Episode 663: Golden Axe, first swing

Stuart: Happy new year, my friends! Who among us cannot say that they have not experienced the phenomenon captured by Sega’s beef-tastic Golden Axe? I refer of course to sleeping rough beside a roaring fire, beset by mischievous elves that you are first to take your boots to in order to steal their magic power. Yes, we’ve all been there, and no, it’s not a metaphor. It is the commonality of this endeavour which inspired me to go, “Hey, I should do a Golden Axe podcast”, which naturally turned into two Golden Axe podcasts—covering the entire series in the level of detail you’d hopefully expect from the combined powers of Diamond Feit, John Linneman and Thomas Nickel. Also me, Stuart Gipp. I’m there too. While it isn’t one of the Sega franchises most would consider top tier—for example, Gain Ground—it is assuredly one of their most important legacy titles and one that has often been given another go around the sun, with re-releases and a brand new title on the horizon as part of the upcoming clutch of Sega throwbacks. It seemed as good a time as any to get forensic on Golden Axe, which mostly ploughs its belt-scrolling furrow but has ventured into such genres as the action RPG and even a one-on-one fighting game. To my knowledge there is no Golden Axe dating sim, but I speak for us all when I say there absolutely should be. That Gilius is a dish.

As mentioned, this is just the first part of a twofer, with the second to follow in due course. I’ve had a few experiences with this crew, or variations of it, where we’ve organically discovered that a subject really needs more time than I’ve allotted it, and things grow into a bigger, better podcast. In fact, there’s one we recorded recently only to realise that it needed doing over to correctly do justice to the subject, so look forward to more from us coming up this year.

Art by Leeann Hamilton, edits by Greg Leahy.

• 09:41 - Golden Axe (AC): Theme of the Thief

• 17:32 - Theme from Conan the Barbarian (1982 Film) | Golden Axe (AC): Battle Field

• 26:29 - Golden Axe (AC): Wilderness

• 34:14 - Golden Axe (AC): Old Map

• 40:23 - Theme from Sega Ages (Switch) | Golden Axe (AC): Death Adder

• 51:35 - Golden Axe (SMS): Title

• 1:00:41 - Golden Axe (MD): Staff Roll | Golden Axe Warrior: Intro

• 1:11:14 - Golden Axe II: Ravaged Village

• 1:19:28 - Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe: Spooky Cave

• Closing - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Adder's Lair