Game:

Golden Axe: The Duel (1994)

Duration: 8:46

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A mediocre port of a relatively decent Arcade fighting game which is centered around Chinese culture and Zodiac beasts, which was published by Electronic Arts Victor and developed by the low-profile company, Aorn, in 1997. In the game, you control one of eight brave characters who are trying to assemble the essence of all the animal spirits to stop a madman from abusing their powers for the purposes of conquering the land, though there really isn't much outside of that. The game is probably best described as a simple fighting game wth chainable combos and ground hits similar to Capcom's "Darkstalkers", with the ability to summon animals to aid you in combat who act similarly to "Stands" from "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure".

In the game, each character possesses unique attacks and a spiritual beast that represents them, which can be used to deliver supplemental special attacks in combat or to execute more powerful super attacks. In the Arcade Mode, a character will gain the animal spirit of the defeated opponent and thus some of the abilities that come with that spirit. In Vs., every character has access to every spirit. While this technically means every character can execute all the same super moves, there is a catch; characters have a beast gauge that gets depleted during matches. A character's innate animal spirit lasts longer in combat and can be used in more than one match.

The graphics are a mixed bag. The characters are designed well enough in and of themselves, but generally all the attacks lack "oomph" and seem uninspired. This is made worse as the game is not a great port of the Arcade game (and the Arcade game was no Darkstalkers or Night Warriors... it should've been ported perfectly); character sprites appear more pixilated, smaller, and possess less frames of animation (many things having as many as a fighter from the 16-bit era, some things have even LESS and may only possess two or three frames...) and the backdrops are practically completely static, lacking the life found in its Arcade counterpart. The cheap anime opening doesn't exactly help either. The soundtrack is okay-- it doesn't exactly jump out at me as awesome, but it's adequate. There is one thing though; characters make this annoying, unnecessary footstep sound that differs depending on the character.

The gameplay is so-so. Characters have a small array of special attacks and defensive skills like countering moves, and the spirit animals expand character possibilities considerably. The game is not as fluid as the Arcade game and the game has small bits of lag or drops in the framerate during certain instances and between hits, which can alter the timing involved in combos. The game has fairly long load times, but nothing out of the ordinary for a game of the time. The game lacks any real modes or secrets.

Generally speaking, there are "a lot" of better fighters you can get for your Sega Saturn. It wasn't the fighter to end all fighters when it was released in Arcades and it got a "less than stellar" Saturn port IMHO. It's fairly uncommon and a good copy goes for about $40, but you're better off saving that kind of cash for a great 2D Saturn fighter like nearly all the Capcom titles, SNK titles, and others like Golden Axe: The Duel, Asuka 120%, Astra Superstars, etc. (not that you could afford the majority with $40, but still). This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.