Golden Axe
Description official descriptions
Golden Axe is an arcade beat-'em-up game that puts players in the shoes of one of three heroes, each with their own reason for trying to overthrow the evil rule of Death-Adder, who - along with his forces of darkness - kidnapped and imprisoned the King and his daughter and stole the legendary Golden Axe.
This is a horizontal fighting game, where you basically take one of the three characters (the barbarian Ax Battler, a dwarf named Gilius Thunderhead or the amazon Tyris Flare) and bash everything which stands between you and Death Adder himself. Each character has a special magical ability that can be charged by kicking small blue creatures that drop a potion. There is also a green variety of this creature that drops food that replenishes your health. Some enemies ride dragons and a scorpion-like creature. The enemies can be knocked off and you can mount the creature yourself and attack the enemies with it.
The original arcade game and most conversions allow players to play up to two characters at once, however in the Sega Master System and C64 versions, this option has not been implemented. The Sega Master System version only has one playable character. Tarik, a close relative to Ax Battler the original barbarian, retelling the story from his perspective. The C64 version allowing only one player at a time, was also limited in other areas, such as fewer levels, only one enemy can engage the player at a time and there are only two types of dragons instead of three.
Spellings
- 战斧 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
- 戦斧 - Japanese spelling
Groups +
- BPjS / BPjM indexed games
- Enhanced ports / Port differences
- Fantasy creatures: Dwarves
- Game Center CX challenge games
- Gameplay feature: Beast riding & beast attacking
- Games made into comics
- Games with manual lookup copy protection
- Golden Axe series
- Protagonist: Barbarian
- Protagonist: Female (option)
- SEGA Forever series
- SEGA Vintage Collection series
Screenshots
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Credits (Arcade version)
4 People
Designed by |
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Music Composer (uncredited) | |
"Wilderness" (first stage music (uncredited)) |
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 76% (based on 70 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 331 ratings with 14 reviews)
The Good
It was a really good game when it came out. I had fun playing it.
The Bad
Nothing I can remember.
The Bottom Line
One of the first good games of its genre, but below average compared to today's standards. I would play the more recent titles from AD&D before going to this one. But if you do it in "reverse chronological order," I think you would also agree to just take a pass at Golden Axe. Put simply, Golden Axe couldn't hold a candle to games in the same genre today.
DOS · by Yeah Right (50) · 2000
The Good
We all remember when Golden Axe came to the PC world. In those old DOS days, a lot of game lovers where happy to find this arcade game and playing in their home. The convertion was excellent, and we loved to play it. And, when I discovered that it had mouse support, it was better. Some movements, especially long jumps, became easier. I always liked to play with the old dwarf, it was my favorite character of the game.
The Bad
In those days, there was nothing to criticize against Golden Axe. Nowadays we can complain about the graphics, the gameplay, and a lot of thing, but there were a little ahead of a standard in that time.
The Bottom Line
An impressive arcade, that older PC gamers can't easily forget.
DOS · by Emepol (212) · 2015
The Good
Ah Sega's classic beat em up Golden Axe. A arcade sensation that has been ported to home. This game represented for the first time a Arcade game could be ported to a home console and look like a visual representation of the actual arcade game not the dreaded words "arcade port"
Now for the good.
The Graphics are VERY close to the arcade. Infact if you never played the arcade game you would swear you had the arcade game at home. This version just totals any other ports in graphics and gameplay.
The speed is parallel to the arcade which means fast and furious gameplay. Tons of enemies crowd the screen to give you a pummelin a plenty.
Three characters to choose from. Each character has different magic and a slight variation of moves.
The game is a nice time waster. Kill five minutes or beat the game and kill 30 minutes. This game is always fun for the duration.
The game still retains it's fun after over fifteen years. A true gem in the genre of beat down.
The Bad
now for the bad.
The game only gives four credits. The game can be a trite hard if you're a newbie to this genre. Even I had trouble beating Death Addler who has the ability to combo into every hit. If he knocks you down then you face a fierce spell which takes one bar of health per hit. You get three bars of health per life. YOU do the math.
Not as good as the arcade version. Though it's a very close port it just pales to the arcade just a little bit. The music also isn't as good as the arcade version.
The game doesn't have any backup to keep your scores. Sure most games didn't have this but it's a little nitpick to add.
The Dwarf is the most unevened character in the game and has the weakest magic even though his physical attacks do the same or maybe just a tiny bit more then the other two characters.
The Bottom Line
In the end this game is recommended to anyone who likes beat em ups like Streets of Rage or Final Fight. A worthy game to anyones genesis collection. Plus at around five bucks money isn't a issue. Hell you'll probably waste that much trying to beat this game in the arcade.
Genesis · by Mr. Huh (105) · 2005
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Control layout | 1xWertzui (1135) | Jun 1, 2024 |
Canada? | Edwin Drost (9719) | Mar 31, 2017 |
Trivia
German index
On May 30, 1992, Golden Axe was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.
Since August 31, 2005, the game is no longer on the index.
References
The Chicken Stinger is a creature you fight in the second stage of Altered Beast. This creature later showed up in Golden Axe as one of the Bizarrians that you can steal from the enemies in the game (it's now called a Chicken-Leg). The Chicken-Leg also showed up later in the arcade game Golden Axe: The Revenge Of Death Adder.
Sound
The death screams of the bad guys are digitized from screams used in the films First Blood (several) and one from Conan The Barbarian. Fans of the game who watch the movies will be able to pick these out easily.
Awards
- Amiga Power
- May 1991 (issue #00) - #96 in the "All Time Top 100 Amiga Games"
- EMAP Image's Golden Joystick 1991
- April 1991: Best coin-op conversion - 16 Bit
- FLUX
- Issue #4 - #70 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
Information also contributed by Big John WV, mark abrams, Tiago Jacques and Xoleras
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Related Sites +
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Golden Axe — StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki
An illustrated guide to the game, complete with detailed platform comparisons. -
X360A achievement guide
X360A's achievement guide for Golden Axe. -
everything2 node: Golden Axe
A humorous take on the first game, the entire series, the conversions, the characters, villains and gameplay.
Identifiers +
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tomer Gabel.
Wii added by Corn Popper. Android added by GTramp. Atari ST, SEGA Master System added by PCGamer77. PlayStation 3 added by Lain Crowley. Arcade added by 666gonzo666. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. TurboGrafx CD added by chirinea. iPhone, iPad added by Sciere. Macintosh, Windows, Linux added by Foxhack. WonderSwan Color added by Kabushi. ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Genesis added by Satoshi Kunsai. Xbox 360 added by Ben K. Xbox One added by MAT. Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC added by Katakis | カタキス.
Additional contributors: Roedie, Unicorn Lynx, Alaka, Pseudo_Intellectual, masterthiefster, Hong Sik Jeon, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, GTramp, Jo ST.
Game added August 10, 1999. Last modified June 17, 2024.