Golden Axe

Golden Axe takes place in the medieval fantasy land of Yuria, which has fallen under the control of the warlord Death Adder. He has kidnapped the king and princess, seized the legendary Golden Axe, and threatens the kingdom with destruction unless his rule is accepted. Three warriors, each with a personal reason for revenge, set out to defeat Death Adder and free the land: Ax Battler, a barbarian whose mother was killed; Tyris Flare, an amazon seeking vengeance for her murdered family; and Gilius Thunderhead, a dwarf avenging his brother. Their journey takes them through villages, wilderness, ruins, and fortresses on the way to Death Adder’s stronghold, culminating in a final battle against Death Adder and his guards.

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling beat ’em up in which the player moves from left to right while fighting waves of enemy soldiers, knights, skeletons, and other creatures. Each character has a different weapon and feel: Ax Battler fights with a broad sword, Tyris Flare uses a long sword, and Gilius Thunderhead attacks with a short-handled axe. Players can slash, jump, perform jump attacks, and use running charges to knock down enemies. At close range, characters can also throw or knock down opponents, making it possible to escape groups or send enemies into hazards. Since enemies often attack in groups or from both sides, positioning and crowd control are central to survival.

Hardware & Development:

The main developer of Golden Axe and Altered Beast was Makoto Uchida, who stated in multiple interviews that he drew inspiration from Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' and Robert E. Howard's 'Conan the Barbarian'.

The Game ran on a 68000 CPU clocked at about 12 MHz on a custom System 16B board. The hardware was nearly identical to that used by ESWAT, Toryumon, and MVP.