Astyanax (e)

ASTYANAX

NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

Genre: action
Players: 1
Created by: Jaleco, 1990

FAQ by Walter Williams 8/3/99

     - AND -


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Control Pad left/right - moves Astyanax left/right
Control Pad down ------- makes him crouch
A button --------------- makes Astyanax jump
B button --------------- attacks with his weapon
Control pad up + B button
------------------------ attacks with selected spell
Select ----------------- does nothing
Start ------------------ pauses the game and allows you to switch spells

<<<<>>>>
He is having that dream again...a dream where somebody is calling him...
waiting for him....He is a teenage boy named Astyanax (from Greek mythology),
a student at Greenview High. He has no idea what the dreams mean, or the
girl who keeps calling him. Suddenly, one day when he was walking to school,
he disappears and is transported into the mystical world of Remlia by a
fairy named Cutie. She tells the boy that the girl appearing in his dreams
is Princess Rosebud. She is being held captive by a vile wizard named
Blackhorn. He needs to rescue her because she is the only one who can send
him back home. Cutie gives Astyanax a magic axe, which he will need to
defeat Blackhorn's hordes of monsters.

<<<<>>>>

ASTYANAX
A 16-year-old boy from the town of Greenview. He is transported into the
mysterious world of Remlia, and he needs to rescue Princess Rosebud to
get back to his world.

PRINCESS ROSEBUD
The princess of Remlia. She is the girl who keeps appearing in Astyanax's
dreams. She is being held captive by the wizard Blackhorn. She is the
only one who possesses the power to send Astyanax back to his home world.
She communicates with Astyanax and Cutie through telepathy.

CUTIE
This fairy is a friend to the Princess. She has lots of magical power, but
not as much as Rosebud. She can bring Astyanax into Remlia, but she can't
get him out by herself. She knows a lot about the realm of Remlia, so she
can help the boy out a lot.

BLACKHORN
The evil wizard and chief bad guy of the game. He kidnapped the Princess
in order to steal her life force and take over Remlia. His stronghold is
Thelenea Castle.

THORNDOG
Blackhorn's most trusted guard. He is a master of the Black Arts. He
placed a spell on the Princess to prevent her from escaping Thelenea.

CAESAR
Thorndog's pet. Also known as "Gremlin Face" or "Chicken Feet". It is
very dumb, yet it may pose a threat in driving Astyanax away from his
quest to rescue Rosebud.

<<<<>>>>

Astyanax's quest will take him through 11 worlds. Throughout each world
he will face a lot of monsters. He can attack them with his magic axe,
or he can use one of the three magic spells given to him by Cutie.
At the end of each world, he will face a mini-boss. Defeat it to complete
the world.

Pay attention to the display at the bottom of the screen. You'll need
to know how to use it to survive.

Score: Your score increases by killing enemies. You gain extra lives at
100,000 points; 200,000 points; 400,000 points; and every 200,000 points
thereafter.
Lives: Shows how many lives you have. If you lose them all, the game is
over.
Round: The current round you're in.
Power: The striking power of your weapon. This increases when you're not
attacking. Wait for it to rise all the way, then strike with the B button.
Life: This shows Astyanax's life force. He loses life when he gets hit
by monsters, and gains it by picking up Potions. When he runs out of life
force, he collapses and loses a life. He also loses a life if he should
fall into a pit.
Magic: Used for casting spells. If he doesn't have enough magic to cast
a spell, he'd better look for Cutie.

<<<<>>>>
Power-up items are hidden inside magic statues. Strike the statue twice
with your weapon to receive the power-up within. The first two items
in most levels are a Power Claw and a Mini-Axe. The rest of the items
usually appear at random.

Power Claw - Pick this up to increase your striking power. You
power bar increases by 4 units. You only get one increase per
level.
Mini-Axe - This alters your weapon. It changes from axe, to swift spear,
to mighty sword.
Red Potion - Pick this up to restore 3 life points.
Blue Potion - Pick this up to restore all of your life points.
Wings - This increases your dexterity (the speed at which you swing your
weapon).
Cutie - Only appears when you are low on magic. She will either restore
your magic points, or change your weapon.
Astyanax Doll - Gives you a 1-up.

