Taking a look at Astal for the Sega Saturn brings back great memories of when the 32-bit era was first starting. The amazing 2d sprites were light-years ahead of anything ever seen before on the SNES or PC Engine. Many thought of this game in the same vain as Rayman or GEX, but this game outshines both of them. Lets get on with the review.



First and foremost lets go over what the game is about. You play as a Hot tempered red haired hero named Astal. Who just so happens to have insanely cool throwing attacks and other kick anus platforming tricks up his sleeves. The game picks up really fast as you enter into the first stage and see the most excellent background and foreground images moving in parallax scrolling style! You can pick up GIANT trees and whip them at your enemies. The game carries a heavy dose of Anime inspiration so if you are into that type of thing, you will totally LOVE the graphics and music and cut scenes!

When the 16-but era ended many developers were looking strongly at 3d games as the future so much so that the industry completely became flooded with 3D games(as it is today).  With the release of Astal very early into the life span of the Sega Saturn, it was nice to see something original.  Astal is a very unique game!


Overall I would suggest this to any 2D platform game lover. It has a certain charm you just dont see in many games. The music is top notch and the graphics POP out of the screen at you!

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Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9.0
Control: 7.0
Overall: 7.5



Scores: Based on a 1 through 10 basis.
1: the worst game ever made.
2: Wouldn’t want to play this game again.
3: Not Good
4: Below Average
5: Average
6: Above Average, Fans will like it!
7: Much better than Average, Very Cool game!
8: Very well done, A fine piece of gaming
9: Excellent Game
10: The Best game ever made