Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II

Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II (also known as Wizards and Warriors II: Ironsword) is an action platform video game developed by Zippo Games and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America in December 1989 and in Europe on 27 March 1991. It is the sequel to Rare's 1987 title Wizards & Warriors. In Ironsword, the player controls the knight warrior Kuros as he ventures in the land of Sindarin. He must defeat the evil wizard Malkil, who has assumed the elemental forms of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Kuros must collect the parts of and assemble the legendary "IronSword" in order to defeat Malkil, who resides at the top of IceFire Mountain. The game was fairly well-received, selling 500,000 copies in North America and 50,000 copies in Europe. It received praise for its size, graphics and sound, detailed characters and bosses, and gameplay, with criticism for its lack of originality. Rare responded positively to the game, which led to Zippo Games being contracted to develop games for Rare such as Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship and Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power, eventually being folded into the company as Rare Manchester.