Battle of the Ports Remastered - Golden Axe (ゴールデンアックス) Show

[@SomeOrangeCat]

The Genesis port is definitely the best of the bunch. The closest to the arcade with the fewest amount of compromises.

[@RetroCore]

I would agree with you.

[@dlfrsilver]

@@RetroCore no graphically the megadrive is in no way the closest to the arcade. Sega Japan had to cut the MD version due to the lack of space on cart. The closest version to the arcade is the Amiga version. It uses the arcade levels tileset, which the megadrive is not having. They had to simplify the graphics. in order to fill the gap, they added one more level and the duel mode.

[@dlfrsilver]

@B3ro1080 I'd gotta be serious you mean ! :D

[@dlfrsilver]

@B3ro1080 the megadrive is a reduced version, hence the bonus added :/

[@DuskBeforeDawn2008]

@@dlfrsilver Hey Deathbringer is awesome

[@GTXDash]

13:17 OH NO!! what are you doing, man?! The MS-DOS version does NOT run this slow. Did you setup dos box all wrong or did you run this on a 286 instead of a 486? This is how the game is supposed to run: /watch?v=J4tshJrkBw0

[@ryzmaker11]

The Mega Drive port was part of Sega's "Arcade at home" campaign back then and was definitely something huge! Despite being an early title (1989), it already showed the system horsepower running in 320x224 pixels/fullscreen, with smooth frame rate, crisp graphics and 2 player co-op (and Golden Axe is a more demanding game that it might seem due to the "bizarrians" (= the riddable creatures) that significantly increase the amount of sprites to handle). It's easily the best home version of its time and the following Golden Axe instalments on the system will further improve the formula (tweaked gameplay, better use of the sound hardware, added parallax scrollings...). Then eh, IMO the ST and Amiga ports are nice considering those systems capabilities and the limited development conditions (they must have been only 2 or 3 folks working on those ports, without access to the arcade code, etc.). The ST port is actually the one I grew up with and I have very fond memories tied to it. Then the PC Engine CD-Rom² port is notoriously awful but, while it could have turned out better than what it is, it would still be compromised in any cases due to hardware limitations. You just have to look at beat 'em ups on the system in general to see that even Ane-San, despite being a very late (1995) Super CD-Rom² release, is still technically below compared to what a stock Mega Drive (with the likes of Streets of Rage 2) or SNES (with the likes of TMNT Turtles in Time) can pull off! As for the Master System version, I'm not too fan. Obviously a Master System could have never handled this game with 2 player co-op but the trick that they used to avoid sprite flicker means that colors and frame rate are very compromised and it definitely hurts the presentation and gameplay.

[@RetroCore]

To be fair, Ane-san on the PC Engine was made by a pretty sub par developer.

[@iXien]

The idea of Retro Core seems to be to analyze each game more or less regarding the hardware. This approach is interesting and IMO is the reason why his videos are so nice. But there are sometimes problems of context. For exemple the playability with 1 button controller. Back in 1990, all computer players were perfectly regulars with the need to press keys on keyboard. We were playing in front of our computer and were using joysticks designed to play like this. Playing with a big joystick is totally different from playing with arcade stick or a D-Pad. Even with my old 1 button Konix Speedking, it was not difficult for me to press a key. And as we usually didn't have friends with console systems, we didn't be able to compare Megadrive and Amiga/ST versions. Yes, we were happy to play on our computer, it's as simple as that 😎. Amiga is a very powerful computer, but on a different way of a Megadrive. It's difficult to convert on this system games developed for other hardware. It's not impossible, as other games show it, but needs time and skill. So this Golden Axe is a very nice one. I spent good time on it, even if of course I won't advise a young player to discover this game on Amiga. It's so simple to play original arcade version nowadays.

[@ryzmaker11]

@@RetroCore subpar?? ane-san was done by NEC avenue, one of the best developers on the pc engine, who were particularly aware of the system capabilities and who did many of the best games for it, either them being exclusives or arcade ports. so by 1995, they knew very well the hardware and ane-san is definitely impressive by pc engine standards

[@ryzmaker11]

