Astal, known as Kisuishou Densetsu Astal (輝水晶伝説アスタル) in Japan, is a 2D platformer created by Sega exclusively for the Sega Saturn.

Nordheimer Upright Piano Serial Number. Japanese Saturn Cover The late 80s and early 90s brought us a vast selection of cool dudes with attitudes. From Bart Simpson to Bill and Ted to Burger King’s mascot, Kid Vid, there was no shortage of radical kids with backwards ball caps and dark sunglasses telling us to take a chill pill. Obviously these trends were going to make their way in to our video games as well. Jaleco’s Totally Rad and American Softworks’ Treasure Master spring to mind as examples but hardly caught on. Many already know the tales surrounding Sega’s quest to create a mascot with enough ‘tude to rival Nintendo’s Mario. Many more know the success they saw with their Sonic the Hedgehog series.

And many still will recall the way Sonic slipped from the spotlight as consoles hit the 32/64 bit era. It wasn’t long before the once bodacious dudes of MTV were replaced with edgy and sarcastic grunge rockers and Sonic’s mighty blue spikes seemed so, “last week” as all the cool kids were saying in 1995. With Sega Saturn’s debut and no hedgehog to be found on the console’s launch lineup Sega was clearly looking for another new character to rival the Pretendo and that new fangled Plaything. 1995 brought us one of Sega’s new first party games, Astal. The eponymous hero boasts long red hair, bushy eyebrows, what appears to be a lavender body suit, gigantic forearms, and broken handcuffs on each wrist, as he journeys through a dream-like land full of crystals fanciful creatures with his companion, a purple cockatoo. Hip, this guy was not. A 2D platformer with vibrantly colored, hand drawn sprites and spoken dialogue from the characters, Astal stood out alongside 16 bit games on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo not only in terms of technical quality but also as a decidedly not-so-trendy title.

Astal (Saturn) The story concerns the Goddess Antowas creating a world known as Quartilla out of jewels. She then populates her world with two people also made from jewels; Leda, who can create life and Astal, who protects Leda. Satisfied with her work, Antowas sleeps. Soon, the Demon God, Jerado creates his own being, Geist. He sends Geist to capture and imprison Leda on the ocean floor.

Astal, ever protective of Astal pursues her and destroys the ocean in his haste. This destruction awakens Antowas who defeats Jerado and Geist and exiles Astal to the moon for his overzealous oceanicide. She then returns to sleep. The game then switches to an instrumental music video where Astal, still chained to the moon, hears Leda cry out his name. He breaks his shackles and returns to their planet to find her. Once there, he encounters a group of jewel monsters guarding a curious purple bird in a cage. While not specifically interested in saving the bird, he defeats the beasties and frees the bird, which serves as his unwanted sidekick throughout the game.