🕹️ Explore retroserk, my other channel dedicated to retro game reviews and comparisons in Spanish. Join the fun! youtube.com/@retroserk 🌋⚡🔥 Check out all magics of every Golden Axe version: th-cam.com/video/-hy0HaAASS8/w-d-xo.html
I recently realized the Master System version uses almost no sprites at all. Everything is background tiles ! It's totally weird but I still loved it at the time.
@@FinancialHealth-ku1ry Older consoles usually could display their graphics using either background tiles or sprites. Putting it simple, sprites are graphics that can move freely through the screen, and tiles are graphics that are forced to be added to a fixed position in a grid (you can smoothly move the grid itself, but then every tile inside it must move together). Despite being limited to this grid, you can fill the whole screen with tiles without affecting performance that much. In games, the most common way is to use tiles for the stage in the background and sprites for moving objects like the player character and enemies. The master system version of Golden Axe is different because it uses background tiles for everything, including the player and the enemies, which allows “better” graphics with better performance, but makes everything move in a very choppy way (tile per tile instead of pixel per pixel).
Commodore 64 version surprises me, one still making games for it in 1990, I remember seeing it in a second hand shop and thinking it must have been an earlier version. Two, ome stuff they added, like a green thief and dragon on the first level. Only one Bad Brother at a time though.
Brutal sound on MS-Dos. I remember playing the Atari ST version at my friend’s around 1990 and to us it was just like playing the arcade. Seeing the slowdown on it now and the smaller playfield is surprising. Always loved the game though, especially on Arcade but even on ZX Spectrum.
MSDOS (PC) always had the best ports of arcade games in the 90s, graphic and sound wise, but it required an unaffordable killer machine and a sound blaster card to run it more or less smoothly. In addition, there was not 1 proper controller/joystick for the PC around that time that you ended up playing those games on your keyboard, with 10 fps and screeching noises coming through your PC speaker. Fun part was that your keyboard only supported 3 key presses simultaneously. Try to play Mortal Kombat 2 with your friends on the same keyboard :) Oh who am I kidding, I didn't have any friends...
So not true. MSDOS ports became just barely acceptable around 1994-95, and that only because things very moving on to 3D which the PC hardware had less trouble with. Anything before that run more smoothly on the Amiga, not to mention Genesis or SNES.
Looking at this now, I realise I've seriously overestimated the mega drive version all these years. Everybody thought it was pretty much arcade perfect, which clearly it wasn't. Never heard the c64 music before- it's fantastic.
It wasn't but like Altered Beast it was as good as the hardware and the developers' experience with it allowed it to be. What the arcade version does, the Megadrive itself mostly couldn't do.
There's nothing unbelievable about it. It's one of many games to use background tiles instead of Sprites. Space Harrier (only the player character is a sprite), Shadow Dancer, Altered Beast, the Mortal Kombats and a few others.
Interesting to see that the Arcade version is so much superior than any of the other versions: Better colors, sound effects, Independently moving background layer, blood, citizens getting beaten up, more+smoother animations... The Megadrive should have been able to handle more than it actually did. It could have done the background layer, animations, and better hit-detection, but since it was a launch-title... Likewise for the Amiga: The soundtrack and sound effects are pretty good, even though half of the music seems to be missing... But in 1989 most of the Amiga-games didn't use the machine's power to it's full extend (at least it's not a half-assed ST-port). But why is it 'orange'? The MS-DOS version is okay-ish. OPL3-music is decent, but the sound effects suck. Visually it looks nice, like some halfway between the Megadrive/Genesis and the Arcade version. The SMS and Atari ST-versions seem to be rather impressive considering their limitations. C64 is an odd one. It's hella ugly and brown, and only one enemy at once, no multiplayer, but a very cool soundtrack only the C64 could do. The PC-Engine one looks really awful. Something went horribly wrong here. At least the CD-quality music is nice... Mega/Sega-CD: seems to be the same as the cart version with some added sound effects and better music. Amstrad CPC: What a mess! ZX Spectrum: I've owned the 48K in the past, and I know the 128K, besides the extra RAM, only added that synthesizer which was also in the Amstrad, MSX, SMS, Atari ST. So still no decent graphics hardware. Considering all of these limitations this port is pretty well-done, and even the infamous 'color-clashing' is almost non-existant here. Despite the lack of a sound track I think it at least beats the C64 (and Amstrad) versions...
Well thats not a surprise. Because for arcade games the Hardware was build for that Game. Cool fact here most arcades also used the Motorola 68000 CPU. The same that the Amiga had. But the arcade mashine had way more resources.
