The Battle of Olympus (NES)

While I'm talking about obscure classics, I might as well mention The Battle of Olympus. Like Ristar, this wasn't actually a game I played back in the day, but after finally getting a NES, I spent a lot of time searching for hidden gems. I came across the title when browsing through some ROMs, and since I'm a bit of a mythology buff, I was instantly interested.

If you know anything about Greek mythology, you'll know a lot about this game. It follows the basic save-your-princess formula, but it has a classical flavor. All the characters are gods, goddesses, and other figures from Greek myths such as Aphrodite, Poseidon, and of course, Zeus and Hera. You're just an average hero armed with a small sword and shield, but you'll upgrade your weapons along your quest if you can please the gods. Each of these upgrades is directly related to the god's specialty: a sword from Hephaestos, special sandals from Hermes, and so on. Of course, the way to curry favor with these gods is by battling through an area (all are cities in ancient Greece) and defeating a boss at the end.

Battle of Olympus is an action RPG, and its basic gameplay has been compared to Zelda II. That alone might instantly turn some people off, but I happen to like Zelda II, and I'm a big fan of action RPGs in general (see my Gargoyle's Quest entry). Collecting items, talking to oracles, and growing more powerful is just so much more fun when you also have side-scrolling action in the mix. Battle of Olympus has its fair share of cryptic villagers, and sometimes the enemies come at you a little too fast. Figuring out what exactly you're supposed to be doing isn't always an easy task, and neither is fending off little teddy bears with spears (that's what they look like, at least). But hey, this is the NES we're talking about.

Battle of Olympus has pretty good graphics for its time, although sometimes the scenery (particularly the architecture) looks like a weird mix of Zelda and Castlevania styles. The music is great and sounds appropriately epic and heroic, too. The difficulty can be punishing at times, but overall I think The Battle of Olympus is rightly deserving of its classic status.

Give me those sandals, you idiot.
In hell, people walk on the ceiling.
He even kinda looks like a Greek Link.