I'm trying to figure out the name of this old game. Here's what I remember about it:

The game was set in a one-screen arena, with a top-down perspective. You controlled a guy with a big sword. All the game did was throw more and more monsters at you. Swinging your sword was done with the arrow keys, and the faster it hit, the more gory the result. It was pretty primitive, but it was fun back when I was a kid. The game was available from the old AOL Kids Games section, back in the day of AOL 5.0-ish.

Anyone remember this oldie?

Gauntlet?

Definitely not Gauntlet, unless the description is way off.

Oh no, not Gauntlet, it's much newer than that, but without a scrolling screen. It was just one screen's worth of play space.

Temple of Apshia?

Come to think of it, I think you may be right. It had that old shareware vibe, though. Nope, that was more of a dungeon crawler. Plus, there was more than one screen area. The game I'm thinking of is more modern, but more simplistic. Kind of a beat-em-up on one screen, seeing nothing but the main character's head and his big sword sticking out.

I REALLY want to say Mortuum, but I may still be wrong despite it filling your description pretty much 100%. ;p
You move your guy around with the arrow keys and you have 2 other keys to swing your weapon for momentum to rip apart enemies. Very good arcade style hack n slash. I played it on 100 great action & arcade games.

If this screenshot doesn't answer your question, then I'm at a loss.

here's a pic on Moby Games: http://www.mobygames.com/game/win3x/mortuum/screenshots/gameShotId,108044/

THAT'S IT! WE HAVE A WINNER! Thanks much, I'm going to go download it right now!

Glad to have helped!

Hope you find it, if not then check Ebay for 100 great action & arcade games, I know it's one of the 100 on that disc.

Found it, doesn't run in Dosbox, and won't run on a 64 bit system. Oh well. Maybe I should reconstruct that old 486 I've got lying around . . .