Golden Axe was a very early Genesis game releassed in 1989. Despite its age, this 16-bit game is still pretty unique.
Beat-em-ups were really popular back in the late 80's and early 90's, so there were a lot of games like these made during that time period. Golden Axe was never really a fantastic game, but it was made as a decent game overall. The story isn't much, but you play as these 3 warriors, a medieval-style Arnold Schwarzenegger, some strong chick, and an old man. The land is sealed away under the powers of some dark warrior that took over the king's throne. Now these 3 warriors must run through towns and fields to beat up the dark warrior's henchmen.
As a beat-em-up game, you can expect similar stuff you might find in Double Dragon, Final Fight or even Streets of rage. Press the C button to jump, B to attack, and A to use a special attack. You can choose to use any of the 3 warriors, then you battle a bunch of medieval-style thugs. When killing the thugs, you basically press B over and over again. There are a couple combos, but there aren't extremely useful. Sometimes you'll be able to use creatures that the thugs use to attack, such as dragons. In a couple situations, you will see midgets that run around the screen. If you hit them, they will drop blue bottles for you to use for special attacks. The more bottles you collect, the stronger the special attack you can use. But if you use the special attack once, you will lose all your bottles. Your warriors get different special attacks. The strong man gets earth powers, the woman gets fire powers, and the old man gets lightning powers. It's best to use these with bosses.
Other then the Arcade game, there's a Beginner mode and a Duel mode. Beginner mode is a shorter and easier version of the original arcade, and Duel mode has you go on matches with certain types of thugs. It gradually gets harder, so it can be pretty fun. The game also has 2P in everything, so it can be a decent experience for you and your friend. Golden Axe offers up a pretty good gameplay setup, to sum it up.
Graphics:
Golden Axe definitely lets you know you're playing a 16-bit game. The graphics are pretty well detailed and show the early days of the Genesis. You get the classic style of special effects and use of sprites with color and animation of a 16-bit game. This is a pretty good trip down the memory line.
Sound:
The music is a typical 16-bit fare. Golden Axe features catchy music for the stages and battle scenes. They all fit pretty well. The sound effects aren't very realistic and the voices in the game are mostly muffled weak screams, but hey, this is an early Genesis title after all. The sound was very cool during its time.
Conclusion:
Golden Axe was an arcade port, and like most arcade games, this isn't fun for very long. You'll get some enjoyment out of Golden Axe for a week or two, but then you'll grow tried of it afterwards. It can still be cool to play once in a while though. There are better beat-em-ups out there, but Golden Axe, with a medieval feel, is a testament on how the early Genesis games were. Anyone looking for a unique beat-em-up game with a medieval style, would probably not be disappointed to try this title out.
Pros:
-Good gameplay
-Classic 16-bit graphics and music
Cons:
-Like most arcade games, this one is only fun for a short while.