Video Game / The Astyanax

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An action platforming game developed by Aicom and published by Jaleco in the year 1989, Roche receives a divine insight and proceeds to take on the demons plaguing the land and end their reign of terror. The game is known in Japan by the title The Lord of King. The game has Roche travel through a handful of places in the land with his Axe which can charge up until it gets wreathed in fire before he strikes his enemies with it. The lands include a ruined city, cavernous tunnels, forests, a lake, a ruined temple, a palace with overgrown greenery on the outside, and an alien-like hive. Among the foes, Roche would fight massive mantises, monstrous humanoids, warrior women, alien-like beasts, and so on as he fights to save the world.

The game was reformulated for the Nintendo Entertainment System as simply Astyanax where the protagonist is instead called Astyanax and follows a very different plot from the arcade game where he is aided by a fairy and has to help save a princess by using his inner magic to fight the forces of the evil wizard that kidnapped her. The arcade game meanwhile remained unported for decades until May 2021 where it received a Nintendo Switch release. That port provided a faithful experience and allows players to compete for the highest score, and select their options in several different languages.

Tropes exclusive to the arcade game:

• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Anytime one of the female mooks gets her top hacked off, her bare breasts lack visible nipples.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: The female mooks wear bikini armor with male characters either covering their whole bodies or being a Walking Shirtless Scene.
• Defeat by Modesty: Whenever Astyanax strips a female mook with his ax, she covers her breasts and runs away squealing.
• Excuse Plot: The arcade game scrapes by with the barest minimum of a story: evil demons terrorize the land until a hero named Roche decides to stand against them. That's basically it.
• Flaming Axe: In the arcade version, the axe's blade catches fire when it's at full charge.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Almost literally! After battling through a fantasy world inspired largely by Greek mythology, the last level of the arcade game puts you into a Xenomorph Xerox setting where you kill wave after wave of Facehugger-like creatures, and take on the Alien Queen herself. It does not fit in with the rest of the game at all.
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: Should a female mook be rendered topless, she will use her arms to cover her breasts and scream as she escapes.
• Naked Vulnerability: Once female cronies get their tops destroyed, they would be unable to fight back thanks to covering their breasts and running off, leaving them open to being killed in one more hit with their bare breasts revealed once more as their arms come off them as they die.
• Player Character: Roche is the name of the playable protagonist who must fight the demonic terrors plaguing the land.
• Toplessness from the Back: Not only would a female mook cover her exposed breasts in the event they do, she would turn away from the screen as she scurries off.
• Xenomorph Xerox: The final stage inexplicably drops you in a Giger-esque alien hive, complete with facehugger-type creatures, and the Hive Queen as a final boss.