Golden Axe III

Moby ID: 8738
Genesis Specs
Buy on Windows
$0.99 new on Steam

Description official descriptions

Golden Axe III is like its predecessors a beat 'em-up game that puts players in the shoes of a hero out to save the land from evil. This time Damud Hellbringer, the 'Prince of Darkness', has taken away the Golden Axe and put an evil curse over all the warriors of the land. However, one of the heroes has their curse relieved and is sent to set things straight and lift the curse off other warriors, defeat the villains and return with the Golden Axe.

The barbarian and amazon of the first two parts remain although receiving new names (Kain Grinder and Sahra Burn). The two new characters introduced are the panther warrior Chronos Raid and Proud Cragger the giant. Gilius Thunderhead the dwarf gives you instructions, but is not playable. The gameplay has been expanded slightly, but is essentially the same hack 'n' slash as in the previous games. New features to the series include junction points where you can choose which path to take. Like in the first Golden Axe, you get magic potions and health power-ups by kicking gnomes during the occasional intermission. Every character has unique magic spells, but they function in the same way: the power and the damage of the spell increase with the number of potions available (and you can't choose a weaker one if you want to spare more potions for later). New moves include blocks, grapples, sweeps and team attacks.

Spellings

  • ゴールデンアックスⅢ - Japanese spelling
  • 战斧3 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Genesis version)

25 People (21 developers, 4 thanks) · View all

Main Planner
Planner
Character Design
Background Design
Main Program
Program
Sound Program
Music and Sound Effect
Messages
Package and Manual
Cover Artwork
Special Thanks
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 61% (based on 16 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 48 ratings with 5 reviews)

The Best Of The Series.

The Good
Golden Axe III, takes elements of the first two Golden Axe games. All the while introducing new concepts to the series. Making the third installment of Sega’s hack n slash the best.

In Golden Axe III, the heroes have been cursed, after breaking free of the curse, one or two, in two player mode. Golden Axe warriors must save the others including two new fighters. You battle across the land in order to once more claim the Golden Axe, and save the land from evil.

Two new warriors are not the only new entry to the series. There are points were the player must choose a path to travel, certain paths may be harder, and make the game longer. This is an interesting feature, and adds replay value, as you explore all the various paths.

The Graphics in Golden Axe III are easily the best in the franchise. Fighter are large detailed sprites and the backdrops are all colorful and unique. And the magic spells, which are Golden Axe’s version of special moves look better then in the other two games. Each warrior has there own magic element, and each magic has multiple levels of power. The fire magic for example wielded by Tyris Flare, the Amazon, ranges from a fireball, to a fire breathing dragon attack.

The music excels as well. And Golden Axe III’s score is also the best of the series. And the sound effects from the death cries of your enemies to the casting of magic all sound as they should.

The gameplay is further enhanced by new combo moves, and faster gameplay. The warriors no longer feel stiff as they did in previous entries in the series.



The Bad
For some reason Sega of America did not release this game in the USA. Despite the fact that it is the best in the long running series. Therefore American Genesis gamers missed out on one of the best games on the console. That would be like if Shinobi III, Phantasy Star IV, or Shining Force were never available in America.

The Bottom Line
If you are in Japan or Europe you can probably still find this game. If in America you could always play the rom, which is not illegal as this game was never for sale in America. However you have to play it I suggest you give it a try.

Genesis · by MasterMegid (723) · 2006

Sometimes, more is not better but just more

The Good
Golden Axe has been a staple in my childhood ever since the first game came out it has been a part of my gaming experience that I till this day still enjoy. (I estimate that at least once a year, I boot up the game and play through it in it's entirety)

Golden Axe III, in my opinion, comes from a very good pedigree and in this case they've tried to build ontop of game play established from before. All of this shows as you can see the action sequences are well paced, the difficulty ramp up is well controlled, the disbursement of things like magic potions and such are all well placed, and in general you can see that the dev team has learned from their previous experience in how to parse out content to the player.

they've also made an attempt to make it more cooperative too, which is nice. (This comes in the form of having dual casting)

In addition to that, they've tried to expand the movesets for all the characters in order to make them more diverse, probably in response to games like Streets of Rage starting to add more moves to their cast. More on this later.

Also, they've given stage branches so that you can now choose which path you want to take, and the path themselves can effect the gaming experience, which increases the replay value.