@@iXien the speedking is one of my alltime fav joysticks. the look, the handling, the microswitches... so good! and the navigator, by konix too, was also pretty dope although not as "instant classic" material anyway yeah, the ST and amiga were release in 1985. 1 button scheme was still fine by that point and in many cases using "up" for some tasks (such as accelerating in racing games or jumping in platformers) made for a pretty complete gameplay affair. but there are also games that suffered from this and developers should have included more control options later on (like when the mega drive came out and increased the amount of action buttons from 1 or 2 to 3, they should have followed this, even more since ST and amiga have the same controller ports as sega's console...) now about the amiga capabilities, it was a beast in 1985 but was surpassed in many ways by the mega drive later on. it's not just about being "difficult to convert", which actually is not in some ways, as the amiga is easier to develop for in terms of graphics and sound, but simply about the overall capabilities and golden axe is a good indication of this, since it's the most impressive beat 'em up on amiga yet it's still far from the mega drive version which, in its turn, is far from golden axe 3 or streets of rage 2! in fact, I've been thinking about a remaster project of the mega drive version of golden axe. that's something I'd love to work on. using a 32 meg cart + with all the knowledge and tools that we've got in the meantime (such as the XGM sound driver), something amazing could be done. dunno if I'd have the time for this but it'd be nice if some other folks or even sega themselves would consider this. golden axe is such an iconic game, unique and always thrilling to play through with those lovely conan the barbarian/adventurous vibes

[@dlfrsilver]

@@iXien people have a really bad memory. The Amiga version uses the arcade tileset, and the programmers used all the tricks in the book to make it arcade perfect (graphically). The megadrive version is a CUT down version, because Sega could not have carts with more than 8mbits because it was too expensive. the graphics were cropped and reduced (less detailed tiles) than the arcade, and in consequence, less detailed than the amiga version. And the amiga version has an awesome rendition made by David Whittaker !

[@Akaikabe]

NOt sure if its already mentioned in the comments but the MSDOS version had an interesting quirk to it. You could copy the enemy files and player files onto each other. The big guys at the end of the level giving you trouble? Easy just copy the gnome sprite file over them and now they can't attack. Want to play as a skeleton? copy over one of the 3 heroes files. Funny to do but can break your game if you copy over certain sprites or didn't make a backup.

[@peachflavored]

Akaikabe yep, I remember this! It’s probably the most fun version of the game due to this “modding” capability.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, this is quite common with a lot of older PC games that use basic file names.

[@ugzz]

Also not sure if it was mentioned, but the msdos version actually plays a teeny bit better than it does here. I had it back in the day and if you search youtube for other vids you can catch it playing a bit better. Still has slowdown and scrolling issues but it just looks extra unplayable here, and it wasn't quite that bad.

[@tFighterPilot]

@@ugzz Yeah, it played much better on a normal dos. I suppose the emulator is the problem here.

[@horaciolopez5666]

The PC Engine version may be a terrible one but it is a good rescource for fmv and music for a Mega CD port. I am planning to make a better Mega CD port of this game featuring cleaner sfx of the arcade and the arranged soundtrack from the PC Engine CD version and the cutscenes from the PC Engine CD version edited and compressed to FMV.

[@rasherbasher8203]

Amiga verison is garbage even the spectrum version beats it. 😂😂😂

[@Brand2Tiny]

How on earth is the Wonderswan port better in every way than the GBA?! Don't even get me started on the GBA's god awful sound!

[@lancashirered]

I've always thought the music on MD sounded better.

[@z0rrer0]

Really nice review. Thanks! ^_^ I hope they release a proper sequel someday :-\

[@julienbraudel7109]

I remember playing MS-DOS version on a 386, and it was a lot faster and smoother than what we see here. MS-DOS version is a very good version, probably the best on computers, and considering the year it was made, plus the generally low quality of arcade games conversions at the time on PC, it is clearly a great achievement. This port deserves more credit than what's been said in the video.

[@dr.charlesedwardflorendobr3952]

I had a Sound Blaster Pro. The MS DOS version had really good music.

[@ninjapants7688]

Take a look at the Master System sprite/bg hack Golden Axe "Tyris Flare Edition" by Xfinium. The backgrounds have all been completely reworked and Ax Battler has been replaced by Tyris Flare. It looks much much better overall than the original version.

[@RetroCore]

Cool. I need to check that out.

[@ninjapants7688]

@@RetroCore Ah, I spelled it wrong. It's by "Xfixium", not "Xfinium". Here is a video of the work, lots of his stuff is amazing kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHnbaWyCrNWto5Y

[@RetroRawit]

DOS version runs a lot better on hardware, but is finicky. S3 cards run it well, Matrox cards have scrolling issues.

[@Scorpionbe]

The battle of the ports is my favorite part of your channel. And due the coronavirus i was not able to visit Japan. But now whe are going in November instead of month may.

[@RetroCore]

Hope everything is back to normal for you by then. 👍

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

The Rev Stuart Campbell tore the budget re-release on the ZX Spectrum a new one in Y. S magazine. Twice as cheap and nasty as the dullest original budget game, give it the widest berth you can muster No gameplay substance whatsoever.. 30/100 It had originally been a cover title game

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

maybe if the AMIGA version had been rejigged for the SHARP X68000 it might have been better.

