Astyanax (NES, 1989)
Graphics-8 Sound-7.5 Control-6.5 Challenge-7 Story-6.5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+
Large and detailed sprites, good art direction overall, nice cutscenes in-between levels (close to NG level quality, slow text though and they reuse some stills several times), some new mechanics compared to the arcade game (weapon ugprades, three different spells (freeze, thunder - smart bomb, fire - strong 8 directional shot), good background and boss variation, mini-bosses, good jump controls (adjustable height, forgiving mid-air control), pretty good bosses overall (some with multiple phases), retains the charge meter from the arcade game (mashing makes each attack weaker (similar to Secret of Mana); can be upgraded over the course of the game), adds an MP bar (which is pretty large and only the thunder spell completely depletes it), tighter horizontal scrolling, can now turn around while crouching, flows somewhat better in the late game than the arcade game did in 1-player mode
+/-
Can't move while crouching, the player's avatar is a pretty large target, the protagonist looks older and beefier in-game, lots of pits, no save/password, HP and MP refills after each beaten level, shorter attack range while crouching or jumping, fairly frequent HP and MP power ups, unlimited continues, no shield?, hitting enemies behind you doesn't work (at least not consistently like in the arcade game), no dodge/slide move
-
Landing from a jump cancels weapon attacks, sloppy hit detection (your weapon doesn't hit in an arc like it seems it should, somewhat unforgiving overall though your weapon reaches a few pixels longer than its sprite indicates), no difficulty options, trial & error (the maze level, somewhat loose vertical scrolling (can't look up/down), some cheap enemy placements near pits, boss patterns), uneven difficulty (difficulty spike at level 4-1, level 2 main boss is pretty easy, mini-bosses appear right before the main bosses), no checkpoints, no 2-player (see the arcade game), some slowdown and flicker, repetitive and basic sidescrolling levels, color swapped enemies that start taking too many hits to kill after a couple of levels, barely any difference between the axe/spear/sword, some unavoidable damage unless you save your MP for the right situations, no lifebars for bosses, repeats some mini-bosses,
Notes:
6 levels (2 sub levels per level)
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+
Large and detailed sprites, good art direction overall, nice cutscenes in-between levels (close to NG level quality, slow text though and they reuse some stills several times), some new mechanics compared to the arcade game (weapon ugprades, three different spells (freeze, thunder - smart bomb, fire - strong 8 directional shot), good background and boss variation, mini-bosses, good jump controls (adjustable height, forgiving mid-air control), pretty good bosses overall (some with multiple phases), retains the charge meter from the arcade game (mashing makes each attack weaker (similar to Secret of Mana); can be upgraded over the course of the game), adds an MP bar (which is pretty large and only the thunder spell completely depletes it), tighter horizontal scrolling, can now turn around while crouching, flows somewhat better in the late game than the arcade game did in 1-player mode
+/-
Can't move while crouching, the player's avatar is a pretty large target, the protagonist looks older and beefier in-game, lots of pits, no save/password, HP and MP refills after each beaten level, shorter attack range while crouching or jumping, fairly frequent HP and MP power ups, unlimited continues, no shield?, hitting enemies behind you doesn't work (at least not consistently like in the arcade game), no dodge/slide move
-
Landing from a jump cancels weapon attacks, sloppy hit detection (your weapon doesn't hit in an arc like it seems it should, somewhat unforgiving overall though your weapon reaches a few pixels longer than its sprite indicates), no difficulty options, trial & error (the maze level, somewhat loose vertical scrolling (can't look up/down), some cheap enemy placements near pits, boss patterns), uneven difficulty (difficulty spike at level 4-1, level 2 main boss is pretty easy, mini-bosses appear right before the main bosses), no checkpoints, no 2-player (see the arcade game), some slowdown and flicker, repetitive and basic sidescrolling levels, color swapped enemies that start taking too many hits to kill after a couple of levels, barely any difference between the axe/spear/sword, some unavoidable damage unless you save your MP for the right situations, no lifebars for bosses, repeats some mini-bosses,
Notes:
6 levels (2 sub levels per level)