The Bad
The problem here, is that while the core gameplay is rock solid, the additional things they've added do not all work. Don't get me wrong, it's still immensely enjoyable WITHOUT these added features, but there in lies the problem... if the added feature means so little to the game play experience, then it leads to the question what is the point of the addition in the first place.

this is painfully apparent with the dual casting system, which is fun and novel, but ultimately kind of empty because it's actually not all THAT useful.

The same can be said of the special moves. Some of them are near useless (i.e. The caveman's tornado move) while others are game breaking (the panther's pounce) simply because enemies don't block it.

So while the actual parsing of material is well paced, the fighting mechanics in between is just not as tight as the older games.

I have done entire runs on the game using nothing but the jumping down+B move, because the computer will NEVER block it if you can time the jump the right.

From things like this, it becomes abundantly clear that the some of the moves were added later without making the appropriate AI adjustments for it.

Ultimately, I feel the whole product is weaker for it. In Golden Axe II, each characterwill respond to the different moves in a slightly divergent manner. The difference in hitboxes and attack speed further differentiates this difference in AI even further.

To be fair, this is probably the teams first attempt at handling characters who are wildly different from one another. In GA2, all the characters have minor differences like speed and strength but for the most part play identical to one another. So much so that the winning strategy for one works for the entire cast. But when you compare this side by side to games like Streets of Rage 2, where all the characters are controlled the same way but are played wildly different from one another, they just pale by comparison.

The Bottom Line
A Conan the Barbarian style beat 'em up that inherits it's core from an impressive pedigree (and thus having a fairly solid core) but ultimately a mediocre experiment when it comes to working with diversity.

Genesis · by Elliott Wu (40) · 2010

My most-played game on the Genesis!

The Good
This is the game I've probably spent more time playing than anything else on the Genesis and I've played a lot.

Story: There isn't much that can be said about the story but it's the typical Golden Axe stuff: Bad Guy wields the powerful Golden Axe and the main characters have to save the kingdom from his reign of terror. Simple but it works for these type of medieval hack and slash games.

Gameplay: The game itself is a solid beat em up/hack and slash kind of game. Controls are fluid and very responsive. Combine that with the excellent Sega Genesis controller and it becomes are very enjoyable experience. Compared to the original Golden Axe, this one has way more moves and ways to attack which the player can execute. The characters can perform multiple jump attacks, a wide variety of grappling attacks and a power move unique to every character. There are plenty of levels and the ability to choose which path the character should take. Pretty awesome.

Graphics: The sprites in the game are awesome. The whole visual remind me of a 80's barbarian movie and that is really nice. The spells which the characters use are well animated and please the eye with 16bit goodness.

Sound and Music: For me this is where the game exceeds. Although I love the Sega Genesis, I've rarely seen a game with an above average music score but Golden Axe III has some of the best video game music I've heard on any console. Every song track fits the level perfectly and helps make each of the stages and boss encounters be more memorable. The sound is also excellent. My favorite sound being when you break a barrel or a road sign.

Multiplayer: Like the previous entries in the series the game becomes twice as fun when you played it with a friend. It makes up for some very tense gameplay since the enemies increase when the game is set to two players. Oh, and there are special moves you can only execute with another player which are awesome.

The Bad
I do have some minor gripes with this game.

Story: Nothing to complain here.

Gameplay: Some of the characters' power moves are really overpowered. They can easily breeze through the game with ease if the player masters their power move. There are other things that can be exploited as well like hitting a boss character with the same move repeatedly and that can really break immersion. Also, wish there was a bit more variety of enemies.

Graphics: No major complains.

Sound and Music: Absolutely no complains.

Multiplayer: Players can beat each other player to death and throw themselves in pits which is fun but sometimes it happens accidentally and that can ruin the game. I'm not against being able to hit each other during multiplayer but I wish there was an option to turn it off.

The Bottom Line
If you have a Sega Genesis and you are looking to expand your collection, get this game and I promise that you will not regret it. It's a medieval beat em up mixed with Conan the Barbarian with great visuals and amazing sound and gameplay. High replay value and exciting multiplayer guaranteed.

Genesis · by Ivan Obretenov (30) · 2015

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

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  • MobyGames ID: 8738
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Syed GJ.

Windows added by yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy). Wii, iPhone added by Sciere. Macintosh, Linux added by Foxhack.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】.

Game added March 27, 2003. Last modified February 15, 2024.