Golden Axe for Genesis

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling arcade hack and slash game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the series.Progress is made through the game by fighting through Death Adder`s henchmen, including men armed with clubs and maces, skeleton Warriors, and knights. Aiding the characters in their quest is their ability to cast spells that hurt all enemies on the screen. The force of this magic depends on the number of "bars" of magic power currently available. The bars are filled by collecting blue `magic potions` found throughout the game. The male warrior Ax, limited to 4 bars, is able to cast EARTH spells. The dwarf Gilius, limited to 3 bars, casts lightning spells and the female warrior Tyris can cast devastating fire magic, but her most powerful spell costs 6 bars.Various steeds are found in the game, which are known as bizarrians. These can be ridden when the enemy rider is knocked off, or if one is found dormant. The least powerful steed is known as a `Chicken-Leg`, which can be used to knock down enemies with a Swipe of its tail. The more powerful dragon, which can either shoot fireballs or breathe fire, is found later in the game.The Duel is a gameplay mode which was a feature of most ports, but not of the original arcade game. It can be played either single or two-player.In the single-player mode, the player battles enemies in stages. A handful of enemies attack, and when they are defeated the player moves on to the next group of enemies. Sometimes even bosses appeared to challenge the player. The player had to make do with the health they started with for the duration of the game, and magic could not be used at all. At some stages enemies rode on bizarrians, which could be stolen and used to fight with.If played in two-player mode, The Duel became a one-on-one battle against the other player with no enemies or stages. Like the single-player duel mode, health could not be regained, nor magic used.