Conan the Barbarian. Red Sonja. Willow. The Beastmaster. Krull.
No, don’t click away now - this isn’t an appreciation thread for crap '80s fantasy flicks, honest! The above ‘legendary’ films are merely being used to set the tone for a retrospective glance at one of the finest fantasy videogame franchises ever created – Sega’s Golden Axe.
Taking the scrolling fighter mechanics pioneered in games such as Double Dragon and Vigilante, Golden Axe adds the all-important ‘fantasy’ spin on proceedings, replacing bare and bloodied fists with ancient weapons and arcane sorcery. Throughout the series the playable characters have changed but the ultimate enemy remains the same – the supremely evil Death Adder and his quest to acquire the legendary Golden Axe.
Golden Axe (Various)
The arcade original was a product of Sega’s ultra-successful System 16 hardware. It was one of the first scrolling fighters to offer the option of ‘choosing’ a character with a three different warriors at your disposal – Ax Battler the Barbarian, Tyris Flare the Amazonian and Gilus Thunderhead the Dwarf. The actual moves available to each warrior are very much the same, but there are factors such as speed, animation delay and attack reach that separate them slightly. The friendly multiplayer rivalry of games like Double Dragon was replicated here as fellow players could actually harm each other in two-player mode, resulting in many a righteous quest getting sidetracked because one player ‘accidentally’ happened to jump-slash the other. This was also one of the first titles to introduce animal steeds, with the infamous ‘Chicken Leg’ monster making an early appearance. The level design was both varied and original but the number of basic enemy characters was limited to four (with palette changes notifying the player of the increased threat) and after a while it tended to get a bit repetitive. Thankfully the two-player mode was (and still is) excellent. The arcade machine was such a success that home conversions were quickly programmed and released, with Sega’s own Master System and Mega Drive getting the first two. Minus a few cosmetic alterations the Mega Drive version was extremely close to the arcade original (even adding an excellent ‘Duel’ mode), but the Master System version suffered from unresponsive controls and choppy visuals, as well as losing the quite frankly essential two-player mode and the ability to select a character (the only available option being Ax Battler, inexplicably renamed ‘Tarik’ for this version). More recently the game was converted to Bandai’s WonderSwan Color portable console but the controls and collision detection are hopelessly inconsistent, ruining the dream of having a perfect portable copy of the arcade machine.
Golden Axe II – Revenge of Death Adder (Arcade)
After the triumphant performance of the original game it was obvious Sega would release a sequel. Thankfully it was even better than the first. To be honest, it needed to be – the bar had been raised somewhat by Capcom’s stunning Final Fight and Konami’s ultra-playable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Using Sega’s powerful new System 32 arcade hardware GAII was a 2D tour de force with smooth-scaling levels (that moved both in and out of the screen), massive, well-animated sprites and sumptuous backdrops. The roster of fighters was almost completely overhauled, with only Gilius Thunderhead making a reappearance (riding on the back of a huge giant named Goah, bizarrely). Ax Battler was replaced with the identical-looking Sternblade and there were two new additions in the form of Dora, a female centaur and Little Trix, a pitchfork-welding faun. Unlike the original, the characters are very different from one another, adding an extra level of variety. Easily the best installment in the Golden Axe saga, it’s rather perplexing that it was never converted to home consoles, although this may have been down to the fact that the game wasn’t quite as commercially successful as the original and that System 32 games were difficult to port to Sega’s premier console at the time - the Mega Drive.
Golden Axe II (Mega Drive)
Not to be confused with the above, the home version of Golden Axe II remains a bone of contention with fans of the series even today. The game was basically the original Mega Drive release in new clothing. The characters were the same, they had no additional moves and most of the enemies were similar, if not identical to those found in the first title. The only major change to the play mechanics was the magic system, giving the player the option to use their magic books in two different ways – one at a time or all at once in a ‘charge’ attack. Regardless of Sega’s laziness, there was still a lot to enjoy. The gameplay remained slick and addictive and the two-player mode was as essential as ever. Sonically, a few of the SFX were subtly altered and the music was of a very high standard (the first-level theme standing out as one of the all-time greatest Mega Drive tunes). However it was impossible to deny that players were basically paying good cash for a game they'd already completed and on the whole GAII was a massive missed opportunity on Sega’s part.
