Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe for Sega Game Gear - A Review | hungrygoriya
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ธ.ค. 2024
- Spoiler warning: this video contains end-game spoilers from 16:57 - 18:53.
Ax Battler A Legend of Golden Axe for the Sega Game Gear was one of the most underwhelming games I've played in a long time. It has many components good games normally do, but failed miserably in many aspects of its execution. 🍖
The HG logo and outro assets were created and designed by Saad Azim.
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#retrogaming #axbattler #segagamegear #sega
"this Julie person" is probably Julie Bell, legendary partner of the also legendary Boris Vallejo 🤓 She's not only an amazing artist but also a bodybuilder who modelled for many of Boris' classic paintings
Correct! Both her and Boris did a ton of excellent box art for Western games. Julie did several for Sega
I wonder if she had Boris model for this one in her stead :D
Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo, awesome barbarian fantasy artists
I was thinking it looked familiar. I met them at a week-long masterclass. Super nice couple
This is apparently her first box art. Glad to know other folks recognize and appreciate her work!
The mention of Julie Bell! She was a painting instructor of mine. She's so talented even with getting a later start at artwork than most artists. She's best known amongst gamers for her classic fantasy artwork, but she also paints absolutely gorgeous animals.
Glad to see another Hungry Goriya review!
Lucky! I have one of her paintings. She and Boris are extremely talented!
Oh wow! It must've been cool to work with someone so talented! I love hearing stories of people who tapped into talent later in life.
@@hungrygoriya Yeah! She told me she met her husband, Boris Vallejo, when she modeled for his work. She used to be a bodybuilder, so if you look at Boris' older fantasy paintings that feature pretty jacked women, at least some of them will feature Julie. Unless I'm misremembering, I believe she took up painting after then.
Even though I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold a crayon, I find it inspiring that someone can become that good without being some child prodigy. I was lucky to learn a bit from her.
Lol, I love the abbreviations! I read D.Adder as Dadder. Dadder, the final boss of Dads! 🤣
Right? Or the leader of an evil dad brigade.
@@hungrygoriya They will never rest until they have acquired the world's supply of barbecue grills!
Man the second my cat saw that chipmunk on the screen he jumped up to get it at light speed lol
RIP to your screen, haha
"Panic pauser" should totally be the name of a gaming mag/website. Great video!
Thank you so much!
I'm impressed by your lighting direction in this video. All the real world footage looks effortlessly polished.
I'm shocked that HG would grace this honestly obscure and insignificant title with a review. Great review though! Always excited to see an HG review. Odd that it didn't show up in my feed though. Thanks as always, our holy matron of retro.
It needed to be said! And weird that it didn't pop up for you but I appreciate you tracking it down and watching anyway. Thank you!
Your video production skills keep getting better and better. I watched you play this on stream, it really put your legendary patience to the test!
Thank you very much! I owe a lot of that video sparkle to my husband. He's been helping a lot with taking photos and videos to spice up the visuals beyond the gameplay footage.
And thanks for checking out the streams as well! I was so glad I made it to the end on that final run. I didn't think I was going to make it!
"You guys, Death Adder is here." Perfect.
Loved the Game Gear footage.
That's usually how my streams go. Lots of "uh oh" and "oh no" along the way since many games are a first playthrough for me.
And thank you! My husband's been doing a lovely job setting up some cool shots of the consoles and games to kick up the quality of my videos.
@@hungrygoriya Well tell him he's doing a great job.
I wonder if the weapon names run in the Battler family. Like Ax's father was the famous Hammer Battler and his father Spear Battler. And they're expected to use the weapon they're named after but Ax was such a rebel he chose sword instead.
I kinda hope this is actually true, haha
Beautiful! Hitting the notification bell pays dividends yet again.
Awww thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to watch!
@@hungrygoriya every time! always a day one watch for me if possible.
The box art is actually what got me to pick this game as a kid :D I still own it, still enjoy playing it (to a point).
Thank you for the review!
The artwork's amazing! And you're very welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to check out the video here.
Imagine coming home from school looking for respite from getting bullied, only for your game gear to pile on with even more bullying. HA!
Right? I hate when games are mean to me like that. The intro said that the main character was supposed to be the best in the land to take on the job so I'd like to know who all these other jerks are, claiming they're better!
I recall getting the chance to play this game, the very last day of junior high. The homeroom teacher was a gamer and brough a bunch of stuff i never had the chance to play. It took 30 minutes with Ax Battler to give up, and hearing this review, seems im not alone in my impression.
I dont mind hard games, but any loss needs to feel...preventable and something you can adapt to.
