is a 1988 vertical scrolling shooter released for the arcades

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 by Namco

Namco

is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...

. It runs on Namco System 2

Namco System 2

The Namco System 2 arcade system board was first used by Namco in 1987 and was a major enhancement to the previous Namco System 1 arcade system board....

 hardware. A home version for the Mega Drive/Genesis

Sega Mega Drive

The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...

 was released in 1990

1990 in video gaming

-Notable releases:*Bonk's Adventure is released for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 and is the first US appearance of Bonk, the mascot of the TurboGrafx-16.*February 12 — Nintendo releases the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America...

. The game features a plot loosely based on Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

. The player takes control of the knight Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

, the god of the sun, who sets off on his pegasus

Pegasus

Pegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...

 to rescue his lover, Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

, the goddess of the moon, from the dark lord Typhon

Typhon

Typhon , also Typhoeus , Typhaon or Typhos was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."Typhon was described in pseudo-Apollodorus,...

.

Gameplay

The player controls Apollo who is mounted on the back of his winged horse Pegasus. Pressing the fire button makes his sword fire a tiny shot, while holding it down charges the sword, firing a bigger fireball upon release. Even the smallest enemies take multiple hits, so the standard shot is of little use. This game also features voice samples (in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

).

Mythos

The game takes names and little else from Greek Mythology, where Apollo, god of the Sun, was actually Artemis's brother. The game shows us an Artemis that acts as an archetypical princess, but in Greek mythology, she was the goddess of the hunt, and took pride in never being with any man.

External links

• Phelios on the Killer List of Videogames
  Killer List of Videogames
  The Killer List of Videogames is a web site featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for players."....
  
  
• Phelios screenshots