I remember renting this over thirty years ago. We went to the video store one day and rented some games for the NES. My older brother rented Heavy Barrel and I rented Astyanax. While my brother and cousin spent a lot of time playing Heavy Barrel, I spent hours playing Astyanax when they weren't playing. And it was everything I could want in a game. Great story, awesome graphics, great music and sound. Only thing was that the controls were a little difficult at first, but got easier as I played it more. Later on that Summer, I bought it for $20 at KB Toys at the Mall and I played it, spending even more hours on it. I stayed up until 2 AM and finally beat the game and was treated to a very shocking twist ending that I thought was so great and rewarding. I will never forget all the fun hours spent playing this game.
He got Cutie as a reward for his bravery, he thought she was dead but he must have loved her and she was revived in his world. Because like the movie THE CROW:city of angels saying "sometimes love is stronger than death!" must be true, at least you've got to believe so. LONG LIVE ASTYANAX !
Loved this game as a very young kid. Never made it past the second level, but I'll still never forget it. I guess that's why I'm here watching it 27 years later haha
Been years since I last played this. I swear all the stage music pieces have been ringing in my head all this time. Sometimes I think I don't enjoy games today as much as I did as a child just because I grew up and can't relate to virtual stuff anymore. When I remember games like this, however, I do know that the games of our childhood were essentially special. Despite all the simplicity, they had a spirit that reached out to us. Today's triple A games rarely get to the same level as that.
gilardes Old 8 bit games were poetic, in a way. They had to make do with little. That sort of experience you wrote about has little in common with the brutal realism of many of today's games
You speak alot of truth,I think I get what you're saying since I'm an 80's child. Games today just dont seem to be as memorable;sure they're fun to play,full of cool stuff to blow up, amazing graphics,life like cut scenes,etc. , but how often do you sit at work thinking about the game you've been stuck on all week and humming the music to the 3rd stage to yourself,not even realizing that you're doing this,a subconscious effort? And even more importantly, how many of your coworkers know exactly what game the song that you're humming came from?
This game's story is wild. Cutie: "I've chosen you to save Remlia, completely average child of no specific destiny. Go save the princess!" Astyanax: "But I'm just a 16 year old high school freshman!" Cutie: "lmao don't care. The only way you're getting home is by killing the evil bad guy, so get to it." Astyanax: "Oh... ok."
This kid is going to have a great time pretending that it didn't happened, sińce no therapist is going to believe him and worst case scenario, he ends up in the nuts house
@@worldwatcher6999 He doesn't have to, he's got a hot piece of ass that is actually from the other world. Though it would have been hilarious if the princess simply dumped him back on Earth with no way to prove it had ever been real.
I know. I was so pissed when she was killed off. I knew that she and Astyanax had a connection and were starting to have feelings for one another. After beating the game, I thought it was so awesome that the Princess brought her back to life and then was reunited with Astyanax as his reward for saving her.
I loved this game as a kid, but never beat it. Seeing it now, I'm very impressed they got all their "You're" and "Yours" correct in the translations! Lol
I had this game when I was a kid. Many of my friends never heard it, but played it and they all said it was great, but hard. If you look at the definition of NES hidden Gems...you see a picture of this game right next to it.
From this to Elden Ring. What a journey video games have been on. I could only imagine what 9 year old me would have thought if he saw modern video games back then. It's wild.
If you had tell me in 1990 that we would reach a point where games would be full 3D and mostly photo realistic, with millions of colour, at least 60fps and resolutions so high it makes it impossible to notice pixels, fully dynamic hollywood-like soundtracks and cut scenes that look way better than reality itself, I probably would have thought you were exaggerating.
In reply to everyone saying he must be dumb to be a 16 years old freshman, in Japan, high school is divided into junior high and senior high, 3 years each. Most students will turn 16 during the freshman year of senior high, so yea... the makers of this game did actually go to high school and remember how old they were then.
I'm so glad I remembered the title of this, this game TERRIFIED me as a young kid. The grotesque look of the first boss, along with the music, made me so scared that I could barely play. Then right after that, even more scary music as that skeletal face appears in the cutscene. I was a sensitive kid so I literally had nightmares about it. So funny to look back at it now.
