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Runner up to the MSX Dev 2017 competition and developed by GW's Workshop, Draconic Throne is an adoring arcade shooter. The mastermind behind this title is Nobuaki Washio the main programmer, game & character designer and composer.

Draconic Throne follows the story of the citizens of the kingdom that want to get rid of you. (The dragon.) Hence the title Draconic Throne. The straightforward plot - to user-friendly controls makes this game a beauty to behold. Draconic Throne starts with a bit of a backstory alongside following a snappy flash to the title screen. The music already has me hooked. The build-up and overall catchy beat sets the mood for an arcade game. It's nothing too serious for opening music but matches the medieval graphics. If left alone it will repeat and loop. This once again tries to replicate the arcade feel. The top of the screen has age which basically means level and the score and KILL. What, kill? Yes,kill. The game has a meter for the amount of humans you slaughter. As you burn their corpses to a puddle of ash. A bit on the morbid and too graphic side. Anyway you play as a dragon moving left to right while firing your mighty bluster fireball onto the infantry. The way to progress on to the next 'age' (stage) is by exterminating the boss in each 'age'. The only way to lose is by being hit so far back to the left edge of the screen it cause the game to be over.

The game contains a range of eleven characters. Ranging from the prince to a slinger. As an arcade game it's ideal to get the highest score and reach the furthest stage of 'age'. I highly recommend taking out enemies with one dragon breath. If you get 5 or more enemies you will rack up more points in the long run. Funnily enough if you get a very high score you can score a rank S to A score. However the lowest can be a rank H with the title of 'Dullsvillie bug'. To get far in the game you need to use a range of tactics which are in the instruction manual. The wide range burning attack is done by holding down the fire button then waiting and letting go. Once down, the blast will kill a range of enemies moving left to right with this beam of fire to kill large scale enemies.

Draconic Throne does have a catchy sound landscape. The landscape can range from upbeat tunes to tense loops. Overall the Music and SFX balance is spot on. The sounds of death spikes well enough while the music accompanies this in the background. Clearly the work of Hiroshi Fujita and Nobuaki Washio with their techniques and fine tuning of each track can be seen so smoothly and loudly that they are bliss to the ear. This makes the game tense, enjoyable and overall sets the mood and tone due to the atmospheric minimalistic music. The graphics are just outstanding to the moving background of the terrifying castles. Everything fits the theme. There's small details with the enemies that are even noticeable on an 8 bit computer. All the enemies don't look flat or dull and add even more charm to everything.

I did find the controls smooth and a breeze to control. The dragon moves where you want and when you want. There's no delay and so far in my play I haven't had any bad frame rate problems, I thought I would discover this later on due to the swarm of enemies on screen. However overall in my experience the game copes fairly well. The collision detection is spot on. When firing at an archer or hoplite. I did find the kill was paced, fair and just. Learning the controls does take some time, mainly due to the layout. (The main problems I had was moving the head.)

It's a game that deserves time, patience and overall it is a retro arcade game that definitely will bring fond and awe-inspiring new memories. I won't spoil anything major but it is a difficult game to be able to conquer. I highly recommend practising over and over again. Similar to that of an exam paper you may sit in the past or present. Once you mastered it, you can enjoy countless hours with this title. In my experience it was an eye opener. I see why it was a runner-up in the MSX Dev 2017. Once again a gratification experience can be awarded with this game. GW's Workshop did put a lot of time, care and love into this arcade bijou. Overall if you enjoy arcade shooters and don't want to play sci-fi anymore, This game takes the cake. I highly recommend at least trying the ROM and donating some cash towards GW's Workshop.