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.