Saturn game: Astal Ever hear of it?

Scooter · Post by **Scooter** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:14 pm

I saw an odd game at the used game store the other day and bought it. It is call Astal and is a fairly basic 2D platformer. The graphics are real pretty. The thing that kind of caught my eye is that the spine card does not contain the name of the game, only the Sega Saturn logo. It's the same on both edges of the spine card. I've never seen a game that didn't display the name of the game on the edge of the box, in fact, that's kind of what drew my eye to the game in the first place. The disc and box and instructions were all in nice shape too.

Warp2063 · Post by **Warp2063** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:23 pm

Yeah, there was a little talk of Astal on the forums a month or two ago when someone else picked it up... It was recommended to me, but I still haven't gone looking for it yet.

Scooter · Post by **Scooter** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:58 pm

Wikipedia says the game is somewhat rare, guess maybe I'm lucky I got it for $4.69.

Warp2063 · Post by **Warp2063** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:04 am

I wish I could go to this store you speak of... it sounds awesome.

Scooter · Post by **Scooter** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:49 am

We're a friendly bunch, you can visit any time. There are actually two stores in the small chain in my area (Lincoln) and three more in Omaha, about an hour away. I visit them all when I can because I usually can find a few gems here and there.

xDerekRx · Post by **xDerekRx** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:44 am

Astal is one of those games I used to see at my Blockbuster all the time but never rented it.

Its generally considered one of the best Saturn games and one of the last of the good side scrolling 2d adventures.

My local game store has it as well but for 10$. Id like to get around to playing it eventually.

dbdrummer88 · Post by **dbdrummer88** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:49 am

I have this game, its a platformer.

Manji · Post by **Manji** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:20 am

Scooter wrote:The thing that kind of caught my eye is that the spine card does not contain the name of the game, only the Sega Saturn logo. It's the same on both edges of the spine card. I've never seen a game that didn't display the name of the game on the edge of the box, in fact, that's kind of what drew my eye to the game in the first place.

i remember grolt was selling some of his games on ebay, Astal being among them. he had some very in depth item and game descriptions and i remember reading about Astal being the only saturn game to have this anomaly. it's certainly interesting

.

Warp2063 · Post by **Warp2063** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:28 pm

Manji wrote:
Scooter wrote:The thing that kind of caught my eye is that the spine card does not contain the name of the game, only the Sega Saturn logo. It's the same on both edges of the spine card. I've never seen a game that didn't display the name of the game on the edge of the box, in fact, that's kind of what drew my eye to the game in the first place.

i remember grolt was selling some of his games on ebay, Astal being among them. he had some very in depth item and game descriptions and i remember reading about Astal being the only saturn game to have this anomaly. it's certainly interesting .

They probably finished everything up and said, "Okay, let's send it to production!"

...And then they saw that they forgot to put the title on the spine. =P

dbdrummer88 · Post by **dbdrummer88** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:04 pm

Yea this game is pretty fun, it was supposed to show the great 2D capability of the saturn. I have heard that it is quite rare.

Also a little off topic, i just recieved my sealed xband modem in the mail today

xDerekRx · Post by **xDerekRx** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:32 pm

Warp2063 wrote:
Manji wrote:
Scooter wrote:The thing that kind of caught my eye is that the spine card does not contain the name of the game, only the Sega Saturn logo. It's the same on both edges of the spine card. I've never seen a game that didn't display the name of the game on the edge of the box, in fact, that's kind of what drew my eye to the game in the first place.

i remember grolt was selling some of his games on ebay, Astal being among them. he had some very in depth item and game descriptions and i remember reading about Astal being the only saturn game to have this anomaly. it's certainly interesting .
They probably finished everything up and said, "Okay, let's send it to production!"

...And then they saw that they forgot to put the title on the spine. =P

I wonder if thats as good as DOOM for Saturn. Back of the box says 2 Player capabilities. Yet the feature is missing from the game entirely.

xDerekRx · Post by **xDerekRx** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:52 pm

Scooter your post made me look into Astal and buy it. I found it for 8$ at my local shop. Ill have to give a whirl tonight.

grolt · Post by **grolt** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:33 pm

Manji wrote:
Scooter wrote:The thing that kind of caught my eye is that the spine card does not contain the name of the game, only the Sega Saturn logo. It's the same on both edges of the spine card. I've never seen a game that didn't display the name of the game on the edge of the box, in fact, that's kind of what drew my eye to the game in the first place.

i remember grolt was selling some of his games on ebay, Astal being among them. he had some very in depth item and game descriptions and i remember reading about Astal being the only saturn game to have this anomaly. it's certainly interesting .

I remember selling it, too.

I've said this in threads here before - Astal is really a great game. Buy it. It was a 2D game right when all the rage was on texture-less polygons, so it got completely swept under the rug by all game reviewers and players at the time. I actually never would have got it were it not from a blunder on SEGA's part, where they sent me Astal instead of my requested Bug! as the bonus game of choice for the promotion they were running when I bought it. Wanting 3D gaming, I was pretty miffed about the whole thing, but after popping the game in I was totally wowed.

Each sprite looks like a piece of a painting, and the gameplay really holds up with enough variety in attacks and uniqueness in working with that bird to elevate it above most other platformers out there. The story, too, albeit cheese on the same level as NiGHTS, is still pretty captivating and innocently effective.

My only gripe with it is the lack of a save feature, although there's a code for a level select, so it's not a total loss. Still, it's that small setback that makes the game feel more like a 16-bit platformer than anything else. As one of the Saturn's launch titles, though, you need to cut it some slack, because as others have pointed out today, it has now endured as one of the most beautiful games on the system. The score is great too. Get it!

xDerekRx · Post by **xDerekRx** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:28 am

Just played Astal for the first time. My gawd Grolt you werent lieing.

The game is gorgeous. I only made it through 5 levels but so far the first initial level was the most beautiful so far. The sound is great as well. The whole flow of the character and his bird makes the story and combat pretty fun if not basic. Another gem I never played before.

grolt · Post by **grolt** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:00 am

Glad you like it. I really like the second level a lot, how it gets dark and all you hear are those swarms of birds flying above you. Couple that with the music...very atmospheric. Each and every level has its own wonderful design quality, though. It's a shame they never got the game in Europe.

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