The Battle of Olympus
A Zelda II-inspired Greek myth adventure for the NES.
The game mixes side-scrolling RPG action with Greek mythology settings.[1] The narrative centers on Orpheus, whose beloved Helene gets taken away by Hades.[2]
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Infinity; Radical Entertainment (Game Boy)
- Designer
- Yukio Horimoto
- Artist
- Reiko Oshida
- Composer
- Kazuo Sawa; Paul Wilkinson (Game Boy)
- Genre
- Action role-playing game
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- NES, Game Boy
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
Only three people made up the development team.[3] Imagineer published the game in Japan on March 28, 1988, under the title "Olympus no Tatakai".[4] Infinity, a Japanese developer, created The Battle of Olympus as its debut project.[3][1] Yukio Horimoto handled both the design and programming duties, while Kazuo Sawa was responsible for the music.[5]
The story and visual elements were managed by Reiko Oshida, who later became Horimoto's spouse.[5] For the gameplay mechanics, Horimoto looked to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link as a key influence.[6] Nintendo was the publisher for the version that came out in Europe in 1991.[4] Radical Entertainment, a Canadian studio, created a Game Boy version in 1993, which Imagineer then put out exclusively for the European market.[7][1]
What the cited sources add
The HardcoreGaming101 account notes the game takes place entirely from a 2D side-scrolling perspective, unlike Zelda II.[1] That same source states the game starts challenging and only gets harder.[1] Kazuo Sawa's score is described as adding to the sense of adventure.[1] The HardcoreGaming101 account calls the Greek theme a novelty before later games like God of War.[1]
The review points out that, considering the game's considerable length, it is unfortunate that no save feature was included.[1]
References
- Bradley-Tschirgi, "The Battle of Olympus", HardcoreGaming101.net, 2017-07-27. facts only, no text reused. hardcoregaming101.net
- Wikipedia, "The Battle of Olympus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bradley-Tschirgi, "The Battle of Olympus", HardcoreGaming101.net, 2017-07-27 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Battle of Olympus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "コンピュータ・ゲーム・ソフトウェアの委託開発、移植、企画、制作 ソフトウェアの制作、販売", 2012-07-21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Battle of Olympus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "愛の伝説 オリュンポスの戦い [ファミコン]", Enterbrain, Inc.; "Availability Update", January 20, 1990, p. 22; "Pak Source", Nintendo of America, March 1990, p. 17 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Battle of Olympus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parish, "Legend of Love: The Making of The Battle of Olympus", USgamer, 6 November 2015; Parish, "Legend of Love: The Making of The Battle of Olympus", USgamer, 6 November 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Battle of Olympus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parish, "Legend of Love: The Making of The Battle of Olympus", USgamer, 6 November 2015; "Retrospective: The Battle of Olympus", Eurogamer.net; "Hidden Gems: The Rest of the NES", 1up.com, 2016-03-05; "Hidden Gems: The Rest of the NES", 1up.com, 2016-03-05 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Battle of Olympus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parish, "Legend of Love: The Making of The Battle of Olympus", USgamer, 6 November 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Battle of Olympus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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