[@mtubr]

I loved the last minutes where you put all of them side by side, really help us out when chosing one to try to emulate.

[@reagandow850]

Wouldn’t you just rather emulate the Arcade version since it’s always the best? It’s just fun to see some of the crap that was out there and that we all used to suffer with.

[@RetroCore]

Not always. In this case the Mega Drive version is the most fun to play. The Arcade looks and sounds the best though.

[@mtubr]

@@reagandow850 I agree, most of arcades, yes. But its good to see the other ports to see what you are missing (or gaining) For example, I like Ghouls and Ghosts for SNES instead of arcade or mega drive. And when trying to emulate arcades games they are harder than consoles because you have to deal with rom sets and controller configs. So its great to check if its worth the trouble to get the arcade version.

[@amerigocosta7452]

To be honest, I am a fan of the Amiga and the C64 versions. Controls and collisions are off compared to the best console versions, yes, but it could have gone a lot worse on these machines. Unlike other games, players can actually adjust to them (and on these machines they always had to) and I'd go as far as saying that Golden Axe is the best beat'em up on the Amiga, eventho it's just because there aren't many. About the C64 version, yes it's limited but it was either a reduced game like this or a choppy unplayable mess that looked worse if they had to include more sprites. The game was already one step before looking ugly. At the end of the day it's a playable beat'em up that retains part of the arcade feeling (granted a healthy dose of imagination is needed, as always on the 8-bit micros). The introduction screens are well done, the music is quality (Jeroen Tel if I'm not mistaken) and the original ending is replicated. Of course there is no reason to go back to these versions nowadays but, for what they are, I like them.

[@RetroCore]

I don't know. The C64 port just bored me. Having to deal with one player at a time was so tedious I thought.

[@zanegandini5350]

This is one of those games that's good, but I just don't find myself needing to play it due to having superior sequels. That being said, the arcade original is clearly the best as far as presentation goes, but the Mega Drive got the best port by far, even offering more responsive controls than the arcade original.

[@rickhunter1070]

I had the mega drive and Amiga version. The mega drive was great . The Amiga was ok but it had a good ending when you beat the game.

[@RetroCore]

It has the Arcade ending which is sadly missing in the Mega Drive.

[@imaca6538]

I liked the ps2 version to be fair, golden axe was my fave mega drive game for years.

[@fulgenzio1973]

Great video! In my opinion the Megadrive version is even better than the arcade, it's really the killer application for the console, together with Revenge of Shinobi and Strider.

[@RetroCore]

I agree. It plays much faster and feels more responsive.

[@dlfrsilver]

@@RetroCore the megadrive version is subpar to the arcade. that's unfortunate....

[@reijiminato8762]

Of course, Tyris is the number one choice for a lot of male gamers out there. Think like a mix of Red Sonja and Xena Warrior Princess but way hotter than either!

[@RetroCore]

Well said 😁😎

[@ENFDO]

The best port is for Amiga 500 just because (despite is a U.S. Gold conversion) is the more acurate to Arcade, keeps the whole magic powers and the same levels and ending; by the way keeps the different combo system depens the distance like arcade.

[@afriend9428]

*one stinking fire button on a joystick* 👎🏻

[@ENFDO]

@@afriend9428 later were two. Lol.

[@rasherbasher8203]

😂😂😂 amiga version is a joke 😂😂😊

[@NisseDood]

Amiga version was the first game I played on my amiga back in the day so it will always hold a special place.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, nostalgia is a great thing at times. It can remind us of when things were fun no matter how bad they were.

[@rasherbasher8203]

Megadrive version destroys it😂😂

[@hangka1977]

Many complaint about the ps2 version of sega age. But i found it is relax and enjoyable. Still can relate to the golden axe on my sega 16bit. The graphic still ok for a budget game tho and I played alot with my kids.

[@dartsma464]

The PS2 version is nice to play together with a little child.

[@RetroCore]

I tried playing it with my boy but he wasn't interested 🙄. He always wanted to play Double Dragon Neon.

[@solarflare9078]

Retro Core I mean, can you blame him? It's a much better game

[@beagsx3]

Interesting issue with the CPC version. If you could get the purple dragon, you could shoot fire balls out of your butt by pressing the opposite direction on the joystick just before hitting the fire button 😂

[@RetroCore]

Classic 😂

[@cyberpc1333]

PS2 version is junk, MD Best Port.