Thank god I finally found this game. I thought this game's name is Golden Axe. I mistakenly used a wrong name for a very long time. Finally after 20 years I found this game
persona83 Yes, I just finished VICE: Project Doom (nes) and as you said it had a whole story nice one at that. Thank you for that, if there are anyone Good nes story games please let me know.
I had this game as a kid. I wrote this off as an average at best game compared to what was out at the time. In hindsight, this game looks really good. Good music as well.
JustJordanTV nah he's right. A fuckin fairy steals a child to wear ridiculous armor and fight demons to save a princess as the only way to return home, then the fairy becomes his girlfriend in real life... It's fuckin stupid
Game is awesome and has just the right amount of difficulty . Owned this game for years remember buying it in K B Toys when they were still the rage, still have it actually.
Wow... i havent seen this game sense i was like 5 or six years old... i had this game i use to get up early saturday mornings and play it all morning long
I had NES at a very young age. I remember playing this and being scared of the Skeleton Face, and some of the bosses. The music creeped me out for boss fights too.
Bought this game at a flea market used for $5 or less and had know idea what kinda of adventure I was in for when I returned home and boy was I glad to experience this rare little gem. I still own said copy :)
I remember receiving a fold-out advertisement from Jaleco for this game, which boasted “16-bit graphics” with very large character sprites, which was highly unusual for the NES. The gameplay was less inspired, however, but decent. If you enjoyed videogames like Rastan and The LegendRy Axe, you might enjoy this one. But it was a bit of a hype at the time. Thanks for sharing!
I had a Chinese pirate port cartridge (Golden Axe). And third boss was undefeatable. Suddenly his head had disappeared (17:14) in the middle of fight. And then GG
holy shit....I remember this game. Never got to the end though. Thanks for posting all of it. I still have one unanswered question...what kind of parents name their kid Astyanax anyway? Seriously...Astyanax was the son of Hector...why not go with hector, no one would have trouble pronouncing that. Astyanax in this case must've been an asty-ccident.
there are similiarities. Both are boys that are killed at young age. Hectors son killed by Odisseus by throwing him over the city wall. The protagonist in the game by this skeleton wizard spell. Only sacrifice of Cutie rescued him from death. If the name of the stages would not be Japanese I would even think Black Thorn is actually Odisseus. But only my guessing regarding this. Never knew anything about this game until now. And is looking ver y nice for a NES game
I played and beat this game as a kid. I think it had the best story of any NES game I'd ever played, but the one thing I could never figure out, was what the heck was his second weapon supposed to be? It went axe, something that looked like a poorly rendered crossbow that he was using like an axe, and then a sword. Does anyone know? In any case, it always felt like a downgrade from the axe.
These comments make me feel like a god. I beat Astyanax as a kid and then many times after going back to it. There are some hella cheese moments where the game hits you with cheap deaths (COUGH BRIDGE COUGH) but other than that it's pretty easy. Ok I had my moment, I'll shut up now. One more thing, I loved this story, for it's time it was very dark but had a great ending.
Ah the memories...I'm now convinced that the beautiful, utter pointlessness of the story was because the entire game was programmed while the programmers were on LSD. Memories never die - they just get locked away
I beat this game years ago almost literally for a friend who let me borrow it. He simply wasn't allowed to play games for more than 30 minutes at a time. I would never have guessed that parents could be so gd strict. He tried many times to get as far as he could & asked me to play it for him & tell him how long it took me. I don't recall it being as short as 48 minutes but it was ages ago. He said it was hopeless for him to ever get anywhere in the game. I wonder if he ever beat it. Fun game. I think I had to use spear to get anything done - all the spell casting.
![NES Longplay [051] BattleToads (US)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QLxXmnqaJtw/mqdefault.jpg)
![NES Longplay [051] BattleToads (US)](/img/tr.png)
![NES Longplay [258] Wizards & Warriors](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DS7Cm9Rdymw/mqdefault.jpg)
After 28 years I finally get to see the ending.
same here. I gave up around 1991.
