Astyanax (1989)

Aicom

Port of Astyanax

Family Computer · Nintendo Entertainment System

3.10 from 49 ratings

144 members have it in their collection · 4 playing now · 39 backlogged · 6 wish listed

How long? Main story 3h · with extras 2h · 100% 2h (from 3 logged playthroughs)

It is a 2D action platform game focused on hack and slash and spell casting. The game consists of six linear levels of which each has two sub-levels meaning the game consists of 12 level in total. After every level there is a cut-scene pushing the story forward. There are three weapons - an axe, a spear and a big … Read more
It is a 2D action platform game focused on hack and slash and spell casting. The game consists of six linear levels of which each has two sub-levels meaning the game consists of 12 level in total. After every level there is a cut-scene pushing the story forward. There are three weapons - an axe, a spear and a big sword. An axe is a basic weapon the hero holds at the beginning of the game. The player can upgrade the axe using a power-up which has the shape of a small axe. The spear is the second stage of the weapon upgrade system and the big sword is the final stage. The big sword is the most powerful melee weapon in the game. The player can cast three magic spells which using is limited by the magic meter. The first is "Bind", which stops the time altogether with the enemies in the level. The second is "Blast", which casts fire balls destroying all enemies visible on the screen at the time of the casting. The third is "Bolt", which has the form of a lightning strike and acts similarly to "Blast". Read less
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Details

Developers
Aicom
Publishers
Jaleco
Genres
Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Platform
Themes
Action, Fantasy

Release dates

  • Dec 21, 1989 (Full Release) (Japan) Family Computer
  • Mar 08, 1990 (Full Release) (North_America) Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Jul 13, 1990 (Full Release) (Europe) Nintendo Entertainment System

Also available on

Related

Bundled in

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Rating distribution

5 stars
1
4 stars
12
3 stars
27
2 stars
9
1 star
0
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Community All Reviews Statuses

scoopings

Review scoopings 3/5 · Jul 27, 2024

Decent Action Platformer, But Doesn't Have Anything Special To Highlight It

Preliminary: After the phenomenon that was Ys Books I & II for the Turbografx CD, this Look and Sound seem disappointing. I turned down the music pretty quickly, my standards have definitely raised. But I will give it an earnest shot. I like that it has RPG elements, I usually get hooked to platforms, and tho the movement and attacking …

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Preliminary: After the phenomenon that was Ys Books I & II for the Turbografx CD, this Look and Sound seem disappointing. I turned down the music pretty quickly, my standards have definitely raised. But I will give it an earnest shot. I like that it has RPG elements, I usually get hooked to platforms, and tho the movement and attacking are quite clunky (jump is much smoother and faster), I am getting used to the delay in the attack and I like that the attack damages both directions. After reading up and playing a bit, there really aren't many RPG elements in the arcade game. Upgrading your power-up/magic isn't really that RPG-y imo.

I got through the first boss without having to abuse savestates, so that's good. And the mechanics were quite intuitive, I always like that. And as always I love that I can smack away projectiles--so important imo.

Day 1

On Stage 2 I realized I needed to map a 3rd button for the Thunder magic, because it is definitely getting more difficult. Ugh and so begin the lame enemy spawns, one legit just dropped on top of me for its spawn lol.

Lol that 2nd boss was very easy. The 3rd stage has a pretty Look, and I'm getting back used to the Sound being a classic arcade sound with the sound effect grunts and action arcade music, definitely an adjustment from Ys Books I and II haha, so it seems I will push through since there are only 6 stages enter image description here

Welp, I got to Stage 4 and had an issue with my version of it. Not worth starting from scratch, but it was overall an enjoyable action platformer. Nothing special or spectacular, but good.

Look: 7.5/10 For the most part, felt quite redundant for so late in 89, but I really liked some of the Look and like to think that Stages 5 and 6 may have had cool Looks too.

Sound: 7/10 Didn't enjoy it much but it eventually grew on me as that classic arcade sound.

Play: 7.5/10 Better balanced than a lot of its contemporary platformers, but feels quite redundant and like I've played this game in many other previous games, if that makes sense. Doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but has a lot of the niceties that I like, namely hitting away projectiles and bosses that can be figured out intuitively.

Feel: 7.5/10 A game I wanted to like more and honestly I did want to finish it, but not a strong enough Feel to get me to start it fresh after getting partway through Stage 4

Attachment: 7.5/10 If I wanted to go through the whole list of pretty good arcade action platformers from this era, it would make the cut. And since that's a genre I do really like, it's possible.

Overall: 7.4/10

Completion: Partway through Stage 4 till it glitched

Playtime: 15 mins

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