The Amiga port shew that the Amiga could handle games like this in the hands of skilled developers. The Amiga did share a similar architecture to the Megadrive, I think they both had a very similar if not identical Motorola CPU. Having said that the Megadrive was definitely the more capable gaming machine though. When developers were porting games to the Amiga they would often use the Megadrive versions of the games as base plates, it made a lot of sense to port the Megadrive versions of games to the Amiga because both machines were similar, it was a lot easier that way and was cheaper. The Mortal Kombat games are a good example of that. The Amiga versions of the Mortal Kombat games are watered down ports of the Megadrive versions. That is not the case with Golden Axe though, the devs started from scratch with the Amiga version.
The Sega CD version wasn’t nearly enough of an upgrade from the Genesis version to warrant buying the same game again. But I’d say it’s the closest to the arcade.
Yup. The VDP and Yamaha FM sound chip was leagues ahead of anything at the time for home. Amiga and Atari ST had the same CPU but couldn't do the sprites, layered backgrounds, parallax and line scrolling that the Genesis could.
@@nng1979 Umm, I think you'll the find that the Amiga version could have been as good as the Genesis version, it's been proven in other games that the Amiga was more than capable.
@@nng1979 The Amiga didn't have as powerful a sprites system as the megadrive, but it had other techniques like bobs, which were horribly underused. And though the Amiga had less sound channels, generally games sounded A LOT better than anything else.
@@jeremiahroa9969 the pc engine ("turbographics" :D) has less horsepower than the mega drive, it's especially noticeable with demanding genres such as beat 'em ups or racing games. also, golden axe is a more technical game that it might seem because of the "bizarrians" (the rideable creatures) which elevate the number of sprites on-screen. that's why some compromises must be done when developing a beat 'em up on pc engine (limited resolution, large HUD bars, limited sprites on-screen...) although golden axe didn't need to be THAT bad on it and laziness played a certain role in the awful result
In the PC version (12:48) , if you rename the files, you can play with all the characters instead the main characters... except for the meat: it cannot die, but it don´t can attack!
+Pekka Kallio I played it on the Amiga back in the day, but don't have fond memories of it mainly due to control issues. However, seeing a comparison like this makes it look damn good.
Sega's legendary take on Conan the Barbarian, an arcade classic and one of the most ported games in gaming history! My personal ranking about the different versions: 1° arcade 2° Mega Drive (great port for the time (1989, same year as the arcade) which could have been even better had it been released later on using bigger memory cart) 3° WonderSwan Color (a surprisingly good version. It has everything: all 3 playable characters, 2 players option and even the extra from the Mega Drive version! An excellent way to play this game on the go which puts to shame the awful GBA version) 4° Mega-CD (good version except it's single player only which is a shame given that Final Fight CD allows for 2 players) 5° Amiga (quite good for the system (it's the most impressive Amiga beat 'em up) but a bit sluggish and lacks many music (including my favorite, "Turtle Village 1")) 6° MS-DOS (bad frame rate and bad sound but has the extras from the Mega Drive version) 7° Atari ST (quite good given the system's release date and retail price) 8° Master System (a nice version for a third generation ("8-bit") system but very choppy and lacks 2 playable characters) 9° GBA (tiny resolution, awful sound, lacks many music... it's bad but not even the worst...) 10° PC Engine CD (adds some okayish cutscenes but otherwise awful version limited to single player, with crappy gameplay and sound FX so bad it's hilarious... but even though this version could have been better, the PC Engine is still quite limited to handle heavy games such as beat 'em ups or run 'n guns) And then there are the 8-bit computer versions (ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC) which actually seem pretty decent given the limited hardwares and their release date (respectively 1982, 1982 and 1984).
Bonus: let yourself be transported th-cam.com/video/2s6tVRl11UA/w-d-xo.html Also I should add that Tyris has a sexier bottom in Mega Drive compared to the arcade version ;>
On the Mega Drive version you only get to use the red dragon for about ten seconds because it is stupidly placed right at the end of a stage. Also if you are riding a blue dragon as you come into Death Adder's castle the screen goes dark and your dragon disappears during the transition. These are the two biggest let-downs and are totally inexcusable!
@@ricsim78 And that should have been the best port of all, or so you'd think, but to no avail though! The cut scenes were also somewhat interesting, and was the only other thing decent about it, besides the soundtrack.
@@freakyfornash Programming is everything. Golden Axe is a horrible port for the PC Engine CDROM , the redeeming quality is the amazingly redone CD music for the game. If they put the same effort into the game play and graphics, I think it could have approached the Sega or Arcade version. Sadly, it was not to be, as it was a sloppy port that makes the characters look worse than 8 bit.