I looked at him as a child only 1 time I could never finish the game again lol
I beat it at the age of 5 lol. Im 32 now
Same here. Although it's because my copy was glitchy.
Area 2-2 was a pixelated mess. Not to mention world 3-3 17:10 boss had it's weak point missing.
ㄹㅇㅋㅋ
I remember renting this over thirty years ago. We went to the video store one day and rented some games for the NES. My older brother rented Heavy Barrel and I rented Astyanax. While my brother and cousin spent a lot of time playing Heavy Barrel, I spent hours playing Astyanax when they weren't playing. And it was everything I could want in a game. Great story, awesome graphics, great music and sound. Only thing was that the controls were a little difficult at first, but got easier as I played it more. Later on that Summer, I bought it for $20 at KB Toys at the Mall and I played it, spending even more hours on it. I stayed up until 2 AM and finally beat the game and was treated to a very shocking twist ending that I thought was so great and rewarding. I will never forget all the fun hours spent playing this game.
this game had probably the longest introduction in all of NES . Wonderful fairy tale story, great music and nice ending. Loved it .
*laughs in Ninja Gaiden*
Ikari Warriors 2 actually had longer intro, due to a sole reason of ungodly slow pop up time for english text.
He got Cutie as a reward for his bravery, he thought she was dead but he must have loved her and she was revived in his world. Because like the movie THE CROW:city of angels saying "sometimes love is stronger than death!" must be true, at least you've got to believe so.
LONG LIVE ASTYANAX !
Loved this game as a very young kid. Never made it past the second level, but I'll still never forget it. I guess that's why I'm here watching it 27 years later haha
The Marshland was worse. I never got pasted until using a cheat code
Finally!!! Oh my gosh, have I been looking for this. All I remembered was the song and parts of the beginning scenes. Thank you for putting it up.
You still can play in your android device
this game has amazing artwork, i played it when it came out and its stuck in my mind all these years , the music, the artwort pretty damn cool
You still can play in your android device
every once in a while, out of nowhere, the level 1 music invades my thoughts, and i cant get it out until i hear it...
Lol i thught it that only happened to me!!!
My Animal Crossing island is called Remlia. Also if you ever watch the channel Console Wars their theme sounds like that level theme.
@@wyredaftsquall hey man plz share the link
@@adityanegi1856 for console wars? Easy to find. Just type console wars theme.
I like how he started with an axe and picked up an axe, which turned his axe into a sword
+MISTA WULFY : The well known realism of NES games
@Frizzurd it's the same game GENIUS
Been years since I last played this. I swear all the stage music pieces have been ringing in my head all this time. Sometimes I think I don't enjoy games today as much as I did as a child just because I grew up and can't relate to virtual stuff anymore. When I remember games like this, however, I do know that the games of our childhood were essentially special. Despite all the simplicity, they had a spirit that reached out to us. Today's triple A games rarely get to the same level as that.
I agree
There are over 100 new games like this on Steam PC:
-Shovel Knight
-Celeste
-Hyperlight Drifter
and so much more!!
gilardes Old 8 bit games were poetic, in a way. They had to make do with little. That sort of experience you wrote about has little in common with the brutal realism of many of today's games
You speak alot of truth,I think I get what you're saying since I'm an 80's child. Games today just dont seem to be as memorable;sure they're fun to play,full of cool stuff to blow up, amazing graphics,life like cut scenes,etc. , but how often do you sit at work thinking about the game you've been stuck on all week and humming the music to the 3rd stage to yourself,not even realizing that you're doing this,a subconscious effort? And even more importantly, how many of your coworkers know exactly what game the song that you're humming came from?
totally agree with you
This game's story is wild.
Cutie: "I've chosen you to save Remlia, completely average child of no specific destiny. Go save the princess!"
Astyanax: "But I'm just a 16 year old high school freshman!"
Cutie: "lmao don't care. The only way you're getting home is by killing the evil bad guy, so get to it."