You have framed that sentiment very well. At no point did I feel like I could predict or adapt to anything as it was happening. It was always taking a death and having to take another full run at a section before I could try it again. That was incredibly frustrating.
What a cool teacher you had! That's awesome!
Darkening the area around the Game Gear screen to get it to better show up on camera was a pretty ingenious filming technique!
I have only my husband to blame for all the nice camera work. Thank you for the compliment!
@@hungrygoriya He's clearly good at what he does. Props.
@@hungrygoriyaWhich of you got the chipmunk to make an appearance? 😁
Great choice! Love how you always review so many of my childhood favs!
I was drawn to this game as a kid simply cus it looked like Dragon Warrior & I was absolutely THIRSTY for games like that one as a youngin'.
Oh nice! Glad to have hit another game you're fond of from back then. I wish I liked this one more, but it is what it is.
@hungrygoriya Lol like is a strong word. I was drawn to it for those reasons. I had many of the same issues with it you did. I was expecting an RPG & got something else.
But it was one of the few games I had at the time so I learned to like it I suppose. I have fond nostalgic memories of it nonetheless. Perhaps childhood fav wasn't the right term. You tend to review games that interest me is what I should have said.
That game finale almost makes me wonder if they knew how tough they had made the final level, bug felt it was too late to change the level design so they just cut the boss.
Or designing the level took so much time that they didn't have enough time left to make a boss- that is also a possibility.
All good points. I wish I could find out what happened because that ending was really something else.
Oh yeah! Game Gear content! Let's do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been buying Japanese GG games lately because I have all the NA ones at the local game store.
Also, never finished this game but I have enjoyed playing it!
Always enjoy your reviews, my dear! I was watching some older videos of yours recently. This is a fun channel. And nobody covers Game Gear, so this is great!
Oh nice! Any good Japan exclusives you'd recommend based on your recent purchases? And other than the excruciating difficulty towards the end of the game, at the very least, this one kept me laughing all the way through with all its surprises.
Thank you very much about the channel! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch whatever I'm putting out, but the older stuff as well.
@@hungrygoriya I've got 20 Japanese GG games and it's a good mix of weird stuff, cool stuff and things I have NA versions of.
I don't have the NA version of Defender Of Oasis but I got the Japanese version.
Virtua Kids Pai Chan and House of Tarot are both super weird, but Griffin and GG Aleste are good shooters. The other Japanese RPG's I also have the NA versions so, I'd play those versions instead.
Some of them, I have no idea what they even are like Kaitou Saint Tail, Kuni Chan no Game Tengoku and Taisen-gata Daisenryaku G.
But some games like Ristar, Lucky Dime Caper and Psychic World are basically exactly the same as the NA versions.
Game Gear is my favorite to collect for. 251 games including 25 doubles for 2 player games and a link cable. Some of them are even not baseball.
You want a laugh? Check out how many baseball games are on GG. It's ridiculous. And they're ALL 2 player.
If I can afford it, I'll buy any game I don't already have! And I'm always excited for discussion of this underrated (imo) handheld unit!
The plot of this seems a lot like the plot of most other gameboy/game gear RPGs I've played. Very, very simplistic, like it was written for 6 year olds, while the gameplay feels like it's meant for an older crowd.
On the bright side, it takes place in the game series' universe so that's a nice touch. I've played way too many games where an evil person is either being unsealed from captivity or has stolen an important artifact of goodness that will result in the world's destruction.
Was thrilled to see you cover this! I had this game as a kid and I absolutely loved it. Having a top down "rpg" on a handheld, especially the game gear, in color! was very cool at the time and I played the hell out of it even though I never got very far because of the difficultly. I had never played Zelda 2 so the overworld/side on battle thing seemed really cool. I always considered it a hidden gem but I have gone back and played it in the last few years and I have to agree with your assessment. It's a bit of a rough ride. I'll always love it for what it was but it isn't exactly something I could recommend to anyone.
It's definitely a rough ride, but there's still some fun to be had in there. The difficulty raises the stakes quite a bit, but I just wish it wasn't so unforgiving when you make mistakes. I don't feel like I can really recommend it either.
Comprehensive, critical, and well-penned review. Really enjoying the content on this channel.
Oh thank you! It's nice to hear that you're enjoying the channel so far!
I love how you upload on my days off usually. I just wanted you to know that you're my favorite channel and I'm always happy to see what you upload. Thank you for all the great videos.
What a fun coincidence! I don't really have a schedule per se, so it's funny that it seems to line up that way for you.
And thank you so much for your kindness. I'm glad you enjoy the videos!
