"An extremely solid 2-d fighter"

Golden Axe: The Duel is one of those little-known gems that should've gotten more attention than it did. Sega really didn't push the title much in the U.S., and I doubt many people knew it ever came out domestically.

It's not really a Golden Axe game, unfortunately. It's a standard, Street Fighter style fighter, but not a bad one at that. And we can lament all we want that a new side-scrolling Golden Axe never came out for the Saturn (Revenge of Death=Adder would have been _sweet_!), this is the closest thing we can get our hands on. And to be fair, it's a nice tribute to the ''Duel'' section of Golden Axe for the Genesis, and it keeps all the good fun stuff intact from the original game. As always, there's Kain, Tyris Flare, the Dwarf, the little elfie guys that you boot to get food or potions, special moves, Death=Adder and that wicked fire-breathing shield, etc. They also threw in plenty of extra characters to make it a quite replayable fighting game, and some nice backgrounds to boot.

As for the quality of the fighting game, it's surprisingly good. The breakdown:

Graphics -
Quite good indeed. The animation quality actually rivals that of the immortal 2-d classic, Nightwarriors. Many, many frames of animation, well drawn. The characters are (to my personal relief) neither horribly Americanized nor gut-wrenchingly Anime - they've got a good level of design to them that I think anyone can easily appreciate. Sprites are notably huge, and special effects are quite tasty. The only negative that I can mention graphics wise would be that with all the bright colors used, it is indeed a bit garish. Lots of pretty bad contrasts, but it all still looks good.

Sound -
Not exceptionally good or bad, right about where it needs to be. Thankfully, sound effects are perfectly timed to game events, such that a la Street Fighter, to really evolve as a player you need to both watch and listen closely to time your moves with success. Music is decent, sound effects are acceptable if not incredibly notable. One one particular stage the music is nearly unbearable in its repetition and annoyance factor, but you can get through it without too much trauma.

Control -
Spot on - for the most part. Some moves (as mentioned by other reviewers) are quite literally impossible to ever pull off (they may either be listed incorrectly in the manual, or simply not programmed in, who knows?), but this only accounts for a few Super Specials, not for any bread-and-butter moves. Each character has a decent arsenal of attacks, and 97 percent of these can be pulled off with ease. Reaction time to d-pad and button presses is basically instantaneous.

Computer AI/ Character Balance -
Also surprisingly good. Computer opponents do provide a challenge, and Bosses are a serious pain in the rear (as a Boss should be) without being completely impossible to take down. Character balance could perhaps use a bit of work (some characters seem to have speed and moves that are nigh impossible to beat without a dosage of good luck), but it's nothing that seriously affects most gameplay.

In sum, GA: The Duel is a whole lot of fun. If you're a 2-d fighter fan looking for a good romp on your Saturn, or if you're a Golden Axe fanatic that wants to have a collectible offshoot of the classic, definitely pick this little-known gem up.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/02, Updated 04/22/02