“Golden ax”, and more specifically the 3rd part of the series, is one of my favorite games for the Sega mega drive console, ever since I was a kid. It was the most played cartridge by me and my sister, which always brought positive emotions, regardless of the fact that we knew by heart the script and the way to pass each level. I loved this game. After a while, no longer like a child, I became interested in the whole series and got to know not only the story surrounding the game, but also had the pleasure of playing the other parts of the series. The whole story turned out to be quite interesting and exciting and I decided to share it on my blog.

In this post:

• I will tell about the game and its beginning
• I will tell the super interesting story that takes place in the game itself
• I’ll talk about my experience with each part of the game and what I think about the gameplay, controls and overall experience
• I will tell you about the other things from the Golden Axe universe like the comics

First some general information about the game and its history. The original, the first “Golden axe” game, is from 1989 and it’s an arcade game. Those were played on the big arcade machines with a ball for a joystick and some big red buttons that got hit furiously all the time while playing. These games were played with tokens, with one token getting you one game until you were killed and you got the “Game over” screen. There were such machines in the gaming halls, some cafes, and in quite a few tourist or popular places. The genre of the game is side-scrolling arcade beat ’em up. The stories in the game take place in a medieval fantasy world, where several characters are trying to get their hands on the legendary golden axe – the main and central element in the games.

The player chooses a character, with whom he then goes through different cities and zones. In these places, the player moves forward (to the right) constantly being attacked by various opponents who must be defeated and beaten. There are also bosses at the end of the levels. Each character has a different range in which they can hit the opponent, they also have different spells.

Golden axe I

In the first game (1989) of the series (the arcade version, which soon migrated to 16-bit cartridge), the player chooses to control one of a total of three characters, all of whom seek revenge against the evil dictator Death Adder, who holds the golden axe and with the help of his evil devotees has taken over the mystical and peaceful land – Yuria. These three heroes who will save the day are:

• Gilius Thunderhead, a dwarf who perfectly wields the battle axe, coming from the mines of Wollud. His twin brother was killed by the soldiers of the evil Death Adder. He wears a horned helmet and is dressed in a green tunic. The dwarf has a long white beard. His magic is related to lightning. Gilius has the smallest magic capacity with the weakest magic, but has the longest hitting range.
• Ax Battler, a barbarian who wields his huge two-handed sword to perfection. He seeks revenge for the killing of his mother by Death Adder soldiers. He wears a blue belt, boots and generally looks like Conan the Barbarian from the popular 90s series. His magic is earthly. He has an average hitting range, and average power and capacity spells.
• Tyris Flare, an Amazon princess who wields a long sword. Her parents were killed by the Death Adder. She wears red skimpy clothes. Her magic is fiery. She has the shortest range, but the most capacity and strongest spells.

Each character has a different type of magic, but that’s not the only difference between them. In order for the player to cast a spell, they must use up one or more magical elixirs that are collected throughout the game. Each player has a different capacity to collect elixirs. Gillius can carry a maximum of 4 elixirs, Ax can carry up to 6 elixirs, and Tyreese has the largest capacity of a whopping 9 elixirs.

The game started as I said as an arcade game, but soon this limitation was dropped when Sega also made it possible for the game to be played from a cartridge on their Mega Drive (also known as Genesis) console.

As a gameplay and experience, I found the game interesting, but also extremely difficult to scroll through. I’ve never sweated so much over a single Sega cartridge. Enemies are well-programmed, terribly mobile and follow the logic of having to surround you from different sides, making killing them tricky. In no other Golden ax game have I encountered such difficulties to pass even the first elementary levels. There are different types of enemies and some are extremely difficult to outsmart and kill. And the last boss… I can’t say anything decent about him and his mother. This boss was the hardest PC or video game opponent I’ve ever had the misfortune of facing. His blows are very strong and waste a lot of the life points, the golden axe he swings is quite long and manages to hit you long before you reach his torso. Also, there are two skeletons around him that I think have infinite lives. And to top it all off, this boss casts spells every 3-4 seconds that you can’t dodge. Terrible man in general. Or a demon. I don’t know what this infernal creature is up to, but killing it was an extremely difficult, stressful, time-consuming and nerve-wracking event.

The game started as I said as an arcade game, but soon this limitation was dropped when Sega also made it possible for the game to be played from a diskette on their Mega Drive (also known as Genesis) console.

I admit that I used cheats for this game a few times, and I generally never resort to cheats. I used a cheat for 9 chances (in the normal game you have 3, which is pressing the left and down arrows at the same time, and the A, C buttons, then pressing start) and then I used a cheat to drop directly to a desired level (simultaneously pressing left, down, B and then press start) instead of going through all of the first. I’ve used this combo a few times to practice killing the last bastards and how to beat that horrible boss, because the game is tough and hard enough without them. After a long time of playing and practicing, I finally got through the game from the first level to the end without a cheat and without cursing the final boss in question. This game is a real test for the nerves. At least it was for me. Compared to this game, the third part is like playing those Barbie dress up games for tablets and 5 year old girls. Phew!

Golden Axe II

The game started as I said as an arcade game, but soon this limitation was dropped when Sega also made it possible for the game to be played from a cartridge on their Mega Drive (also known as Genesis) console.

