Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe Longplay (Game Gear) [60 FPS]

Developed by Aspect and published by Sega in 1991. Follow me on Twitter:   / al82_retro   Add me on Google+:
Golden Axe is one of the most famous arcade games of all time and would have been a regular feature headlining arcades during the late 1980's and early 90's. Given it's popularity, it's not surprising that to see a number spin-off titles featuring on the home consoles. Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe is one such title and features the titular hero from the arcade game in his own adventure. Ax Battler is a curious mash-up of RPG and side-scrolling action genres. The majority of the game takes place within the overworld map. Ax Battler must move around the map in order to find new locations, towns and dungeons on his quest to reclaim the Golden Axe. Moving across the landscape has a random chance to initiate an encounter with a monster, at which point the game switches perspective with an ominous fan-fare and epilepsy-inducing flash of the screen. Unlike RPGs that implement turn based combat (e.g. Earthbound, Final Fantasy), Ax Battler implements a real-time combat system where the player must hack the opponent to death in order to achieve. Each monster type encountered has a different attack pattern to be memorised and Ax Battler must carefully time his strikes to avoid being hit. Should he get hit, one half of an energy bar will be lost and the fight will instantly end with the player being returned to the map screen; the only way to win fights is to deplete all of the opponent's health without getting hit in return. Victory is greeted by a screen informing that the player than a number of magic vases have been found. Vases act as the game's currency and can be spent at any of the inns in the various towns and will restore any lost health. The vases also enable Ax Battler to cast magic spells against his opponents, just like the original arcade game. The player can select the spell type by pressing the start button, with each type costing more vases. Unfortunately, I decided to stock pile vases for what I expected to be the final boss fight, only to find that there isn't one, so I failed to use magic at any point in the video. During his adventurers, Ax Battler will find a number of settlements and he is free to talk to the various inhabitants. Doing so will reveal additional elements of the story, but talking is completely optional in this game, apart from a single NPC that provides you with a compass. Each town also houses a training facility that enables Ax Battler to learn a new combat move if he is able to defeat the monster located in the training room; these are always the same as the monsters that can be found in the main game, so there is nothing surprising here in this respect. The extra moves typically do more damage and offer more options when fighting monsters. There are are also a number of horizontally scrolling platform sections in the game where Ax Battler must find an object to continue his quest, or to simply find safe passage through a dangerous cave or mountain pass. These sections are undoubtedly the toughest part of the game as there are usually plenty of traps and enemies that drop out of nowhere (bats!). The combat sections boast some really nice, chunky sprites and all of the enemies are taken from the original arcade game and certain sections, such as Turtle Village and the flying eagle also feature. Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe is generally a polished, if slightly shallow experience. There is very little substance to the RPG elements other than the overworld map and the ability to talk to people; there are no skill points or experience and the only discernible improvement to the character other than the additional moves. Similarly, the combat is too simple and only the skeleton warriors present much a of a challenge; if you have good reactions and timing then you'll burn through the game in a very short period of time. Perhaps most disappointingly of all is the fact that Death Adder appears as a regular enemy and there is no final, climatic boss fight before the game ends. Simply getting through the final dungeon section will result in a brief and slightly obscure ending sequence before the credits roll. I still own the original cartridge for this on Sega Game Gear and, while I wasn't disappointed with the game back then, I think I would be more critical of the game now knowing that there is very little depth to the gameplay. Ax Battler is by no means a bad game, but it's a shame that there isn't more to it. #retrogaming