Defender of the Crown

Defender of the Crown for NES is a medieval strategy and action game developed by Beam Software from Cinemaware's 1986 computer original. Released for Nintendo Entertainment System players in 1989 and distributed in Europe by Palcom, it carries the player to a fictionalized England in 1149, after the king's death leaves the throne vacant and the country divided between Saxon lords and Norman rulers. The campaign combines a turn-based map of England with jousting, swordplay, siege warfare, and castle defense rather than presenting its conquest as a single kind of game.

The goal is to seize the Norman strongholds and claim the missing crown. At the opening, players select one of four Saxon leaders—Wilfred of Ivanhoe, Wolfric the Wild, Cedric of Rotherwood, or Geoffrey Longsword—whose different ratings in leadership, jousting, and swordplay shape their approach to the campaign. Each turn advances the in-game calendar by a month, while rival lords pursue their own conflicts across the map. A status display tracks gold, income, troops, knights, catapults, garrisons, and the chosen lord's standing.

From the main map, the player can hold or enter tournaments, buy an army, move forces, raid a castle, inspect territory, or pass the turn. Captured land produces the resources needed to recruit soldiers and knights, purchase catapults, and establish defenses. Choosing where to send the field army matters: troops left at the home castle help withstand attacks, while an expeditionary force is needed to occupy open territory and confront enemy positions. The initial Saxon lords may be allies, but they also seek England's crown, so even friendly territory can become a battlefield.

Tournaments break up the grand-strategy layer with contests for fame or land. In the joust, the player uses the Control Pad to line up a lance against an approaching opponent's shield; success depends both on timing and the selected lord's ability. A second event, the morning-star duel, has the player time high or low strikes and raise a shield with the B button. Victories improve a leader's fame and can increase leadership, giving the tournament a practical place in the wider struggle for territory.

Castle raids and conquests bring their own action sequences and tactical choices. A raid sends the chosen lord through a courtyard to fight guards and the castle captain in swordplay, with movement, attacks, and parries handled directly by the player. Open-field battles resolve through commands such as holding ground, attacking fiercely, bombarding, outflanking, or retreating; army size, leaders, and equipment all influence the risks. To assault a fortified territory, a campaign force needs a catapult, then a siege sequence lets the player choose boulders, Greek fire, or disease and time the launch to breach the walls before the battle.

Defender of the Crown also asks the player to protect holdings already won. When a home castle or garrison is attacked, a first-person crossbow defense scene puts the player on the walls against incoming enemies. Robin Hood can be called upon a limited number of times for help with raids, sieges, or field battles, and the campaign can offer a damsel-rescue episode. These shifting perspectives made the NES version a distinctive adaptation of Cinemaware's English civil-war fantasy: it turns the pursuit of the crown into both a map-based contest of expansion and a run of hands-on medieval challenges.