Golden Axe 2 - Sega Mega Drive (Full Playthrough)
0Every good game deserves a sequel and given how much time I have had for the original Golden Axe, then this is surely a sure-fire hit, of course you only have to look at Golden Axe: Beast Rider to see how much you can stray from the correct path.
Golden Axe 2 was a Sega Mega Drive exclusive that was produced by Sega, released in 1991 in Japan, with the rest of the world getting it in 1992. Yuria is once again being attacked by the forces of evil, with this time the evil wizard Dark Guld leading the charge and the old heroes from the last game deciding to journey again to stop the forces of evil.
The game itself presents itself very similarly to the last game with it being a scrolling beat em up with you once against playing as either the barbarian Ax Battler who is a good all-rounder, the amazon Tyris Flare who’s strong as magic and Gilius Thunderhead who is strongest at melee, but has weakest magic. This action continues for six stages using sword swipes, your magic (this time dropped by mages) and various creatures which act as transport. Although unlike the last game which had the fire breathing dragons and chicken head creatures, the designs they have here are a little larger and a little harder to actually hit the enemy, they are not completely useless unlike Golden Axe 3’s equivalents, but certainly aren’t as essential this time around.
Thankfully the beginner mode has disappeared, because let’s be honest it was far too easy and rather pointless, but the duel mode makes a nice return pitting you in a straight one-on-one fight with all the enemies in the game.
Overall the game looks like nice with some cool effects like the heat and lava effects in level 4 and the tied up villagers in the beginning. My only complaint about the backdrops is that there isn’t as much animation as what you would see in something like Streets of Rage. It looks nice, but it would be better if the water effects were moving, or even if they added parallax scrolling to the sky on level 3. The character redesigns are pretty cool , I definitely like the focus on more mythical creatures such as Minotaurs, Lizard Men and Headless knights just to make it stand out that little bit more. The musical score is top notch and is well worth listening to and contains some of my favourite of the series.
Gameplay wise it is pretty much exactly the same as the previous game, which is no bad thing considering how well it played. One new optional enhancement is the ability to not use all of your magic at once, which is useful to have if you need to get past a particularly troublesome normal enemy such as the fast and deadly skeletons, but don't want to be completely defenceless when you come up against the end of level boss. Overall the controls work a little bit better in this iteration over the GA1 with improvements to the hit boxes and being able to control the lunge on the big running jump attack. The enemy AI has improved a little bit, however you can still convince enemies to drop off of endless pits to their doom because they are so intent on being the same horizontal level with you.
I would probably say though that the game is a little easier and shorter than the original, however if anything I actually prefer replaying Golden Axe 2 over its predecessor, It's a fun action brawler that really should be in everyone's 16-bit collection.
If you're interested in seeing more retro or current game videos then feel free to subscribe or check out some of my playlists:
Atari ST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx4xxIIv8AfzF1WNCk2yjFs9SNEZUf6o3
Sega Mega Drive: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx4xxIIv8AfzY6iR6W6cRsFRt7zUlgHIE
Sega Master System: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx4xxIIv8AfySbjh71hXweL28cqu-DbR5
Windows PC: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx4xxIIv8AfxkkqPP6dWcSarH94BPrbvr