[@bombjack1984]

I remember there was a horrible version of Sonic 1 on the GBA which seemed like emulation with speed problems. I wonder if the GBA Smash Pack used the same system.

[@RetroCore]

It wouldn't surprise me.

[@TheDannylarson]

I find it interesting how the Atari ST version is widescreen with the border, seems like a good candidate for emulation but it looks like theirs better options to play golden axe, still interesting though 😃

[@magicvampirelver1321]

I grew up on the Sega♡genesis version N' loved it.

[@johns6265]

Great job on the remaster! I played the Amiga version to completion in the 90s. The real bosses in the Amiga version are the instant death jumps over gaps, you can get by with the controls for combat but jumping was always iffy. I'm still a proud owner of the PS2 version. I'm close to having 2/3s of the PS2 Sega Ages releases, it doesn't play so well but the box looks nice enough. A localised version can be found on Sega Classics Collection for the PS2, the PAL version is to be avoided though, it has an old school massive black bars and slowdown conversion from NTSC.

[@RetroCore]

Wow, they were still making pal bordered games on the PS2? Sad.

[@johns6265]

@@RetroCore It was entirely at the discretion of the publisher and developers so you never knew what you were getting until the PAL release and somebody complained online about how bad the PAL conversion was, or you took the chance yourself to find out. I'd been switched over to imports for years by then, it just made life easier knowing that every game would at least run the way the original developers intended.

[@spyrosskam8632]

I played a lot back in the day with the cpc and Amiga Version! You are right about the one button gameplay problem but you must consider that we where used in this kind of controls since ...atari 2600! So it would be a problem for us only if we had played the MD version first! Back in the day this wasn't a problem for us. Nowdays i can understand your point!

[@RetroCore]

Actually, the MSX has 2 buttons as did the Sharp and NEC computers of the time. But for some reason the western systems only used one. Well, unless you had loads of money and played on an Acorn.

[@DanielMonteiroNit]

On real hardware of the time (486s), the PC port played quite well I will go as far as this: its the best port of that era

[@jmbenetti]

I loved it also on my XT, I'm sure it played well on original hardware. It even had voice samples and music through the internal speaker!

[@RetroCore]

It couldn't be the best since its based upon the Mega Drive. Less animation too and no parallax scrolling. I guess it could look sharper though.

[@julienbraudel7109]

I agree with Daniel, still a very good version, probably the best on computers, and considering the year it was made, plus the generally low quality of arcade games conversions at the time on PC, it is clearly a great achievement. This port deserves more credit than what's been said in the video.

[@kenwheeler3637]

I love it when there's such a wide selection of versions.

[@JudgmentStorm]

Mega Drive is my favorite here. I see what you're saying about the arcade having sluggish controls... the MD port, its sequels, and the arcade Revenge of Death Adder all feel more responsive. Mega CD's version is too little too late. To take advantage of the MCD's capabilities, Sega should have retouched the graphics to more closely look like the arcade and added the original voice samples instead of that silly "Ow!" (which IMO is as bad as GA2's "Bleh!"). And if the 2 player mode was done on cartridge, why isn't it in the CD version? Developer laziness, I imagine.

[@horaciolopez5666]

Good thing I'm working on a better Mega CD Port.

[@turbinegraphics16]

I think with the arcade they were trying to simulate the time it would take to swing your arm when pressing the button, megadrive version feels a lot better.

[@greenkoopa]

Played this earlier with my kids on the Genesis with 2 arcade sticks 😎

[@RetroCore]

Nice 👍

[@voteDC]

Goldenaxe always irritated me as the heroes always seemed to have far shorter range on their weapons than they should, whereas the enemies seemed to be able to hit you from a far greater distance.

[@RetroCore]

These days that is definitely the case.

[@RichardCraig]

19:04 - lol!

[@Dumbledork_Prime]

One of my favourite games of all times. I played it all the time on PC back in the day, and I can't remember the problems you're describing. Maybe it's just the emulation. Even better than the game is the soundtrack. I listen to it on a regularly basis, especially Wilderness, Death Adder's them, and Sutakora Sassa. Weirdly enough, the PC version has the Arcade ending and not the Megadrive ending.

[@RetroCore]

At least they understood what makes a good ending

[@IcebergGamingTop10s]

Can't believe you shamed that dragon for having had a tracheotomy.

[@rachagainstthemachine.]

