at full health. However, The Battle of Olympus does have a sword later in the game that can shoot beams, but doing so damages the health bar if a certain item is not found first. The Battle of Olympus is somewhat non-linear and there are some optional side quests that can make the game easier in the long run, leading to a secret item or power-up from one of the gods. The final battle brings to the Temple of Hades in fight with the ruler of the underworld in a two-stage event. The first is a blind fight against a shadow reflection, and then the final form is of Hades himself. Development The Battle of Olympus was developed by Infinity, and was the first game from the company. The dev team for the game was quite small, with only three members. Yukio Horimoto served as designer and programmer for the game. Kazuo Sawa was the composer, and Reiko Oshida, Horimoto's future wife, did story and graphics. Designer Hoshimoto drew inspiration from Zelda II: Adventure of Link for gameplay. Similarities include a final confrontation with a shadow, similar character abilities, and the general appearance of the game. It was one of several NES games inspired by Zelda II, which also include Moon Crystal. Release It was published by Imagineer as "Olympus no Tatakai" and released in Japan on March 28, 1988. In North America, it was published by Broderbund and released in December 1989. In Europe, it was published by Nintendo and released in 1991. The game was ported to the Game Boy by Canadian developer Radical Entertainment in 1993 and published by Imagineer for the European market only. Reception Japanese game magazine Famitsu gave it a score of 28 out of 40. Reviewers noted similarities between the game and to the earlier game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Notes References External links 1988 video games Broderbund games Game Boy games Imagineer games Nintendo Entertainment System games Orpheus Platform games Radical Entertainment games Side-scrolling role-playing video games Video games set in Greece Video games based on Greek mythology Video games developed in Canada Video games developed in Japan