Golden Axe Series Review/Retrospective - Kim Justice

[@Holammer]

The Centaur chick in Revenge of Death Adder was decades ahead of the current Monster Girl craze. Her time is now.

[@Larry]

Gillius also makes a cameo in the arcade version of Alien Storm, pretty much the spiritual spin off of Golden Axe.

[@deandevonport275]

Larry Bundy Jr Many wonderful hours lost to Alien Storm. I always played as the Robot of course.

[@retroarchives8379]

Nobody seems to remember Gilius also making a cameo as a shopkeeper in Shining in the Darkness on Genesis.

[@SlippyFox1]

I think the original Golden Axe game is perhaps one of the most perfect games ever made. I would really love to see a modern Frank Frazetta style Golden Axe game. Just imagine!

[@neoncrusader7244]

Considering your comment...Have you looked at Dragon's Crown? It's basically Golden Axe viewed through a super-exaggerated Frazetta-homage artstyle. It's bloody excellent too!

[@SlippyFox1]

Nice thanks I will definately check it out :)

[@ricosalvaje8131]

SlippyFox dragon crown is golden axe in modern times with online. Plus it's getting remastered for the ps4. Also have you played the capcom beat em up dungeons and dragons. That game is one of the best beat em ups of all time.

[@Larry]

I so wish Sega had the foresight to have made a Golden Axe sequel on the Mega Drive using the Streets of Rage II engine, what an awesome game that would have been. :(

[@blinkshadown]

Larry Bundy Jr HELLO YOU!!!

[@Phediuk]

Larry, I swear I see you in the comments of like 50% of the videos I watch.

[@retrospiel]

Nah, the GA2/3 team had their own engine that was more than capable enough. The one and only problem GA3 had was that it was not greenlit for international release which meant they had to stick to 8meg instead of 16meg like SOR2.

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

Larry Bundy Jr golden axe 2 was a game where I allowed my imagination to run away, thinking of all the improvements it would have before it was even released. Then it came out and,... oh! More of the same but not as good

[@RetroGamerBB]

i too wish sega would have had the forskin to use the streets of rage engine as well. check out bor for dreamcast/xbox/pc there is plenty of golden axe mods

[@googleboughtmee]

Golden Axe wasn't the only reason I asked for an MD for Xmas way back then, but it was the main reason. Really showed off how far ahead the system was from anything else you could get at home.

[@boblowes]

The hours I spent playing the Mega Drive version of the first game while I was a student... Great game. Great video. Thanks Kim Justice.

[@BlaizeV]

Kim your insights and sheer amount of research articulated so brilliantly is just great. Thanks so much for these truly great videos :D

[@SandroSensei]

Kim, I’ve bought the sega astro city mini JUST for the revenge of death adder. I played it only once in Florida at a local arcade, but I live in Holland so I havent played it since 2010. Its 11 years later and YESSSSSS I can finaly play it. I bought the arcade stick to get that arcade feel. Im so happy 🥳

[@hamstrungharry259]

I loved the series so much that I actually bought both the arcade versions of Golden Axe and Golden Axe the Revenge of Death Adder. Golden Axe meant a lot to me growing up.

[@littleNorwegians]

Still holding out for "Death Adder Goes Fourth " (Hey, you didn't use it in this video, so I'm stealing it from the previous one) I was surprised to see you do this as the original video felt so thorough. But there was a lot more to be said and I am glad you did such a classic series of games (Kim) justice :)

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Death Adder! Death Adder! You horrid little maaaaaaaan.

[@TheLocalFuzz]

Golden Axe 2 is my favourite of all the games I've played. It perfected the formula, and most importantly, the hit detection from the first game.

[@ShapeyFiend]

The "Ask Death Adder/Ask Ax Battler" advice column is Golden Axe's best kept secret. It's clears up who Death Guild is. Where Death Adder Junior is and generally fills in the lore far better than anything else I've seen.

[@wolfgangfrost8043]

Great job as always, Kim! Fantastic update to one of my favourite videos of yours! Much more thorough and objective overall. The only thing I can think of that's missing in this version is mentioning the "fat midget in his pants" from Golden Axe III. That was one of your all time funniest lines ever.

[@onaretrotip]

Great video, Kim! Tyris was always my go-to character as well in the first game.