I would say the Genesis/Sego CD, Amiga, PC-DOS versions graphically come close to the arcade. If judging audio, the Sega CD version uses a CD soundtrack that was recorded directly from the arcade BGM. It was a pack in title for the Sego CD. The Genesis version is pretty close and the PC-DOS version is also quite good. It sounds like is used a Soundblaster driver using both the OPL2 chip and digital audio. I am curious if their was any OPL3 FM driver used for it. It has 4 operator synthesis like the Genesis FM chip.
PC version was ok. And I would always pick the dwarf when playing solo. I had a friend who wanted to use the dwarf when playing with me at the arcades, so I had to choose the male character.
Arcade & Sega Genesis+Sega CD Power 🆙100% the Genesis 🎵 Sounds very close to the Arcade a lot unbelievable Atari st version look very nice , i cannot count how many version i see it's to many lolll i see a lot of good version and a lot of worse version + the music soundtrack for all versions
I do have c64 cassette version, which seriously sucks balls. You cannot play dwarf because of loading error and you only get one enemy at the time. Only the most hardcore c64 fans touch that version again.
Everything could always be better. Mega Drive version for instance could have been better had it used a 8 or 12 meg cartridge but as it is it's still very good and the best home version by far.
I have no issue with the hit detection on Mega Drive and this version is also smoother not to mention the better controller. And the Amiga version lacks many music! Still okay overall, especially for an arcade port on Amiga.
The Amiga version holds the best SFX in my opinion, even though here the sound has the filter active, which takes away all the higher frequencies. You can check other videos to see the difference.
I had the Mega CD version. I loved the classic Sega titles. I had a few of the Sega Ages titles on the Saturn and was hoping for an arcade perfect (or better) version of Golden Axe getting released/
Because of course they ported it to spectrum. There was no game too big to ruin on a ZX-Spectrum back then. Is it me or did they add a half dozen frames to the mounted attack on Wonderswan? I mean it looks great but the delay looks brutal to deal with.
None of the ports had the parallax scrolling of the background which gave the arcade much more depth. I think the amiga and megadrive should have been adequate enough to handle that.
There is a 32x addon version now and its close to the arcade. So the mega drive has the best home version. If only they had used the mega CD sound effects.
The arcade original remains the best version but the Mega Drive port is good too and comes with some extra content. There's also a GBA version which is not featured in this video but it's just a crappy mess so no need to bother.
@@lordundeadrat The thing is that brawler-ish gameplay and characters of this size do not work well together on the C64. Reason is the combination of dealing with sprite multiplexing and sprite priorities. It is the reason why the better games in this genre are showing smaller characters or running in slower framerate on the breadbin.
The C64 music sounds off. It’s supposed to run quite a bit faster. Just to be sure I wasn’t misremembering, I looked up some other videos and they all have the faster music. Interesting difference, wonder what’s causing it.
In my experience, you get slower music when you are playing a NTSC game on a PAL machine. In these cases music is supposed to run at 60Hz but you run it at 50Hz
Master System port is rather good for a 3rd gen console. PC Engine I know it has hardware limitations but it still could have been better than the awful crap that it is. Amiga version is not bad for an Amiga beat 'em up but still can't touch the Mega Drive. Biggest problems on Amiga are the low frame rate and limited amount of music. Mega Drive port is very good for the time. Great sprites, great music, good gameplay and new level and boss! btw there's also a GBA port but it's quite bad, the sound in particular but also the resolution which is limited on GBA.
Damn...I just played Golden Axe on Amiga, played through it within 2 tries. And now I tried the Sega version...and it is way way harder! Adding to it that I had 4 credits times 3 lives in Sega and no credit in Amiga! I can´t imagine someone getting through the Sega version as single player! All opponents run at you even when pretty close + they are much quicker when striking + magic is not as strong and effective as in Amiga version even with the Amazon fighter! Puh, I need to call someone to play with! I want to see that extra level that only the Sega version offers.
I first played this on the Commodore 64, but that was soon toppled by the Mega Drive version, which looks very good compared to the arcade version. Having a UK Mega Drive, it was easy and cheaper to pick up Genesis games and remember getting Golden Axe 2. But somehow, it didn't compare to Golden Axe, more so the graphics and title screen, but still as playable. Golden Axe 3 looks like a graphical mess, which I never go to play. RIP SEGA.
I prefer the Amiga version myself, but I'm biased... Otherwise Sega Mega Drive / Mega CD looks like the best versions. Off to google wtf a WonderSwan Color is...