Astyanax: "Oh... ok."
Video game logic.
This kid is going to have a great time pretending that it didn't happened, sińce no therapist is going to believe him and worst case scenario, he ends up in the nuts house
@@worldwatcher6999 He doesn't have to, he's got a hot piece of ass that is actually from the other world. Though it would have been hilarious if the princess simply dumped him back on Earth with no way to prove it had ever been real.
I can't believe there are people in the comments with standards so low that they think this story is actually good.
@@JasonEllingsworth Hey, it's good for a Famicom videogame. Better than Super Mario Bros or Contra, if you ask me.
I cried when Cutie died. Nevertheness, she returns at the end. Excelent story line.
I know. I was so pissed when she was killed off. I knew that she and Astyanax had a connection and were starting to have feelings for one another. After beating the game, I thought it was so awesome that the Princess brought her back to life and then was reunited with Astyanax as his reward for saving her.
my God...Could this be that one game I've always wanted to remember from my childhood?!!
I was sad when Cutie sacrificed herself. At least she got to be a real girl in his world at the end.
The graphics were killer for the NES. Love the giant sprites.
I loved this game as a kid, but never beat it. Seeing it now, I'm very impressed they got all their "You're" and "Yours" correct in the translations! Lol
The ending makes me always cry 😭😭 geez this is so good...
Too right....sometimes after completing the game i used to listen to the end music for hours...my love for this game is way too high
The ending of this was stupid. A face in the sun.
@@adityanegi1856 Exactly! I even names my Animal Crossing island Remlia.
@@wyredaftsquall i am glad there are other people of culture as well all over the world
@@adityanegi1856 Ha ha awesome. You play games still?
What a surprise ending! This woulda made an epic movie.
One of the most surprising and best endings to a video game ever.
@@trevorbarnhill3399
... especially in 8-bit world :-]
Such a cute ending
@firstpeter31822
They kinda did make an Astyanax Japanese cartoon, but they called it Garzey's Wing.
@@SeaOfTides Wow! I didn’t know that.
Miss this game. Took me forever as a kid to complete it. Though now that I think about it...the bosses are really creepy looking.
I had this game when I was a kid. Many of my friends never heard it, but played it and they all said it was great, but hard. If you look at the definition of NES hidden Gems...you see a picture of this game right next to it.
Not gonna lie. That ending choked me up a bit
Wow, finally I found this game after 20 years. I was a kid who could not read when I played this game
From this to Elden Ring. What a journey video games have been on. I could only imagine what 9 year old me would have thought if he saw modern video games back then. It's wild.
If you had tell me in 1990 that we would reach a point where games would be full 3D and mostly photo realistic, with millions of colour, at least 60fps and resolutions so high it makes it impossible to notice pixels, fully dynamic hollywood-like soundtracks and cut scenes that look way better than reality itself, I probably would have thought you were exaggerating.
Qué recuerdos! Lo jugaba en 1997, cuando tenía solo 7 años. La música me provoca nostalgia. Cómo odié a esos ojos voladores.
Deberían hacer una película.
In reply to everyone saying he must be dumb to be a 16 years old freshman, in Japan, high school is divided into junior high and senior high, 3 years each. Most students will turn 16 during the freshman year of senior high, so yea... the makers of this game did actually go to high school and remember how old they were then.
@@chrissego6741 really how please tell me
@@chrissego6741 I am download game but not working
Lol! A long-standing mystery of my adolescence has now been solved.
This has franchise potential... it needs to be resurrected.
This story embodies the 80's / early 90's for me.
I'm so glad I remembered the title of this, this game TERRIFIED me as a young kid. The grotesque look of the first boss, along with the music, made me so scared that I could barely play. Then right after that, even more scary music as that skeletal face appears in the cutscene. I was a sensitive kid so I literally had nightmares about it. So funny to look back at it now.
I got to the last level as a kid, but wasn't able to beat it. Then 17 yrs later I dedicated 2 weeks to finally beat the game. Great game!
