The Astyanax, referred to as simply Astyanax in the NES version, is a side-scrolling action-adventure game designed by Aicom for arcades and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Although the plots differ in the two versions, gameplay remains relatively similar. The player has a life gauge, a strength gauge that fills automatically, and a magic gauge for spells. The arcade version incorporated co-operative play, which the NES version did not.
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I didn't even know this game existed until fairly recently and yet I still have nostalgia for it. That's impressive!
OK so let me explain my adventures to you
I TOOK MY AXE AND I STARTED SWINGING IT. BAM BAM BAM BAM.
and yeah that was my adventure! Pretty insane right?
I TOOK MY AXE AND I STARTED SWINGING IT. BAM BAM BAM BAM.
and yeah that was my adventure! Pretty insane right?
Thai title would make a really good password
Great game to have as a kid. Ninja Gaiden-style cutscenes. Static black screen huge boss battles. Loved it.
Positives:
- Short- but sweet.
- After getting used to the controls, they surprisingly become satisfying despite the hitboxes.
- Good presentation overall, and I like the music.
Negatives:
- Takes a good amount of time to get used to.
- The hitboxes make no sense and make the game feel clunky as a result.
- Level 4-1 is a pretty big jump in difficulty, after which it goes down immediately again.
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''Astyanax is a short- but sweet 2D Platformer on the NES, but one that admittedly took me some time getting used to. Part of that could be because the main character has a bigger sprite than most protagonists at the time, though I will also say that controls didn't really suffer from that. Moreso, it was the hit detection that felt off quite often; being hit while not touching any enemies, while also killing enemies even if you can see your weapon not landing on them. This made the game feel unnecessarily difficult for me near the beginning until I got used to it--especially with the amount of enemies that are on screen coming from both sides, aerial enemies being the bane of my existence, and plants loving to come out of the ground near bottomless pits that cause knockback. Level 4-1 is infamous for being a decently big spike in difficulty for every single one of those reasons.
Though all things considered, take it slow and the challenge of the game is actually... not that bad really. The life meter is very big, and there are unlimited continues that put you back at the beginning of the level you died in. And taking it slow is not a bad thing either since I beat the game in less than two hours on a first playthrough with no former experience. And while that normally would make a game too short, I think it doesn't really apply to Astyanax due to the game's structure. While the levels are very much distinct from each other, they all come down to the same idea in the end: go to the right, sometimes vertically, and beat the boss at the end. There's little change to be seen in the structure, hence why the game's length is good because it stops before it can get tiresome or repetitive. It also makes the game fun to replay every now and then, especially now that I'm used to the controls and hitboxes. I've actually been replaying the game every now and then to attempt a run without continuing, but... level 4-1. Ugh.
I actually haven't even talked about the controls in the first place have I? I mentioned that the bigger sprite makes controlling the character still pretty smoothly, but I haven't talked about actual combat. The main character has access to an axe that becomes better when upgrades are picked up. It can be swung as often as you like, but that's not what the game wants you to do because it will be far weaker that way. There's a power meter at the bottom of the screen that can also be expanded over the course of the game, and the longer you prepare for an attack, the stronger it will be--often even annihilating some stronger enemies in one hit. This yet again enforces that the game wants you to take your time instead of mindlessly going through the stages as fast as you can. And in case there are too many enemies on screen, our protagonist also has access to three magic spells--two of which take care of almost anything on-screen while the other one slows time, which is great for bosses. The bosses aren't anything special but I do like them enough at least, and they have good identifiable patterns so that when you do end up failing, you can restart and learn from it.''
- Short- but sweet.
- After getting used to the controls, they surprisingly become satisfying despite the hitboxes.
- Good presentation overall, and I like the music.
Negatives:
- Takes a good amount of time to get used to.
- The hitboxes make no sense and make the game feel clunky as a result.
- Level 4-1 is a pretty big jump in difficulty, after which it goes down immediately again.
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''Astyanax is a short- but sweet 2D Platformer on the NES, but one that admittedly took me some time getting used to. Part of that could be because the main character has a bigger sprite than most protagonists at the time, though I will also say that controls didn't really suffer from that. Moreso, it was the hit detection that felt off quite often; being hit while not touching any enemies, while also killing enemies even if you can see your weapon not landing on them. This made the game feel unnecessarily difficult for me near the beginning until I got used to it--especially with the amount of enemies that are on screen coming from both sides, aerial enemies being the bane of my existence, and plants loving to come out of the ground near bottomless pits that cause knockback. Level 4-1 is infamous for being a decently big spike in difficulty for every single one of those reasons.
Though all things considered, take it slow and the challenge of the game is actually... not that bad really. The life meter is very big, and there are unlimited continues that put you back at the beginning of the level you died in. And taking it slow is not a bad thing either since I beat the game in less than two hours on a first playthrough with no former experience. And while that normally would make a game too short, I think it doesn't really apply to Astyanax due to the game's structure. While the levels are very much distinct from each other, they all come down to the same idea in the end: go to the right, sometimes vertically, and beat the boss at the end. There's little change to be seen in the structure, hence why the game's length is good because it stops before it can get tiresome or repetitive. It also makes the game fun to replay every now and then, especially now that I'm used to the controls and hitboxes. I've actually been replaying the game every now and then to attempt a run without continuing, but... level 4-1. Ugh.
I actually haven't even talked about the controls in the first place have I? I mentioned that the bigger sprite makes controlling the character still pretty smoothly, but I haven't talked about actual combat. The main character has access to an axe that becomes better when upgrades are picked up. It can be swung as often as you like, but that's not what the game wants you to do because it will be far weaker that way. There's a power meter at the bottom of the screen that can also be expanded over the course of the game, and the longer you prepare for an attack, the stronger it will be--often even annihilating some stronger enemies in one hit. This yet again enforces that the game wants you to take your time instead of mindlessly going through the stages as fast as you can. And in case there are too many enemies on screen, our protagonist also has access to three magic spells--two of which take care of almost anything on-screen while the other one slows time, which is great for bosses. The bosses aren't anything special but I do like them enough at least, and they have good identifiable patterns so that when you do end up failing, you can restart and learn from it.''