Please make the same video, but for Alien Storm! Oops my bad, now I see on your Channel you have all the top dogs - Altered Beast, Alien Storm, SUBSCRIBED
The Turbografx-CD version makes me so uncomfortable. On one hand, you have that sweet Audio CD soundtrack; on the other hand, you have those Atari 2600-worthy sound effects even though the Turbografx could play digitized audio samples like nobody's business. Also, the redrawn sprites for absolutely no good reason.
good it would be if this classic there were no version outside the one of Genesis after the arcades that not which are the most faithful but as everything there is a competition were made other versions.
![[TAS] Genesis Golden Axe III "2 players" by wwmarx in 15:55.05](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zr_v_N-u3Pc/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] Genesis Golden Axe III "2 players" by wwmarx in 15:55.05](/img/tr.png)
🕹️ Explore retroserk, my other channel dedicated to retro game reviews and comparisons in Spanish. Join the fun! youtube.com/@retroserk
🌋⚡🔥 Check out all magics of every Golden Axe version: th-cam.com/video/-hy0HaAASS8/w-d-xo.html
I had the Amiga version and loved it! Not a bad port either considering how bad Arcade ports normally turned out on the Amiga.
Me too! Superb port
I recently realized the Master System version uses almost no sprites at all. Everything is background tiles ! It's totally weird but I still loved it at the time.
What are background tiles and why did the programmers do this?
@@FinancialHealth-ku1ry Older consoles usually could display their graphics using either background tiles or sprites. Putting it simple, sprites are graphics that can move freely through the screen, and tiles are graphics that are forced to be added to a fixed position in a grid (you can smoothly move the grid itself, but then every tile inside it must move together). Despite being limited to this grid, you can fill the whole screen with tiles without affecting performance that much.
In games, the most common way is to use tiles for the stage in the background and sprites for moving objects like the player character and enemies. The master system version of Golden Axe is different because it uses background tiles for everything, including the player and the enemies, which allows “better” graphics with better performance, but makes everything move in a very choppy way (tile per tile instead of pixel per pixel).
I think the sega cd and mega drive version are the best.. On mega drive is the best soundtrack.. Only in my opinion
This game is so good that every version has it charm.
Commodore 64 version surprises me, one still making games for it in 1990, I remember seeing it in a second hand shop and thinking it must have been an earlier version. Two, ome stuff they added, like a green thief and dragon on the first level. Only one Bad Brother at a time though.
The Wilderness Theme aged like a fine wine.
Love this game so much. Great times in the Arcade, and on Genesis!
I had NO idea there were this many versions! Very cool
Brutal sound on MS-Dos. I remember playing the Atari ST version at my friend’s around 1990 and to us it was just like playing the arcade. Seeing the slowdown on it now and the smaller playfield is surprising. Always loved the game though, especially on Arcade but even on ZX Spectrum.
Arcade = Best gameplay/graphics & good music
Commodore 64 = Great music
The TurboGrafx CD version has the better music
14:12
Pc engine was at the same time the version with the better music and the worst sounds effects 😂😂
The c64 had strange graphics, a lack of color, but surprisingly nice.
The music was very good
Nothing has "better music" than Commodore 64 - not even Amiga
MSDOS (PC) always had the best ports of arcade games in the 90s, graphic and sound wise, but it required an unaffordable killer machine and a sound blaster card to run it more or less smoothly. In addition, there was not 1 proper controller/joystick for the PC around that time that you ended up playing those games on your keyboard, with 10 fps and screeching noises coming through your PC speaker. Fun part was that your keyboard only supported 3 key presses simultaneously. Try to play Mortal Kombat 2 with your friends on the same keyboard :) Oh who am I kidding, I didn't have any friends...
Lol
So not true. MSDOS ports became just barely acceptable around 1994-95, and that only because things very moving on to 3D which the PC hardware had less trouble with. Anything before that run more smoothly on the Amiga, not to mention Genesis or SNES.
To truly enjoy the MS DOS version you need to play with the PC Speaker mod on.
Sorry but the C64 music sounds amazing and the sega CD version couldnt even source the death voices sfx from the arcade instead a stupid "ow"
I loved the fact dead bodies remained on the floor in the arcade version. It is also the closest this legendary game will ever get to a Snes anyway.
Snes wouldn't have been able to run this as well as the Mega Drive as it didn't have enough grunt to it.
@@wizzgamer You either are under 25 years old or dumb.
@@wizzgamer Compare to Final Fight 2 and 3/ Golden Axe isn't exactly a console breaker.
A true classic that i still play today.
Looking at this now, I realise I've seriously overestimated the mega drive version all these years. Everybody thought it was pretty much arcade perfect, which clearly it wasn't. Never heard the c64 music before- it's fantastic.
It wasn't but like Altered Beast it was as good as the hardware and the developers' experience with it allowed it to be. What the arcade version does, the Megadrive itself mostly couldn't do.
It is a tad good!
