The Battle of Olympus

The Battle of Olympus is an action-adventure game. It is set in ancient Greece and casts the player in the role of Orpheus, whose girlfriend died and therefore went in the netherworld, ruled by Hades. Orpheus must consult the powerful gods and have their help in order to beat Hades and restore Helene to the world of the living.

This game is similar to Faxanadu and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in presentation and side-scrolling combat style. However, it is not a full-fledged role-playing game like Zelda II, since it lacks player-dependent character-building. The game world consists of interconnected, maze-like side-scrolling sections that include both towns and hostile areas where Orpheus fights his way through the minions of Hades. There are various items one must get to continue to the next location, including swords, shields and crystals. There are three fragments of love hidden around; Orpheus has to find them before he can enter Tartarus and fight Hades to save his beloved Helene.

The game sometimes references specific Greek myths, but often interprets them liberally (i.e. Orpheus is a warrior rather than a musician, his beloved one is Helene and not Eurydice, etc.). The monsters of the game are also based on the Greek mythology and include cyclopes, minotaurs, pegasuses, and others.