Chances are by now you’ve seen plenty of ports of old arcade games on the Switch eShop under the Arcade Archives header. Some of them are awesome and some are dated but fun, but all of them are usually worth a look one way or another. The latest in the series to be ported by Hamster Corporation for the Switch is Jaleco’s 1989 classic, The Astyanax, also known as The Lord of King in Japan. The Astyanax was also ported to the NES but it’s an incredibly inferior version, so bad that a complete copy will run you no more than about $35 or so, ridiculously low in this era of collectible NES games. Thankfully, that‘s not the case with this amazing arcade game!
Arcade Archive: The Astyanax features a muscle-bound blonde warrior with an axe who has received a ‘divine revelation’ and gone off to restore peace to the world. Like most late 80s arcade games, this isn’t a complex plot and it’s simply a vehicle to more the gameplay along. And the key here is most definitely gameplay.
In The Astyanax, you wield your axe against a host of foes over six stages varying greatly in background. You can jump, swing your axe, and use magic attacks when you collect them as special items. There are some neat touches here that make The Astyanax stand out though. You can gather up additional armor and a shield and block some attacks with it. The shield actually takes visible battle damage and will shatter if you repel enough hits, leaving you less defended until you find another one. Magic lightning is pretty neat too, and if you hang onto it and collect more, can stack up to three times for an insanely powerful burst. Finally, there’s your fire axe. If you wait for the charge bar to fill on the bottom of the screen, your axe catches fire and does significantly more damage, felling stronger enemies in a blow. This is hard to use if you’re surrounded but a useful tool nonetheless. Plus it looks absolutely badass.
Level design is linear, but each level is surprisingly varied, including things like a jumping puzzle, an elevator level (standard for the era), moving floors, crumbling bridges, and a variety of other surprises. In short, the creator of The Astyanax was pretty wild for 1989, incorporating a host of unique effects that would wow an arcade gamer. They still hold up today too, a testament to the quality of the design.
Bosses are challenging due to the difficulty in getting close enough to hit them but staying far enough away to not get obliterated. You only have four health points and three continues on a standard run, making this a particularly challenging proposition for later bosses. The levels themselves are usually fairly straightforward, but some enemies are particularly daunting, especially in levels 5 and 6, showing The Astyanax’s credit-feeder roots. Most players back in the late 80s would be bringing a roll of quarters to beat this one, so being able to simply add credits with the L button is an absolute godsend while you’re learning the ins and outs of the game.
Visually, The Astyanax is a marvel of its era. Foreground and background scrolling are everywhere, showing significant depth for a side-scroller. Enemies are even hidden behind pillars and the detail level is fantastic. Hamster has added the usual slate of screen controls, so you can stretch the screen, add CRT scanlines, and all sorts of other gimmickry, but default mode looks outstanding, even if the game is in its original unaltered 4:3 aspect ratio. It’s obvious from level six that the creator, Tokuhiro Takemori, the creator of The Astyanax, had a particular obsession with a certain sci-fi/horror 80s movie, and it’s hard to fault him for it as it turned out pretty cool. It is amazing that there were no copyright infringement lawsuits though. There are also some surprising visuals later in the game, including female enemies whose shirts get blown off when you defeat them and they run away, hiding their breasts in shame. This was actually in the domestic arcade release as well, a surprise as this sort of thing usually got edited out for Western releases. FYI, there are no nipples, so settle down. Pervs.
The audio is also crisp and clean, unaltered from the original game. There’s a noticeable difference between the sound from The Lord of King and the international version, The Astyanax though. The Japanese version of the game definitely has an edge on the domestic version in the sound department, but whether that is due to the chipsets on the original respective boards or the port is unclear. Chances are good it’s the original sound, since Hamster always does a great job with ports.
For replay value, there’s a wide variety here to treat gamers. The entire Japanese and US games are included with this release, allowing you to experience ultra-difficult The Lord of King as well as the more approachable The Astyanax. There’s a pleasant little option that allows you to shift difficulty from Normal to Hard which should give you an idea of what you’re getting into. Note that on actual domestic PCBs (printed circuit boards), there was usually a set of DIP switches that allowed for eight levels of difficulty, but that’s not the case here. In addition to the two versions, there’s also a timed Caravan mode that lets you try for a high score with a five minute limit. This mode also lets you upload your scores to a global leaderboard to compete around the world. The top scores, unsurprisingly, are all Japanese and outrageous. The same goes for the High Score mode, allowing you to upload a score based on your best single credit playthrough (3 lives, no continues).
The Astyanax is a great compilation that has long been ignored by arcade packages and widely missed by arcade aficionados as it did not make it to a lot of arcades in the West. Between that and the complete travesty that was the NES version of the game, it’s absolutely wonderful that Hamster has not only finally ported the arcade game to Switch for a wide audience but also made it affordable and done an absolutely excellent job, as is their custom. The only original PCBs of the game currently listed on eBay are a ridiculous $700-800, so the Arcade Archives release which is essentially perfect is an absolute steal at $8. If you love classic side scrolling action games, this is a no-brainer. The Astyanax is a fantastic game, and while short, is challenging and fun enough to warrant multiple playthroughs. On top of that, it supports two player simultaneous play, so you and a buddy can take your dual fire axes and go to town on those demons, as well as ranking your scores against competitors the world over. If you’re unsure at this point, just buy the game. It’s a 20 minute credit feed with lots of replay value and longevity that you won’t regret!
This review was based on a digital copy of Arcade Archives: The Astyanax provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and was excellent in both! Arcade Archives: The Astyanax is also available for PS4. All screenshots are of actual gameplay.
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