Somewhere in the universe, The Goddess Antowas created a world from a single jewel. On this world, Quartilia, she created the sky, earth, and air. To inhabit this world, she created two humans - from a green jewel, a girl: Leda, who has the power to make things live on Quartilia. And from a red Jewel, a boy: Astal, whose purpose was to protect Leda. Content with her creation, Antowas slept. While she slept, the evil Jerado tried to take over Quartilia. To ensure victory, Jerado created a warrior: Geist. Geist kidnapped Leda, and held her at the bottom of the ocean. In an effort to get her back, Astal tore Quartilia apart, awakening Antowas. As punishment, Antowas banished Astal to Quartilia's moon. Leda took pity on Astal, and gave him her jewel. Once Astal and Jerado were dealt with, Antowas went back to sleep. However, Geist was still free, and Quartilia was not restored from the changes Jerado wrought. From his prison on the moon, Astal witnessed Geist kidnap Leda again. Consumed with the need to protect her, he freed himself and returned to Quartilia. Now Astal journeys in search of Leda through a Quartilia transformed by Jerado's dark design, along with a strange bird who for some reason just won't leave him alone...
Reviews View More
Excelentes gráficos acompañados de buena música, es un excelente juego a parte de ser divertido, lo único que le podría criticar es el control, hay que adelantarse un poco a las acciones para que las realice en el momento preciso.
Astal is a fascinating and charming relic that might have come from an alternate timeline where side scrolling action games remained popular into the 32-bit generation. At it's core, it's an hour long action game that scrolls left to right with a boss at the end of each level; from a game design standpoint, it's straight out of the 16-bit era.
But Astal takes that core and leverages the Saturn's considerable 2D prowess to create something both spectacular and special. There's an extended hand-drawn animated opening sequence along with narrated scenes between levels that do an enormous amount of world building. The soundtrack is a stunning redbook audio orchestral and guitar masterpiece. Levels constantly zoom in and out, scaling the entire stage and all the sprites in it seamlessly, when needed to expand the view. The animation on everything from Astal to the smallest enemy is detailed and fluid. The bosses are all unique and spectacular, once again leveraging the Saturn's 2D tech to create gorgeous, often stunning imagery.
There's a timeline where Astal was a smash hit and this kind of game was still popular into Saturn and Playstation's generation, and it's a wonderful one. Back in reality, Astal is a game that fell out of that timeline and left us with a glimpse of what could have been. This is a beautiful, odd gem of a game and a 2D showcase for the Saturn.
But Astal takes that core and leverages the Saturn's considerable 2D prowess to create something both spectacular and special. There's an extended hand-drawn animated opening sequence along with narrated scenes between levels that do an enormous amount of world building. The soundtrack is a stunning redbook audio orchestral and guitar masterpiece. Levels constantly zoom in and out, scaling the entire stage and all the sprites in it seamlessly, when needed to expand the view. The animation on everything from Astal to the smallest enemy is detailed and fluid. The bosses are all unique and spectacular, once again leveraging the Saturn's 2D tech to create gorgeous, often stunning imagery.
There's a timeline where Astal was a smash hit and this kind of game was still popular into Saturn and Playstation's generation, and it's a wonderful one. Back in reality, Astal is a game that fell out of that timeline and left us with a glimpse of what could have been. This is a beautiful, odd gem of a game and a 2D showcase for the Saturn.
Decent 2D platformer, though a bit clunky at points. Also the final levels can be quite frustrating.
Japanese rayman is epic !
i bloody loved my time with astal, it was bealtiful, it was whimsical, simplistic story yet fairy tale-like, felt like an adventure through and through even if it got a big unfair at the end there, but i can forgive that because i emulate and also because you can suplex every enemy in the game, even the last boss, you can MGS raiden suplex the last boss punch !!
there is something about these fantastic worlds that get to me on a emotional level, i loved astal too much, the music is worth ripping out and listening to itself alone
its not without flaws however, movement feels a little floaty, there are about 5 frames of input delay in every emulator you try, but from hardware recording it seems the same on physical as well, and the game also uses limited continues, now i am fine with a life count but a limited continue that sends you straight to the main menu is just an excuse to pad short games. still i can't complain because its not that hard of a game (the game actually tries to make a narrative of how OP astal actually is, i definelly recomend for people who love bealtiful artsy games with a fairy tale style, it might sound childish but its adorable for me.
on another note : what in tarnation is this american box art ? they turned my cute smol boy into a beetle chimpanzee ? why do old american box arts used to butch japanese artstyles so harshly ?
i bloody loved my time with astal, it was bealtiful, it was whimsical, simplistic story yet fairy tale-like, felt like an adventure through and through even if it got a big unfair at the end there, but i can forgive that because i emulate and also because you can suplex every enemy in the game, even the last boss, you can MGS raiden suplex the last boss punch !!
there is something about these fantastic worlds that get to me on a emotional level, i loved astal too much, the music is worth ripping out and listening to itself alone
its not without flaws however, movement feels a little floaty, there are about 5 frames of input delay in every emulator you try, but from hardware recording it seems the same on physical as well, and the game also uses limited continues, now i am fine with a life count but a limited continue that sends you straight to the main menu is just an excuse to pad short games. still i can't complain because its not that hard of a game (the game actually tries to make a narrative of how OP astal actually is, i definelly recomend for people who love bealtiful artsy games with a fairy tale style, it might sound childish but its adorable for me.
on another note : what in tarnation is this american box art ? they turned my cute smol boy into a beetle chimpanzee ? why do old american box arts used to butch japanese artstyles so harshly ?