[@Notsram77]

I cannot believe that Revenge of Death Adder hasn't seen a re-release of any kind after all of these years. That game was formative to my child-brain, and I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[@Paul07791]

The two skeletons at the end of the MD version are not immortal. They are damn tough though, it's a nice challenge to beat them before you beat Death Bringer.

[@adamfrazer5150]

One thing I immediately missed when moving from UK to 🇨🇦 is the compilations ! I missed those bargain beauties.

[@PowerRedBullTypology]

I remember I used to do the battle mode as a kid. Locate each of the enemies on the other side of you and then use the "right, right B" attack endlessly. Good times!

[@fihrilkamal7296]

Great review, I still playing this on my Ps3 sega ultimate collection.

[@desther7975]

For me, the PS3 controller is a drawback, but I did also play that version for a while. If I get back into it, it will be either on the PC using a real Genesis controller or on my hacked SNES Classic.

[@amerigocosta7452]

I remember beating the C64 version and seeing the end sequence. I'm pretty sure it was the budget re-release with the ending problem fixed.

[@Sut1978]

Fantastic video. I’ve had a shitty day and this has made me feel pumped for some Golden Axe. Thank you.

[@Grim177]

Vintage Kim Justice. Great stuff! Hope to catch you streaming again soon.

[@zacharygirgenti3790]

Please do more mega weeviews. I will watch just about anything you make though. Thanks for all the quality content.

[@carlosbfly]

Great video as always, for a great series. Love the intelligence and depth you bring.

[@Guernicaman]

There was also another attempt to bring back Golden Axe. There's a demo of a multiplayer 3D Golden Axe game online which looks & plays kinda similar to Double Dragon Neon.

[@MoonCatLaboratory]

Perfect Monday morning pick-me-up, a Kim Justice video.

[@voltron983]

When I was about 8 there was a pizza takeaway across the road from my school that had a Golden Axe arcade cabinet. One Friday afternoon I was knocked over by a car rushing from school to play the game. After that my stepdad bought me a megadrive and a copy of the game.

[@KirkJacobsonHere]

I swear my local chippie as a kid made more money from their Golden Axe machine than they did selling chips. It was a really fair game for a cabinet back then. You always got your money's worth, even if you weren't very good at beat-em-ups.

[@Stalopicus]

About the c64 porting of Golden Axe: you say it hadn't the final level, but I clearly remember my eleven yo self reaching Death Adder throne room... and losing. I searched through several longplays, and it turned some end in the fourth level, and some in the fifth, Death Adder battle and all. That's quite odd...

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Between the Dos port of this and the Dos port of Rastan, us PC owners were enjoying the hell out of some Conan inspired goodness.

[@DintheAbary]

happy to see you cover this again. GA:RoDA is one of my favorite games in the series next to GA3, while the latter was a bit underwhelming I liked the cast and some of the tunes.

[@Peepholecircus]

Perfect, just the kind of video I was looking for right now : D cheers

[@djmercenary6588]

One of the first arcade games i can remember loving, along with gauntlet and double dragon!

[@FoxyStoats]

Hey Kim! Great video as always, love my original cartridge of Golden Axe 1, and I've always got a soft spot for the Spectrum version. Any chance could get a video on the Splatterhouse series? Probably the only game series to truly get style over substance right, and while people hated on the remake that came out for Xbox 360, it is one of those games I feel that gets better if you stick to it past the first two chapters.

[@wilhelmschmidt7240]

Golden Axe was one game I spent many hours and coins on at the arcade. Definitely a classic.

[@LeeONardo]

Duel mode in Golden Axe 1 could be cheesed by using running attacks over and over. You could also do the almighty downward jump stab if you positioned yourself a little higher than the bottom of the screen, enemies would attempt to move further down but the hit box would touch them. Also the skeleton bodyguards of Death Bringer COULD be killed, they just had stupidly large health values, larger than Bringer himself lol.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

It is mind-blowing that Beast Rider came out within a year of Bayonetta and Arkham Asylum. It feels like a mediocre (albeit better-than-average looking) mid-era PS2 game. Great work as always, Kim!

