For the Game Boy entry into the series, they made a tighter, tougher, and shorter experience built solely around horizontal side scrolling in a single fortress. There are no wilderness areas nor vertically scrolling levels.
Armed with just a sword and a flighty, pointy-toed jump, the player fights their way past all sorts of monsters and other defenses, picking up minor loot like gems, food, drink, keys, and extra lives. Every ten gems collected equals an extra life as well.
Keys unlock the chests one encounters, but the placement of these items is not usually connected. Grab keys when you see them, a chest will be around at some point. Chest items are either more gems, an extra life, the Shield of Protection (no idea what it did), and the most useful Boots of Jumping.
I always tried to get and keep those boots, which allow for farther jumps and soft landings. Luckily the chest loot is not random so one can note which chest has what reward.
Some levels have multiple paths through them and hidden areas discovered by exploration, including the classic “above the screen” areas as seen since Super Mario Bros. The healing items are relatively scarce so it’s best to not get hit at all.
Of course this was easier to achieve with the use of save states on my Analogue Pocket. The crisp screen and the elimination of blurring while scrolling helped as well. There were five sections to the game, with the first four broken into subsections 1.0, 1.1, etc. The final section was just one large area with multiple paths.
I entered the final boss battle with Malkil unexpectedly but had six hearts and nine lives to burn as the battle does not stop upon death and regeneration. He fell after I sacrificed about three lives.
The under appreciated Wizards & Warriors series was unique and challenging and I’m glad I got to play three of them. On the Game Boy, Wizards and Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear captures the style and gameplay of its NES brethren while presenting its own vibe as well.
