NES Alphanumeric! #018: ATHENA
I write young adult science fiction and fantasy stories (Novels: FAIR COIN, THE SILENCE OF SIX), and I love playing 8-bit Nintendo games. But it's hard to find time for both; over the years, I've collected nearly 300 NES games, yet I still haven't played most of them for long—or even once!
POST-STREAM THOUGHTS: Yup, that was pretty bad. Janky controls, poor hit detection, respawning enemies that drain your life too quickly, irritating music... There isn't much to recommend here. It's great to have a female protagonist for a change, though, and the power/armor/weapon upgrades are kind of neat. Worst of all, it just isn't that much fun, and most of the challenge comes from bad level design. I have zero interest in revisiting this one again any time soon.