is a

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

, produced and published in 1986 by

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

. Conversions were later released for the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

console and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

home computers. The game's protagonist, Princess Athena, has gone on to appear in later

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

s 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 Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

of the heavenly Kingdom of Victory. She was bored of the monotonous daily life in the

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

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 Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

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 A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

ancient Roman culture The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day ...

such as weapons, equipment, items and enemy designs, while Princess Athena herself is named after the Greek goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

Gameplay

Upon landing, unarmed and nearly

nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

, the princess only has her kicks to fend off the approaching

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

s, but she may collect the dead enemies's various weapons and also has the chance to find

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

s, headgear and

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

to cover her body, however, 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 A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

allows Athena to break through stone blocks, sometimes revealing not only armor but

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

items such as

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

's sandals that, when worn, allow her to make great leaps. The game features certain

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

elements to complement the platform action. Princess Athena has to defeat enemies such as the final

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

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

Micronics Micronics (マイクロニクス Maikuronikusu) was a Japanese video game developer in 1980s and 1990s. It mostly ported arcade games to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Like many video game developers, Micronics didn't credit itself in its games ...

. Conversions were also done for the

and

in 1987 by

Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and video game publisher, publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and wa ...

and released under their

Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...

label. Only the NES version was released for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n homes until the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

saw a release of the arcade original in 2011. Both the arcade and NES versions of ''Athena'' are included in ''

SNK 40th Anniversary Collection ''SNK 40th Anniversary Collection'' is a video game compilation developed by Digital Eclipse consisting of arcade and console games published by SNK between 1979 and 1990. The collection was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2018, later in 20 ...

'', released for

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

in 2018. The game was released on the

in the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

on December 13, 2018, by

Hamster Corporation is a Japanese video game publisher, with office located in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The game division of Toshiba-EMI Limited spun off Hamster Corporation in November 1999. On the Japanese PlayStation Store, more than 200 titles are distribut ...

as part of their

Arcade Archives is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch, published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called is focused on rereleasing Neo Geo ...

series and also on the

on December 19 as part of the same series.

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.

Analysis

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

Princess Athena in other games

Aside from ''

Psycho Soldier is a platform game developed by Japanese software company SNK. It was released in 1987. It is a distant sequel to ''Athena'', released a year earlier, featuring a late descendant of that game's main character. Ocean Software on their Imagine ...

'' 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 ''(KOF 2000, or KOF '00)'' is a fighting video game that was produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 2000. It is the seventh installment in ''The King of Fighters'' series for the Neo Geo and the final game in the series SNK ...

''. 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 is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

character

Red Arremer ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', known in Japan as , is a Run and gun game, run-and-gun platform game, platform video game series created by Tokuro Fujiwara and developed by Capcom. The first entry in the series was ''Ghosts 'n Goblins (video game), Ghost ...

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

Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

sama for further training through the fighting tournament hosted by the organization WAREZ, in SNK's next dream match game ''

NeoGeo Battle Coliseum , abbreviated ''NGBC'' or ''NBC'', is a 2-on-2 tag team fighting game designed for the Atomiswave arcade board developed and released by SNK in 2005. The game features characters from several SNK and ADK titles. Subsequently, a PlayStation 2 vers ...

'', 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 A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

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.

References

External links

* * *
''Athena''
a
Arcade History

at

Neo Geo Battle Coliseum , abbreviated ''NGBC'' or ''NBC'', is a 2-on-2 tag team fighting game designed for the Atomiswave arcade board developed and released by SNK in 2005. The game features characters from several SNK and ADK titles. Subsequently, a PlayStation 2 vers ...

official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Athena, Princess 1986 video games Athena games Arcade video games Cancelled Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Switch games Platform games PlayStation Network games PlayStation 4 games SNK franchises SNK games SNK Playmore games Video games scored by Martin Galway Video games featuring female protagonists ZX Spectrum games Video games developed in Japan Hamster Corporation games Single-player video games