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The Astyanax

The Astyanax
Developer(s) Aicom
Publisher(s) Jaleco
Director(s) Tokuhiro Takemori
Producer(s) Tokuhiro Takemori
Designer(s) Tokuhiro Takemori
Composer(s) Kiyoshi Yokoyama
Platform(s) Arcade, NES
Release 1989 (Arcade)
  • JP: December 21, 1989
  • NA: March 1990
  • EU: 1990
(NES)
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) 2-players cooperative (arcade)
1-player (NES)
Cabinet Horizontal
Arcade system Jaleco Mega System 1A
CPU 68000
Sound Sound CPU : 68000
Sound Chips : YM2151, OKI6295
Display Raster (256 x 224 pixels, 1024 colors)

The Astyanax, known in Japan as The Lord of King (ザ・ロード・オブ・キング), is a side-scrolling action game developed by Aicom released for the arcades by Jaleco. A home version for the Nintendo Entertainment System, simply titled Astyanax, was released during the same time as the arcade version.

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 consists 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 his 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's also a blue arrowhead that will increase 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.

Unlike the arcade version, the NES version can only be played by one player. Like in the arcade version, the player has a life gauge, a strength gauge that fills automatically when he is not attacking and a magic gauge for his spells. Unlike the arcade version, the player can wield other weapons besides the default axe, as well as use different magic spells, which are selected by pausing the game.

By picking up a power-up, Astyanax's weapon, the Bash, changes shape from its default axe form into a spear, which can be upgraded again into a sword. The spear has the weakest attack strength, but allows Astyanax to use his magic spells more often by consuming less magic points, while the sword can deal the most damage on enemies, but consumes the most magic points when casting a spell. The player will revert to his previous weapon after losing a life.


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Wikipedia

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