Thank god I finally found this game. I thought this game's name is Golden Axe. I mistakenly used a wrong name for a very long time. Finally after 20 years I found this game
One of the best games on the NES! I love it!
CASTLEVANIA meets the masters of the universe
More Legendary Axe from the Turbografx 16
The ending is so sweet
+Best NES Storyline game (***aside from ninja gaiden***)
+Excellent Story Music
+ Great Nostalgia (as a result of the two factors above)
Problem is the gameplay was kinda "meh"
Lol i hear ya, i give the gameplay a 5 or 6 out of 10. & the story and music 10 of 10
VICE: Project Doom also has great storyline. Cool NES game.
persona83
Thanks for the reference ill try to check it out #ilovegoodstorylineNesgames
persona83 Yes, I just finished VICE: Project Doom (nes) and as you said it had a whole story nice one at that. Thank you for that, if there are anyone Good nes story games please let me know.
I actually forgot i Played this game. Years after this game randomly recommended me on RUclips ❤️❤️
I had this game as a kid. I wrote this off as an average at best game compared to what was out at the time. In hindsight, this game looks really good. Good music as well.
My friends and I used to call this "Nasty Axe" back in the day
I always wished the game was longer... Incredible story tho.
+Professor Xavier Incredible music tho.
No, this story was ridiculous hot garbage.
Ishmael Maphingers just like your opinion. 🥂
JustJordanTV nah he's right. A fuckin fairy steals a child to wear ridiculous armor and fight demons to save a princess as the only way to return home, then the fairy becomes his girlfriend in real life... It's fuckin stupid
Snuggly Jeff YOUR ASHY OPINION!!!! Period.
Game is awesome and has just the right amount of difficulty . Owned this game for years remember buying it in K B Toys when they were still the rage, still have it actually.
Wow... i havent seen this game sense i was like 5 or six years old... i had this game i use to get up early saturday mornings and play it all morning long
This is such an underrated classic. One of the best Nintendo titles even though it wasn't that popular.
This dude's name is Astyanax and he's a FRESHMAN?
He didn't need to go on an adventure. He's already a hero for living this long.
The cutscene at the end is where Cutie the fairy has become a human.
I used to play this game when I was young, there is something about the music and characters. Felt like a kid again.
Loved Astyanax. The music was great, though the slowdown was pretty bad.
I wanted this games badly. The graphics and colors always looked above average.
When I first saw this cinematic, I thought Cutie had no arms. She's just putting her hands in her lap.
Primeiro jogos que empenhei 100% de mim para terminar. Lembro, tinha 8 anos quando conseguir! Até hj me orgulho desse feito!
I had NES at a very young age. I remember playing this and being scared of the Skeleton Face, and some of the bosses. The music creeped me out for boss fights too.
I'd love 2 c a movie about this game. It has an amazing storyline.
I remember this game. OMG This game was so awesome....
Lol brings back memories . God it's been 15 long yrs since I heard this music.
Finally i know the name of this game
Ah what a great childhood
We’re all gonna fkn die!
Love this game so much!
I still remember the asskicking I got from this game to this day. And I had better reflexes back then.
Bought this game at a flea market used for $5 or less and had know idea what kinda of adventure I was in for when I returned home and boy was I glad to experience this rare little gem. I still own said copy :)
I spent many hours on this one. Great game.
This game always reminded me of Legendary Axe in the gameplay department.
Wow! Too bad I missed out on this game when I was a kid, it looks awesome! I love the music!
Why did this game never get a sequel?
I think it deserved at least a trilogy.
I remember receiving a fold-out advertisement from Jaleco for this game, which boasted “16-bit graphics” with very large character sprites, which was highly unusual for the NES. The gameplay was less inspired, however, but decent. If you enjoyed videogames like Rastan and The LegendRy Axe, you might enjoy this one. But it was a bit of a hype at the time. Thanks for sharing!
बचपन याद दिला दिया आपने कसम से ❤
Who names their kid Astyanax?
Astyanax is one of the least-stupid names I've heard.
The ads for this game said it had 16-bit graphics. That was enough to fool me. 😂 Still have fond memories of it, though.
