The greatest old-school beat 'em up that was ever created. No Sega collection is complete without this game.
One thing that must be taken into consideration is the age of the game. Golden Axe was released on December 22, 1989 making it almost seventeen years old at the time of this review. Yet, I still find it remarkable how many options are available to the player in the game.
It is a port of the original arcade edition and as a port from the arcades to a home console the graphics took a considerable hit. However, I would not characterize the graphics in this game as bad - dated certainly - but not bad. They are perhaps pseudo-16 bit being better then any 8-bit entry but clearly outdated in comparison to titles such as Sega's flagship Sonic the Hedgehog. Regardless, the game still manages to look good and the characters have several poses and behave in ways that make the game seem considerably advanced for it's time.
Sega did not forsake us when they ported Golden Axe - they made up for the graphical decline of the arcade game by giving us some new modes to play with. And in an era when you only had one game mode - the regular one - this makes Golden Axe remarkably versatile. For starters while there is no difficulty selector, the player has the option of modifying their starting health which can make considerable difference in the game - and has access to most of the music via a sound test mode. After that there is the traditional arcade mode that is provided along with some new content that was not in the arcade original. Golden Axe is not a long game but it is a difficult one, especially when playing solo so the arcade mode should keep you busy for awhile.
Also available are "Training" And "Duel" mode. Training mode takes the first three stages of the game, removes the cutscenes, and throws some different enemies at you. As you might imagine it is considerably easier (magic can be used multiple times for instance) but the novice player will find it a welcome option to ease them into the game. And it's great if you want to get in some game time but don't have much time to play since Practice Mode can be beaten rather quickly. Duel mode simply pits you against multiple groups of enemies and should be familiar to many gamers as an alternate mode that has appeared time and time again. Your character has one (extended) health bar and you fight until you win or fall. It makes for some good times as well.
Now onto the gameplay of Golden Axe itself. Golden Axe is a sidescrolling beat 'em up - perhaps one of the best. Unlike most Beat 'Em Ups - Golden Axe takes place in a medieval setting and again, unlike most Beat 'Em Ups - offers three unique characters for you to select from. Each character plays differently and offers a different gaming experience. To spice things up, you can use 'magic' in Golden Axe. This is not unlike using magic in Gauntlet. You collect magic potions (your maximum depends on which character you use) and when you press the A button if you have any magic potions you will use them up. You can only cast magic once so regardless of whether you have one or three potions, you will use them all but as you collect more potions your magic level rises and you'll be able to cast much stronger spells. This provides a bit of strategy - will you use weak spells to help keep your health up while you work towards the bosses or will you save up so that you can use one really powerful spell against the boss? It adds a level of complexity that was unheard of at the time Golden Axe was created. And to this day it still remains quite fun.
Golden Axe is not to be missed so if you do have a Genesis be sure to pick a copy of this up or, perhaps even better, find a copy of the Genesis 6-Pak that was published in 1996 and includes not only Golden Axe but five other amazing Genesis titles.