Developer: Namco Publisher NEC Released: November 1989 Genre: Shooter
Dragon’s Spirit is one of the earliest arcade games I ever played which is partly why I’m so fond of it. The game is also good to boot so it isn’t a case of rose tinted glasses. I enjoyed many a NES port of arcade classics like Double Dragon and Contra in spite of the fact that they differed from the source material, usually for the better. Dragon Spirit: the New Legend was pretty good for a port/sequel but I still wanted an arcade perfect port. The Turbo Grafx-16 version is not that but is pretty damn close and one of the games I enjoyed on the system the most. The difficulty is off-putting but it is still a good game after all these years.
Dragon Spirit uses the framework of Xevious. It is incredibly obvious yet I never put two and two together. You have fire breath for airborne targets and bombs for ground based enemies. Maybe it is because I was never fond of Xevious. In fact Namco used this exact formula for Phelios the following year. Considering my dislike of both of those games it is a wonder that I like Dragon Spirit.
In a direct comparison the Turbo Grafx-16 version holds up pretty well. The arcade game runs at a higher resolution and has slightly bigger sprites. The overall color palette is brighter, not for any reason that I can discern but it is not distracting. Outside of that very little has been sacrificed up until its ending stages. The level of detail is not as high and some elements are a little different. The sprites are slightly smaller but you will barely notice. For its time this was the best conversion you could buy.
Dragon Spirit was unique in that power-ups altered your dragon form. The most common adds multiple heads to double and triple your firepower. The most common are red orbs that upgrade your default fire breath in groups of three. Occasionally you will get speed power-ups but they aren’t as common. Unfortunately with every hit you lose some of your power and in this game it happens frequently. In addition there are a few temporary power-ups that are extremely strong. The silver dragon has a wide shot; the gold dragon has homing fire, and even a rare mini dragon form that makes it easier to dodge bullets. Considering the high difficulty you will wish these items were more common.
In terms of accuracy this version is great. But I can’t help but miss some of the content of the NES version. The relaxed hit box alone makes the game a lot more playable. The distribution of power-ups also helps tremendously with the difficulty. It does have some new content. Stage Seven’s underwater level and the following dark stage have been removed and replaced with two castle stages. These levels are repetitive as they recycle assets and cause the game to go out on a bit of a whimper sadly. I get that an arcade perfect port was the point but damn does the game need more or at the very least some balancing.
I’ve mentioned it plenty of times now but the difficulty is off the chart. Since you are a large ass dragon you also have a big hit box. This version has a less forgiving hit box that makes the game even more difficult than its brutal arcade big brother. If anything so much as touches a wing you take a hit. In most shooters you can dart between bullets like an aerial maverick. Not so much here. You have a three hit life bar and sadly there is no way to recover lost health. They don’t even refill it after each level! This version of the game is one of the most difficult shooters I’ve played and not in a good way.
You get your money’s worth with Dragon Spirit. At nine levels this is one of the longer shooters in the genre. Granted, most shooters are short but that is not the point of the genre. When combined with its unrelenting difficulty most will have to play this for a while to see the end if they don’t give up. The diversity is incredible; Namco took advantage of the fantasy theme with its great art direction and awesome music. At the very least you get some eye and ear candy while you endlessly repeat stage six. You’ll know when you get there.
In Conclusion
Frustration with the difficulty aside Dragon Spirit is an excellent conversion of a pretty good game from 1987 that still holds up today. It’s not in the same class as the Star Soldier series but it’s certainly better than generic tripe such as Ordyne and Dead Moon.