26:06 the moment you've all been waiting for, it's the Speccy version, LOOOOOOOOOOL.
I prefer that over the Amstrad. It looks like it was made out of legos.
The Master System version gets a lot of hate but for the time it was truly amazing. No one could believe the MS could even do it.
There's nothing unbelievable about it. It's one of many games to use background tiles instead of Sprites. Space Harrier (only the player character is a sprite), Shadow Dancer, Altered Beast, the Mortal Kombats and a few others.
The 8 bit developers really did a superb job on their versions I think
You must be joking, right?
@@b213videoz no they're not, they are impressive for 8 bit standards
The Amstrad version looks abysmal.
The ZX Spectrum features naked characters xD
AmigaFan! Blew all my pocket money on the arcade and fell in love when it came home. Thanks for your videos!!
28:28 I didn't know there was a Mega CD version! Nice. I am a huge fan of all 3 of the Golden Axe games, sad they didn't make more.
Interesting to see that the Arcade version is so much superior than any of the other versions: Better colors, sound effects, Independently moving background layer, blood, citizens getting beaten up, more+smoother animations...
The Megadrive should have been able to handle more than it actually did. It could have done the background layer, animations, and better hit-detection, but since it was a launch-title...
Likewise for the Amiga: The soundtrack and sound effects are pretty good, even though half of the music seems to be missing... But in 1989 most of the Amiga-games didn't use the machine's power to it's full extend (at least it's not a half-assed ST-port). But why is it 'orange'?
The MS-DOS version is okay-ish. OPL3-music is decent, but the sound effects suck. Visually it looks nice, like some halfway between the Megadrive/Genesis and the Arcade version.
The SMS and Atari ST-versions seem to be rather impressive considering their limitations.
C64 is an odd one. It's hella ugly and brown, and only one enemy at once, no multiplayer, but a very cool soundtrack only the C64 could do.
The PC-Engine one looks really awful. Something went horribly wrong here. At least the CD-quality music is nice...
Mega/Sega-CD: seems to be the same as the cart version with some added sound effects and better music.
Amstrad CPC: What a mess!
ZX Spectrum: I've owned the 48K in the past, and I know the 128K, besides the extra RAM, only added that synthesizer which was also in the Amstrad, MSX, SMS, Atari ST. So still no decent graphics hardware. Considering all of these limitations this port is pretty well-done, and even the infamous 'color-clashing' is almost non-existant here. Despite the lack of a sound track I think it at least beats the C64 (and Amstrad) versions...
Well thats not a surprise. Because for arcade games the Hardware was build for that Game. Cool fact here most arcades also used the Motorola 68000 CPU. The same that the Amiga had. But the arcade mashine had way more resources.
The Amiga port shew that the Amiga could handle games like this in the hands of skilled developers. The Amiga did share a similar architecture to the Megadrive, I think they both had a very similar if not identical Motorola CPU. Having said that the Megadrive was definitely the more capable gaming machine though. When developers were porting games to the Amiga they would often use the Megadrive versions of the games as base plates, it made a lot of sense to port the Megadrive versions of games to the Amiga because both machines were similar, it was a lot easier that way and was cheaper. The Mortal Kombat games are a good example of that. The Amiga versions of the Mortal Kombat games are watered down ports of the Megadrive versions. That is not the case with Golden Axe though, the devs started from scratch with the Amiga version.
Well the MD version was very early and on a small cart.
Arcade was always better in the 80s. That's how arcades survived as long as they did.
@ironmike southern lol i like that
I’d quite happily sit and listen to ALL versions of the games soundtracks 🧐
Edit* those that have them!
that c64 sid chip sounds so good !
Jeroen Tel's work.
C64's version arguably has the best music BUT at the expense of the actual sound effects 😡
The Sega CD version wasn’t nearly enough of an upgrade from the Genesis version to warrant buying the same game again. But I’d say it’s the closest to the arcade.
Buy it? It came free with the console as far as I know, in a compilation disc. Also, it ended up being worse than the cart with no 2 player mode!
@@dieterrosswag933 Sega Mega CD the equivalent to the PlayStation? It’s a generation behind!
So we can see how great was a Genesis at the time
Yup. The VDP and Yamaha FM sound chip was leagues ahead of anything at the time for home. Amiga and Atari ST had the same CPU but couldn't do the sprites, layered backgrounds, parallax and line scrolling that the Genesis could.
@@nng1979
Umm, I think you'll the find that the Amiga version could have been as good as the Genesis version, it's been proven in other games that the Amiga was more than capable.
