 Beat-em-up games are kind of generic by nature, right? Walk around, punch and kick a guy until he disappears. So what makes Nights of the Round worth playing today? Well, beat-em-ups are very easy games by nature. Hell, if you want challenge, you shouldn't be playing a beat-em-up. But I appreciate that. There's a certain satisfaction being able to mow through an entire game in less than an hour. Nights of the Round is no exception. The game is structured a little differently than usual, however. You only get two lives, but nine continues. This allows you to be able to switch between three characters if you want. Arthur, Lancelot and Percival. Each character's strengths lend themselves better to different parts of the game and different bosses in particular. Like Phantom here, who's fast as hell. You don't want to be stuck with slow, lumbering Percival here. You want the quicker Lancelot to be able to dodge stuff easier. I know that sounds simple, but beat-em-ups are simple games. That said, I do wish they'd done a bit more to make each character different instead of just the usual strong guy is slow, fast guy is weak template that goes all the way back to Ice Hockey for the NES, but whatever. One hook that Nights of the Round has going for it is that you want to keep playing just to see what the next boss is. The bosses do not disappoint in this game, like in Final Fight. They are huge character sprites that take up a large chunk of the screen. In fact, there's all sorts of goofy characters throughout the game, like Birdman? Is that his nickname his friends gave him, or is he like actually a half-bird, half-man? And before you comment, yes, I'm sure that some reference to some original Nights of the Round table or something, so stop ruining my dumb imagination with facts and stuff. Another aspect that sets Nights of the Round apart is the leveling system. That's right, there's actually a point to beating up as many enemies as you can and collecting all that treasure because the points allow your guy to level up and get stronger and to get some nifty or looking armor as well. This is a nice touch, but again, I wish they'd taken it a bit further and had you learn more attacks as you leveled up, but the way they did it is perfectly fine. I also like being able to ride a purple horse to help you smash enemies. What was this horse colored by Lisa Frank? You can't block anything while you're on it, so you can take some damage, but it's still fun. There's also neat little cutscenes where you rally the troops to help overtake the castle as you sweep your army across the land, although your troops aren't very helpful in a practical way. Come on, man! Since Nights of the Round is made by Capcom, you can be sure the game gets the little more subtle things right, like the lush, mural-esque looking backgrounds and the great soundtrack. Overall, it's a well-crafted beat-em-up with a couple neat ideas thrown in for fun. Nights of the Round is easily one of the three or four best beat-em-ups on the Super Nintendo.