Golden Axe

Another 80's classic arcade beat 'em up.

Origin

Continuing with arcade classic reviews today we have a gathering around magic, monsters, barbarians and swords and axes. Enter Golden Axe, a 1989 side-scrolling, beat 'em up, hack and slash arcade video game released by Sega originally for the 16 bits Arcade systems, and perhaps the first worldwide hit Sega had. In fact, the game did so well that it was inevitable to start a franchise with the videogame (including home console editions)

Makoto Uchida was the primary developer of the game and also was responsible for the creation of another classic hit Altered Beast. Several ports of the game were created, most notably for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System, all developed by Sega of course.

Titlescreen.

Select player screen.

Story

The game takes place in the fictional land of Yuria, a Conan the Barbarian-style high fantasy medieval world. An evil entity known as Death Adder has captured the King and his daughter, and holds them captive in their castle. He also finds the Golden Axe, the magical emblem of Yuria, and threatens to destroy both the axe and the royal family unless the people of Yuria accept him as their ruler. Three Warriors set out on a quest to rescue Yuria and avenge their losses at the hands of Death Adder. The first is a battle axe-wielding dwarf, Gilius Thunderhead, from the mines of Wolud, whose twin brother was killed by the soldiers of Death Adder. Another is a male barbarian, Ax Battler, wielding a two handed broadsword looking for revenge for the murder of his mother. The last is a long-sword-wielding Tyris Flare, an amazon, whose parents were both killed by Death Adder.

The graphics were really cool, characters looked neat.

in Golden Axe you had the chance of riding powerful beasts.

The warriors rescue the inhabitants of the ransacked Turtle Village, which turns out to be situated on the shell of a giant turtle. The turtle takes the characters across the sea, and they then fly to the castle itself on the back of a giant eagle. Once at the castle they defeat Death Adder, who is wielding the Golden Axe and save the land. (In the Mega Drive and PC versions, and also in other ports, the characters also battle Death Adder's mentor, Death Bringer, as the true final boss)

Gameplay 

 

Progress is made through the game by fighting through Death Adder's henchmen, including men armed with clubs and maces, skeleton warriors, and knights. Players are able to attack using their weapon, jump and cast spells that hurt all enemies on the screen. The force of this magic depends on the number of "bars" of magic power currently available. The bars are filled by collecting blue 'magic potions' attained by kicking little sprites who then drop the potions. These sprites appear during regular levels and during bonus stages in between levels. The male warrior Ax is able to cast earth spells. The dwarf Gilius, casts lightning spells and the female warrior Tyris casts fire magic. Each character has a different number of maximum magic bars and varying ranges of attack.

"Once you had enough "Magic Potions" you could blow up your enemies asses"

Tyris Flare, one of the earliest videogame hotties.

Various steeds known as bizarrians are found in the game. These can be ridden when the enemy rider is knocked off, or if one is found dormant. The least powerful steed is known as the Cockatrice (which also appeared in Altered Beast), which can be used to knock down enemies with a swipe of its tail. The more powerful dragon, which can either shoot fireballs or breathe fire, is found later in the game.

In addition to the main quest, some home versions of the game included "duel mode", a survival mode type game that pitted players against increasingly powerful foes in consecutive rounds of play. This mode also featured a two-player one-on-one option.

So?

Golden Axe is a great game, the hours of entertainment it can deliver are unlimited. Each character has its own unique characteristics as well as the many foes you have to deal with. They all share different skills and that can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Besides, the scenery can be tricky at times, as you can fall into deep holes that will kill you and your foes instantly. The only issue it may have, compared to today's standards of videogaming is that the characters move very slowly and controlling them as fast as you can push buttons and move the joystick won't make any difference, specially when you're surrounded by foes. 

Tyris Flare is a sexy amazon.

Tyris Flare "fighting" Death Adder.

Overall, an entertaining ride that won't dissapoint today's videogame players. Perhaps that is why Sega has released the Golden Axe trilogy for the iPhone/iPad iTunes store.

Here is the gameplay: