Divine pain and pixel absurdity.

When you think of the goddess of wisdom, you imagine greatness, wisdom, and an epic battle against evil. But Athena (NES, 1987) ruins all expectations — here the goddess of wisdom goes into battle in a bikini, without weapons and without a hint of intelligence. The NES could produce masterpieces like Super Mario Bros., but Athena shows the flip side of the 8-bit era — where every death looks like an attempt by the game to turn itself off. Athena is about pain, pixels, and misunderstanding. But if you love bad games as much as we love retro games, then you have to see it.