Golden Axe

Gamers who loved it a decade ago may not love it today, however.  The character movement is very, very slow.  You only have two places to go – left or right.  The whole point is to move from the beginning to the end of the level, which usually means you'll walk as far east (right) as the game will allow.  Lots of enemies will attack your sword or axe-wielding hero along the way, but that's as much action as you get.  Remember: this game was designed at a time when arcades were popular.  Arcade games had to be basic but big on enemy-slaying in order to get people to spend more money.

Interestingly, you can increase the visual clarity and slightly increase the character speed by playing the game in Game Boy Advance view.  The game is normally full-screen, but Golden Axe was designed long before the "wide" format was adopted, therefore making it impossible to do a direct port without stretching the picture, which causes pixelation.  By pressing the left shoulder button, the game screen shrinks down to a size that is close to the GBA's screen.  No more stretching of the picture means no more stretching of the technology.

Does it make the game more fun?  Slightly.  I would have liked it more if the game had been re-worked to play normally in full frame.  (It's amusing to think that the screen size and original format is now becoming an issue that games have to deal with.)

A fun time-killer, but you won't get much more out of it.

Gameplay: 6.9
Not as much axe-kicking as you’d expect.

Graphics: 4
Wait a sec, I thought graphic effects this old were extinct.

Sound: 6
Nearly identical to the original version.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 7
A blast from the past.  If you were alive during the 8- and 16-bit gaming eras, it’s almost guaranteed that you played, saw, or at least heard about this game.

Overall: 6.9
Not all retro games are memorable classics.