Karnov (1987). Play online

Summary

The NES port of Karnov lets you step into the massive shoes of Jinborov Karnovski, the fire‑breathing strongman from a vaguely Central Asian background. Data East handled the design and music while SAS Sakata wrote the code, turning the arcade original into a solid home‑console experience.

On this version you can fire red orbs that boost your fireball attack, stacking up to three simultaneous shots. A two‑hit health bar turns Karnov blue after the first strike, and power‑ups like the Spike Bomb and the Shield swap out the arcade’s Super Fireball and Trolley for their own twists. Levels four and eight diverge from the arcade layout, and the showdown ends against a three‑headed dragon instead of a wizard.

The console release offers unlimited continues, and clever players can invoke a hidden continue by pressing Select + Start—a nod to the Japanese Famicom version that restricts you to just two continues and shows increasingly wounded sprites on Game Over. Beyond the NES, the game also appeared on the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, keeping the oddball hero alive on many platforms.

Storyline

Karnov, the fire‑breathing ex‑circus strongman, embarks on a nine‑stage quest in the NES version of the game to locate the ultimate treasure. Each level pits him against a bizarre roster of foes—sword‑wielding monks, dinosaurs, djinn, hopping fish men, gargoyles, tree monsters, will‑o‑wisps, rock creatures, centipede women, and ostrich‑riding skeleton warriors. After clearing a stage, Karnov defeats the level’s boss and claims a fragment of a treasure map. The final fragment is guarded not by the arcade’s Wizard but by a massive three‑headed dragon in the NES version. Assembling all map pieces reveals the location of the coveted ultimate treasure.