Play Kings Knight Online

King’s Knight is one of those weird NES shooters that feels like it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be an RPG or a bullet hell game. You pick from four characters—each with their own quirks—and then it’s just you, a ton of enemies, and this oddly satisfying power-up system where you level up mid-stage by grabbing upgrades. The knight’s slow but hits hard, the wizard’s shots are weirdly floaty, and the dragoon? Yeah, he’s basically cheating with his jump height.

It’s got that classic "collect the thing to unlock the final level" mechanic, except the things are just labeled A, B, C, and D for no apparent reason. Also, watch out for Life Downs—nothing like picking up an item and immediately regretting it. The scrolling’s smooth, the music’s decent, and there’s this weird charm to how janky some of the hitboxes feel. Not Square’s finest, but definitely an interesting relic from their early days.