😂👍

[@malvessidrums]

Lold here

[@RetroCore]

Lol, even just thinking about that is strange 😋

[@Skeletroy]

I found it pretty interesting in the side-by-side comparisons that not a single port replicates the arcade title screen perfectly. A fair number come somewhat close, but they all falter in their own unique ways. The Sega versions come pretty close, but don't feature the angled font at the end. The Amiga and Atari ST versions have the angled font, but don't have the swirling letters, and don't make the font flash red and white. It's weird that the Master System is the only one to actually use the flashing letters, but is also the only one with a picture of Ax Battler instead of the cool weapons logo. I always appreciate the comparison section of BotP, but this one is really neat, like it's a big game of "spot the differences".

[@NightSprinter]

Hoo, boy.. If you ever end up remaking the Gauntlet episode, good luck with the Tiger version of that game. I've YET to beat it after over twenty five years. Also, Gauntlet on the NES, as I found from an AGDQ/SGDQ run, that sometimes the game is flat out unwinnable, due to a bug that makes certain vault combinations not work at all. I recommend watching the run for a better explanation.

[@RetroCore]

Gauntlet would be a good one to remake.

[@NightSprinter]

@@RetroCore I heard the MD port's team were how they started before eventually forming the well-respected "M2". Any validity to that?

[@theALFEST]

ms-dos version is smooth on 286+ and fast vga card.

[@julienbraudel7109]

Agreed.

[@Konuvis]

cool to have the Tiger version in there!

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

Always prefer the editions where theres a meaty quantity of ports with crappy 8 bit efforts thrown in

[@RetroCore]

They are more fun to watch but definitely not more fun to make as the home computer ports are often horrible to play.

[@rickyskegg]

"Golden Axe Jew Pro Bricks edition". Watching your videos with subtitles is hilarious, and I really can't hear anything else on what you said about the ZX spectrum version. I think you're a bit too harsh on the Amiga version. It isn't as good as the Megadrive version, but looks great and sounds spectacular. The classic wilderness theme even sounds better than on the original arcade.

[@bombjack1984]

I like watching Retro Core with auto subtitles too, obviously Japanese-Scouse hasn't been added to the list of dialects yet. Agree about the Amiga version too, perfectly decent and surprising considering how bad most Amiga arcade ports were.

[@dartsma464]

What did he really say? Not "Golden Axe Jew Bricks edition"?

[@RetroCore]

Ah, best not to use the automated subtitles. I actually provide real ones. I do agree that the Amiga looks and sounds very good. I do mention that but sadly it is a horrible game to play.

[@rickyskegg]

@@RetroCore I did not notice that there were real subtitles, but now that I've seen the potential of automated subtitles, I'm not sure I want the real ones:)

[@joseagripino8664]

Golden Axe Amiga is a quality port on a computer that almost never gets those. I played a ton of it back in the day.

[@glenaitken3471]

This guy never cuts the Amiga any slack, always moaning about one button controls. Sounds like a broken record. That's the way it is. Get over it. I never had any trouble as a kid. Amiga Golden Axe is a fantastic port, one of the Amigas best

[@jengelenm]

All commodore and Amiga games had the up button for jump in those days. Yes it sucked balls, but you can easily remap the buttons nowadays, or rewire your controller.

[@georgeluyckx1437]

The Amiga version was a quite good port but the arcade version remains just the best.

[@TheContraspirit]

@Benjamin Owuye Jagun Yes, most Amiga arcade ports were crap but Golden Axe is a good port that looks and plays well.

[@SuperEarther]

the tiger version for real ?! no just no lol. plus that amstrad version come on man really! its so bad! those spectrum sound effects are ear bleeding too! i thought the gba version looked quite good! alot better than some of the versions here

[@Adinan0803]

I played a lot the Master System and Mega Drive versions, I still enjoy both! Also I'm one of the few that enjoys the weird Tiger Electronics handhelds, I didn't had a chance to play the Golden Axe one but I'm sure I would love to have one back then :)

[@RetroCore]

I had many a lcd game back in the days before GameBoy. They have a lot of nostalgia.

[@bloodykenshiro8218]

The Wonderswan Color is really the little portable that could, isn't it? so many good ports for it, better than they have any right to be, given the hardware. Front Mission on it is super impressive as well.

[@Hexagonaal]

The C64 version was such a disappointment. In the later years you got a lot of games that were just developed to make nice screenshots for the magazines.

[@gavh9360]

Wow bit harsh on the amiga version, that game still plays great and bests the megadrive Genesis version in many ways

[@horaciolopez5666]

You might as well say the PS2 cutscenes make the PC Engine CD cutscenes look worthy for a movie! Because that's what I am using them for my port, as I have said earlier. Don't call me stupid, but I like them. They give more depth to the story.

[@Vopyr]

It might be my imagination, but the game (on genesis, for sure) has crappy hitboxes and sometimes you stand close to the enemy and can't hit them...

