Athena (video game)

This article is about the 1986 videogame. For other uses of Athena in videogaming, see Athena (disambiguation).

Athena (アテナ, Atena) is a platform arcade game, developed and published in 1986 by SNK. Conversions were later released for the NES console and ZX Spectrum^[6] and Commodore 64^[7] home computers.

Athena
Game flyer
Developer(s)	SNK Micronics (FC/NES)
Publisher(s)	SNK
Designer(s)	Koji Obata
Artist(s)	Rampty
Platform(s)	Arcade, Commodore 64, NES, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Network, ZX Spectrum^[5]
Release	JP: July 1986^[1] Re-releases NES/Famicom: JP: June 5, 1987^[2] NA/EU: Late 1987 Nintendo Switch: WW: December 13, 2018^[3] PlayStation Network: WW: December 13, 2018^[4]
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

The game's protagonist, Princess Athena, has gone on to appear in later fighting games by SNK as a secret character or assistant to her descendant Athena Asamiya, a frequent main character in these games.

Plot

Athena was the young, headstrong princess of the heavenly Kingdom of Victory. She was bored of the monotonous daily life in the palace and desired exciting adventures. One day, she opened the "Door Which Shouldn't Be Opened" in the basement of Castle Victory, said to lead to a savage and deadly place. As she dared cross the doorway, it caused her to fall from the skies and to another realm called Fantasy World, which was dominated by the evil Emperor Dante. After her flowing dress was lost while catching the wind for her fall, the perilous adventures of Princess Athena began as she landed in a wilderness overrun by beast-like warriors and more dangers than she could ever wish for. She readied to fight for her life and arm herself, with no other choice than to face the ruthless Dante and every obstacle on her way, to free this kingdom and make it back alive to her own.

After Athena defeats Dante, it all begins anew in the sequel, Athena: Full Throttle, in which the princess, again bored, opens the "Door Which Shouldn't Be Opened B", disregarding her loyal maid Helene's advice, and they both fall to Elysium World, where they face off against other villains.

Many of the game's elements are inspired by Greek mythology or ancient Roman culture such as weapons, equipment, items and enemy designs, while Princess Athena herself is named after the Greek goddess Athena.

Gameplay

Upon landing, unarmed and nearly nude, the princess only has her kicks to fend off the approaching monsters, but she may collect the dead enemies's various weapons and also has the chance to find shields, headgear and armor to cover her body, although these will be lost after withstanding some attacks. Her journey requires leaping and climbing as well as fighting through the land's eight hazardous worlds, each leading up to an oversized enemy that must be dealt with before proceeding to the next area. The use of certain weapons such as a hammer allows Athena to break through stone blocks, sometimes revealing not only armor but magic items such as Mercury's sandals that, when worn, allow her to make great leaps.

The game features certain role-playing video game elements to complement the platform action. Princess Athena has to defeat enemies such as the final boss by using various mythological weapons, items and equipment. Without some items, she cannot make it through the adventure.

Ports

Athena was later converted for the NES by Micronics. Conversions were also done for the ZX Spectrum^[6] and Commodore 64^[7] in 1987 by Ocean Software and released under their Imagine label.

Only the NES version was released for North American homes until the PlayStation Network saw a release of the arcade original in 2011. Both the arcade and NES versions of Athena are included in SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, released for Nintendo Switch in 2018, and then in 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows.^[8]

The game was released on the Nintendo Switch in the Nintendo eShop on December 13, 2018, by Hamster Corporation as part of their Arcade Archives series^[9] and also on the PlayStation 4 on December 19 as part of the same series.^[10]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Athena on their September 1, 1986, issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.^[11]

Analysis

The game has been described as one of the first cases where a video game received a playable female character.^[12]

Legacy

Sequels

A sequel, Psycho Soldier, was released in the arcades in 1987. Another sequel, Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life, was released for the PlayStation in 1999. Two mobile games were released in 2006: Athena: Full Throttle and Athena On Stage.^[13]

Princess Athena in other games

Aside from Psycho Soldier introducing her modern-day descendant, Athena Asamiya, Princess Athena faded out of SNK's spotlight until fourteen years later, when she appeared as Athena Asamiya's 'Another Striker', a special helper character, in The King of Fighters 2000.

Afterwards, she becomes a secret boss in the dream match game SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos as an angelic being guarding the entrance to the Heaven World, which is patterned after the stages from her video game. By contrast, the Capcom character Red Arremer as another secret boss guards the entrance to the Hell World.

Due to her defeat (caused by the player's character) in SVC Chaos, she is sent to the human world (Earth) by Kamisama for further training through the fighting tournament hosted by the organization WAREZ, in SNK's next dream match game NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, as a playable hidden character. Although NGBC gives exhaustive background stories to every character, it is not a canonical continuation to any of their original games (neither is SVC Chaos).

Also, aside from the above titles, she appears in the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash trading card game series, as an SNK character card or as an Action/Counter card, and, in the final Days of Memories game, she makes a cameo as a foreign cousin of Athena Asamiya.

See also

•  Japan portal
•  Video games portal
•  1980s portal

• List of Famicom games
• List of Nintendo Entertainment System games
• SNK vs. Capcom (series)

References

1. Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 18–9, 133–4. ISBN 978-4990251215.
2. "ATHENA". Media Arts Database. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
3. "Arcade Archives ATHENA". Nintendo. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
4. "Arcade Archives ATHENA". PlayStation Store. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
5. . classicgameroom.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
6. . SpectrumComputing.co.uk. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Release Year: 1987, Original Publisher: Imagine Software Ltd (UK)
7. "Athena [review]". Zzap 64. November 1987. p. 17. [from] Imagine
8. "SNK 40th Anniversary Collection Review - It Belongs In A Museum". GameSpot. November 6, 2018.
9. Lane, Gavin (March 13, 2020). "Guide: Every Arcade Archives Game On Nintendo Switch, Plus Our Top Picks". Nintendo Life. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
10. "Arcade Archives | HAMSTER Corporation". www.hamster.co.jp. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
11. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 291. Amusement Press, Inc. September 1, 1986. p. 23.
12. Love, Dunstan (August 11, 2022). "Playable Girls in Ancient Worlds: Athena (1986) Opens the Door". In Draycott, Jane; Cook, Kate (eds.). Women in Classical Video Games. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-1-350-24193-0.
13. Kalata, Kurt (January 20, 2007). . Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2023.

External links

• Athena at the Killer List of Videogames
• Athena at MobyGames
• Athena at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
• Athena at Arcade History
• Athena video game at Neo Geo Battle Coliseum official website (in Japanese)