@@nng1979 The Amiga didn't have as powerful a sprites system as the megadrive, but it had other techniques like bobs, which were horribly underused. And though the Amiga had less sound channels, generally games sounded A LOT better than anything else.
the one i played was the ms-dos one, on a 8086 pc with nec cga monitor with 4 grey-brown-ish colors. i still have it around
Genesis and pc have the best ports but the wonderswan version is surprisingly good too.
but why is the turbographics so horrible?
@@jeremiahroa9969 just a bad develloper and it's a simple cdrom²game (not scdrom²) with just 64ko of ram...
PC ms dos has good graphics but terrible gameplay
@@jeremiahroa9969 the pc engine ("turbographics" :D) has less horsepower than the mega drive, it's especially noticeable with demanding genres such as beat 'em ups or racing games. also, golden axe is a more technical game that it might seem because of the "bizarrians" (the rideable creatures) which elevate the number of sprites on-screen. that's why some compromises must be done when developing a beat 'em up on pc engine (limited resolution, large HUD bars, limited sprites on-screen...) although golden axe didn't need to be THAT bad on it and laziness played a certain role in the awful result
I think the genesis and Sega CD had the best ports.
C64 version is very... esoteric 😄
Back in the day I enjoyed PC version, nowadays I'd go for Megadrive version
In the PC version (12:48) , if you rename the files, you can play with all the characters instead the main characters... except for the meat: it cannot die, but it don´t can attack!
The themes to some of the formats I never knew golden axe was part of are awesome. Amstrad version though hurt my eyes lol
Why does Tyris-Flare is always the first thing I remember about Golden Axe?
Great comparison, but you forgot the version of Gameboy Advance in Sega Smash Pack.
Amo las comparaciones, enseñan mucho de historia de un vídeo juego.
Many thanks for doing these mr random channel randomly recommended lol
I did play and still nowadays play Golden Axe on Amiga 500. And that is my favourite version.
+Pekka Kallio I played it on the Amiga back in the day, but don't have fond memories of it mainly due to control issues. However, seeing a comparison like this makes it look damn good.
Try the megadrive version. Playability shits on Amiga version.
No extra level like the Megadrive though
I know this franchise is owned by Sega,but that would be interesting too see what the games would look like on the SNES.
Sega's legendary take on Conan the Barbarian, an arcade classic and one of the most ported games in gaming history!
My personal ranking about the different versions:
1° arcade
2° Mega Drive (great port for the time (1989, same year as the arcade) which could have been even better had it been released later on using bigger memory cart)
3° WonderSwan Color (a surprisingly good version. It has everything: all 3 playable characters, 2 players option and even the extra from the Mega Drive version! An excellent way to play this game on the go which puts to shame the awful GBA version)
4° Mega-CD (good version except it's single player only which is a shame given that Final Fight CD allows for 2 players)
5° Amiga (quite good for the system (it's the most impressive Amiga beat 'em up) but a bit sluggish and lacks many music (including my favorite, "Turtle Village 1"))
6° MS-DOS (bad frame rate and bad sound but has the extras from the Mega Drive version)
7° Atari ST (quite good given the system's release date and retail price)
8° Master System (a nice version for a third generation ("8-bit") system but very choppy and lacks 2 playable characters)
9° GBA (tiny resolution, awful sound, lacks many music... it's bad but not even the worst...)
10° PC Engine CD (adds some okayish cutscenes but otherwise awful version limited to single player, with crappy gameplay and sound FX so bad it's hilarious... but even though this version could have been better, the PC Engine is still quite limited to handle heavy games such as beat 'em ups or run 'n guns)
And then there are the 8-bit computer versions (ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC) which actually seem pretty decent given the limited hardwares and their release date (respectively 1982, 1982 and 1984).
Bonus: let yourself be transported th-cam.com/video/2s6tVRl11UA/w-d-xo.html
Also I should add that Tyris has a sexier bottom in Mega Drive compared to the arcade version ;>
I always liked the Amiga version... colors are more vibrant, music is better and the hits seem to have more weight.
]
Great! I did not know all those versions!
On the Mega Drive version you only get to use the red dragon for about ten seconds because it is stupidly placed right at the end of a stage. Also if you are riding a blue dragon as you come into Death Adder's castle the screen goes dark and your dragon disappears during the transition. These are the two biggest let-downs and are totally inexcusable!
Woah the Turbografx version sounds surprisingly good
Yeah, but too bad it both looks, and plays like pure ass unfortunately, despite being on CD based hardware though!
The music is incredible, CDROM redbook audio so it should be. Too bad it was a horrible and lazy port because it could have been a great version.
That is because it is a horrible port, the hardware is definitely capable of much more than that!
@@ricsim78 And that should have been the best port of all, or so you'd think, but to no avail though! The cut scenes were also somewhat interesting, and was the only other thing decent about it, besides the soundtrack.