[@consty715]

I think a lot of people would say the Megadrive version is the best, just from a nostalgic point of view. Myself included

[@spacefractal]

if you play the whdload version of the Amiga version, the magic is recolated to the second button. For the DOS version, you have property set the DOSBOX settings wrong with too low cpu cycles. Speed of course variere what people would have back in time.

[@221b]

The screen-tearing on the DOS version is also likely an emulation issue. PC monitors typically ran at 70Hz back then but 60Hz is far more common on current systems, leading to issues where the emulated framerate doesn't scale cleanly with the display framerate.

[@spacefractal]

@@221b oh yes, forget about that. you cant do anything about that for dos games about frame pacing. This cant been avoid, due above. The 8 sprite horizontal limit on the C64 is why you only see one enemy at same time. To been fair, there was compliment about that allready back in the days, so completly fair. But the tune is ace!

[@edwinhebik9221]

Like the guy with the st version i have very fond memories of the amiga version, and at that time it def felt very next gen as most ppl only had a nes or c64 , and most pc ppl had monochrome screens and no sound but internal pc speaker! Friends and family wanted to play it whenever they’d visit so not just me either ;) I still have not properly given the md version a shot as the sound and gfx felt worse then my amgia memories...tho i’ll admit the may somewhat rosecolored! The joystick controls you get used too (especially cially with other games on c64 and amiga using it)... and yes i did not like magic on kb, but this should be no issue with emu or indeed that whdload version i guess. My complaint was that it was a easy game and I completed it after a few days. Still enjoyed seeing this!

[@rasherbasher8203]

speccy version 😁😁

[@jengelenm]

Great video and overview! I only played the arcade version 25 years ago in the arcade. I had been playing some ports, and find them all being worse then as how i remember the arcade (25 years ago!). Even the master system i find way too choppy.The Mega Drive is "ok". For commofore, spectrum etc. ...i can understand since the low spec hardware. It shows how superior the arcade version is, and great for its time. All the rest is inferior

[@andreapiva2090]

I think these are the worst english subtitles I've ever seen in one of your videos. What happened?

[@RetroCore]

KZbin messed them up so badly that I don't have time to fix them. They've gone and split most sentences making a fix a real pain and time consuming job.

[@RetroCore]

Eh, wait a moment. I wonder if KZbin deleted my uploaded subtitles and replaced them with their awful automatically generated titles.

[@andreapiva2090]

@@RetroCore Don't worry. The video's still good. ;-)

[@The90sGamingGuy]

Very good video. First time i played the arcade version on emulator was on my dads PC back in 1992.The Sega Genesis port of the game is the best. I am surprised Sega has not made the original arcade version for play modern systems.

[@RetroCore]

Maybe they can't due to the ripped voice samples from movies. They could replace those I guess.

[@sumdood8563]

I never liked the lack of impact with the sound effects in this game. Particularly when you hit people.

[@inklingex4433]

The ZX Spectrum port is cursed.

[@thepumpkingking8339]

Ahh. The good old Speccy, still game for a laugh, just not for playing ;-)

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

Played it back in the day. Naturally looks bad but worse is it doesn’t play like golden axe and was ridiculously hard

[@RetroCore]

I agree. It's awful to play. Sometimes speccy games look bad but play well this does neither.

[@timoheinonen9570]

Still better than the C64 version.

[@rasherbasher8203]

Better than the amiga garbage

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

How did Sega let ports like the PS2 and GBA versions happen?

[@Shoometsu]

It was the first arcade I played in my life, I'm still looking for a PCB of it in good condition. And the imps in PC Engine version has that "please kill me" smile in their faces.

[@jackburton8352]

Why did the PS2 have to go 3D just make an arcarde port FFS

[@nickmalcom6360]

the arcade version was my first virtual console game. me and a buddy mannaged to beat that version.

[@daveruda]

For me its either arcade, Mega Drive or Master system. The rest doesnt seem to hold up at all. I have a soft spot for the master system version. It has something unique that made it worth playing even after we got the mega drive version.

[@kaox44]

LOVE THESE "Battle of the Ports"....NEW SUB!

[@RetroCore]

Thanks and welcome to the channel.

[@kaox44]

@@RetroCore ...yes, thanks! Looks like you put a lot of time and effort into these videos. I appreciate that a lot!

[@KISSbestfan]

Hey ! Just realised something by the time watching this BotP. I had a friend who loved the computers and used them as main gaming devices and starting with Speccy he never used joysticks for controls. Maybe some games are better suit for keyboard ? He never complained over the Speccy Golden Axe. But maybe its just practice makes perfect. And an offtopic but Im curious of your opinion. I read a theory that Sega could be the brand reused for selling new Xbox in Japan. Sure a joint venture between them could be interesting, and it would be a sort of Sega return to the market. But is this scenario even a little tiny bit plausible ?