I also was left disappointed that this game wasn't a traditional RPG. All I wanted as a kid was another by the numbers but well made JRPG in the vein of Dragon Warrior, but they were rarer than they should have been at the time, at least in the U.S.
I still enjoyed the game & played it quite a bit as a kid, but it was always a bit too difficult for me at that age. Could never get thru that tower you have to cross through.
This is a game that really needed an SMS port for a wider field of view, and I'm honestly kind of shocked that it never got said port.
I really wonder why it didn't end up on the Master System too! That's a good point. So many Game Gear games got the Master System treatment and this seems like a perfect candidate, especially since Golden Axe was already on there!
It's something of a Galden Axe tradition for the ax battler to use a sword. I think in the original game, he was the owner of the Golden Axe, but then Death Adder came by and stole it. So now the poor axe battler has to hunt it down. After that I think they just wanted to keep him the same as the first game for the sake of familiarity. Either that or they somehow thought an axe battler was someone who battles against axes.
I'm also getting very confused now about whether Sega wants it spelled "Axe" or "Ax."
Interesting lore! I've played the first Genesis game and Golden Axe Warrior, but I can't say I'm on the up and up with all the details. Thanks for the information, especially that tidbit about someone who battles against axes. That makes sense!
And the spelling is totally lost on me. They spell it two ways in the game title!
Thanks for another thorough, fair, and interesting review! I really enjoy your videos.
This is really nice to hear. Thank you so much!
love your videos so much!! really good in depth reviews of each game.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for going through the pain of that game on our behalf! It was fun to learn about it - i certainly played Golden Axe as a kid, but never even heard of this one!
It gave me some good laughs at least! I played Golden Axe on the Genesis 6-Pak cartridge back in the day, and that was my only experience with it other than playing Golden Axe Warrior when I finally got a Master System.
This and Psychic World were favorite Game Gear titles by far when I was a kid. Sadly, I found it was impossible to beat this one before either my batteries or my patience gave out. Still have fond memories of it though.
With his orange legs and blue underwear, I always thought the main guy was supposed to be Lion-O from Thunder Cats. Also around the same time, I watched Black Adder and wondered if it was somehow connected to the "Dadders" from this game. This really brought back memories of how sort of dumb I was in early grade school, lol.
Psychic World's awesome! I loved the Master System version and tried out the Game Gear game a little while back. It was different enough to feel like a brand new game.
I love that you were making connections between series like that! I didn't watch too much Thundercats growing up since it was just before my sentient years, but my husband's a fan. I'll pass that tidbit along to him and I'm sure he'll get a good laugh out of it.
Oh, I remember this one... A friend - the only one I knew who'd also had a Game Gear - had previously lent me Shinobi 2: The Silent Fury, which immediately became one of my all-time favorite games; I couldn't get enough! When he'd asked me if I wanted to borrow this, I excitedly brought it home and popped it into my Game Gear. ...😒 Not really much to add, because you said it all here, but it's a shame that this turned out the way it did; one of my favorite NES titles is Zelda 2, and this could've stood right next to it without all the unfortunate design choices. Since the game isn't going to say it, though, congrats on a job well done; the game you've conquered is no small accomplishment!
Awwww I'm sorry that this one was such a disappointment for you. At least you got to try Shinobi 2! I've heard that one's fun.
And thank you so much for the congratulations. That's awfully kind of you!
Boris and Julie are famous for their beautiful fantasy artwork, which looks very similar to each other! Boris was responsible for the cover art for the other Golden Axe games!
Thank you for making this video, even you reviewing a game you don't like is cozy and relaxing. Bit different than AVGN XD
Boris and Julie sound like amazing people that I'm going to have to read up on. Thanks for pointing them out to me!
And it was my pleasure. I'm glad you found the video cozy despite some of my crankiness about it.
Early gang is always waiting for a new Hungry Goriya!
Yay! Thanks for your enthusiasm!
It looked fun to play, but I'm so glad you went through the journey to the end, lol. Well, I do like the graphics, but I'm probably not going to pick it up. Thank you for your review. I am always looking forward to your videos.
Honestly, I have a hard time recommending this one unless you like underwhelming gaming experiences.
Thanks for taking the time to check this one out!
The concept of having to train to level up comes from old editions of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It was a narrative thing to explain what your character did when not adventuring. It was optional and you couldn't fail, but you did have to pay
Paying in this game would've been so horrible. I can see that being something big in D&D though!
It was just a variant rule. If all players agree you just get enough XP and "poof" level up immediately. I never used it myself
I watch your twitch streams from time to time but these prepared videos are my favorite. I hope you keep up with these.
