Golden Axe: The Duel (Arcade) Zoma 1CC
31 credit clear of Golden Axe: The Duel
Played on October the 17th 2023. using Mame. Default settings/dipswitches (shown at the end, seems like the Arcade version doesn't have any difficulty options at all).
No save states, no cheats, no turbo.
1CC challenge difficulty: 6/10
I first tried playing Kain and Milan Flare, but Zoma is so much fun. Frog spell into a free Super (characters can't block while in frog-mode) is a very strong tool against the CPU, and it's even possible to get two Supers with a single magic activation. Against real people you could get a legit 50/50 mixup on wake up after the first super knocks down.
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Most people seem to think that this is a bad game and Sega's big fail. I would not agree with that. It's no Street Fighter and no Samurai Shodown (probably two of the biggest inspirations for this game), but it's a pretty good fighting game on its own. Nice graphics, good and atmosperic soundtrack, interesting characters, beautiful looking stages, simple and responsive controls. Collecting Magic potions mid-fight adds an additional strategic element to the game and some of the Super moves are pretty clever nods to Golden Axe series' magic spells or other attacks (Kain has a flaming uppercut that leads into a downstab, backed up by fire magic).
While the roster is interesting and covers your basic archetypes, it would probably be a wiser decision if Sega decided to include the main protagonists from Golden Axe 1 and The Revenge of Death Adder instead of their relatives. Death Adder is included and is based on his RODA design, that's cool, but then why no Dora or Trix?
There's slowdown (seems to be a bit less of it in the Saturn port, I might be wrong though), and while the game looks amazing, a darker look would be a more suitable fit for a Golden Axe title.
Saying that it was a bad choice to have a Golden Axe fighting game is just wrong IMO. Fighting games were the nr. 1 most popular genre in the arcades at that time, and combining an already well known Arcade IP with a fighting game made a lot of sense. Others have done it too and they are not critized as much as Sega is for having made this game (Double Dragon had two fighting games on Neo Geo, TMNT had two different versions of Tournament Fighters, Final Fight had Revenge, there's probably more.)