261: Dragon Breed

Number 261
(1.9 points)
Dragon Breed
1991: 82

Based on a lesser-known arcade shoot 'em up by Irem, Dragon Breed made a successful jump to the Amiga not long after its coin op debut.

You control a young man named Kayus, who at the start of the game jumps on the back of a dragon called Bahamoot (this introduction was left out of the Amiga port). Kayus flies through the sky, firing his crossbow while Bahamoot breathes fire and whips his tail around. The dragon is practically invincible, but Kayus is not, so care must be made when navigating the screen. He can also jump off Bahamoot and run around certain platform areas, an unusual addition to an otherwise standard horizontal shoot 'em up.

There are two things that set the game apart from the pack: the dragon with its curling tail, and the ability to jump off said dragon and run around. What sets this port apart is that it's actually extremely faithful to the original, with the slight changes that they made the dragon a little more powerful and you seem to need more hits to kill enemies - you'll want an autofire controller here.. I needn't mention the fact that MAME exists, so maybe it suffers from the problem that many old arcade ports do these days, but it's still a great indication of what the Amiga was capable of.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Dragon Breed (1990)(Activision)[cr Angels - Genesis - Defjam]