The Astyanax (1989) Arcade Jaleco M.A.M.E Platform Retro Game Session

The Astyanax, known in Japan as The Lord of King, is a 1989 platform video game developed by Aicom and released for arcades by Jaleco. A port to the Nintendo Entertainment System, simply titled Astyanax, was released in 1989 in Japan and in Western regions in 1990, shortly after the arcade version, but is decidedly different from its arcade predecessor in terms of story. Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in May 2021. The arcade version of Astyanax is set in a fantasy world populated by mythical creatures from Greek and Arab mythology. The game consists of six stages: a forest, a cave, a lake, a lift, a castle and the final battle. Up to two players can play simultaneously with continues allowed at any moment. The first player controls Roche (a blond-haired warrior in blue armor), while the second player controls an unnamed palette swap of Roche in red armor with black hair. The controls consist of an eight-way joystick and three buttons for attacking, jumping or using a thunder attack that covers the whole screen. The player has four health points per life. The player's main weapon is an axe, with a power gauge that fills automatically when the player is not swinging it. When the gauge is filled, the player's axe will be lit on fire, allowing for a stronger attack. This allows the player a choice between faster weak swings or a slow strong one. The player can obtain power-ups by destroying stone pillars such as crystals for points or red jewels for additional health. There is also a blue arrowhead that increases the strength of the player's thunder attack by up to four levels (the player must have at least one arrowhead in stock to perform a thunder attack) and a shield that allows the player to block enemy attacks until it breaks.