I do hope to keep up with TH-cam videos for a long time. Thanks for checking out the streams as well!
This is a fantastic review, and matches my feelings about it as an adult pretty well! As a kid I was too foolish to know any better and the game infuriated me. Didn't stop me from playing it though as the game was one of a few given to me by a family friend along with Super Columns and Mortal Kombat! Don't think I ever beat it though.
This game, though, has its reputation, and you've definitely experienced that firsthand. It's widely seen as a bad game (even having been showcased in two Kusogrande tournaments) and try as it might, it's hard to shake that reputation when the gameplay just comes off as cheap by the end. It definitely tried something new and different, so I can give it credit for that at least.
My philosophy with games, though, tends to be "A bad game is better than a forgettable one" so it gets points for that! It's actually why I've enjoyed most of the games I've played from the aforementioned tournaments. I've actually got this game on the list of ones I want to go back and beat, so this was a good reminder of what to expect!
I think there's definitely good in every game, but in this case, the bad far outweighs the good. It's memorable for its silliness, especially what unfolds towards the end of the adventure. I hope you do get around to finishing it one of these days just to say you did. I believe in you!
I only dabbled in this game for a bit back when emulation was still a novelty and yeah had a very similar impression. Wasn't expecting some deep console like experience but figured at the very least there could be a touch more depth than what we actually got. As a huge Golden Axe fan when it was a more relevant series this was very much a missed opportunity.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. And a missed opportunity's a great way to put it. There was a lot of potential here that feels untapped.
Always a pleasant surprise when you upload
Thank you! I really enjoy making these videos.
Nice review! I'll definitely steer away from this one. You've listed a lot of things here that I don't think I'd get along well with :D I'm surprised I seem to have missed this one completely on stream. It might have been before my time or during one of my twitch hiatuses.
It may have been during a hiatus since we played it a few months ago. It was a Friday game that only lasted for two weeks. Very easy to miss!
Interesting review about a game I had never heard of, good thoughts, also yes this is me poking at the engagement gods for you, keep up the good work!
Thank you kindly for poking them for me, and for taking a chance on something you aren't too familiar with. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Great review, thanks for digging into this one! The video definitely made me want to pick up Golden Axe Warrior again...
I hope you do try to finish Golden Axe Warrior again some day. I believe in you!
Are you using a Helios lens for your shot of the SG-100? That bokeh swirl looks like mine.
Great review as always!
Yes! That's exactly the lens that was used. What a keen eye you have!
@@hungrygoriya You have great taste in vintage glass! I love my 44-2.
That intro was slick! Also, don't think I didn't notice He-Man hiding behind a console back there... ... ... I might be a little too stuck in the 80's still...
He-Man's just normal for me too, haha... that's my battle chest one from my childhood. I have Skeletor too!
@@hungrygoriya Heh, my mom just went back to my old hometown to try to get rid of an old storage shed, and she brought back a ton of action figures. I'm currently trying to figure out how to use my 3D printer to fix a "Terror Claws Skeletor" arm that got chewed by our dog back in, like '87 or something.
@@SirRosser I wish you luck on the 3D printing journey. My husband still has a lot of his Ninja Turtles toys from when he was a kid, and most of them are missing the same arm. That's not something 3D printing's going to solve though, haha
It sounds like the PSG noise channel is used in some music in the game as a crude low-pitched pulse wave generator; this is the case in Marble Madness for the SMS.
Thank you so much!
That’s the case here. It’s a cool trick rarely heard.
Game Gear color palette really pops on this one!!
It's a very bright and pretty game, even if the gameplay's a bit lacking.
Wow, Hungry Goriya chipmunk reveal! Finally. 😅
There was one in my last video too!
@@hungrygoriya So what do you call this chipmunk? Alviiiiiin?
Thanks for the review!
At first, I thought that a similar game would be Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, as you mentioned how streamlined it was, but it got harder and harder. Maybe kids would have been ok with that, as they may not really have expectations about exploration and may just have the patience and time to beat it (assuming a kid that grew with 8 bit games).
It wasn't very clear at first that the game characters were from Golden Axe indeed. From the enemy graphics, I started to see high similarities and looked into a Golden Axe wiki. The blue clad swordsman is actually named Ax Battler and there are Death Adders, Amazons, Skeletons, Bad Brothers and Knights. The final boss is called Death Bringer, so I'm guessing that they got that wrong. (Update: scratch that, it seems that Death Adder is the actual final boss of the arcade version of Golden Axe and Death Bringer only appears in the home (ms-dos and megadrive) versions.