[@yousini]

Anyone knows someone who didn't lose a sibling to Death Adder

[@GamayObera]

7:55 Tyris looks like if Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) had long hair.

[@RetroCore]

Lol, or just Ken Shiro in drag 😁

[@thrillington2008]

It's mostly great on Sega's hardware I'm not worried about everywhere else

[@alistairwalsh1022]

Love all your vids as usual mate... Even though I've been subscribed since you started posting on AG, I was still caught out by the title haha., and thought there was a new remaster out, like the SEGA AGES one but current gen... Oops...

[@RetroCore]

No worries man. Thanks for watching for so long. I remember you from AG. You used the same user name, right?

[@rymstudiodesign4003]

i have played to arcade version, obviously, and megadrive, MS-Dos, and before the Amstrad CPC port, and for me is the best porting of the game! Consderig thst it's an 8Bit machine realy hard to programming. Thanks, realy interesting format for this video!

[@gavh9360]

I can remember my mum buying me the amstrad version on a trip to town. Sitting in the post office looking over the box art and was amazed by it. Loved the game and play it once a year.

[@Silanda]

The PC Engine version is a travesty. It doesn't even have back sprites for the characters when you move up the screen. I guess that 64K ram in the base system didn't exactly help, but sheesh, it's bad.

[@federicocatelli8785]

It's just a lame lame port from the "Valis guys"

[@RetroDoneRight]

I forgot how sick this soundtrack was until hearing that opening song in the video.

[@solarflare9078]

Don't mind me. I'm gonna copy and paste the entirety of the poorly written captions for laughs. (Nothing against you though, Mark. It's legitimately funny to read, almost as if it's a parody to KZbin's automatically written captions)

[@Sakf504]

"playing gay is candlelight playing a really bad at games mega tribe clone" LOL

[@littleman7514]

"Golden Axe Jew Pro Bricks edition"

[@RetroCore]

I think this is KZbin's auto subs. Mine are perfect as always. I have no idea what happened. I'll fix them tonight.

[@solarflare9078]

Retro Core Thanks! Also, for anyone that missed these subtitles, I have them saved on a Notepad. If you want to see them (again), I will copy and paste it in my next reply. Just be warned.... it will be LONG.

[@littleman7514]

Captions these great deserve archiving.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

I think the ITALIAN version of Zzap64 gave this 87% 😕 Not quite as bad as the UK version giving it a Gold Medal award, but still way over rated. But to be fair to the Italian press, it was the Budget re-release.

[@RetroCore]

Still not worth the money IMO.

[@DaimondRus]

About GBA version - maybe it has a wrong colors because the game was designed especially for GBA model without backlight. Another example is Pitfall game.

[@RetroCore]

Hmm, that is a possibility.

[@robfarmer9272]

Aside from the ports... the person playing is the worst Axe player I've seen. Constantly being hit!

[@RetroCore]

The person playing is very tired and had to play a crap load of versions of the same game after each other. It's expected he'd be playing poorly.

[@GustavoValdiviesso]

I always thought Golden Axe and Altered Beast belonged to the same universe. The reason being the pink-beaked ride that appears on Altered Beast's title screen

[@RetroCore]

Yeah, you're right. I wonder if that was meant to be an Easter Egg?

[@geoserenity]

i mean...why would anyone NOT play the girl wearing an armoured bikini?

[@segagenesis1989]

Because Gilius Thunderhead is the best character to use in the game. Tyris Flare is the second best followed by Ax Battler.

[@azuremateria]

I only ever played the DOS version back in 1992. On a clone IBM XT. My memory of Golden Axe is different for the simple reason that Tyris' and Gilius' magic animation took more than half an hour to finish. That means if you get hit by Death Adder Jr. he will follow up with a magic attack, and you will have to wait half an hour for each animation. I always prayed that he will do Ax Battler's magic instead of Tyris' or Gilius'. Once we got a 386 with a VGA card, the game played immensely better. The DOS version did still have missing features though. The jumping stab (not jumping slash) is not in the game. Also, each of the characters only have a single magic animation, no matter the amount of potion that you used. Still, I loved playing the game over and over back then. Oh btw I can confirm that the DOS version that I played on a real 386 machine running MSDOS 6.0 played nothing like that. The DOS version, when played in VGA mode with a sound card, actually looks very nice. It actually looks nicer than the Megadrive version in terms of color and resolution, but it's missing some effects, like the flying feathers on the giant eagle stage. The voice samples unfortunately only play on the internal speaker instead of the sound card, so they still sound garbled. The Megadrive version is still the better version in the end, due to the missing features I mentioned above.

