Game:

Golden Axe (1989)

Duration: 9:59

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Developed by Sega AM1's Makoto Uchida (Altered Beast), Golden Axe was a huge Arcade hit in 1989.

1989 was a big year for Sega as it's the same year they released the Genesis in North America. Sega wanted to get Golden Axe ported to their new home console to show the Arcade fans one more reason to own the new 16-bit machine. So Sega AM7's port of the Arcade game was to be released to the Sega Genesis home console only several months later that same year.

While the Genesis version was great the fact was most people wouldn't own the brand new 16-bit system within the first year and in Europe the Mega Drive wouldn't be available until later in the following year. So it made sense to also release Golden Axe on Sega's older 8-bit home console, the Sega Master System.

Well, as you would expect they had to make some compromises to get a state of the art Arcade game onto the older 8-bit hardware. It's only logical the graphics and sound would be better on the Genesis version but as I found out they also took out a couple of big features. The Master System version only lets you play as Ax Battler, the other 2 playable characters are removed and there's no 2 player mode either. Not only that but the controls are a little on the sluggish side. Your character can't move around and attack as quickly and smoothly as he can in the Arcade or Genesis version. This makes the game a little harder to play than the other versions.

When I was growing up my parents and my Uncle bought me and my Cousin Sega Master Systems. But when my parents dropped hints I made it very clear I wanted an NES like my friends and most of my classmates in Grade School had or wanted. My older cousin on the other side of my family also got an NES and when I played SMB for the first time it was clear, I wanted an NES. Not a Sega! So my parents took it back and got me my NES.

Needles to say my Cousin still had his Sega Master System so I would always get to see it and play it when I would visit. He had several great games that stuck out including Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion, Shinobi and this game, Golden Axe and to my surprise even my Uncle would play this one! Golden Axe (and Castle of Illusion) where always two games I remembered vividly on the Sega Master System from back in the day. Like many of the better SMS games they really did show what the Sega machine was capable of. I always remember playing Castle of Illusion and wondering why none of my NES games looked quite this good. Golden Axe as I mentioned was also a great looking game on the 8-bit Sega hardware. They did a really good job with the size and color detail in the Ax Battler, animals, enemies and magic spell sprites. While I remembered this game looking great, I didn't remember the sluggish controls. While they aren't so bad to ruin the game they do require a lot of extra patience and skill. You almost have to keep that in mind when keeping track of the enemies around you. It takes just a little more time to turn around and attack, sometimes you just can't do it before the enemy attacks you.

Overall it's a pretty good port, but I think it could have been better. The graphics are great on the older 8-bit hardware and the music is pretty good too. I can forgive them for taking out the extra features but it would have been nice to have 2 playable characters and 2 player mode. But the large on screen enemy sprites and lack of any flicker makes me wonder if they didn't want to push the hardware any further. Anyway, the controls are my biggest complaint. Like I said they don't quite ruin the game once you get used to them. But they aren't the best out there that's for sure.

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