What's the best Golden Axe game?

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

Too bad the website doesn't allow comments under each article. At a minimum, those individuals who are familiar with a given title could cite their opinion on the article and offer their take on the game.


Looking at page 3 of the article, it states:

The Sega Genesis version is one of the more popular and well known ports. It looks almost like the arcade, but they took out and censored some things. The intro where you see Alex die was removed and replaced by the hero explaining the story, the Sega Beer Barn in Turtle Village I was taken out, they removed the ending with the arcade and replaced it with playing baseball with the text, and they removed all instances of blood. This is very interesting considering that the cartridge is a world version. This version also had a hidden stage when you defeated Death Adder and contained a mode called Duel were you fought various enemies from the game. The hidden stage is really poorly designed containing pits that are really easy to fall into. Another difference is when you save the king and queen they give you some BS reason why you have to go through the door and save the kingdom. This version is 2 player and was also released on the Genesis in a package called "Sega 6 Pack". which included “Columns”, “Sonic the Hedgehog”, “Streets of Rage”, “Revenge of Shinobi”, and "Super Hang-on", obviously a great selection. The box art was so bad it was featured in anarticle on 1up.com about some of the worst art ever to grace a videogame box

Pits that are really easy to fall into? WTF is the author talking about? That one statement indicates to me that the author hasn't spend sufficient time learning the game. Anyone who has played the game MORE THAN ONCE will know exactly how to jump over those pits unscathed. Novice players will have learnt valuable info from SEGA-Jorge's brief comment than anything listed in that shitty article.

[Barone]

And that's why I was asking for some actual examples of the terrible hit detection occurrences - which were never provided, by the way.

If a game or series of games have terrible hit detection, then it shouldn't be all that difficult to pin-point non-registered hits situations in one of the thousands of gameplay videos publicly available of the said game(s).
But then you may hit that wall which separates a poor statement from an actual argument.

Rep given to Sega-Jorge.

[tryphon]

What are the differences between Sega-CD version and Genesis ? They say Sega-CD colors are arcade perfect, I watched a youtube video and didn't see any difference with Genesis version, which is far from arcade perfect. Also, no 2-players mode ? Seriously ?

[Barone]

The Sega CD version sucks IMO.
2P mode removed nad PCM samples replaced (I think they're played by the Ricoh chip in this version) for the worst.

Yeah, arcade soundtrack but really half-assed job overall. I hate how they couldn't even replace the FM-based sound effects by PCM ones or, at the very least, make them play without cutting each other like in the MD version (which is that way to sacrifice only one two music channels in the cart version but makes no sense in the Sega CD version since the FM chip is not playing the music, damn it!).

The rest is identical AFAIK.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

Reading avalon's comment initially, I could see how one could perceive that Golden Axe had poor detection if you consistently chose a limited character such as Ax-Battler! When I first got the game, I picked Ax-Battler as my character of choice.



He's the tallest of all the characters and you would expect his range to be the best. But it is quite the opposite.

His broadsword pales in comparison to the dwarf's battle axe especially when you compare how much freedom you have when attacking enemies: I always found that you can be a bit more careless playing as the dwarf compared to the Conan's weaker brother! Sorry ... couldn't resist!

Gillius Thunderhead's range and move set is superb. No matter where an enemy is located on screen, you can deal damage with ease. On the hardest difficulty, I can clear the game without taking a hit. With Tyris Flare, it gets progressively harder. Ax Battler's range, on the other hand, makes the task quite a bit more difficult.

[Barone]

But, IMO, that's about range and speed rather than bad hit detection. If your attack is completed after the enemy's attack I think it's fair to have your ass kicked.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

But, IMO, that's about range and speed rather than bad hit detection. If your attack is completed after the enemy's attack I think it's far to have your ass kicked.

True. Positioning is a key element of the game too! For example, an advanced player will know how to deal with the skeletons without breaking a sweat. Walking to the far left of any given area (that the game will allow) will trigger all 3 skeletons (enemies) to appear. Knowing how far to move your character in that playfield to only trigger 1 (or at most 2 enemies) makes the task much more easier.

Also if you choose to trigger the maximum number of skeletons, two out of the three skeletons will often try to flank you on either side to deliver multiple hits. How you choose to evade those hits and counter depends squarely on the player.

In terms of dealing continuous or severe damage, positioning comes into play: If you are facing a skeleton on the same plane, you are forced to evade and then attack. On the other hand, if you are fighting the skeletons on the "Friend's Path" stage which has multiple tiers, you have options in terms of dealing damage: If you are able to coax the skeleton to the top tier, you can deliver non-stop hits by attacking the skeleton at an angle and from the bottom tier. Positioning the character in such a way will cause your character to deliver multiple swipes until the skeleton is dead. The way your character behaves is far different than delivering the standard combo all due to positioning.

Another example is facing Death Adder, Death Bringer, the towering knights, or Bad Brothers: Positioning comes into play here as well. Cornering any of these characters to either the far left or far right of the screen and attacking at an angle makes the task very easy. faxing the character's head on, opens you up to taking damage although the running head butt (Gillius' moveset) and flying kick (Tyris Flare's move) are both effective as well.

[Pyron]

The magic about GA series is a strategic gameplay, if you play it like other beat em up you are doing it worng,
GA is about get a good point in battlefield and use it in your favor, protecting yourself and take down the enemis one by one,
normal combo take much time so the dash attacks are welcome, also you always must drive them to holes and outside of the cliff and etc..

[avlon]

Fair enough . Anyway in the matter of design flaws, the lack of shadow is definitely annoying in GA.

It's still a fun game for me regardless (though that might be the nostalgia talking) and I really love it's art style. That IMO has held up well to this day.

[Nightwolf]

I truly love Golden Axe 1. The enviromental, the sounds, the music, the art, the very different gameplay than Final Fight/Street of Rage.... A pity GA2 to me seems so cheap (and very uninspiring desing and levels) And GA3 depart too much for the dark GA1. So disgraceful the MegaCD was just a worse (except music) version... Wonder If SEGA just followed what they did with Final Fight CD....

[Shanobi]

3, 2, 1.

The criticisms seem very funny to me. Branching paths, parallax, and it all looks good. Throw in a great soundtrack, too!

[asmikace]

Golden Axe Warrior is my favorite thing that I played from the series. Golden Axe can't compare to Streets of Rage 2 IMO.

[molul]

If I have to pick one, the first one. I played Golden axe, Revenge of Shinobi and Streets of rage a lot back in the day with a friend who got those games in a pack. Today, I can't seem to enjoy any of them. Maybe Streets of rage thanks to the music, but they all feel very primitive to me now.

Streets of rage 2 improved in so many things, as did Shinobi III, but Golden axe kept the same level (or got really worse in the third installment). I'm not surprised that nobody asks Sega to revive this franchise, while many people ask for a Streets of rage comeback.

We got Streets of rage 4, though -_-

[GelmiR]

Golden Axe II for me, still have my copy from back in the day. It will always hold a special place for me

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

The original Golden Axe wins by virtue of sheer nostalgia, but Golden Axe II almost beat it due to the fact that I love it's soundtrack so damn much! The music in Golden Axe II makes the Mega Drive's soundchip sing.