Have you played Demon's Crest (SNES)? If not, you definitely would enjoy it :).
Other than Golden Axe Warrior on the Master System, I've really only played Golden Axe on the Genesis and recognized some of the bosses and enemies from that game. I'm not super informed on the series, so thanks for the breakdown here!
I have played Demon's Crest and I really enjoyed it! I also loved the first two games in that series as well. All three are fantastic.
@@hungrygoriya it's nice to hear you played all of them! I remember being delightedly surprised the first time I played the NES Gargoyle's Quest (hard to expect a good game based on a non-boss enemy of Ghost 'n Goblins). I think I haven't played the Gameboy one. I should give it a try :).
Great work as always. Never played it, but I love the bright and colorful look. I'd have been defeated by the janky fighting, especially those limited 6 hits and no healing! How wild. Do you think these aspects were due to it being on GameGear instead of a console? Like the lack of good magic, no healing, etc? You mentioned the button for magic was for pausing normally, maybe it'd have been different on a console?
Thanks very much! I love how this game looks too. Everything on the Game Gear looks fantastic. I feel like handheld games can be good if there's time and care put into them. This game feels rushed in a lot of ways, and certainly unpolished. I think it just needed more time in the oven overall.
Thanks again for another video. you are my favorite video game reviewer on youtube. Keep 'em coming!
Oh thank you so much! That's very kind of you to say!
I had a similar case, that battery pack, all of that. It's just missing the games and the TV tuner. That battery pack was a damn good idea, not only for convenience but the environment. 6 batteries, and you went through them faster than the 4 with the Game Boy. I had both and loved both, though. Traded the whole Game Gear mess for a Dreamcast. By then the system was probably just worn down enough to still be appreciated by the next person, but hopefully with some cosmetic refurbishing. It worked just fine when I traded it though, after like 5-6 years of use.
And I had Axe Battler, the only RPG I got into at that time other than Zelda. I don't think I beat it, but I played pretty far into it. Actually I played another RPG that was also on Game Gear, with the dragon egg that follows you around randomly constructed maps that are based on your level.
I actually just picked up that case not too long ago. I didn't grow up with a Game Gear, but my husband did and played a lot of games on long car rides. I did have a Game Boy though, and that thing wasn't allowed to leave the house. I had to play it at home and plugged into the wall since my parents didn't want to give me any batteries for it.
It's cool that your Game Gear got to live a new life with someone else eventually. I hope the DreamCast era of your life was a good one!
And are you talking about playing Dragon Crystal? I've played a bit of that on the Master System and haven't come close to being able to finish it. I got on one very good run and ended up on Floor 23 of 30. To this day, that's still my best run (I have a video of that deep in the channel somewhere).
Yes, I was describing Dragon Crystal. It's one of those where it's identical to the Master System version, except on a lower resolution, smaller portable screen. But identical game.
I don't know if Dragon Crystal can ever be beaten. If I got to the area 28 or 29 like you said I'd be a little surprised but not too surprised. I bought it on a recommendation from a friend and had a lot of fun with it, but again, if there is an ending to Dragon Crystal, I haven't seen it. Thank goodness for save states.
Aside from this, I never got into RPGs outside of Zelda, and am looking to get into more of them now, but Dragon Crystal wound up being my introduction to item management being kind of a big deal. And it works for a noob, because there is barely any story.
EDIT: I just checked them out again. They aren't identical. Different look, different music. But basically the same game.
I never had a Game Gear, but the gameplay of this sort of reminds me of the Exile series on the TurboGrafx CD (minus the random encounters). Those games aren't particularly amazing either, but at least they have nice cutscenes and CD music. Thanks for the review!
I'll have to look into the Exile games. I don't know much about the TG library.
And you're welcome! I appreciate you taking the time to watch!
I would have been absolutely terrified that squirrel(or was that a chipmunk?) was going to knock that valuable Game Gear over.
That one's firmly mounted on a stand, so it wasn't going to go anywhere!
@@hungrygoriya I think you underestimate the tenacity and resolve of squirrels and or chipmunks.
I love me some Golden Axe!
I didn’t even know that this game existed. Pretty cool. I would have loved this as a kid. That final boss though. Wtf? I guess they ran out of budget or time.
Looking forward to the next! Terranigma, I hope, is still on your to do list! Would love to hear your take.
I discovered it many years ago when I was digging around through game libraries looking for adventure games and RPGs.
Terranigma's definitely still on my list to review sometime, for sure. I'd also like to talk about Soul Blazer someday.
