All things Golden Axe

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JaySevenZero
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All things Golden Axe

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can write up your thoughts and opinions for Sega AM1's 1989 side-scrolling hack and slash - Golden Axe.
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gallo_pinto
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Re: Golden Axe

Post by gallo_pinto »

My parents got a Sega Genesis when I was a kid and it came with the Sega 6-PAK cartridge. I tried all six games, but I only stuck with Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. I loved Golden Axe's music, the map between levels, casting magic spells and riding the dragons. And this is probably just nostalgia, but I loved the way it sounded. The heavy “thwock” when you hit someone with an axe or the super distorted screams you’d hear when you died or when villagers were fleeing the level.

As a child I was never able to beat Golden Axe. I played it again on Vita with that goal in mind and I don’t think this game ages very well, especially compared to the Streets of Rage series. My strategy was to play as the dwarf and just sprint back and forth across the level head-butting all of the enemies. I never found anything that worked better. Even for a brawler, this game felt kind of primitive. I still fondly remember playing this game as a kid, but it’s not a game I’ll be coming back to.

Three Word Review: That’s MY Dragon!
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dezm0nd
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Re: Golden Axe

Post by dezm0nd »

Golden Axe was always an after-thought when it came to playing the Mega Drive. It was lumped on a 3-in-1 collection cartridge which already had Streets of Rage on it. Sure, it wasn't SoR 2 but man, it totally crushed it in terms of style and quality for me.

Never did quite get it. Any of it. I much preferred beating the life out of people down dark alleys to quality Mega Drive music!
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macstat
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Re: Golden Axe

Post by macstat »

Golden Axe is one of first games i remember playing. It was a PC at my father's workplace (though i was 7 in '90 time so it might be mistaken about the platform :P). I always picked dwarf because of his cool axe and rarely advanced further than third level. But those two first levels i remember very clearly to this day. I remember all those PC speaker screeches, sounds of dragons breathing fire, those hard hitting sounds or music that accompanied it. Gameplay was also very fun and i was amazed by how you could throw your enemy, charge and headbutt him, or ride numerous beasts. Magic was also cool, but very visceral and dynamic combat was much more fun to execute. I also liked little mini-game of kicking gnomes for magic bottles or roasted meat.

Its worth noting that i't was probably my first side-scrolling beat'em up game and so my judgement is very biased;)

3-word review : Gnome kicking simulator
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Alex79
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Re: Golden Axe

Post by Alex79 »

Golden Axe is another game I played on a mates Amiga, only to be a little disappointed with the Amstrad conversion! I mostly played it on the Sega Megadrive though when I eventually got one. At the time I thought it was amazing, the big sprites, the fighting, the magic - it all blew me away at the time. At the time... Unfortunately, time hasn't been kind to Golden Axe, and returning to it now it's a slow, rather sluggish game, and not really all that enjoyable. Whereas games like Streets Of Rage, and various Capcom brawlers have really stood the test of time, Golden Axe is beginning to show its age. I'd definitely be interested in a modern take on the game though, I guess the closest we've come in recent years is Dragon's Crown. There's no denying that the game is an all time classic, just one that's probably better left back where it belongs.

THREE WORD REVIEW : Activate Nostalgia Specs.
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Suits
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Re: Golden Axe

Post by Suits »

Golden Axe

I initially had this on the Sega Master System 2, I forget how I managed to wrangle a copy but it certainly wasn’t mine and must have been a copy I’d swapped at school some how.

Placing this into a timeframe, it was before I had my Mega Drive which means it was before I was 10, so places this at what must be 1993 ish.

I was well aware of the Mega Drive version of the game and had played it briefly and read about it often in Sega Power Magazine. Not owning a console that I could play premium version on meant that I had to hunt down a 8-bit version.

From what I can remember it was a bad 8-bit version compared to the 16-bit daddy. The graphics were bad and the sound was bad.

Then I got my Mega Drive and pretty soon picked up a proper copy.

The greens and the purples jumped out at my in such a vivid way back then and really made the 8 bit Sega system look so, so inferior.

The sound of the drums at the intro screen is still such a banging tune. Then the keys come in and it’s truly magical. As a pre-teen getting your hands on this after you’ve craved it for so long is immense.

The magic system was decent enough and the troll kicking post level, snooze theft scene, comical and frantic enough to keep you immersed. Those post level images of the map expanding, the flying turtle and the jingle that accompanied the story progressing are wondrous to me.

I think the mounts were great too. The dragons feeling like the more powerful choice. The chicken-leg, beak things with their whipping tails were decent but had, what felt like, a mobility penalty compared to the fire breathing dragons.

Generally as I played through this as a child, I would always, always meet my doom in the level after the large door where you had to battle the dude with the big hammer. Once defeating him and more than likely being a bit light on lives by then, you ‘d enter the level with big gaps and un-edged floors. There were a few jumps that you had to make with the dash-jump, which was my Achilles heel as a youngster. Not being able to get to grips with advanced controls was so often my downfall in early Sega games (The Revenge of Shinobi being another).

