brave Zuriv's monster-infested castle.
Dragon Unit provides examples of:
- Amazon Brigade: You fight a horde of warrior-women clad in green armor in the second stage.
- Bat Out of Hell: The castle's population of bats are hostile and will swarm over you on sight. They can damage you just by touching but otherwise dies in just one hit.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: In two of the stages that require keys, the script says, "HOLD ON KEY", and the story is a little incomprehensible at times, indicating that the game was clearly developed by the Japanese.
- Body Armor as Hit Points: Your health is represented by the amount of armor you're wearing, from holding a shield to shieldless but with armor and finally down to a simple leather tunic. Get hit again at this stage and you lose a life.
- Breath Weapon: The dragons - both the titular one and two others you fought earlier - can breath flames, unsurprisingly.
- Cock Fight: If two players reach the end, they must then battle to see which one gets the princess. The winner gets their ending screen. If both players die, the ending screen shows the princess sadly gazing at both swords stuck in the ground.
- Damsel in Distress: The princess is abducted by Zuriv, naturally, and the two player heroes need to retrieve her. After defeating Zuriv the ending credits are superimposed over your player hero smooching the princess.
- Dual Boss:
- The first boss is a pair of mages who attack together with their spells.
- In the graveyard you battle a pair of purple-shelled insect-men who leap all over the place while trying to gore you with their claws.
- And prior to battling the titular dragon, you fight a pair of smaller ones at the end of a hallway.
- Epic Flail: One of your power-ups allows you to swap your sword with a spiked ball on a chain, which has far greater range.
- Fairy Companion: Every now and then, a fairy who's on your side will periodically fly into the screen, linger a bit, and drop an item for you before she leaves. Most of the time it's a weapon, but she sometimes drop health pickups and extra lives.
- Falling Chandelier of Doom: Several areas contains chandeliers, which will automatically fall when you're underneath. Getting hit damages you instantly.
- Location Title: Castle of Dragon. You're in a castle, to slay an evil dragon...
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Your shield certainly does, and functions like a separate life bar absorbing projectile attacks for you.
- Medusa: She's the third boss of the game, and is depicted as a gigantic snake-lady towering over you.
- Mooks, but no Bosses: Levels 2 and 5 have plenty of enemies and you'll need to locate keys, but no bosses at the end.
- Night of the Living Mooks: The fourth stage is set in the castle's graveyard, and the undead - mostly skeletons and zombies - will emerge from their tombs to attack.
- Platform Hell: The Castle's interiors have plenty of areas where the floors are spiked pits, and the only way across is by platforms. Time your jump properly - more spikes will periodically drop from the ceiling or protude between the platforms.
- Spikes of Doom: The castle dungeons is filled with spiked pits, and platforms with spiked edges that damages or kills you if you miss a jump. There's also spiked slabs on chains descendign from ceilings.
- Sword Beam: If you're armed with a sword. It can already release ranged projectiles by default with each swing, and there are upgrades allowing your sword to fill the immediate area before you with electricity!
- Timed Mission: You get 40 seconds per stage, and the game will throw a "HURRY UP AND CONTINUE!" notification for dawdling.
- When Trees Attack: There are tree-men enemies lumbering around on their roots, who can attack you either with their branches or create Mini Mook tree-people. Killing one regular-sized tree-man turns it into three tiny ones.
- Zuriv fell under the swords of the young kings.
It had been a long battle.