[@federicocatelli8785]

Very true

[@azuremateria]

@Lassi Kinnunen I haven't tried running Golden Axe with DOSBox before, so I'm not sure. Actually I haven't even tried running older games with pc speaker support only. But that is an interesting question for sure. Maybe I should give it a go someday.

[@technischemaschinenfabrik5882]

The Commodore 64 version has a super music, especially the end sequence. Very melodic music, better than the other versions. Just try it.

[@RetroCore]

That's right. Great music, nice looking game but dull as dish water to actually play.

[@alfredocanas6802]

I knew the pc engine was bad but I never cared to even look at it, ohh boy it's horrible!

[@RetroCore]

Yep, it's on a whole new level of awful ports.

[@greek1237]

The PC engine may have poor graphics, but dang the cutscenes added look great. Most of that effort went to the cutscenes for that port.

[@RetroCore]

Just a shame they're so boring.

[@johanndysen4924]

differences between golden axe arcade & golden axe mega drive: arcade: Tyris is wearing a bikini mega drive: Tyris is wearing a thong

[@RetroCore]

More mature players you see :)

[@shotgunl]

An excellent video for a fun game. I've always had a lot of fun with the mega drive version. Also, there's a small restaurant/ice-cream shop that's on my way to work that's had a Golden Axe machine forever and still does to this day. So, I sometimes stop to get some food (even though their food isn't too good) just to play a short game of Golden Axe (or Pac-Man more rarely; a Pac-Man cocktail unit is the only other cab they have). Good times.

[@RetroCore]

Wow, it's cool they still have an original GOLDEN Axe and that it still works!

[@shotgunl]

@@RetroCore Yeah, they've even replaced buttons and fixed the screen after it had what seemed to be cap issues. The cab is quite faded at this point thanks to where it sits, but I have to give the owners credit for keeping it running. It's just too bad that it's not Revenge of Death Adder, since, outside of playing it at Galloping Ghost the times I've visited my sister in Chicago, I haven't seen a Revenge of Death Adder cab since the mid 90s.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

If they take off too much damage, does that mean... you are left with more health? :)

[@RetroCore]

Lol, it does sound that way.

[@Евгений-м9с8к]

Arcade 👍

[@alanharrison2726]

That blood dripping on character select in arcade version is a Mandela effect for me . Never see it before .

[@bombjack1984]

Japanese version only, you're not going mad.

[@RetroCore]

It's only in the Japanese version.

[@Sinn0100]

Why are you calling them remastered? These are just ports of Golden Axe. The Sega CD version smokes them all as it looks damn close and with an extra level added for more length. The single player only was due to pure laziness on Sega's part. Why Tyris...Gillius is a better character with a longer reach?

[@solarflare9078]

Remastered because his original show was from 6 years ago, was in lower quality, had no voice over, etc.

[@RetroCore]

As Solar Flare mentioned, the remastered refers to the show, not the game. Every now and then I'll remake one of the early shows. The original Golden Axe video was missing two versions, only ran in 720p at 30fos and had no voice over. This remastered version runs in 1080p at 60fps, has a voice over, covers more versions of Golden Axe and is more tightly edited.

[@thepumpkingking8339]

Cheers again Mark. You really are treating us this month, with another excellent vid.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, a lot of work this month on videos.

[@darthsynchronic]

Where is the PS3 version? It is a DLC on the PSN

[@RetroCore]

It's emulation.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

They DID have 2 enemies on screen originally with the C64 version, it just resulted in terrible sprite flicker www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/golden-axe-v1/

[@iwantthemoonback1722]

I got the Tiger LCD game for (I think) my eight birthday in 1991. I could never work out why you only had one arm...

[@KillThad]

19:01 POG TURTLE

[@kbxthegamemaster06]

Geez man you were able to make one at 4am??😂

[@RetroCore]

Yep.

[@GeovaneSanciniSR]

I'm gonna be honest. I kinda like the PS2 version. Yep, it was made with a budget smaller than my books sales, looks bad and plays bad, and that's WHY I LIKE. You can at least laugh at the silly cutscenes. Otherwise, I stick with the Mega Drive port. And WHY THE CHARACTERS LOOKED NAKED on ZX Spectrum?

[@RetroCore]

I do enjoy quite a few of the PS2 Sega Ages games but for some reason I never got on with Golden Axe. Lol, the speccy version must be X rated.