Video games - Golden Axe

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	Video games - Golden Axe

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling arcade fighting game released in 1989 by Sega. The game places the player in control of one of three warriors each bent on revenge against the vile dictator Death Adder. Death Adder has taken over the once peaceful land of Yuria and murdered their friend and partner, Alex. According to the Killer List of Videogames, Golden Axe is the most important arcade game of the year 1989. Several ports of the game were created, most notably for the Sega Genesis and Sega Master System. Several sequels followed.

The game focuses on three heroes. One of them is an axe wielding dwarf, Gilius Thunderhead, from the mines of Wolud whose twin brother was killed by the soldiers of Death Adder. Another is a male barbarian, Ax Battler, wielding a two handed broadsword looking for revenge for the murder of his mother. The last is a long-sword wielding Tyris Flare, a female amazon, whose parents were killed by Death Adder.

Story

The very existence of Yuria is now threatened – Death Adder has kidnapped the king and his daughter, the beautiful Princess, and he is holding them captive in his castle. Death Adder has also found the Golden Axe, the magical emblem of the land of Yuria and plans to destroy it and kill the royal family unless all the people of Yuria bow to his will, swearing an oath of allegiance to his evil regime and accepting him as ruler.

Gameplay

Progress is made through the game by hacking and slashing your way through a plethora of Adder's henchmen, including the standard grunts armed with clubs and maces, right up to skeleton warriors and knights. Aiding the characters in this quest is their ability to cast devastating spells hurting all enemies on screen. The force of this magic depends on the number of blue 'magic potions' the user has collected whilst progressing through the game. The male warrior Ax, limited to 4 bars, is able to cast Earth type magic. The dwarf Gilius, limited to 3 bars, casts lightning magic and finally Tyris can cast devastating fire magic and can store up to 6 bars.

The various steeds found in the game (bizarrians) can be ridden when the enemy rider is knocked off or if you find one dormant. These mounts add further attack prowess to the player by allowing them to attack groups of enemies at a time by swiping the bizarrian's tail and, in the case of the larger dragons, can deal heavy damage by breathing fire.

The Duel mode

The Duel mode was added to most ports. The main part of this mode was single-player only, although there was a slightly altered two-player option.

In this mode, the player battles enemies in waves. A handful of enemies attack, then when they are defeated the player moves on to the next group of enemies. Sometimes even bosses appeared to challenge the player.

The player had to make do with the health they started with for the duration of this mode, there were no thieves or other sources of health, and the player could not use magic at all.

If played in two-player mode, The Duel became a one-on-one battle against the other player with no enemies or stages.

Golden Axe II featured this mode, but Golden Axe III did not. Instead it had Vs. Mode, basically the two-player feature from The Duel, but added enemy AI so a player could play alone against a computer opponent. There was also one more character added to the lineup, the bird boss from the story mode.

Ports and Remakes

Various ports of Golden Axe exist for various platforms including the PC, Amiga and Commodore 64. The ports of the most significance are listed below.

Golden Axe (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)

The Sega Genesis version of the game retained the gameplay of the arcade game, while adding two extra levels and two extra modes of gameplay, The Duel and Beginner (an easier and shorter quest with an alternate boss at the end). Due to technical limitations the graphics took a very noticeable hit, and some complex animations had to be cut. Despite not being nearly as colorful as the arcade originals, fans considered the extra levels and modes to more than make up for this loss.

Golden Axe (Sega Master System)

The Sega Master System version of the game retold the original story from the perspective of Ax Battler, who was called "Tarik" in this game. While the game was only one-player, it featured all the levels from the arcade game as well as all the magic powers in the arcade version.

Golden Axe (PC Version)

The version of the game for IBM PC compatibles came out in 1990. This particular port was masterfully done, with quality of graphics in 256 color VGA mode rivaling that of the arcade original. The overall number of levels was expanded to eight through the addition of two extra stages. The game supported all major graphics adapters available at the time, including VGA, EGA, CGA, Tandy and Hercules. Although the game would run on a 4.77 MHz IBM PC XT, at least a 16 MHz IBM PC AT was recommended for fluid scrolling and animations in VGA mode.

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