Golden Axe

"If you own a Genesis or a Wii, you must play this."

This is my favorite game of all time, so this is definitely going to have a lot of bias. That said... OMG! GOLDEN AXE!

It's a sidescroller, which, for a nostalgic guy like myself, is perfect. If you've played Golden Axe as much as I have, you can use certain sidescrolling tricks to your advantage such as making enemies fall off the map and killing themselves and putting some distance between you and a pack of enemies so you can fight them one at a time. Walking to the right is always a plus in my book. No way to get lost.

You get a magic meter in the game, but I only like to save it for the boss fights. Even, then I don't really need it, but it saves a little time. I like how every character gets their own type of magic and they all have several different animations depending on your magic level.

You also get to ride two different animals. One of them is called "Chicken Leg" and he looks like a parrot and a monitor lizard were shoved in a blender. I still like him, though. Two tail swipes knock out most of the enemies. You also get to ride two types of dragons-- blue and red. The blue dragons shoot out a little bit of fire up close. They do a fairly good level of damage. The red dragons shoot fireballs that also do good damage and knock people back.

The music is great. The ending theme, although repetitive, never gets old.

There's also a multiplayer co-op, but since it's a sidescroller, your friend has to make sure he's paying attention so you don't get stuck on the same screen.

There's another mode that pits you against different enemy types. I've only had the patience to beat it once and that was years ago so I'm not even gonna pretend to tell you what happens at the end, but if you haven't played it, you wouldn't want me to spoil it, would you? No? Good. *whew!*

Now everyone that I know that's played the game either like the woman or the dwarf. That's Tyris and Gilius, respectively. No one likes the barbarian, Ax Battler. Worst name ever. And rightly so because he's the worst video game character ever. His magic is weak and he walks around in a speedo. If you needed a reason why no one likes him, that's two. The reason people like Tyris is because she has the best magic in the game. If you save it up, her dragon spell will wipe out pretty much anything or weaken it considerably. Gilius is just the man. Why? The hat. He has pretty good magic, too, and he's good for close-quarters combat.

Summary: If you like sidescrollers, this is definitely for you. From what I've heard, it's on the Virtual Console, so get it if you can. If you don't have a Wii, but you have a Genesis, you can pick this game up in two ways: regular version or 6pak version. Of course, with 6pak, you get 4 more good games and, regrettably, Revenge of Shinobi. This game isn't too hard, but it's still a good challenge, especially for speed runs. Pick up a copy any way you can.

10 out of 10 Poptarts.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/24/07