If you enjoy the classic beat-em up arcade game scene you’re likely going to enjoy the Golden Axe arcade game. The first release of Golden Axe was in the year 1989 and it just kept going on from that point – now they have several iterations of the series and it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. Here at ArcadingOnline we attempt to present you with well-researched information on a wealth of topics – the topic of discussion for today is Golden Axe, It’s history, as well as a few other pieces of information we found to be useful. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Video of Golden Axe gameplay
History
The creator of Golden Axe didn’t want it to be a hack-n-slasher when it was first being developed, however, things don’t always turn out that way do they? The original desire of the creator, Makota Uchida, was to produce a game that basically mimicked (or was very similar to Dragon Quest by Enix, the only issue was that the higher-ups at Sega just weren’t too excited about his idea of mimicry.
Knowing that the people who made the big decisions(executives) didn’t follow his vision, Uchida decided to take his team of people (about 5 workers) and pivot to something a bit more Conan the Barbarian-esque. The goal was to make something that was difficult enough to require practice yet, simple enough for any person to get up and play. Of course, the game quickly became a hit and was soon ported over to Sega’s very own Genesis console, a system that was in the process of being released in the US at that time.
Of course, there are other things included in the history of the Golden Axe game but, for the most part, this is what you need to know. Below are all of the releases for the Golden Axe game.
- Golden Axe for arcade was released in 1989
- Golden Axe for Genesis was released in 1989
- Golden Axe for Master System was released in 1989
- Golden Axe for Amiga was released in 1989
- Golden Axe for Commodore 64 was released in 1989
- Golden Axe for Sincair ZX Spectrum was released in 1989
- Golden Axe for DOS was released in 1990
- Golden Axe for Amstrad CPC was released in 1990
- Golden Axe for Atari ST was released in 1990
- Golden Axe for NEC PC-Engine was released in 1990
- Golden Axe for Commodore Amiga was released in 1991
- Golden Axe II for Genesis was released in 1991
- Golden Axe Warrior for Master System in 1991
- Axe Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe for Game Gear (Sega’s version of the game boy) in 1992
- Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder for arcade in 1992
- Golden Axe for Sega CD [Sega Arcade Classics 4-in-1] in 1992
- Golden Axe III in Mega Drive in 1993
- Golden Axe for Sega CD [Sega Arcade Classics 5-in-1] in 1993
- Golden Axe for Mega Drive [MegaGames 3-1cart] in 1994
- Golden Axe: The Duel for arcade in 1994
- Golden Axe: The Duel for Saturn in 1995
- Golden Axe for Genesis [Sega Classics version] in 1995
- Golden Axe for PC-CDROM [Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1] in 1999
- Golden Axe for Dreamcast [Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1] in 2000
- Golden Axe for Bandai Wonderswan in 2002
- Golden Axe for Playstation 2 [Sega Ages 2500 label] in 2003
- Golden Axe II for Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console] in 2007
- Golden Axe III for Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console] in 2007
- Golden Axe: Beast Rider for Xbox 360/Playstation 3 in 2008
Know about the epic games “Gear of War” and It’s a brief history and how to play.
Gameplay
For the main Golden Axe game the game play is surprisingly straightfoward. It’s a standard, side-scrolling arcade game that requires players to take control of one of the 3 warriors who all have a deire to kill (want revenge on) Death Adder, the dictator in the game. The common denominator in the game is that Death Adder managed to take over each of the 3 warriors homeland, Yuria, as well as murder a mutual friend and partner of theirs named Alex.
The 3 heroes in the game are:
- Gilius Thunderhead a dward who wields a battle axe and whose twin brother just so happened to have been killed by Death Adder’s soldiers.
- Casts earth spells with an ultimate attack cost of 4 bars
- Ax Battler, a male barbarian who wields a two-handed broadsword and is seeking revenge for the death of his mom (sweet, right?)
- Casts lightning spells with an ultimate attack cost of 3 bars
- Tyris Flare, an Amazon who wields a broadsword and whose need for vengeance stems from the fact that her parents were also killed by Death Adder.
- Cast fire spells with an ultimate attack cost of 6 bars
To make your way through the game you basically have to cut through Death Adder’s army, it’s very straightforward. To do help you in that end, you have the ability to cast field spells that will basically target every enemy you find on the screen. To get the most power from your spells you want to make sure that the “magic bars” on the screen are at max levels. You’re able to replenish your magical power by simply collecting the bluish magic potions you find on the screen.
Golden Axe II
In this sequel to the original Golden Axe game players are required to Battle the forces of Dark Guild, the villain of the game. Each character in the game got a bit of new magic as well as switched form the traditional magic pot to Spell books. While the game did manage to see a certain level of success, fans were nowhere near as excited about this title as they were about the previous Golden Axe.
The revenge of Death Adder
In this game you are only able to get Gilius Thunderhead from the original series but, are introduced to a variety of new players including Goah the Giant , Sternblade the barbarian, Little Trix, and Dora the Female Centaur. This game introduced magic that wasn’t always offensive for the first time in the series since, Little Trix was able to grow apples that gave back some health. Also, magic didn’t get stronger with magic bars but did require a set number of magic bars for it to work. Of course, the enemy in this game was Death Adder but, at the end of the game you get to see him destroyed via a life sacrifice by Gilius. Awesome stuff!
Golden Axe III
In this game you are able to play as Kain Grinder, Braoude Cragger, Sarah Barn, and Chronos Lait. The goal of the game is to simply travel through various paths and kill the Prince of Darkness, very simple stuff. You, the player are able to choose the path that you take but, will have to put a bit of thought into it as the paths are relatively elaborate. *you’ll also find that the vast majority of players in the game were good people who just so happened to fall upon hard times during the game ad were possessed. In this game a number of changes were made to players and the graphics on the game. For instance, the players were a bit less detailed in this game as well as the background scenery in the game. The players in the game also all had their own unique abilities which will be listed below:
- Braoude: Throw
- Chronos and Sarah: Wall and double jump
Certain characters in the game were also returned that you found were cut from earlier sequels. For instance, the thieves in the game were let back into the game where you would’ve typically found mages – the scattered magic system was returned to the game as well, instead of the improved magic system (you could use all your magic pots at a single time rather than use as many spellbooks as you wanted during gameplay). You could also gain extra lives by freeing the prisoners in the game, which was an added bonus.
To play the game online you can go here
Fun Facts about Golden Axe
- There aren’t any actual golden axes in Golden Axe, lol
- Ax Battler ended up having hs own arcade game
- DEB’s place is supposed to mean Bed backwards
- Enemies will always take the most direct route to get to you. If this means that they have to walk off a cliff so be it.
- The 2-legged dragon “Chicken-Leg” came from Elizabethan legend in which it would typically be called Cockatrice
Conclusion
And there we have it, pretty much everything we need to know about Golden Axe including a few pieces of information you may not have needed to learn. For more information, check out the resources below, they’re very helpful in giving you what you need to get started playing it. Check it out.
This information was taken from Wikipedia
Resources:
http://www.sega-16.com/2005/01/history-of-golden-axe/
https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/02/26/fun-facts-about-golden-axe