Golden Axe Warrior (Master System)
Clearly taking inspiration from Nintendo’s seminal Zelda series, Sega decided to create a real-time RPG for the second Master System Golden Axe title. The game is every inch a Zelda-clone - an identical perspective, with level and character design so similar it's a wonder Nintendo didn't consider taking Sega to court for breach of copyright. Unfortunately one area Sega didn't manage to replicate is gameplay - GA:Warrior was nowhere near as good as Nintendo’s legendary NES title. The pace was painfully slow, the quest dull and the Western translation terrible. To be perfectly honest there’s very little here to remind you that this is a Golden Axe game – aside from the Chicken Leg monsters, of course. Notable for having a battery-backup option (a real luxury back in those days), but little else.
Golden Axe 3 (Mega Drive)
After the ‘respray’ that was the Mega Drive Golden Axe II, Sega obviously listened to criticism and went back to the drawing board for the next home console version. The game engine was completely overhauled with new characters, moves and enemies. The game also featured a rather neat branching level system, with the player being offered the opportunity to decide which path to take at set points. It’s a shame then that after all this obvious effort by the developers the end product is decidedly average. The controls are the main issue. At times they feel perfect, giving the player the ability to pull off a wide variety of moves with relative ease. Different button and pad combinations result in broad selection of special attacks, giving the player more offensive options than ever before. However, as soon as the action becomes intense the failings of the control system become apparent - it’s nearly impossible to emerge from battle without taking serious damage. The controls seem to slow down and become fatally unresponsive, collision detection becomes sporadic and many of the opponents you face have unavoidable attacks at their disposal – possibly an attempt by Sega to boost the rather lame difficulty level, but it smacks of unfairness at times. Some of the boss battles are infuriatingly difficult, largely due to the fact that opponents cheat their way to victory. The visuals are above average, but at times they take a massive dip with dull, repetitive levels and badly crafted enemies. However despite these criticisms, the game still manages to entertain on a largely superficial level. The two-player mode is good fun and the different characters available and alternative routes offered to the player lend the title immense replay value. Not quite the disaster many people paint it as (the fact that Sega didn’t release this in the West has fed the rumour that the company were actually ashamed of the game) but not the Mega Drive swansong many were expecting after the heights set by Revenge of Death Adder.
Golden Axe: The Duel (Arcade/Saturn)
When the Saturn was released, fans of Sega’s arcade output rejoiced – here was a machine with a powerful 2D heart beating inside it, the perfect platform for all of Sega’s amazing 2D arcade titles. By and large, this was not to be. The console could have hosted a perfect version of the legendary Revenge of Death Adder arcade machine, but it never appeared. Instead, we got a conversion of Sega’s misguided attempt to jump on the Street Fighter II bandwagon. GA:TD is very much a product of its time. In the mid-90’s companies were falling over themselves to get a 2D one-on-one brawler on the market. Unfortunately, as is the case with most video gaming trends many of them were mediocre to say the least. GA:TD certainly falls into this category. The visuals are passable, with nice (if a little stiff) sprites, well-animated backgrounds and even a bit of scaling thrown in for good measure. However the game plays so slowly it often feels like fighting in zero gravity. The moves are totally uninspired and to add insult to injury many of them turn out to be totally useless when the action becomes frantic. A massive disappointment for any fan of the series, this isn’t by any means the worst game in the franchise but the fact that the Saturn’s power (and the Golden Axe licence) was wasted on this rather unambitious Street Fighter clone makes it feel that way.
The original Golden Axe was recently 're-imagined' on the PS2 as part of Sega's infamous '3D Ages' series, but the conversion was less than successful. It's hard to imagine that Sega would consider releasing another installment of the franchise in the form that made it so famous - side-scrolling fighting games are hardly the genre of choice at the moment. Perhaps this is something to be joyful about. The arcade originals are still playable even today, and if something ain't broke, don't try to fix (or update) it.
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