My first exposure to Astal was through the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic. He showed up a few times in the background of panels, just a weird lookin' fella with a design that really stood out, almost like he was from something.
Turns out the reason I didn't recognize him was because nobody owned a Sega Saturn.
I do now, though! And shortly after getting Pseudo Saturn Kai up and running and burning a mountain of ill-gotten games, Astal was one of the first I played. I went in with low expectations and almost zero notion of what it even was, and that was probably the best mindset to be in. If you're expecting anything other than a generic mid-90s platformer, you're probably going to be pretty disappointed.
Personally, I think Astal's simplicity is part of what makes it so enjoyable. It's not a demanding game, it lacks complex mechanics and takes almost no time to get acclimated to, which makes it perfect if you're looking for something you can jump right into and have a good time with for about an hour. My only real complaint is that the game ends so suddenly and with such an abrupt shift in scenery that it feels like a whole world got cut somewhere. Without a shred of hyperbole, I was trying to remember how much game I had left when Astal transitioned to the final boss.
The generic nature of its gameplay is made up for by strong presentation. Colors range from soft pastels to bright neons, and backgrounds have an almost air-brushed quality to them that, coupled with a gentle soundtrack, gives Astal this nostalgic, dream-like feeling. The prevailing aesthetics of the 90s were defined by how garish, aggressive, and full of put-on attitude they were, but it was a more stylistically rich era than that. Astal is none of those things yet quintessentially 90s, which helps it stir in me familiar feelings of waking up at the crack of dawn to play games, even if I didn't experience it that way back in the day.
Like Sonic Blast, I decided to look up coverage of Astal contemporary with its release, and I found that UK publications did a lot more to cover the game compared to their considerably less interested American counterparts. I'm sure this is partly due to Sega's market share being different between the two countries, but a quick read through Mega's August 95 cover feature - where Astal was dismissed as being overpriced and less fun than Sonic ("It doesn't have a fancy intro either. Ho hum. At least it's better than Daedalus...") - and GamePro's November 95 review highlights an almost comical gulf in terms writing quality. GamePro's Scary Larry does show a respectable amount of restraint in making only two puns about "Astal" sounding like "ass."
Meanwhile, Russian magazine Strana Igr said of Astal, "Это вообще ничего не значит." I don't really know what the hell that means. Maybe it says something about how Astal does a respectable job filling the void left by Sonic the Hedgehog on the Saturn, even if it may not be the most revolutionary platformer out there.
Turns out the reason I didn't recognize him was because nobody owned a Sega Saturn.
I do now, though! And shortly after getting Pseudo Saturn Kai up and running and burning a mountain of ill-gotten games, Astal was one of the first I played. I went in with low expectations and almost zero notion of what it even was, and that was probably the best mindset to be in. If you're expecting anything other than a generic mid-90s platformer, you're probably going to be pretty disappointed.
Personally, I think Astal's simplicity is part of what makes it so enjoyable. It's not a demanding game, it lacks complex mechanics and takes almost no time to get acclimated to, which makes it perfect if you're looking for something you can jump right into and have a good time with for about an hour. My only real complaint is that the game ends so suddenly and with such an abrupt shift in scenery that it feels like a whole world got cut somewhere. Without a shred of hyperbole, I was trying to remember how much game I had left when Astal transitioned to the final boss.
The generic nature of its gameplay is made up for by strong presentation. Colors range from soft pastels to bright neons, and backgrounds have an almost air-brushed quality to them that, coupled with a gentle soundtrack, gives Astal this nostalgic, dream-like feeling. The prevailing aesthetics of the 90s were defined by how garish, aggressive, and full of put-on attitude they were, but it was a more stylistically rich era than that. Astal is none of those things yet quintessentially 90s, which helps it stir in me familiar feelings of waking up at the crack of dawn to play games, even if I didn't experience it that way back in the day.
Like Sonic Blast, I decided to look up coverage of Astal contemporary with its release, and I found that UK publications did a lot more to cover the game compared to their considerably less interested American counterparts. I'm sure this is partly due to Sega's market share being different between the two countries, but a quick read through Mega's August 95 cover feature - where Astal was dismissed as being overpriced and less fun than Sonic ("It doesn't have a fancy intro either. Ho hum. At least it's better than Daedalus...") - and GamePro's November 95 review highlights an almost comical gulf in terms writing quality. GamePro's Scary Larry does show a respectable amount of restraint in making only two puns about "Astal" sounding like "ass."
Meanwhile, Russian magazine Strana Igr said of Astal, "Это вообще ничего не значит." I don't really know what the hell that means. Maybe it says something about how Astal does a respectable job filling the void left by Sonic the Hedgehog on the Saturn, even if it may not be the most revolutionary platformer out there.
Second GOTM finished for June 2023. Some neat ideas and interesting bosses and level designs saved this game from being an outright stinker. The floaty, janky movement exacerbated some of the issues with later levels, and the bird companion was a little difficult to figure out how and why to use. Felt like a tech demo at times that needed to be fleshed out more and needed the controls tightened up. The bosses were at least all unique, and the game looks incredible, but not something I'd come back to or recommend.