[JemyM]

Golden Axe Warrior
I saved a walkthrough for this game 2004 with the intention to play it, but it's first now I really did. The primary reason to do it now was to try out a new Sega Master System emulator on the PSP with a rewind feature, while my main computer was preoccupied with other tings. Also, spending 3 hours per day on a bus gives me more reason to dust off my handheld.

I lived up in the 8bit era, yet there are very few games that I would consider playing beyond those that have some kind of key recognition, such as a famous franchise or tremendous praise.
If anyone haven't heard about the original arcade game Golden Axe, it was one of the best known sidescrolling beat em up games in the end of the eighties. Three heroes, Ax Battler (male barbarian), Gilius Thunderhead (male dwarf), and Tyris Flare (female barbarian), took on the evil giant Death Adder that use the magical Golden Axe to enslave the king. The Amiga version of Golden Axe was my first game on Amiga 500 so you may say I have a special relationship with the title. Recently a new Golden Axe known as "Beast Rider" was released, starring Tyris Flare, but it flopped.

Anyway, Golden Axe "Warrior" takes most key elements from the story of the original game. You do not play the characters from the first game, but you do meet them, and when you do the music from the Arcade game actually play in the background as an added touch. Beyond them giving you a couple of lines and there are some villagers to speak to there's not much story going on.

Gameplay is completely different from Golden Axe though. GAW is one of the most thorough clones of Nintendos Legend of Zelda ever made. Not surprising considering Sega Master System wanting to copy Nintendos most sucessful game, more surprising was that SEGA wasn't sued their asses of for it. They even later made a blatant copy of Zelda II for Game Gear known as Ax Battler, but that's another story. In GAW you walk around on an overland map, kill monsters for loot, and search for ten mazes which need to be beaten to finish the game. There's also special equipment to be found that unlocks new abilities which usually means going where you couldn't go before, a long with upgradeable weapons, more health and more magic.

So is it worth playing? I say no. If you are curious, you should probably play Zelda instead. Not because Zelda is a better game, no, they are almost identical, but because Zelda have sequels, some of which have been tauted "best game evah". But do play Golden Axe 1-3 on Sega Master System if you like retrogaming. They are overall more entertaining.