Gargoyle's Quest! Did you ever play Demon's Crest? I believe that's the SNES conclusion to the gameboy Gargoyle's Quest games, and one of my favorites.
I did try out Demon's Crest! I've actually played the NES game too. I loved them all!
Me and my boyfriend had a blast watching this video. I had no idea this one existed, I just knew it as an arcade game.
Thanks to you both for taking the time to watch! I grew up playing the Golden Axe game on the Genesis 6-Pak cartridge, and before I played Golden Axe Warrior on the Master System, that was my only experience with the series. I discovered this game a long while ago while trying to find more RPGs and action adventures in various console libraries. This looked so good on the surface and it was such a frustrating time!
How did i miss that you released this video? Good stuff! I remember owning this when i was young, but not much about it. 🎉
TH-cam's sneaky sometimes! Thanks for watching!
Oh the legendary battery vampire gamer gear!
I love the color palette from this system really gorgeous
It's a very pretty system. This game looks fantastic!
Ax Battler, a post-apocalyptic adventure where precious metals were plentiful after the populace dropped to under 1% of its peak while most vases shattered when the H-bombs dropped.
All right, I love seeing the Game Gear get some coverage! I had this game as a kid and it was like nothing else I had ever played. I didn’t even know the term RPG. I just knew you could explore, talk to people, solve problems, and go through dungeons to reach new areas. I appreciated this novel experience.
However, it was frustrating! Having to grind random encounters to get full vases so magic could help me get through the toughest dungeon parts, only to die to sloppy controls and poor collision detection, was so aggravating. That section where you need to make a dash jump across a chasm while an avalanche roars down is my most infuriating gaming memory.
0:16 Goriya has four arms confirmed
I am Hungry Goro-iya!
@@hungrygoriyaNice
Hey Goriya, thanks for the video! that was interesting I am glad you did it so I won't have to do it! I appreciate that :)
My pleasure! Thanks for taking the time to watch!
Well done video interested to see what you're going to do for Halloween maybe little goody two-shoes there is the remaster to Shadow Man and there's quite a few Nintendo horror games you haven't played yet excited to see what you planned😊
I'm thinking about it!
Been a subscriber for a while now was born in the late 80s grew up in the 90s and really enjoy the Retro content even though RPGs really aren't my thing, good content nonetheless
Thanks for being a subscriber here and for your kind words. I play a mix of things, but action adventure and RPGs are my biggest loves.
A pleasant surprise! Just finished tbe video, great stuff as usual!
Thanks for taking the time to watch as always!
The cover was painted by Julie Bell. She and her husband, Boris Vallejo, made lots of cool fantasy paintings.
My god there's so many frustrating mechanics here. Start to use magic? That's a big strike. Not being worth it is one thing, but not making the potions heal where it'd seem a bit more useful? Also I'd be so mad after a fight ends from one hit. Sorry you hear you ran into Derek Adder, the lesser known brother. Also I was hoping for a battery body count if you didn't play it plugged in :p
Derek Adder, hahaha... love it!
Maybe he's called "Axe Battler" because he battles vilians with axes? Could be a translation thing.
... you know what? I hadn't considered that!
18:42 One does not simply fly an eagle into Mordor.
I also felt bad for those poor Hobbits and their pals for the same reasons...
[1:35] Those are Cliff Racers from Morrowind!
Thank you so much for the tip! I just recently played Oblivion and learned about Cliff Racers. So funny that you brought that up!
There are some neat ideas in some of those platforming sections, and I really like how this game looks. It's too bad the rpg elements aren't more robust, if they were I'd at least be inclined to give it a try.
Still very excited to give Golden Axe Warrior a look when I have the time though.
I agree! The platforming parts were certainly engaging, but their unforgiving nature just pushed it into "unfun" territory for me. You'll have to let me know how you like Golden Axe Warrior when you get around to it! I loved it.
Very good review and personal take on it. I always enjoy your reviews on these types of games.
I never had a Game Gear growing up but I did have a Master System and even if this game was on the Master System I probably would have passed on it as RPG's is not my thing and games that pretend to be RPG's like this one but I do enjoy seeing other people's take on these types of games and I really appreciate videos like this on games I wouldn't touch myself. Someone did make a Game Gear to Master System conversion of this game but it looks awful! There's too much scrolling garbage around the outer centre area making the tiny square in the middle (Game Gear screen) very hard to look at. 👍
Thank you for taking the time to check out the video!
It's interesting that you would've passed on this if it had ended up on the Master System. I guess if you're not into RPGs, that makes total sense though. I'm not sure if I would've liked this game as a kid, just because of how miserable the gameplay is. I probably would've put it down after a few good tries and not come back to it for a long time.