@@freakyfornash Programming is everything. Golden Axe is a horrible port for the PC Engine CDROM , the redeeming quality is the amazingly redone CD music for the game. If they put the same effort into the game play and graphics, I think it could have approached the Sega or Arcade version. Sadly, it was not to be, as it was a sloppy port that makes the characters look worse than 8 bit.
I wonder why none of the version has the giggling sound of the thief from the original arcade version lol
PC, CD-ROM², Mega CD and WonderSwan Colour are the only ports that got the notes in the music right.
Damn the Amiga version sounds really trancy
I would say the Genesis/Sego CD, Amiga, PC-DOS versions graphically come close to the arcade. If judging audio, the Sega CD version uses a CD soundtrack that was recorded directly from the arcade BGM. It was a pack in title for the Sego CD. The Genesis version is pretty close and the PC-DOS version is also quite good. It sounds like is used a Soundblaster driver using both the OPL2 chip and digital audio. I am curious if their was any OPL3 FM driver used for it. It has 4 operator synthesis like the Genesis FM chip.
PC version was ok. And I would always pick the dwarf when playing solo. I had a friend who wanted to use the dwarf when playing with me at the arcades, so I had to choose the male character.
Arcade & Sega Genesis+Sega CD Power 🆙100%
the Genesis 🎵 Sounds very close to the Arcade a lot unbelievable
Atari st version look very nice , i cannot count how many version i see it's to many lolll i see a lot of good version and a lot of worse version + the music soundtrack for all versions
Sound effects sound meatier on the ST compared to the Amiga.
The C64 version was one of the best sounding despite the everything else.
the amazing power of the sid chip
@@daskarman and Jeroen Tel.
l remember c64 version, seryous very scandaloused, good Amiga
I do have c64 cassette version, which seriously sucks balls. You cannot play dwarf because of loading error and you only get one enemy at the time. Only the most hardcore c64 fans touch that version again.
Sega CD version is best.
The Amiga version probably couldve been better if they'd written it for 1MB.. as it was the A500 only had 512K at the time
Everything could always be better. Mega Drive version for instance could have been better had it used a 8 or 12 meg cartridge but as it is it's still very good and the best home version by far.
I have no issue with the hit detection on Mega Drive and this version is also smoother not to mention the better controller. And the Amiga version lacks many music! Still okay overall, especially for an arcade port on Amiga.
The Amiga OCS hardware is older than Golden Axe arcade itself
@Eddie Venkman I agree. The Megadrive version's controls were garbage as was the hit detection. Much preferred the Amiga port.
The Amiga version holds the best SFX in my opinion, even though here the sound has the filter active, which takes away all the higher frequencies. You can check other videos to see the difference.
wonder swan looks very good, probably i have to give some more attention to it's library of games
I had the Mega CD version. I loved the classic Sega titles. I had a few of the Sega Ages titles on the Saturn and was hoping for an arcade perfect (or better) version of Golden Axe getting released/
I just saw golden axe and clicked :)
No PS2 Sega AGES version?
Why is he naked in the ZX Spectrum version? Which brings up the next question, what is he actually swinging?
Because of course they ported it to spectrum. There was no game too big to ruin on a ZX-Spectrum back then.
Is it me or did they add a half dozen frames to the mounted attack on Wonderswan? I mean it looks great but the delay looks brutal to deal with.
None of the ports had the parallax scrolling of the background which gave the arcade much more depth. I think the amiga and megadrive should have been adequate enough to handle that.
Cool video man.
✴✅Wonderful✅✴
Thank you!
Look for this one, is much more complete th-cam.com/video/5IE0X9uvf_s/w-d-xo.html
There is a 32x addon version now and its close to the arcade. So the mega drive has the best home version. If only they had used the mega CD sound effects.
1989 Arcade version is always the Best today💘💘💪.
The arcade original remains the best version but the Mega Drive port is good too and comes with some extra content. There's also a GBA version which is not featured in this video but it's just a crappy mess so no need to bother.
The Amiga version sounds like a rave.
The amiga sound chip was truly something else
Galaxy Force II is a another example of a Megadrive/Genesis game, where the Amiga sound chip completely brings the OST to life
The music of the Amiga version was ported by David Whittaker, one of the greatest composers of video game music on computers.
Wow, I'm surprised the Commodore 64 one looks that bad. Even though the ZX spectrum looks worse.
It was likely slapped together by a rushed third party with no budget. Commodore had a bunch of games like that from what I've seen.
At least the ZX Spectrum version was powerful enough to support more than one enemy on a screen at a time.
