Not Genesis related, but 'related' none the less...
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Not Genesis related, but 'related' none the less...
'related' in that it's a video game? Insert Coin
This is clearly in the wrong forum but yeah, Legendary Axe is a great game. That last boss is HUGE.
Legendary Axe 2... not so great, but OK.
I'll give you that, the last boss is cool. But really, a lot of LAI is a chore and the second half the game is sooo boring IMO (I hate the maze level). LA2 overall beats LA1. It's also has better gameplay and platforming mechanics. And who doesn't want to be assassinated by a topless chick? I mean, come on ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by InfraMan
Come on... you don't even have an axe in Legendary Axe II, lol. It's madness!
LA-9/10-Great game, I love the use of strategy in the game. Great use of PCE color palette.
LA II-8/10- Still a solid game, I like the strange atmosphere and enemies in this one. It has that "I wanna see what's next" kinda feel.
Actually, you get an axe as a choosable weapon. But yeah, the games really have nothing to do with each other. But games themselves, overall LA2 is better. LA1, IMO, is only good up until the 4th area (or right before that maze level - god I hate that area). And I like the unique graphics for forest, cliff/edge outside level, and the water/dam level in LA1. But overall, it just goes down hill. While LA2 just keeps getting better and better as the levels progress. More/different stage/platform layouts and such.Quote:
Originally Posted by InfraMan
Also, move this thread to insert coin... or just make a TG16 sub forum here at Sega-16 ;) Lol. Call it "turbo power" or "power up". "Sega-16: all Sega, a little NEC stuff, zero Nintendo".
I would go so far as to say LA2 is the best hack'n'slash game I've played from the "16-bit era". It's one of the best games on the TG16 IMHO, up there with Bonk, Ninja Spirit, and some of the excellent shooters (I'm only going with Hucard stuff since the CD games are a different beast)...
Years before I first played TG16 (via emulation), LA was the first TG-16 game I heard of, when it was mentioned alongside other games such as "Ghouls 'N Ghosts", "Mega Man 2" and "Batman" as "The Hot Games of '89" in a sidebar on EGM's 8th Anniversary issue. (That same sidebar is what led me to buy and discover the greatness that is GnG shortly after.) The issue also featured a cameo of the infamous EGM #8 cover (TG-16 Vs. Genesis), which featured sprites ripped from various TG-16 and Genesis games in a standoff, with a giant Axe Battler ("Golden Axe") leading the Genesis side and Generic Jungle Guy from LA leading the TG-16 side as GJG struck Ax Battler.
I finally got to play LA years later and liked it, not as impressive as GnG or as well-playing and looking, but a solid platformer.
Well, I love LA. It's not the type of game where you go and get em. There is fair amount of strategy involved in charging up your axe and attacking enemies in certain patterns. It's one of those "Learn the levels" sort of games. Once i got that part covered, I could not stop playing this game until i cracked it. This is a very addicting game to me.
Although I dislike the Maze Level, I prefer the original Legendary Axe.
Legendary Darkness (the real name of the 2nd one :p) has 3 weapons, but they're nothing interesting, with the axe being the worst :(. The bombs are pretty shitty too.
I LOVE the stage 4 music, to me it's the 2nd best song on the PCE (after Forest of Shudder from LoX II), and the other songs are magnificent as well, like highly improved dungeon explorer tunes.
The graphics however... terrible, I HATE games with that kind of "dark" look, there's good looking dark (Splatterhouse 3 for example), and then there's that.
Sure, LA might be more primitive looking, but it's also much better looking. The level that's filled with water is just beautiful. I also like the sound effects a lot more.
LD does get more interesting as the levels progress (the first stages are really quite bad to be honest), while LA has far better stages in the beginning. That probably contributed to me having a very different first impression of the two.
Summarizing:
Looking at gameplay alone... I still prefer the original, hitting something with the fully charged axe is more fun than it should be.
Music wise, LD wins by a large margin, although LA has two really good tunes as well.
Graphically it's no contest in my opinion, better colors any day.
So, I'm going with the original Legendary Axe.
^^^^^Man your like the pickiest gamer i come across. I could never pick out flaws like you can. For me, the general consensus is, if a game is fun, its a good game. But you are very picky, especially from seeing your Snes ratings list earlier. :cool:
These threads really need more visual references. :confused:
I should start a youtube show where I make angry remarks at old videogames and nitpick every little thing I find!.... Wait... Oh right :p
Here you go QuickSciFi, two quick videos showing the games:
Legendary Axe:
Legendary Darkness (Legendary Axe II):
Both have their place and I think the second is almost the perfect contrast to the first.
-Great music in both
-Bright atmosphere in the first and dark eerie in the second
-Cool levels everywhere
I really don't understand why they didn't make a 'proper' sequel to LA1. LA2 was not meant to be a continuation of the first. LA1 either won or was close to winning EG's game of the year when it came out. It must have been super successful. It was one of the main reasons I wanted my mom to buy it for me in the first place. Most likely the best 1st gen game for TG16. Up until the point nothing on any system could match it. I wonder why they didn't follow up on its success and and further curious as to how big a game it was in Japan
I have LA2 and I really enjoy it. The first is on my to get list.
I'm going to start using a new term here. Slash 'n Run. Just like run 'n gun, but sword/slash play. You know, kill the enemy as fast as you can, move on to the next target. Do a little platforming here and there. Keep the movement of the characters fast and the pace of the level the same. Ala.. Slash 'n Run.
LA2 is all Slash 'n Run. LA1 in comparison is not. That's the biggest difference between the games. LA1 is slow moving/pacing. The character reflects this. Combat is based on strategy of place and timed attacks and reactive dodging, etc. The powerup/recharge of the weapon heavily plays into this. Bosses are an exact extension of this type of combat. You don't blow through this game. Even on the platforming parts.