I haven't seen the Game Gear to Master System conversion for this, but based on your description here, maybe I don't want to!
Good review. That game looked like it could have been good if it had been tested more and the mechanics made more reasonable. I like how the various fighting moves are decent translations of the moves from the original arcade game, like the body check (which always worked very well) or the skeletons' leaping down thrust impale. Also, the game looks nice but your criticisms seem well founded. Lastly, the trainers calling the player a worthless chump proves that the whole "get good" bit is a holdover from the Hyborean Age or some such thing. lol
Thanks so much! I feel like it needed a little more refining to really be good, and has a couple of frustrating aspects that just hold it back from getting anywhere close to a great game. The battle moves were awesome and I enjoyed using them, but I just wish the battles actually did something for you as the player other than wear you down.
11:00 I'm surprised at how effective shoulder checks are against armored enemies.
I was half-expecting this to have been a "tied in via localization" game, like how SaGa and the first Mana game were released in the US under the Final Fantasy banner.
Right? I'm not sure what rhyme or reason they had for which attacks worked well against certain enemy types. I was surprised the tackle worked against the knights but once I learned that, that's how I approached them. Fighting them with the sword was way more fiddly.
Wow! Having to return to the save point after falling in a pit is sadistic! Walking all the way back for every potential jump is ridiculous. I don't think I would have been able to finish cuz of that. The Game Gear is amazing and deserves more attention, but I think I'll stick to Gargoyle's Quest if I want something like this. You only showed footage of the first one, but Gargoyle's Quest 2 is in full color and even better. If you want to play something similar to this but actually good!
I saw it through because I was invested by the time things got really hairy. I'm happy I played it so other people might not have to.
I've also played Gargoyle's Quest II and adored it more than the first game. I'd like to try it out again someday since it was so short.
Y'know what's a good, interesting version of this design? Dragon View for the SNES; the sequel to the awful (or just very weird) Drakhen. But it was made by Kemco instead of the original devs who made the original PC game that the SNES game was a port of. Dragon View maintains the RPG exploration from its predecessor while adding in side-scrolling brawling action areas for combat. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one someday, because you're certainly not alone in enjoying games with multiple gameplay modes like you said. I freakin _loved_ the Gargoyle's Quest/Demon's Crest games back in the day too!
I played through Dragon View a long while back and have been wanting to do a review of it forever. Maybe I'll see if I can get that cooking sometime in the near future.
Sir Darklord. I mean there's on the nose and then there's whatever Final Fantasy was doing there.
Haha yep, it made me laugh out loud when I played Final Fantasy Adventure not too long ago.
Excellent review and congrats on being able to finish that game. I love Golden Axe and tried to finish that one multiple times and just couldn't do it.
The game has the correct title but it's just a string of bad ideas woven together and it's not SEGA at there finest.
I just started playing a game tonight called Aretha II for Super Famicom, had low expectations for it but it absolutely shocked me and it's a fantastic RPG 😆
Thank you very much! I didn't think I was going to make it for a while, so you can imagine my relief when I finally did see the ending.
Aretha II eh? I'll have to check into that one.
@@hungrygoriya yeah, I bought Aretha Rejoice because hardcore gaming bragged about it so much and just bought Aretha II because it was cheap on eBay 😂
Anyways, I've had it for months, just grabbed it up to play it and for a small team/small budget, it's very impressive. It's got a lot of heart and silliness and very "Lunar" 😀
Ah yes the dreaded Dadder, great review!
Dadder was the worst and scariest enemy of them all!
I still have a Gamegear. Never play it anymore, though. Great review, I never heard of this title!
Oh nice! Is it still in good working condition? I know the capacitors in them tend to fail.
@@hungrygoriya last time I tried, which was like 10 years ago. I may need to check on it.
I couldn't get into this game, I tried a few times. Congratulations on getting through it
I wish it had been a better experience. More people might've gotten to experience that glorious ending.
I have wondered about this game for a long time!!
And now you know! Thanks for watching!
@@hungrygoriya No!! Thanks for Posting!! ^_^ hehe
Those one hit deaths during boss fights would drive me insane
It was pretty frustrating.
13:02 hilarious how you careful scout ahead, finally make the leap, take out the enemy only to land on another one that was waiting off screen. Say what you want, but the game has comedic timing!
Might be better with the SMS port.
If Ax Battler did one thing, it kept me laughing from start to finish. And if you can't laugh at yourself in games like this, they're only going to make you rage!
Note to self: Do not name your child "Dark Lord".