[@onkkell]

Golden Axe III is by far my favorite for reasons including the improved controls and better graphics lol

[@pittsburghboyertown3821]

Enjoyed this content, Kim. I think this is the second time I've watched this video. I've always wished that someone in the fan hacking scene would fix Golden Axe 3's graphics with a palette adjustment or even new sprites. The gameplay there is really underrated and an actual evolution of the beat em up engine. It's just that the graphics and visual design choices ruin that experience. You nailed it with your comment of the graphics feeling like placeholders. If you can stick with it despite that though its a fun beat em up.

[@ravagingwolverine]

Lovely retrospective, Kim. I'm a big fan of Golden Axe as a series, at least until Revenge of Death Adder, and have spent tons of time playing the arcade original. It never gets old to me. I got my Genesis in 1991, and actually got Golden Axe 2 a day after getting the system. I grew up playing that one at home and love it as well. I've come to appreciate it more in recent years. While the Mega Drive port of the original is good, and the first game has those wonderful creative touches like the turtle and eagle that the sequel lacks, its changes and issues jump out at me due to how much time I spent with the arcade game. To me, the second game is a demonstration by the developers that the system could produce something even closer to the arcade original. But I agree, it's missing a bit of the character of the previous. I prefer part two on the Genesis, but I prefer the arcade original over that. I didn't like Revenge of Death Adder at first, but that's a very good one as well. As for Golden Axe 3, I agree that it feels unfinished with some of the graphics coming across as placeholders. However, some of the sprites and backgrounds weren't bad at all, along with some of the music. A shame that one didn't get more time and polish.

[@rennievidjagameman2000]

Another excellent review! Thank you.

[@solonsaturngaming3727]

My local used game shop has The revenge of Death Adder has it and i play it every day as The Centaur girl, great power, great magic, love it wish Sega could port this on the modern systems for online play.

[@Sandlot1992]

I kinda like the Golden Axe Sega Ages 2500 version and it was okay in my book!

[@adamphillip5305]

A fiver for Beast Rider, surely you could have found it for a quid in Cash Generator/Converters. Fantastic vid,

[@alexrobinson7655]

James Avery, not Roger Avery. RIP Uncle Phil.

[@fnjesusfreak]

James "Shredder" Avery?

[@edwarddillon5886]

The same. RIP.

[@Thriftbytes]

Mega Games 2 is a beast of a compilation!

[@ZEUSDAZ]

Golden Axe II on the megadrive was the most fun.

[@drakon32]

Great video. Love the MD version. I still play it once in a while.

[@grugonk]

Chronos in Golden Axe 3 has a super cheaty move that makes the game super easy.

[@madcommodore]

Methinks Kim forgets the revolutionary groundbreaking conversion of Marble Madness on the Amiga by EA in 1986 between Donkey Kong and Golden Axe in the bedrooms.

[@YadonTheCat]

I remember first playing Golden Axe on my uncle's PC. Must've been cracked, as the password to get past the copy protection was always GOLDEN

[@UXXV]

Ms dos version was epic as you rightly said! Great vid Kim!

[@lordfortescuesgamingodysse3547]

Great to see Golden Axe Warrior here! I love this game. I'm even considering shelling out the crazy eBay price for an original. I'm sure tightness will get the better of me, mind...maybe l'll keep checking out car boot sales for just a little while longer;)

[@LyingSecret]

Heh funny seeing you here :P You've got good taste as I suspected.

[@lordfortescuesgamingodysse3547]

Ha, yes - I'm a man of wealth and taste, as the song goes...only without the wealth bit...maybe Lord F can help me out;-) Tnis is a great channel - I just stumbled across it!

[@StevenCusic]

I thought Golden axe the duel was pretty dope specially when it first dropped, pretty sure in 1998 this mvsc, Sam sho 4, soul Calibur, the street fighter 3's and Tekken tag were the most played fighters in the arcade around my way

[@KuciCicata]

I loved the 3rd one as a kid!

[@Michirin9801]

I've never been a big fan of Golden Axe, but then again, I've only played the Mega Drive games, the 8 bit spin-offs, the fighting game and the 2nd arcade game all look pretty neat and I wouldn't mind trying them out! Especially the fighting game...

[@Ramjet164]

I cannot believe it’s 2017 and I’m still waiting for an official home version of revenge of death adder ffs! I will probably get the hover board that back to the future 2 promised me sooner.