I had a Chinese pirate port cartridge (Golden Axe). And third boss was undefeatable. Suddenly his head had disappeared (17:14) in the middle of fight. And then GG
I faced the same problem. Was never able to clear that level
The same problem all around the countries :D
the version I had always glitched out on the medusa fight. her weak point would just disappear after a few hits
I loved this game very much
This is what Capitan N The Game Master should have been!
Interesting- medusa heads, metroids and piranha plants all within the first few minutes of gameplay. The only thing missing are hard hats.
The huge sprites are pretty unusual for the NES - really great boss designs as well.
If you like this you'll like the legendary Axe for TG16 since it was made by the same creator
A follow-up to the Arcade game The Astyanax, this version features completely redesigned stages, enemies, and a new story.
holy shit....I remember this game. Never got to the end though. Thanks for posting all of it. I still have one unanswered question...what kind of parents name their kid Astyanax anyway? Seriously...Astyanax was the son of Hector...why not go with hector, no one would have trouble pronouncing that. Astyanax in this case must've been an asty-ccident.
there are similiarities. Both are boys that are killed at young age. Hectors son killed by Odisseus by throwing him over the city wall. The protagonist in the game by this skeleton wizard spell. Only sacrifice of Cutie rescued him from death. If the name of the stages would not be Japanese I would even think Black Thorn is actually Odisseus. But only my guessing regarding this. Never knew anything about this game until now. And is looking ver y nice for a NES game
Man how frigging old was I when I rolled on this??? 9? 10 year old? I forget...
Sooooooo many memories just came back.
Astyanax would of been a nasty smash bros fighter
He was in my PE class
Can't forget those days man mmmmm
Those cutscenes... If I ever wanted to know what Saitama with hair looked like, now I do.
I played and beat this game as a kid. I think it had the best story of any NES game I'd ever played, but the one thing I could never figure out, was what the heck was his second weapon supposed to be? It went axe, something that looked like a poorly rendered crossbow that he was using like an axe, and then a sword. Does anyone know?
In any case, it always felt like a downgrade from the axe.
It was supposed to be a spear, and yeah it was terrible 😅😅
After after 30 years, Wow! I can finally see the ending oh my gosh 🤯😮
one of my favorite when I entered the video games world
These comments make me feel like a god. I beat Astyanax as a kid and then many times after going back to it.
There are some hella cheese moments where the game hits you with cheap deaths (COUGH BRIDGE COUGH) but other than that it's pretty easy. Ok I had my moment, I'll shut up now. One more thing, I loved this story, for it's time it was very dark but had a great ending.
One of the most underrated games I've ever played.
You still can play in your android device
Bro I had this game, I don’t know how I ended up with it but I really liked it.
Ah the memories...I'm now convinced that the beautiful, utter pointlessness of the story was because the entire game was programmed while the programmers were on LSD.
Memories never die - they just get locked away
I beat this game years ago almost literally for a friend who let me borrow it. He simply wasn't allowed to play games for more than 30 minutes at a time. I would never have guessed that parents could be so gd strict.
He tried many times to get as far as he could & asked me to play it for him & tell him how long it took me. I don't recall it being as short as 48 minutes but it was ages ago. He said it was hopeless for him to ever get anywhere in the game.
I wonder if he ever beat it. Fun game. I think I had to use spear to get anything done - all the spell casting.
Seeing this game: DAMN! I'm old now LOL
Cut Scene's were the best thing about Nes to me
Im watching this and smiling like an idiot , the good ol days 😢
to be COMPLETELY honest i really LOVE castles
Round 4-1 Was My Favorite Theme In This Game Ahh The Memories
Is he fighting the first boss with an Oscar statuette?
Wasn't the arcade version... But very solid.. Had a lot of fun with this title.
nostalgia with megason :-)
"Astyanax" is Norse for "please stop pointing and laughing at me for my asinine name".
I have played this when i am a kid....its quite hard for me back there...
This was my first video game!
This game was hard and with kick ass music. Good memories of this game.
Legendary Axe for NES?