As soon as this hit the Xbox Live Arcade I picked it up and played the buttons off it until I’d gotten all the achievements it had to offer. I think the XBL version was a full arcade port as opposed to a Mega Drive port but either was massively enjoyable and an absolute must if you loved that early 90’s Sega scene.

Streets of Rage was my go to brawler at the time and still is but I think Golden Axe brings more to the table than just a ‘not a Streets of Rage Sega brawler’. I’m fairly sure I played this most before SoR2 came out, or at least before I managed to permanently get a copy of SoR2, which raised the bar a good distance above anything Golden Axe was able to hit or even had in target.

It was more arcade in its design, play and feel, the world was fantasy and in my eyes held its place in the Sega catalogue perfectly comfortably, with equal space for both to co-exist successfully. It’s also important to consider that Golden Axe by design was a port of a different game, for a different audience than what it’s cousin Streets of Rage is. One for a cabinet in an arcade, one for a console and a couch.

I may be blinded slightly by nostalgia than wow’d by gameplay but I think a lot of what Golden Axe brings is deep, impactful and impressive for it’s time and path into homes.

An absolute classic for me and a big, bright jewel in Sega’s crown.


Three Word Review – Those Intro Drums
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Flabyo
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Re: Our next podcast recording (3.6.16): Golden Axe

Post by Flabyo »

It's an odd one for me is Golden Axe.

I remember playing the arcade release a lot on family trips to the seaside. It's big and bold and instantly attractive to look at. But if there was a Final Fight machine nearby we'd probably play that instead.

Most of my experience of playing it would be the Megadrive port, which is longer than the arcade machine as it adds in a few extra levels, but I don't recall ever really loving it.

Playing it now it feels very slow and clunky, and at times quite unfair. It never feels to me like you can 'get good' at it like you can with Final Fight (I'm almost certainly wrong on that).

It doesn't feel like it was particularly influential on the genre either, other than it's own sequels there isn't anything I can think of that borrows that much from it.

Probably the only thing I really love about it was the version of the music Jeroen Tel did for the C64 port, which is far better than the truly awful squeaky version of the themes the Megadrive port has. (Megadrive music took a while to get good, a lot of those early releases are pretty poor sonically)
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ratsoalbion
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by ratsoalbion »

How to spot David Caruso, Grace Jones, Jack Starrett and more stars of 80s cinema in your Golden Axe:

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Suits
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by Suits »

So, does anyone remember the small series (4) of books that Sega Power did in the '90's ???

There were 4, Road Rash, Golden Axe, Super Monaco GP and Desert Strike.

They were given away one a month in the magazine packs. I had three and they very closely followed the story of the games, level by level. I missed out on the Super Monaco GP one for some reason.

Sooooo, wish I kept mine now.

Anyway, this was the golden Axe one.

Image
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Michiel K
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by Michiel K »

Suits wrote:So, does anyone remember the small series (4) of books that Sega Power did in the '90's ???

There were 4, Road Rash, Golden Axe, Super Monaco GP and Desert Strike.

They were given away one a month in the magazine packs. I had three and they very closely followed the story of the games, level by level. I missed out on the Super Monaco GP one for some reason.

Sooooo, wish I kept mine now.

Anyway, this was the golden Axe one.

Image
Haha, I never saw those! The Super Monaco GP novel must have been a real rapid page turner!
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Suits
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by Suits »

Michiel K wrote:Haha, I never saw those! The Super Monaco GP novel must have been a real rapid page turner!
:lol: , yeah, I bet !!

The Road Rash one was enjoyable though.
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Flabyo
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by Flabyo »

From what I can remember the desert strike one was literally the entire plot of the game. Kinda spoilery.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by ColinAlonso »

Michiel K wrote:Haha, I never saw those! The Super Monaco GP novel must have been a real rapid page turner!
Well the career mode actually had a barebones plot. You make your way from a poor team to become world champion, then some upstart kid shows up and takes your seat, you then worked your way back to the title as revenge.

Yes, I did play too much Super Monaco GP when I was young. :)
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Nupraptor
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by Nupraptor »

Just playing through this on the megadrive classics collection. First time I've touched it for....25 years? Probably.
It's very good and much tougher than I remember. The enemy AI is simple, but very effective. They will ALWAYS try to flank you and if there is any distance between you then they will always go for the rapid shoulder barge. You have to be incredibly careful with the timing of your attacks and your crowd control. If you get into a combo that goes on a fraction too long then you will take hits.
Also: screw those pink knights at the front of Death=Adder's castle. They are the worst.
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Flabyo
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Re: All things Golden Axe

Post by Flabyo »

If you had the iOS app version of golden axe, it’s now updated itself to include 2 and 3 as well.
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