[@x.kalibre]

Ah, I'm glad to see you've changed your opinion regarding Golden Axe II and III on the Mega Drive. =) The 2nd one does so many things right, despite being a completely boldless sequel. Plus, I absolutely love the intro. Short and badass, it's forever engraved in my mind ^^ And 3... well... it's just bland. I liked they upped the size of the characters, but it was such a big step down from SORII which had already came out. :S

[@moonwhistle]

My kingdom for a port of Revenge of Death Adder. What a beautifully designed game. Did they really lose the source code?

[@djanthony9759]

wish they would put it on a console looks so dope

[@jbmaru]

Loved that PC version! And it fit on one floppy :)

[@stevenixx3595]

odd, I very clearly remember playing golden axe 3 at a friends house on the MD, it was not imported

[@SonofSethoitae]

It was released on the Sega Channel in western markets.

[@chattingesque372]

Golden Axe The Duel was awesome

[@kuro68000]

I had the DOS version for CGA graphics... I don't remember the different modes though. Maybe there were two versions?

[@nitaigauranga3849]

Yeah! New KIm Justice Video!

[@Progearspec]

I all ways thought it was a shame.Sega,went with the duel instead for a port to the saturn instead of revenge of death adder.

[@DeconTheed92]

Golden Axe 3 is a deeply flawed game, but honestly? It has a permanent place in my heart for it’s soundtrack alone. It is perhaps not the most technically impressive sound programming wise, but compositionally, for me, it is absolutely rock solid. Not too surprising; it was done by Naofumi Hataya (Sonic CD, The Hybrid Front, Golden Axe 2’s sole composer) and Takayuki Maeda (probably most known for doing around half of the soundtrack for the MD version of Sonic 3D), so there’s serious talent backing it. Golden Axe 2 did have some fabulous music as well though, and I wholeheartedly agree; the Stage 1 BGMin that game is absolutely fantastic, and among my favourites from the series too. Also, my hot take on The Duel? I think it’s actually kinda underrated. It’s not necessarily a hidden gem or anything, but so many people have shit on it from a great height simply for not being a Beat ‘em Up when, really, the worst thing you can say about it is that it doesn’t do much to stand out against contemporaries like Samurai Shodown or Knuckle Heads. Beyond, I suppose, swapping out 1600s Japan for Medieval Europe. Still, it plays well enough, and I kinda dig the crazy character designs if nothing else; it’s, at least, an above average affair that’s a fun Sometimes game, and nowhere near the total failure a lot of people make it out to be. ... That it got ported and Revenge of Death Adder didn’t, though, is a tad baffling, even factoring in the then-rising popularity of fighters of the dwindling beat ‘em up genre.

[@krissymarklewis1793]

Was playing this on mame the other day and it is still boss.

[@krissymarklewis1793]

I like the Amiga version the best. graphics and magic are awesome

[@krissymarklewis1793]

I preferred the Amiga one over the arcade, the sound is far better and there's more of a sense of impact.

[@Rickles]

Golden Axe deserves the Sonic Mania treatment. I would love a modern reboot that weaves the Genesis game nolstalgia with arcade quality combat and new and old levels combined.

[@DeconTheed92]

Oh, pardon the double commenting, but the rearranged soundtrack for the Sega Ages remake of Golden Axe was, I believe, a David Whittaker joint. Which is at once a relief and also deeply depressing, given how well the rest of the product holds up (in that, it doesn’t).

[@CaptainRufus]

I would be lying if I didn't say 15-16 year old me didn't pause the Genesis in the middle of Tyris' spin attack to appreciate her backside. She had quite a nice one. And I'm not a butt guy. Though you would think it would have made me one.

[@brainimp]

Golden Axe 3 always felt unfinished, its like they hit their deadline and were told to add nothing more and clean up what they have and send it in.

[@Phediuk]

Hey Kim, have you thought about doing a Gargoyle Games feature? Tir Na Nog is one of the most incomprehensible games I've ever played, and I'd like to see if you can make any sense of it.

[@DirtyBoySingToGod]

Oh my gawd, i remember that game all of a sudden! Used to (try and) play that on my mate's speccy a lot, way back when. Never could get anywhere, but there was just something SO atmospheric about the graphics, especially at night. Speccy games always had that unique atmosphere, especially when substituting daytime palette for the monochrome blue look at night. Really nice, in it's day. Saboteur was another game that had a similar feel to it, despite it actually being a completely different game of course.

