Astyanax

Astyanax
Also known as: The Lord of King (JP) Developer: Aicom Publisher: Jaleco Platform: NES Released in JP: December 21, 1989 Released in US: March 1990 Released in EU: 1990 This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

Seeing as he's supposed to be from our world (and time)...who the heck names their kid Astyanax? How do you even pronounce it...?

Fun fact is the Japanese version could also be translated to The Road of King, though the game's English text debunks that.

Sound Test

At the title screen, press Up, Down, Right, Left, Up, Down, Right, Left, Start. Use Up / Down to select the music, and B to play said music; sound effects are selected with Left / Right and A.

Stage Select

At the title screen, press Up, Down, Left, Right, B, B, B, B, Start.

Demo Select

At the title screen, press Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Down, A, B, Start. Press Start to exit back to the demo menu.

Hidden Credits

At the Demo Select menu, press B, B, A, A, B, A, Up, Down, Start to see the ending sequence. Oddly enough, this ending is different from the usual one in that it shows the developer credits at the end. The credits sequence was retained in the US version, but left untranslated.

Below is a translation of the text:

Japanese	English
すたっふ	Staff
ぷらんいんぐ あんど でもこんて かわの かずひろ	Planning and Cutscene Scripting Kazuhiro Kawano
ぐらふぃっく ああちすと かとう ともこ こみやまけいた	Graphic Artist Tomoko Kato Keita Komiyama
すくりーん あにめーしょん かとう ともこ かわの かずひろ	Screen Animation Tomoko Kato Kazuhiro Kawano
さうんど こんぽおざあ せりーぬたざき	Sound Composer Celine Tazaki (alias for Toshiko Tazaki)
ぷろぐらむ ぼっ、ぼくなんだなあー	Programming Wh... Who am I?

Most of the development team would go on to develop another NES title, Totally Rad.

Regional Differences

Booting

The Japanese version is one of a few games that do not include a mandatory one-frame delay for the PPU (graphics chip) to warm up. It just so happens that the Famicom system is wired in such a way that the PPU will start up approximately one frame earlier than the CPU, and thus not need as much of a delay.

If you play the Japanese version on a US NES system, the game will only boot if the system has been powered off for at least 30 seconds. Waiting less time, or resetting the game will prevent the game from booting.

Title Screen

Japan	US/Europe

The game logo was redone to accommodate the new name, and the Jaleco logo was removed.

Japan/US Prototype	US/Europe

The Medusa boss had a bit of breast reduction, and features a scaled chest in the final US and European versions of the game instead.