Let's compare ( Golden Axe )

Let's compare ( Golden Axe )

Description Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Axe

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling arcade hack and slash game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the series.

Makoto Uchida was the primary developer of the game and also was responsible for the creation of Altered Beast, a similar game. Several ports of the game were created, most notably for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System.

Plot

The game takes place in the fictional land of Yuria, a Conan the Barbarian-style high fantasy medieval world. An evil entity known as Death Adder has captured the King and his daughter, and holds them captive in their castle. He also finds the Golden Axe, the magical emblem of Yuria, and threatens to destroy both the axe and the royal family unless the people of Yuria accept him as their ruler. Three Warriors set out on a quest to rescue Yuria and avenge their losses at the hands of Death Adder. The first is a battle 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, an amazon, whose parents were both killed by Death Adder.

The warriors save the inhabitants of the ransacked Turtle Village, which turns out to be situated on the shell of a giant turtle. The turtle takes the characters across the sea, and they then fly to the castle itself on the back of a giant eagle. Once at the castle they defeat Death Adder, who is wielding the Golden Axe and save the land. In the Mega Drive and PC versions, and also in other ports, the characters also battle Death Adder's mentor, Death Bringer, as the true final boss.

Gameplay

Progress is made through the game by fighting through Death Adder's henchmen, including men armed with clubs and maces, skeleton warriors, and knights. Players are able to attack using their weapon, jump and cast spells that hurt all enemies on the screen. The force of this magic depends on the number of "bars" of magic power currently available. The bars are filled by collecting blue 'magic potions' attained by kicking little sprites who then drop the potions. These sprites appear during regular levels and during bonus stages in between levels. The male warrior Ax is able to cast earth spells. The dwarf Gilius, casts lightning spells and the female warrior Tyris casts fire magic. Each character has a different number of maximum magic bars and varying ranges of attack.

Various steeds known as bizarrians are found in the game. These can be ridden when the enemy rider is knocked off, or if one is found dormant. The least powerful steed is known as the Cockatrice (which also appeared in Altered Beast)[2], which can be used to knock down enemies with a swipe of its tail. The more powerful dragon, which can either shoot fireballs or breathe fire, is found later in the game.

In addition to the main quest, some home versions of the game included "duel mode", a survival mode type game that pitted players against increasingly powerful foes in consecutive rounds of play. This mode also featured a two-player one-on-one option.

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[DejaVoodooDoll]

@cosmic25sheep

It could easily manage more, but it would require them to downgrade the sprites. This would mean the back of the box wouldn't look as good, and they'd need to actually redraw the art. Since this was a time before most people ever read any reviews, why bother?

[stufaman]

I do have to credit the SMS version. Considering it's power, it did an awesome conversion.

[hooker1uk]

@wingnut4427 well not really, they coded what hey coudl at the time whereas now most doers could get more out of many home computers (look at the demo's being made now)

[wingnut4427]

@cosmic25sheep it was extremely limited in it's capabilities. This is very common with ancient systems like this. :)

[cosmic25sheep]

Could the C64 game only manage one enemy sprite on screen at a time?

[wrestletube1]

Megadrive was the best home port since SEGA only made their ports good on SEGA systems to make you buy them.

It's still not as good as the Arcade but Megadrive version was the best home version bar none.

[deadlygroove1]

@PearlJammer07 MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. If you are playing Golden Axe in MAME, you are playing the arcade version. :)

[PearlJammer07]

I use to think the Genesis port of this game was the best until playing it on MAME.

[dannyofthededd]

@S0ryiu hehe..yeh o course!

i kinda forgot about that little detail while i was ranting :)

[MattTheSaiyan]

@S0ryiu You are correct, but I still feel the phrase is over-used, since there are lots of other factors involved when it comes to what a system can do than just how many bits the CPU is.