<<<<>>>>

Bind - Freezes all enemies in their tracks for a few seconds. It also
works on bosses.
With Axe: 5 MP
With Spear: 3 MP
With Sword: 6 MP

Blast - Shoots a fireball spread in all directions, destroying enemies.
With Axe: 6 MP
With Spear: 4 MP
With Sword: 10 MP

Bolt - Strikes all enemies down with a flash of lightning.
With Axe: 10 MP
With Spear: 5 MP
With Sword: 20 MP

<<<<>>>>
Round 1-1: Remlia Castle
This is the castle of Remlia. Blackhorn's guards have already invaded it.
The enemies around the castle are weak. You'll face things such as floating
blobs, sword-fighting skeletons, eyeballs that drop explosives, and plants
that spit fire. You can take them all down with a few axe swings.

Mini-Boss: The two-headed "bouncer" guards the way to Caesar. It bounces
around the room until you hit it. When you hit it, it becomces its
mutated form and stands still while shooting projectiles at you. Strike
it with your weapon while it's in this state. After a few seconds, it starts
bouncing around again. When it's defeated, you'll go face the boss.

Remlia Boss: Caesar
Caesar walks around slowly, and attacks with his head. Watch for it to
open its jaw twice, then it will attack you with either its floating
head, or spit a three-way bolt at you. When you destroy its head, you have
to fight the rider. The rider carries a sword and will attack you with it
if you get too close. If you're standing far away, he'll throw rings
at you. Get up close and strike him with a few powered-up hits.
(Quick kill: If you have the Spear and all of your magic, use the
Blast spell as many times as you can to defeat them both.)

Round 2-1: Redroad Forest
In the forest of Redroad, you'll fight more sword-swinging skeletons,
but these ones can shoot from their swords. You'll also fight mouth
plants that spit pollen. If you need to buy yourself some time, use the
Bind spell. It helps defat the ones that are on the platforms.

Mini-Boss: You'll face a puddle of slime that moves back and forth.
It rises and attacks you when you swing at it. Get in close and use
a bunch of powerful sword strikes.

Round 2-2: Inazumi Hill
You have to climb your way up the hill and face slime creatures that
throw spears. Hit them twice and they're dead. There are no power-ups
to be found here, so you'll have to go through and try not to get hurt.

Mini-boss: The gargoyle flies back and forth and swoops in when it gets
close to you. After it attacks you with its claws, it drops a snake-
bomb that splits four ways. Duck it and attack with your sword.

Inazumi Boss: Medusa
Medusa crawls on either side of the screen and reaches out and attacks
you with her hand. She also throws snakes that move on the ground.
After she throws two pair, she disappears and moves to the other side.
Stay near the center of the screen and whack the jewel on her belly,
while turning to hit the little snakes that come near you.

Round 3-1: Ryogoku Ruins
The ruins are a tough place, as you've got more blobs and fire-spitting
plants. When you make it about halfway through the level, use the Bind
spell to stop time so that you don't get knocked off by the plant on
the high platform.

Mini-boss: At the end of this level is a minotaur. It stands still for
a few moments, then attacks with lightning. If you keep hitting it, you
can prevent it from using its lightning attack, which always hurts you.
The Bind spell helps here, too.

Round 3-2: Rent Valley
Go down slowly, while fighting the slime creatures, and also some
little bats. There's a Blue Potion near the end, if you hold Right
on your Control Pad while you make your final jump. Grab this and go
down to meet the next guardian.

Mini-boss: You'll fight a golem here. The golem moves slowly and punches
after it takes a step. Sometimes it may stop and throw a stone head at you.
You'll have to duck the stone heads and keep a distance so that the
punches don't hurt you.

Rent Boss: Stone Guardian
This boss moves slowly back and forth while attacking you with spiked
balls. Try to knock out the spiked balls while whacking the soft spot
on its body. After a while the soft spot will reveal a small mutant
monster. Hit that repeatedly to smash the stone monster's shell.
The mutant will then float slowly dropping bubbles. Hit the mutant
several times to kill it.

Round 4-1: Marshy Swamp
This watery pathway has fish creatures that jump from the depths of the
swamp and attack you with spears. Some of them jump onto the platforms
and start hoppnig towards you. When you kill one, another usually pops
up until you move ahead a little. Attack and move slowly. Use
Bind whenever necessary. You might need to seek help from Cutie
about halfway in the level.

Mini-boss: A gold skeleton. This one is not too tough to beat. Use
Blast and hack away with your sword.

