Play Hi no Tori - Houou Hen - Gaou no Bouken Online

Swing your sword through side-scrolling demon hordes, then flip to top-down view to explore maze-like villages—all in that rough, sketchy Tezuka art style. Boss fights hit hard, but the weird shifts between action and adventure make it stick.

Developer: Konami

Genre: Action

Released: 1987

File size: 128 bytes

Game Overview

Ever stumble across an NES game that feels like it shouldn’t exist? Hi no Tori - Houou Hen - Gaou no Bouken is one of those—a weird, wonderful mashup of side-scrolling swordplay and top-down exploration, all wrapped in Osamu Tezuka’s trippy Phoenix mythology. You’ll slash through demons in one moment, then suddenly be navigating maze-like villages the next. The shift between perspectives keeps you on your toes, and the 8-bit art has this rough-but-charming style where every character looks like they’ve jumped straight out of an old manga panel.

It’s not just nostalgia bait, either. There’s a real challenge here—some of those later bosses don’t mess around—but the way the game layers Tezuka’s lore into the quest makes it feel bigger than your typical NES hack-and-slash. If you’ve got a soft spot for offbeat retro adventures, this one’s a rabbit hole worth falling into.