[@thegaminghellyoutubething]

an excellent overview, golden axe iii especially. i've been playing it for a review myself, and it amazes me that it came out shortly after ~streets of rage II~ and yet looks so shoddy (the lack of little touches of detail as in previous games really hurt it). the pacing is also very slow, compounded by enemies being able to block so much! as a little note, i imagine the duel came to saturn instead of revenge due to duel originally being on saturn-based arcade hardware. much easier to port. hopefully someday sega will get emulation wizards M2 on the case to bring it home~

[@ravagingwolverine]

the gaming hell youtube thing so strange that it came out after Streets of Rage 2, yet was a quarter of the size if i recall correctly. I believe GA3 was still only four megabits like the previous games, while SOR2 was 16 megabits. They could have done some interesting things with the series if they had 16 megabits to use for the Genesis/Mega Drive.

[@ravagingwolverine]

I have to correct my previous comment. GA3 was eight megabits, which wasn't bad, but 16 still could have made a nice difference. Either way, Golden Axe 3 always struck me as a game that was unfinished. I got the impression that a lot of the sprites were placeholders for stuff that was meant to be done later in development.

[@andrewnicorn]

How do you release these massive documentaries so quickly?

[@davidsantiagoalonso]

you made a crappy day good.... thankyou

[@tomkrawec]

Off work today, this is just amazing.

[@jcloiseau]

Oh! Peter Wingfield from highlander :D

[@nazishhussain2712]

The plot of this game sound like the last episode of all grown up

[@Silanda]

IMO Golden Axe 3's main problem could have been that it was overly ambitious for the ROM size it was allocated. Yes, it had double the ROM budget of the previous two games, but that was only 8Mb, which was unimpressive for a high profile game in mid '93. There had been 12Mb releases since '91, and 16Mb releases would become increasingly common, with the first 24Mb game only three months after GA3's release. They added two more playable characters than the previous games had, more moves, and branching pathways, and the whole thing felt like they were squeezing too much into too little space, resulting in bland backgrounds and poor animation.

[@potstella]

I'm sure my mega drive came with sonic, but did borrow one with alter beast

[@RyanDanielG]

Another great job!

[@gernonjones8871]

Hey Kim justice, do you think you go to Max will come back in the future? And do you also think, that streets of rage should make a comeback is well

[@nilkilnilkil]

I wish Revenge of Death Adder would get a console port.

[@markshawjr.1923]

Love your vids!

[@greg1982little]

I like this before the video had even started!!!

[@youaintseenmeok]

Damn i always press that spell button

[@rickychappell7179]

So since it been 6 years and a new one coming out you making a new video on golden axe?

[@luisdramos4532]

Great Job!!!

[@WanderlustZero]

10:25 Hoooooly shit, justice at last

[@WolfestoneManor]

Is Death Adder the evil twin of Black Adder?

[@iSTOR]

I think maybe you forgot to say that PC port also has... an additional stage!!!!

[@artemismeow]

Great vid, thank you

[@SegaCDUniverse]

Ever think of covering Gauntlet or even the more obscure Dungeon Explorer? =)

[@boke75]

Kim, you're too nice about the Amiga and Atari ST ports. I was really let down by the Amiga port after sinking so many quarters in the Arcade version (sooooo awesome graphics). The Amiga port was choppy, hard to control and, yes, wayyyyyy to easy. Another diskette to the garbage.

[@IceDelight]

It's sad to see how rubbish the last few Golden Axe games were, I think I still have a sealed copy of Beast Rider somewhere. Some day there will probably be a revival, like there is with SOR, lets hope it's good though!

[@lordfortescuesgamingodysse3547]

Ha, yes - I'm a man of wealth and taste, as the song goes...only without the wealth bit...maybe Lord F can help me out;-) Tnis is a great channel - I just stumbled across it!

[@lordfortescuesgamingodysse3547]

Oops, sorry - this was meant as reply to LyingSecret! This is a great channel, though:-)

[@lennyblade]

Kim did you unstrap your bass for good? Kinda miss you bass vids

[@lilytheditto986]

Not sure if this has been brought to your attention yet, but I figured you'd get a kick out of this: There is/was (not sure of their current status) a southern California band called Jahmbi (named after the headless genie on Pee-wee's Playhouse) with a song titled Golden Axe based on the game. Nothing special, but it shows the far-reaching cultural Impact of the game series. Link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKiQgqR9d7mAodk