Round 4-2: Grave Cemetery
You'll get attacked by skeletons, floating blobs, butterflies, and
mouth plants. Use the Blast spell to attack the moth plants that are out
of reach.

Mini-boss: You're gonna fight a sorceror at the end of this level.
It attacks with magic bolts and the Bind and Blast spells.
If it moves its hands across its body, it's about to cast a spell.
There's nothing you can do to block it, so beat it up quickly.
If it moves its hands up and down quickly, it's gonna throw a magic
bolt at you. It moves slow, so you can run out of the way.

Grave Boss: Tree Creature
The tree creature attacks with small plant growths that roll out,
grow a little, then explode. You can knock these out with one quick
sword swing. The tree also has a vine tongue attack, which it rarely
uses. Its weak spot is its head.

Round 5-1: Telugamn Bridge
This level has the same enemies as Marshy. When you grab the first
Power Claw in this level, your weapon should be at full power. You
can now kill some enemies in one hit.

Mini-boss: The boss at the end of this level is a griffin. First, it
starts out as a lion and an eagle. The lion runs back and forth on
the ground, and the eagle flies around, swooping down at you with its
claws. When you do enough damage to either, they merge and morph into
the griffin. The griffin attacks like the gargoyle at Inazumi, except
it doesn't drop those snake bombs. It doesn't do that much damage
when it attacks, though. Use the Blast spell to knock out some of its
power.

Round 5-2: Cliff
Head up to the top and fight the slime creatures.

Mini-boss: It's a blue golem. Not that much tougher than the brown
one at Rent.

Round 6-1: Thelenea Castle
Thelenea Castle is tricky. You have to go through the right doors
to advance, or else you'll end up backtracking. The trick is to
look for the doors that have the skeletons guarding them.
After you go through the first door to enter the castle, here's
the order in whihc you should enter the doors (not counting the
one you start out of): third, second, first, third, second, third.
When you emerge outside, you'll face a mummy wizard. It teleports and
attacks with its magic staff, and the Blast and Bind spell. If it
raises its staff slowly, it'll cast a spell. If it raises its staff
quickly, it's gonna hit you with its staff. It usually does this after
casting Bind, or if it appears close to you. Knock it around
a little with your sword. Don't bother using magic.

Thelenea Boss: Thorndog
Thorndog is pretty easy. He uses a finger laser that burns up the
ground. His hand protects the dark jewel around his neck. Lop off
the claw with a good hit, then attack the jewel. Every time you do,
though, it counters with a waving bolt. just hit it to make it go
away. After about ten seconds, Thorndog's hand reforms. Just repeat
the process until he's defeated.

Round 6-2: Thelenea Tower
This is the final frontier. On each floor, you'll face a mini-boss.
When you defeat one, you'll go up to the next floor.
The first floor pits you against an advanced mutant bouncer.
The second floor has you fighting one of those mutant blobs.
The third floor brings a gold minotaur.
On the fourth floor, you fight a stone golem.
And on the fifth floor, you're up against another griffin.
When you defeat them all, go up to the top. In the next two
statues are a Blue Potion and Power Claw. At the right end of the
screen is Blackhorn. He'll rise out of his throne to battle you.

Mini-boss: Blackhorn attacks with his sword and magic. He knows all
three spells, but they're nothing to worry about. Beat him up with
your sword, and get ready to fight the final boss.

Tower Boss: Black Dragon
The Black Dragon attacks with fireballs that it spits from its mouth.
At first it attacks with one, but when it turns yellow, it spits two.
When it turns red, it may stop and open its mouth to cast Bind.
Its weak spot is the red pulsating heart on its body. When you
strike it enough times, the dragon changes color, from yellow to
red. Slash the heart over and over to defeat it, and you've
defeated it.

<<<<>>>>
Invincibility - At the Astyanax title screen, hit Up four times,
then Down, Left, Right, and Up on Controller 1. If you did
this right, Astyanax can not take any physical damage. He can
still be affected by the enemies' magic spells, though...

Stage Select - At the Astyanax title screen, hit Up, Down, Left,
Right, and B four times on controller 1. If you did this right,
you'll see a stage select screen that lets you start at any
level after the first one. He will also start out with a sword at
full power.

<<<<>>>>

Jaleco, Ltd. for Astyanax.

Jeff Veasey (CJayC) for devoting his full-time to GameFAQs to
post video game FAQs like this one.