The first “Golden Axe” was released in the arcades during 1989 in order to compete with Capcom's “Final Fight”. The game designers wanted to make a “Dragon Quest” themed game, but that idea was knocked down by top Sega executives who thought that adding selectable characters and magic spells would make it a great seller, and guess what? It did and managed to become a
popular series early on for Sega. Even though Golden Axe is an early Beat'Em'Up it managed to outclass "Final Fight" in a couple areas but falter in a few others.“Golden Axe” is rather short at 20 minutes while “Final Fight” is about an hour long. Playing a Beat'Em'Up for an hour can be
extremely boring even if you get in one of those moods where you want to beat thugs or barbarians up, so in this case, the short length turns out to be a boon. Another area where “Golden Axe” excels
is because of it's cheesy
digitalized that came from movies such as “Rambo First Blood” and “
Commando”. The most memorable sound is the, “Oh Gawd!!" scream. “Final Fight “
on the other hand just has generic grunts and groans. Stuff like this is what gives “Golden Axe”
a feeling for what it is a short cheesy Beat'Em'Up that you can have fun with for a
weekend and then come back to it the next weekend.
Even though “Golden Axe” is a short and gloriously funny game it fails in it's hit detection which is absolutely horrific in some areas. At some times is seems that the computer can hit you while you miss. Another spot where “Golden Axe” goes, “Oh Gawd” is a lack of a function to change your character when you continue, which leads you to play with the same character.
Besides Positive and Negative criticisms its worth mentioning that there are also some funny things in the game. When you beat the game you see a family playing “Golden Axe” at the arcade when all of a sudden characters from the game pop out of the machine and run into the city and the heroes from the game naturally follow. Another hilarious part is when your at the end of Turtle Village I, you see a tavern called the “Sega Beer Barn” sadly, this was taken out of home ports of the game.
Ax Battler
Ah, the typical super muscular barbarian, with an incredibly stupid generic name to boot. Why is he even called Ax Battler when he just fights with a sword? Honestly, who comes up with this stuff?. He is seeking the revenge of his mother. His attack strength is average, but his magic attacks which are all earth based are below average. When you perform his Special move he attacks
whoever is behind him.
Tyrus Flare
Tyrus is an Amazon who is seeking revenge for the death of her parents (are you seeing a trend here?). Even though she has really powerful magic that is fire based it takes forever to recharge and her attack strength is below average. When you perform her special attack she lifts up the enemy off the ground dealing a fair amount of damage.
Gilius Thunderhead
Gilius is a Dwarf seeking revenge for the death of his brother. He is the best character having the highest attack power, strongest magic which is thunder based, and a really good special attack where he rolls and becomes a ninja dwarf!
Death Adder
The Main Antagonist who is an evil badass barbarian who wields the Golden Axe.
The gameplay of Golden Axe is fast paced and is typical of most Beat'Em”Ups. Your character has a magic attack that gets stronger with each magic jar you pick up. Your magic attack hits all enemies on the screen and each character has a different magic attack. Your characters also have a special attack they can utilize by pressing jump and attack at the same time and this attack is also different with each character. During each of the stages you bash other barbarians heads in while make your way to the boss. After you defeat him you're presented with a camp scene where a thief appears and steals your magic. You can attack the thief and usually get more magic than you originally had back from him. A green thief may also appear and he drops food instead of magic. In a lot of the stages you can ride a dragon and other creatures that can help you defeat your enemies, but first you have to knock off the rider in order to use it. Whenever you kill an enemy their corpse stays on the screen which is a nice touch.
The play control is somewhat unresponsive and can lead to unnecessary deaths when you have to jump over a pit. The hit detection is also pretty shoddy. Here's an example of the hit detection: an evil barbarian runs up to you brandishing a mace and you try to attack him and guess what your sword goes mysteriously through him and your enemy whacks you about a gazillion times with his mace halving your life bar. This happens very often and it doesn't help much when enemies surround you whereupon have to forfeit a life in order to get out. Some times you accidentally fall off the edge when there is a pit just beyond the edge of the screen. This is extremely frustrating and unnecessary. There is a way around all of this poor hit detection with an extremely cheap trick where you jump and attack at the same time stunning the enemy even if they are attacking you. This doesn't work with every enemy though.
The music in “Golden Axe” was Composed by Tohru Nakabayashi (Thunder Blade) and resembles “Conan The Barbarian” in almost every way. The Drum synths in the title are great and the songs The Wilderness, Turtle Village I, and Path of the Dead are just amazing. The music fits the theme and pace of the game perfectly especially the music that plays while fighting Death Adder. The Sound effects are so amazingly cheesy and funny it just wants to make you shout, “Oh Gawd!”.
Music
