Golden Axe

aka: Golden Axe Classic
Moby ID: 199
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 11:00 AM )
Conversion (official) Included in

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 game allows to play up to two players on the same screen, however in the C64 version this option has not been implemented. C64 version was also stripped off in the other areas, such as: only one enemy can engage the player at a time or there are only two types of dragons instead of three.

Spellings

  • 战斧 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • 戦斧 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Arcade version)

4 People

Designed by
Music Composer (uncredited)
"Wilderness" (first stage music (uncredited))

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 69 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 328 ratings with 14 reviews)

This port is a piece of memorabilia, rather than a game

The Good
There's like only 3 tunes in here (out of the 11 or so I know from the DOS and Genesis versions), but they are remixes done by Jeroen Tel, so it's party time!

The graphics, while not pretty (especially with in mind what they were trying to recreate), is very ambitious.

The Bad
Unfortunately, the way the graphics was done lead to the downfall of this port. The technical limitation that they only managed to put just one enemy on the screen at a time, completely killed the gameplay! They have faithfully ported how the player or the enemy attacks, and that's the problem: GA is not meant to be a 1-on-1 fighter. The challenge was in how the enemies co-operated with each other. How they sneak up on you while you are busy beating their mates, so you had to divide your attention between them, that's what made the fights so hectic. Without this, you just keep spamming the fire button and the enemy stands paralized, until it collapses. And what especially makes this an elongated borefest, that all the the enemy waves are here, but instead of comig in groups, they come in series. Turning it into a challenge of your patience foremost.

I would bring up that it lacks a 2 player mode. Or that it's an either music or sound effects situation. Or that it lacks in presentation, like missing the cutscenes or the map between levels. In the light of what I told previously, it doesn't even matter.

The Bottom Line
Golden Axe is one of my favourite games on DOS. Later, after discovering how good the C64 version of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken are, it re-ignited my interest in the C64. So I was pretty excited to see how GA translated to it. Pretty disappointingly, as it turned out. I have no reason to complain, I didn't burn my money on this port (condolences to whoever did back in the day).

But let's be realistic. At that point in time, it was a wonder that the C64 still recieved ports of the latest and greatest arcade games at all. The hardware was long in the tooth, and it was very hard to demake the much more advanced games faithfully.

At least this program puts up a nice show that is a medley of the arcade, so buyers at least got something for their money. It's not like C64 users could get a similar beat-em-up that was done better... apart from Double Dragon 2 and 3... or the Simpsons Arcade game... sheesh, why am I angering myself!?

Commodore 64 · by 1xWertzui (1135) · 2024

Classic!!

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

Passe Classic--Skip it

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

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Canada? Edwin Drost (9295) 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

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Golden Axe III
Released 1993 on Genesis, 2012 on Windows, 2018 on Linux...
Golden Axe II
Released 1991 on Genesis, Windows, 2018 on Macintosh...
Jack Axe
Released 2021 on Windows, Nintendo Switch
Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe
Released 2012 on Xbox 360
Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe
Released 1991 on Game Gear
Conan
Released 2004 on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2
AxE: Alliance vs Empire
Released 2019 on Android, iPhone, iPad
Maglam Lord: Deco Item - Bladelord's Axe
Released 2022 on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Legendary Axe II
Released 1990 on TurboGrafx-16

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 199
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

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. iPad, iPhone added by Sciere. Linux, Windows, Macintosh 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. Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Commodore 64 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 March 11, 2024.