Unless you want them to walk the path of darkness. Then by all means, go for it!
Strange game, i love the colors and graphics though. I have to respectfully stick with my GA Warrior 😊
Love the upload! Top tier work as always 😃👍
It's strange for sure, and I'd play Golden Axe Warrior over this one any day. And thanks for your kind words!
Most realistic villain ever: Bad Bra
There's nothing worse than one of those, you're right!
Well, you may not have fought him IN his castle, but Death Adder at least took personal stake in trying to stop you during the course of your quest. Rarely are evil overlords so proactive as to be random encounters!
Right? He did try harder than most evils in these games!
I didn't even know this existed until now. Good video though!
Also did He-Man have a vac metal sword? It looked shiny
Thanks for taking a chance on an unknown game! And he did have a metal sword. It actually belongs to my She-Ra figure I got a few years ago.
@@hungrygoriya something else I learned today...didn't know that a She-Ra figure ever came with a vac metal sword
me, seeing the thumbnail: "Wow!!!! Is this a Zelda-clone but from the Golden Axe people? That sounds awesome. I bet it's awesome. Is it awesome???"
Hungry Goriya: "No 😃"
I was also very hopeful that it would be awesome. I'm sorry to say that I didn't have a great time with it.
I couldnt figure this game out as a kid but i liked the gameplay.
It's pretty tough. I don't blame you for not getting through it.
I've never played this one, and I always assumed it was a full on RPG lol.
Love that label on the cart though :D
I was very hopeful it would be too.
Always wanted to give this one a fair try, but the lack of content and all these problems..., I don't know... pity.
Nice He-man cameo btw ;)
I can't recommend it based on all those issues, but maybe you'd like it more than I did. You never know!
And He-Man and Skeletor sneak into my stuff once in a while. They're my battle chest figures from when I was a kid.
@@hungrygoriya I'll still give it a fair try for sure ^^
The last area is really unforgiving. I was glad when I beat this one and I don't think I I'll be going back.
I finished it just this one time and that was plenty for me. I'm glad I'm not the only one that got to experience that final area.
Love your reviews. I agree that this game had so much wasted potential. I also played it only recently and never got that far because of the constant deaths. The eagles totally remind me of Lord of the Rings, where the same thing happens at the end.
Ax battler chose the sword to spite his parents 😅
Mace Windu being another man named after a different weapon, but who wields a sword. Darth Maul too, actually...
@@RoninCatholic and don't forget Nunchucks Mcfiniggan, famous for wielding garden hoe
Hahaha I love this
I am consistently surprised by your boundless patience. I was excited to get this game as a kid and got gut punched by the difficulty. I tried it again a few months ago (with save stating) and tapped out shortly before the last castle because it was too aggravating, even with the save states. IDK how you manage to do this stuff legit.
I sometimes think there's something wrong with how much patience I have. I suppose a big part of it is being accountable to the people I'm streaming to. It becomes something bigger than just myself, you know?
I wish i had this game on my game gear back in the day!
It would've been fun to pass the time back then!
My friend had this one as a kid, and always complained about how brutal it was. Later on I played it to completion on an emulator. Like you, I was underwhelmed. I adjusted to the difficulty quickly enough, but it was a shallow experience. Like you said, just A to B the whole way. Boring.
Sorry you didn't enjoy your time with this one much either.
A barbarian warrior whose name is Ax Battler going on a mighty quest using exclusively swords is hilarious. The only way it could be funnier is if he were a runty wizard.
I thought it was hilarious as well!
I bounced off of this game because of the frustrations mentioned in the video. It felt like a classic case of "rental difficulty", where developers wanted to pad the play time by making it crushingly and sometimes unfairly hard so kids wouldn't finish it in a weekend. Which is unfortunate, because an action RPG in the Golden Axe universe seems like such a good idea
It's definitely a frustrating game with some really weird hills to climb in terms of difficulty. Golden Axe Warrior's definitely a better take on action RPG, even if the RPG elements are pretty loose.
Trying to mix game play styles like this often are hit or miss. I can see something with potential here. Platform action stages with a sprinkle of adventure? Actually sounds good! The execution is unfortunately terrible 😣 be pixel perfect or it’s back to start! I’m pretty sure I would have tried to beat this title out of spitefulness then be absolutely angry at the ending. Kind of like how I felt after recently beating Laggon on SNES! 😖
It was extremely unforgiving in virtually every way. The battle stages were really frustrating, and the way the difficulty built up in the last area seemed insurmountable for a while. I got lucky on my final run through. I didn't think I was going to live, but then I did!