The game started in 1991. All the characters from the first part return in the second to defeat the evil forces of a new villain – Dark Guld. The elixirs used to cast spells in the first part have been replaced by books in the second. Again, each character has a different capacity and can hold a different number of books at once.

The game is almost exclusively on a cartridge and intended to be played on a home console. There is also an arcade version, but it never saw the light of day and was not distributed.

This second part became a hit and spread all over the world, just like its predecessor. However, this does not seem to be due to the individual qualities of the game, which is almost the same as the first. Yes, the graphics of some of the villains have been changed, as well as some details like a book instead of an elixir, new city backgrounds, etc., but after the release of “Golden Ax 2”, I read that fans were genuinely disappointed because of the feeling that they play a painfully familiar game as if Sega didn’t create anything new or interesting.

I generally had a similar feeling while playing the game. Nothing new under the sun. The game was not as difficult as the first part and it was not as easy as the third. Opponents again try to outflank you, but they’re a touch slower, and with a little practice, the whole game can be beaten fast. Here again I used the cheat to drop directly into a wanted level, again teleporting straight to the final boss a few times to get used to killing him. It didn’t take me long to get through the entire game from start to finish without a cheat.

Golden Axe III

The game is from 1993 and is very different from its predecessors. We have all new characters, new gameplay, new scenario, new villain.

Many years have passed since the battle in which Death Adder and Dark Guld were defeated. Peace reigns in the mystical land of Yuria. Tyreese and Ax are now dead (of old age), but Gilius the dwarf is still alive, despite being over 150 years old. A new evil settles into the human world when Gillius attempts to return the Golden Ax to the gods, but is thwarted and defeated in an overwhelming naval battle by the Prince of Darkness – Damned Hellstrike. The dwarf is too old, so he must find new heroes to embark on another journey to take the Golden Ax from the wrong hands.

The characters are:

• Kain Grinder – Ax Butler-like barbarian. His tribe was destroyed by the evil forces of the Damned Hellstrike, so he seeks revenge.
• Sarah Barn – Female character, often confused with Tyrese Flair. Sarah is a traveling entertainer with a troupe of circus performers who are ambushed and slaughtered by the dark followers of the Damned Hellstrike. Sarah seeks revenge for her lost friends. She wears red clothes and a curved sword, which is a memento of her father. Her magic is fiery.
• Proud Cragger – a man-giant, a descendant of giants, who, unlike all so far, has no weapons, he fights with his bare hands chained. He was chained and held in a dungeon by the Damned Hellstrike for many years before Gillius freed him.
• Chronos “Evil” Lait – a man-beast who, like Brod, fights with his hands, and in particular with his claws, instead of weapons. He was once human, but cursed by the evil magic of the Damned Hellstrike, he became a beast.

The main villain in this part of the series is Damned Hellstrike – the Prince of Darkness. In this game, as in “Revenge of the Death Adder”, the player can choose at the end of each level which next level to go to. This means that there is no single programmed path that follows level after level. The player himself chooses exactly which levels to go through.

Another cool new feature in this game compared to others is that you can free prisoners scattered throughout the levels. When you release a certain number of prisoners (if I’m not mistaken – 5), then you gain one life.

This game is a big part of my childhood. Me and my sister loved it and beat it regularly. I always played with the “chick” as we called her – Sarah Barne, and my sister always chose the “panther” – Kronos Lait. We beat the game with great ease, knew the levels by heart and had favorite levels that we always went through. When we got bored we decided to go through the other levels that we played less often. As a difficulty, if I define the first as 100, the second as 70, then the third is no more than 30. Maybe it’s so easy for me because I’ve been playing it for a long time, from “early childhood” as they say. The third one is also my favorite of all the Golden axe games (because of obvious reasons).

Golden Axe: Beast Rider

In this game we observe the return of Tyrese Flair from the first part. The game is from 2008 and is for PlayStation3 and Xbox360, which makes it, much to my regret, beyond my ability to test at the moment.

Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder

The game is from 1992 and to this day is exclusive and only for arcade machines. Alas, I have no way to test this part of the series, nor give an opinion on it.

Spin-offs

The game has spin-offs. These are the games “Golden Ax Warrior”, “Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Ax” and “Golden Ax: The Duel”.

Comic books

One very interesting fact that I didn’t know is that there are two comics based on the game. Both are of 6 short parts, about 3-4 pages. These comics were published in the magazine that Sega has been publishing for a long time called “Sonic the comic”. The magazine is from the 90s and is British. There are all of the released issues online, free to download. So I did exactly that. I specifically downloaded the issues that have the Golden axe comic and printed the pages that interest me. Both comics are very interesting despite being predictable and despite the fact that I don’t like comics in general. I enjoyed reading these. In the first, which is called “Citadel of dead souls”, an evil sorcerer tries to revive Dark Guld and kill the three heroes by sacrificing Tyreese. Naturally, our friends make it through this adventure and all is well in the end. In the second, which is called “Plague of serpents”, we read again and travel with our three favorites – Ax, Gilius and Tyreese, who have snake problems. I will not spoil any more. The comics are super interesting, at least for me as a huge fan of the series.

Right here in this link – https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Sonic-the-Comic you will find all issues of the magazine uploaded and free to download. The first comic can be found in issues 1-6. The second comic starts at issue #13.