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Golden Axe Warrior
Sega Master System
Zelda = Killed
4.5/5 stars
Back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, the ongoing console wars between the dominant Nintendo and the also-ran Sega saw a great amount of copying. Whenever Nintendo introduced a new type of game on the NES, Sega, or one of the third-parties that was active at the time, would attempt to copy it and create an even better ‘Game Killer’ that would knock Nintendo’s creation off its pedestal. Nintendo made Mario, Sega made Sonic, and on and on. Perhaps one of the holiest grails of Game Killing was a game that would topple “The Legend of Zelda” from its place of reverence in gamers’ hearts. The archetypal action/adventure still stands as one of the NES’ best games, and other game companies still crib off Nintendo’s original design notes.
What few realize is that Sega actually succeeded in creating a ‘Zelda’ Killer in 1991, just as the SNES and Genesis were taking off… only instead of making this game for their new, powerful, and somewhat well-known 16-bit Genesis hardware, Sega put “Golden Axe Warrior” (“GAW”) on their almost-completely-unknown 8-bit Sega Master System. The sad thing is, if “GAW” had been a Genesis game, it would have attracted a lot of attention.
Presentation
Despite the four-year gap between the release of “The Legend of Zelda” and “GAW,” I find it impossible to discuss the merits of the latter without comparing it to the former. As an 8-bit game, “GAW” looks spectacular. The color pallet is huge compared to that of the NES, the environments actually have natural-looking and vibrant colors, and the sprites for everything from environmental tiles to enemies to characters have a lot of fine detail. Enemies and characters aren’t particularly well animated, however, sticking mostly with 2 frames. Unlike “The Legend of Zelda,” which requires stupid amounts of trial-and-error to find secrets, “GAW” has sensible visual cues for almost every secret (choppable bushes don’t look different from regular bushes, but chopping is a cost-free activity). Aside from bushes, there are subtle indications of which walls are climbable and a special item that differentiates breakable boulders from unbreakable ones.
The soundtrack in “GAW” is also quite pleasant. While it can’t compare with the 16-bit MIDI of “A Link to the Past,” the sound quality is better than the chiptunes produced by the NES. There are a number of catchy tunes that I found stuck in my head after playing, which is always a sign of quality composition.
Story
Perhaps the single greatest thing about “GAW” when compared to “The Legend of Zelda” is the fact that “GAW” contains absolutely NO Engrish. The translation and localization are spectacular. All of the NPCs speak in complete, grammatically correct sentences, and it’s possible to figure out what to do in the game simply by talking to the characters in the game. Unlike “The Legend of Zelda,” everything in the progression of the game’s plot makes sense and doesn’t require a strategy guide or FAQ. It’s amazing! I didn’t think this kind of clarity was possible in an 8-bit game, considering how Nintendo was never able to pull it off.
The narrative in “GAW” tells the story of three peaceful kingdoms which were able to defeat an evil giant named Death Adder in the past thanks to the power of 9 orbs. These orbs allowed the kingdoms to maintain their peaceful and prosperous existence without fear of invasion. But over time, the people became too complacent and lost control of the orbs. Death Adder, biding his time for years, took this opportunity to seize the orbs and hide them within monster-infested labyrinths. It is up to our hero, a royal heir, to retrieve the orbs and ultimately unlock the resting place of the titular Golden Axe, the only weapon in the world capable of harming Death Adder.
As our nameless hero explores the world, he comes across a number of towns that have been sacked and looted by Death Adder’s minions. He also finds a large number of survivors and refugees hiding out in caves hidden under nearly every bush and rock. While, ultimately, this narrative is quite simple and basic, it is presented well, clearly, and with a constant flow of new characters providing advice about where to look for hidden treasures and for the entrance to the next labyrinth. In all, I’d say a first-time playthrough of “GAW” takes about 15 hours to complete with no outside help.
Gameplay
“GAW” is “The Legend of Zelda.” It’s an action adventure game with a top-down perspective. Our hero moves from screen to screen, where he must kill monsters that appear in puffs of smoke, search for hidden rooms (which are on almost every screen), and figure out how to bypass geographical obstacles. After exploring an area thoroughly, the hero inevitably discovers the entrance to a labyrinth. These labyrinths are conveniently labeled with their number (1-9) in the first room to ensure players don’t accidentally try to complete them out of order. Each labyrinth hides a treasure chest that contains a useful tool to aid in exploration, and culminates in a battle against a boss monster for control of the labyrinth’s orb.
Each orb grants the hero an additional heart on his life meter (in addition to the handful of hearts hidden in the overworld). In addition to hearts, the hero has another meter made of magic pots that allow him to cast spells from the 4 magical scrolls hidden throughout the world. Two of these scrolls are mandatory for completing the game, while the other two are optional bonuses. When injured or low on magic, our hero can stay at an inn (to refill hearts) or buy magic pot refills at certain vendors. Other vendors throughout the game sell a variety of useful items, ranging from a medium-strength shield to Golden Apples that act as single-use heal-all items.
Our hero can switch which weapon or tool he is using from a subscreen, but will automatically use certain items in the right situations, like the canoe, ship (yes, he finds a ship in a treasure chest), and magic rope. And in the tools we find the few tiny flaws in “GAW” that prevent it from being absolutely perfect. Instead of having two equipped items slots that allow him to use one item with each of the two face buttons on the controller, “GAW” assigns one button to open the menu and the other for all tool use, with the Start button, which should be used to open the menu, assigned to a completely pointless ‘pause’ function. Swapping items out of this single slot is cumbersome and annoying. The other small problem with the tools available in “GAW” when compared to “The Legend of Zelda” is that there is no ‘free’ ranged attack. In “The Legend of Zelda,” Link could throw sword beams for free if his hearts were full and could always just chuck a boomerang at a monster to stun it temporarily. In “GAW,” our hero must burn magic in order to cast a generic ranged shot from the thunder scroll or a stunning shot from the earth scroll… and the earth scroll eats up an entire magic pot per use, while the thunder scroll can be used three times per pot. As a result of this lack of ranged abilities, combat in “GAW” is extremely dangerous. The lack of hitstun and knockback for enemies means that running up and stabbing one will frequently result in it sliding down the length of our hero’s blade and beating on him anyway.
Overall
Outside of the flaws in the tool and combat systems, the only other thing wrong with “Golden Axe Warrior” is that it came out in the same year as “A Link to the Past,” but compares more favorably to the original “Legend of Zelda,” with its single-floor labyrinths and small, grid-based overworld. In essence, “GAW” is a ‘Zelda’ game of a complexity midway between the original action/adventure and its unsurpassed 16-bit sequel. Anyone who loves 2D ‘Zelda’ should definitely check out “GAW.” It’s an incredibly well-made game that manages to still be an incredibly fun experience despite its mere 8-bits. The worst thing about “GAW” is that Sega never bothered to keep the ‘Golden Axe’ franchise moving in the action/adventure direction, instead keeping all subsequent games in the beat ‘em up genre of the original “Golden Axe.” “GAW” is one spin-off that didn’t get the attention it rightly deserved.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
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