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
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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 69 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 329 ratings with 14 reviews)
One of the greatest arcade to home ports ever.
The Good
Classic beat em up action. Excellent graphics and sound for its time. The gameplay is somewhat addictive and the controls on the Genesis version are tighter than the original arcade release. This version also contains an extra stage at the end which is moderately difficult, and the Duel Mode give a little extra added replay value.
The Bad
I guess due to hardware limitations the graphics are not as good as the arcade version, although for a Genesis game they are still great. It also would have been nice if back then you could have more than two players.
The Bottom Line
This is one of the best arcade to console conversions out there. The game it self is a classic and fun to play. The added features of the Genesis version also make it worth your while. This is a MUST have for any Genesis owner or classic console game collector.
Genesis · by Daniel Esquivel (1) · 2009
A good visual conversion of flawed gameplay.
The Good
The graphics in the PC conversion of Golden Axe are very good; if you were to pipe the output of your VGA onto a television, they're indistinguishable from the Sega Genesis version.
The Bad
First and foremost, the PC version is damn near impossible to complete without continuing. After an hour of gameplay, I would have hoped that the game got easier to master. It doesn't. After 30 minutes of getting repeatedly kicked into unconciousness less than a second after getting up, I was ready to smash the screen. The original arcade game was easier than this!
There are other problems that bother me a bit: There are entire sections of land missing in the PC version. Since the game is disk-based, it would not have been a big deal to include them. And while the CGA graphics run on almost any platform (8mHz and higher), the EGA graphics really require a 286 and the VGA graphics require a 386 to run smoothly.
The Bottom Line
If you liked the arcade game and don't have access to a Sega Genesis or arcade emulator, the PC version will satisfy your Golden Axe cravings. But if you haven't played the arcade game and aren't familiar with it's style of gameplay, look somewhere else for a side-scrolling fighting game.
DOS · by Trixter (8952) · 1999
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
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
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Canada? | Edwin Drost (9385) | 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 +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tomer Gabel.
Wii added by Corn Popper. Android added by GTramp. SEGA Master System, Atari ST 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, Linux, Windows 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. Amiga, Commodore 64, 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 April 9, 2024.