@@lordundeadrat The thing is that brawler-ish gameplay and characters of this size do not work well together on the C64. Reason is the combination of dealing with sprite multiplexing and sprite priorities. It is the reason why the better games in this genre are showing smaller characters or running in slower framerate on the breadbin.
Que pasada de vídeos, se te echa de menos
Imagine having to grow up with the ZX spectrum version... Also is the ms dos version supposed to sound THAT bad??
To truly enjoy the MS DOS version you need to play with the PC Speaker mod on.
I can't believe they wasted a whole cd on that Turbografx-CD version!
The C64 music sounds off. It’s supposed to run quite a bit faster. Just to be sure I wasn’t misremembering, I looked up some other videos and they all have the faster music. Interesting difference, wonder what’s causing it.
In my experience, you get slower music when you are playing a NTSC game on a PAL machine. In these cases music is supposed to run at 60Hz but you run it at 50Hz
Master System port is rather good for a 3rd gen console.
PC Engine I know it has hardware limitations but it still could have been better than the awful crap that it is.
Amiga version is not bad for an Amiga beat 'em up but still can't touch the Mega Drive. Biggest problems on Amiga are the low frame rate and limited amount of music.
Mega Drive port is very good for the time. Great sprites, great music, good gameplay and new level and boss!
btw there's also a GBA port but it's quite bad, the sound in particular but also the resolution which is limited on GBA.
The perfect version could be Arcade if they only had the last level inside the castle
The Megadrive Version is my favourite. The sound track sounds even better than the arcade imo
C64 version is unforgivable!!! - looks like a Spectrum game
C64 better than I thought it’ll be.
Commodore 64 best music
wow this came to wonderswan color!
Damn...I just played Golden Axe on Amiga, played through it within 2 tries.
And now I tried the Sega version...and it is way way harder!
Adding to it that I had 4 credits times 3 lives in Sega and no credit in Amiga!
I can´t imagine someone getting through the Sega version as single player!
All opponents run at you even when pretty close + they are much quicker when striking + magic is not as strong and effective as in Amiga version even with the Amazon fighter!
Puh, I need to call someone to play with! I want to see that extra level that only the Sega version offers.
Sega CD version was only single player, no idea why they did that.
Had the master system port loved it then had Amiga port great days 👍
I would say the textures for Minecraft were made in an Amstrad, Haha!
Kicking the blue dwarf on 12 different systems. We used to call hkm Chtistian Sparrevohn after a computermagazinewriter my cousin didn't like! 😂😂😂
I still think the Megadrive music sounds better than the arcade.
Amiga version was pretty sick!!! - even the shitty Atari ST version wasn’t terrible
Let’s Compare Golden Axe
1: Arcade (1989)
2: Genesis (1989)
3: Master System (1989)
4: Amiga (1990)
5: Atari St (1990)
6: Ms-Dos (1990)
7: Turbografx-CD (1990)
8: Commodore 64 (1990)
9: Amstrad Cpc (1990)
10: Zx Spectrum (1990)
11: Sega CD (1990)
12: Wonderswan Colour (2002)
I first played this on the Commodore 64, but that was soon toppled by the Mega Drive version, which looks very good compared to the arcade version. Having a UK Mega Drive, it was easy and cheaper to pick up Genesis games and remember getting Golden Axe 2. But somehow, it didn't compare to Golden Axe, more so the graphics and title screen, but still as playable. Golden Axe 3 looks like a graphical mess, which I never go to play. RIP SEGA.
Its amazing how the PC Engine had some of the best music mixed with some of the most horrible graphics and sound fx
N.1 - Arcade
N.2 - Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
N.3 - Amiga
N.4 - Sega Master system
P.S. Pc Engine Cd version they could have made much better.
I prefer the Amiga version myself, but I'm biased... Otherwise Sega Mega Drive / Mega CD looks like the best versions. Off to google wtf a WonderSwan Color is...
Sega CD: "OW!"
Please make the same video, but for Alien Storm! Oops my bad, now I see on your Channel you have all the top dogs - Altered Beast, Alien Storm, SUBSCRIBED
atari st version better than expected.
The Turbografx-CD version makes me so uncomfortable. On one hand, you have that sweet Audio CD soundtrack; on the other hand, you have those Atari 2600-worthy sound effects even though the Turbografx could play digitized audio samples like nobody's business. Also, the redrawn sprites for absolutely no good reason.
good it would be if this classic there were no version outside the one of Genesis after the arcades that not which are the most faithful but as everything there is a competition were made other versions.
Oooh gawwwd!!!
Was it SEGA’s plan at one point to have their games on every hardware platform apart from Nintendo?
There are lots of Sega licensed games on the NES...
Ah yes I’ve noticed a few exceptions such as the terrible port of Altered Beast on NES