10/28/20 Battle of Olympus (1989)

Battle of Olympus (1989) by Infinity, published by Broderbund for NES. Taking clear inspiration from Zelda II, released two years prior, Battle of Olympus puts you in the shoes of Orpheus, whose girlfriend is captured by Hades. To get her back, he must venture throughout Greece, gaining the favor of the gods to acquire special items and equipment. It’s primarily a 2D sidescroller with a few cutaways to an overhead map showing all the locations. This is what I’d describe as “good if you can put up with NES bull$#!%.” The combat feels sluggish, most of the enemies are either too low to hit until they jump, jump at you the second you’re in range, or fly above where your weapon reaches. There are unlimited continues, however, and they put you at the start of the area with only your gems halved (I still don’t know what the gems do, I can’t find anything that tells me). The music is serviceable, the title theme being a little catchy, and the graphics are average for an adventure game. There’s really not a whole lot to this game, just a lot of NES-hard sections strung together with some light RPG elements. It was developed by a three-man team, Infinity, who seemingly fell off the face of the Earth after this, if anyone knows anything else they did, let me know. You can check it out, if you feel so inclined, but I wouldn’t call it crucial to the NES library.