Golden Axe II

aka: GA2
Moby ID: 6766
Genesis Specs
Buy on Genesis
$40.00 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$0.99 new on Steam
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Description official descriptions

Not long after the malign reign of the Death Adder has ended, another evil rises. The peace of the land has again been threatened, this time by 'Dark Guld', who was supposed to be imprisoned but apparently isn't. He has instead now got his hands on the Golden Axe, and is using it for his own nasty purposes, and with his minions is causing much chaos.

So once more, Ax-Battler, the fierce barbarian; Tyris-Flare, the fearless Amazon; Gilius Thunderhead, the ferocious dwarf; get up to deal with the oppression, with their might and magic, and recover the Golden Axe.

The hack and slash gameplay, in a medieval fantasy setting, is essentially the same to that of the previous game. Beat up opponents with melee attacks and collect scrolls to launch magical attacks. Moreover, players can also ride dragons and other beasts and use their attack capabilities to their advantage.

Spellings

  • ゴールデンアックスⅡ - Japanese spelling
  • 战斧2 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Genesis version)

21 People (19 developers, 2 thanks)

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  • SEGA

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 75% (based on 27 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 59 ratings with 5 reviews)

Golden Axe expansion pack...

The Good
Golden Axe II is basically a re-hash of the original Golden Axe, but with slightly inferior graphics. There are more levels in this game and more types of enemy sprites (such as lizardmen). The playable characters are slightly more detailed than they were in the original. (However, the enemy sprites and backgrounds are noticeably less detailed and less originally designed than the original game.)

Its slightly harder than the original Golden Axe and you may actually have to play it a few times to beat it (Golden Axe was one of the easiest Genesis games ever).

It was interesting that you were now given the option of using a certain amount of your magic rather than shooting your entire wad at one time, but the spells were not as visually stunning as in the former game.

The Bad
The backgrounds and enemy sprites are less detailed than the original Golden Axe. The music is not as good as the original score, though it isn't bad. The levels are uninspired and generic looking. Some of the enemy sprites seem to have only a few frames of animation. The magical spells are not as good as they were in the original game either.



The Bottom Line
Revenge of Death Adder is the only worthy sequel to Golden Axe. However, this game is decent enough. Its more like an expansion pack to the original Golden Axe than it is a separate game. Its very, very close to being the same thing.

Genesis · by Majestic Lizard (670) · 2006

More Silver Than Golden

The Good
The first Golden Axe game found well-deserved success both as a coin-op, arcade game and as a Genesis (or Mega Drive) home console port.

One successful video game was probably going to get a sequel -- especially in the early 1990s when Nintendo and Sega were in fierce competition -- and I can certainly appreciate much of the thought process that went into developing Golden Axe II.

Golden Axe II keeps the fantasy setting and basic game play mechanics of the first game. Each of the three characters from the first Golden Axe return in the sequel to do battle, again, and they many of the same sort of offensive and defense moves found in the first game.

During the game's action, you can -- like the first Golden Axe game -- collect icons to restore your health and perform certain, magical attacks.

Sometimes -- like the first Golden Axe game -- you can ride on a strange creature. OK, did they actually change anything in Golden Axe II? Yes, they did.

The "back attack" move in the first Golden Axe was revised into an attack that hits enemies from all sides.

The sequel allows you to throw enemies in either direction (which makes it easier to hit other enemies or toss them off a cliff) and a very good change was made to the magic attacks.

The first game automatically used up all of the magic your character had in one shot. The sequel allowed you to choose how much magic you wanted to use up.

Golden Axe II also introduced two types of games ones. One is the standard, side-scrolling, 1 or 2-player game. The other puts the player in an arena whereby you have to battle various enemies.

Beyond that, Golden Axe II gives the characters slight changes in their wardrobe and their does seem to be some, variation in the how long the character's weapon is.

The Bad
The control modifications in Golden Axe II are quite good, but they are the only thing that developers really improved upon from Golden Axe I.

The visual and audio effects in Golden Axe II are something of a mixed bag. The sequel does use some nice FX (mostly later on in the game) and yes, the music is quite catchy.

However, the sound effects in Golden Axe II are laughably bad and detract from the good music. Seriously, I cannot imagine how no one in Sega didn't write a memo about the need to fix the game's sound effects.

Overall the graphics do not really seem to be a significant improvement from the first Golden Axe game and, with few exemptions, the visuals in the sequel seem a tad rushed and overwhelming.

Maybe it is just me, but the characters (and backgrounds) actually seem a bit smaller and less detailed in Golden Axe II.

The Bottom Line
Golden Axe II has better and smoother control then its predecessor, which makes it more fun to play. The game's musical score is also quite nice, but most of the game's sound effects and graphics are, at best, underwhelming. It is fun to play, but it's less golden and more of a silver axe.

Genesis · by ETJB (428) · 2014

Took me Five minutes to complete...

The Good
I love Streets of Rage style fighting and I love D&D, this game mixes them. It was good that both the male and female characters were skimpily dressed. Usually, it's just the woman, and seeing as I am a straight female, this can get boring.

The Bad
It was TOO easy, it took me and a friend (on two-player mode) 5 mins to complete. Compare this to Streets of Rage 2 - which we had played minutes earlier. SOR2 was set over about 8 levels, GAII was set over 5, and they were much shorter.

The Bottom Line
The original game is better.

Genesis · by emmamomocat (29) · 2003

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Content

Although a sequel to Golden Axe, this game bears no resemblance whatsoever to Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, the official sequel to the arcade game.

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  • MobyGames ID: 6766
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Syed GJ.

Arcade added by 666gonzo666. Windows, iPhone added by Sciere. Linux, Macintosh added by Foxhack. Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, paul cairey, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Neville, Patrick Bregger.

Game added June 25, 2002. Last modified February 15, 2024.