Play The Astyanax Online
Swing a comically oversized axe through waves of pixel monsters—goblins burst into chunks, dragons crumble into blocky bits, and some jumps will absolutely test your patience. Pure arcade chaos with that satisfying old-school crunch.
I first played The Astyanax on MAME, the arcade emulator, years after its 1989 release by Aicom. It's a side-scrolling action game from that era when developers were pushing hardware to create more detailed fantasy worlds, with bigger sprites and more elaborate backgrounds. You don't hear much about it now, but it had a certain presence in the arcade.
You control a high school student, transported to a fantasy realm, who must rescue a princess. Your main tool is a massive battle axe; you swing it to cut down goblins, lizardmen, and other creatures across various themed stages. The game progresses screen by screen, locking you in until all enemies are defeated. A key mechanic is a shield you can raise to block projectiles, which adds a small tactical layer to the straightforward hacking. The pacing is deliberate, and the difficulty can be unforgiving, especially during some precise platforming sections. It feels like a solid, slightly clunky brawler that demands persistence.
Download The Astyanax ROM
You can download this ROM to play The Astyanax offline using an MAME (Arcade Emulator) emulator (Top Emulators).
*This ROM is provided for backup and educational purposes only.