LA2 is the exact opposite of LA1. In combat, in pacing, in platforming and in boss fighting. The graphic style, the dark atmosphere, the types of enemies, even the mood of the music.
LA1 was very interesting and unique for its time, IMO. And maybe that's what people see in it. "The Astyanax" arcade and Famicom game came out after LA came out, for the record. LA1 gameplay, design, and graphics feels like a mix between an Amiga game and a Japanese game IMO. LA2 is pure traditional Japanese style arcade gameplay. And I love the dark colors in that game. I think it pulls it off rather well. My only complaint is the lack of more detail in the backgrounds, but given it's an earlier hucard - it's a little easier to over look. It's only a 2megabit game. Would have been nice if it was 3 or 4megabits. I love the bosses in the game too. The creep possed spinning doll. The little demon with the giant ball chain, etc. Even the goofy looking first boss.
The graphics kind of fit the Turbografx BITD. When this game was released, there were quite a few TG16 titles with darker colors. Dungeon Explorer, Double Dungeons, Blazing Lasers. Even games that weren't as dark, still seemed to fit within the style - like JJ and Jeff (the colors overall are darker) and Ninja Spirit. A bunch of PCE hucards use dark-ish colors as well. Little bit hard to describe.
Legendary Axe 2 wins, I think... especially in music. I turn both games off the second I die. I do not like being set back and having all of my power taken away. I could live with the setting back if all of my hard-earned leveling was left intact. This makes LA1 a chore to play. Only fun until you die.
Moving thread.
Hehe, I also think DE, DD and Ninja Spirit look like crap :p
The bosses in LD(LA2) are disgusting/frightening in an awesome way that's for sure.
I really don't like to treat them as two games in the same series, they're completely different.
Who cares? Wonder Boy in Monster Land is just as different from Wonder Boy if not even more so and nobody gives a care.
:o .... ಠ_ಠ .... them is fightin' words!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamahl
The same can be said about a lot of things(unless the game was marketed as a true sequal, people shouldn't hold it against the game, as long as It's good anyway).Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
Look how amazing Sonic CD, Link, SA2, Gauntlet Legends, SMB2, Tactic's Ogre: Knight of Lodis and exc are. They are nothing like the original games, yet damn they are some of the best games.
Ninja spirit looks anything but crap, see it through Duo-R Av cable in appropriate TV set, it looks very sharp.
Personally, I loved the graphics in LA2. They have a more creepy, serious atmosphere than the first, which have a typical, 16-bit "barbarian hack'n'slash" feel to them. That's not to say LA has bad graphics, just that they were fairly typical good graphics. LA2 has a unique feel that I've always loved.
I feel level design in LA2 is excellent as well, and the difficulty ramps up nicely. It's no cakewalk. It has a unique feel, nice graphics, good level design and difficulty, and fun gameplay. Next to Gate of Thunder, it's the game I put the most time into back when I had a Duo (which I miss a lot, but I won't pay the crazy prices on ebay for the system or the games to get my collection back).
The difficulty and level progression is a lot better on LA2, no doubt about it.
People really shouldn't take my comments on what looks like crap very seriously :p, I have very strange tastes.
Heh; I like the look of Ninja Spirit, but the strength of that game was the gameplay. A fun ninja game with some unique weapons and power-ups. I beat this game a number of times (and I rarely replay games I've beaten)...Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamahl
Games that look like crap-
energy
nuff said
Legendary Axe... eh, it's okay, but I dopn't love it. I've never really liked charge-meter battle systems like that, Astyanax, or Secret of mana... Legendary Axe is okay, but I like other things more. I have only played maybe halfway through at most though, never stuck with it.
If you like Legendary Axe, have you played the arcade and NES versions of Astyanax? The game came out a year after Legendary Axe, and though it's from a different studio and publisher, the lead designer if the same guy who did the first Legendary Axe. You can tell, because the game design is quite similar -- you have a weapon with a charge meter where you have to wait a while between attacks to attack at full power, a large character sprite, etc. I find the NES version a little mediocre, but it's alright. It is a lot like Legendary Axe. The arcade game's different from the NES one, but supposedly it's also at least decent.Quote:
I really don't understand why they didn't make a 'proper' sequel to LA1.
Legendary Axe was a 1988 game in Japan, and the PCE game out in '87... maybe it's first gen, depends on how you count things. And sure, it's good, but it's not better than R-Type, and both parts of PCE R-Type were released in Japan before Legendary Axe. Also, I think Keith Courage's kind of good... a lot of people seem to really dislike it, but it's a fun game. It's not great, but it's some fun.Quote:
Most likely the best 1st gen game for TG16.
If I had to choose though, I'd say Blazing Lazers should have been the pack in, if possible. :) (That was an '89 release in Japan too)
I think some of the first Axe's backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous (level 4C's especially), and I also love its soundtrack--very inspirational at times and pretty ominous at others. And like Kamahl said, smashing something with the full-power axe is a blast.
I love Axe 2 for how brooding and somber it is--very unique for an old-school action game. And as Tom alluded to, the ending is awesome.
Incidentally, in Japan, Ankoku Densetsu (LA2) was indeed advertised and treated by publications as a follow-up to Makyou Densetsu (LA1).
Anyone interested in playing something more in the spirit of MD/Axe1 should check out ICOM's Shape Shifter.
Only played the first, but it was pretty meh except for the distinctive art direction. Too bad they changed that for the sequel. Rating.. well, 6/10 seems about right.
thats actually totally unfair ratings, you guys need to learn and play the game more then few times to really see its beauty. you should know that....
I'd give both at least an 8 easy. And I'm not one of those "7 = Average" types either.