Wouldn’t you just rather emulate the Arcade version since it’s always the best? It’s just fun to see some of the crap that was out there and that we all used to suffer with.

Not always. In this case the Mega Drive version is the most fun to play. The Arcade looks and sounds the best though.

@@reagandow850 I agree, most of arcades, yes. But its good to see the other ports to see what you are missing (or gaining) For example, I like Ghouls and Ghosts for SNES instead of arcade or mega drive. And when trying to emulate arcades games they are harder than consoles because you have to deal with rom sets and controller configs. So its great to check if its worth the trouble to get the arcade version.

I would agree with you.

@@RetroCore no graphically the megadrive is in no way the closest to the arcade. Sega Japan had to cut the MD version due to the lack of space on cart. The closest version to the arcade is the Amiga version. It uses the arcade levels tileset, which the megadrive is not having. They had to simplify the graphics. in order to fill the gap, they added one more level and the duel mode.

@B3ro1080 I'd gotta be serious you mean ! :D

@B3ro1080 the megadrive is a reduced version, hence the bonus added :/

@@dlfrsilver Hey Deathbringer is awesome

To be fair, Ane-san on the PC Engine was made by a pretty sub par developer.

The idea of Retro Core seems to be to analyze each game more or less regarding the hardware. This approach is interesting and IMO is the reason why his videos are so nice. But there are sometimes problems of context. For exemple the playability with 1 button controller. Back in 1990, all computer players were perfectly regulars with the need to press keys on keyboard. We were playing in front of our computer and were using joysticks designed to play like this. Playing with a big joystick is totally different from playing with arcade stick or a D-Pad. Even with my old 1 button Konix Speedking, it was not difficult for me to press a key. And as we usually didn't have friends with console systems, we didn't be able to compare Megadrive and Amiga/ST versions. Yes, we were happy to play on our computer, it's as simple as that 😎. Amiga is a very powerful computer, but on a different way of a Megadrive. It's difficult to convert on this system games developed for other hardware. It's not impossible, as other games show it, but needs time and skill. So this Golden Axe is a very nice one. I spent good time on it, even if of course I won't advise a young player to discover this game on Amiga. It's so simple to play original arcade version nowadays.

@@RetroCore subpar?? ane-san was done by NEC avenue, one of the best developers on the pc engine, who were particularly aware of the system capabilities and who did many of the best games for it, either them being exclusives or arcade ports. so by 1995, they knew very well the hardware and ane-san is definitely impressive by pc engine standards

@@iXien the speedking is one of my alltime fav joysticks. the look, the handling, the microswitches... so good! and the navigator, by konix too, was also pretty dope although not as "instant classic" material anyway yeah, the ST and amiga were release in 1985. 1 button scheme was still fine by that point and in many cases using "up" for some tasks (such as accelerating in racing games or jumping in platformers) made for a pretty complete gameplay affair. but there are also games that suffered from this and developers should have included more control options later on (like when the mega drive came out and increased the amount of action buttons from 1 or 2 to 3, they should have followed this, even more since ST and amiga have the same controller ports as sega's console...) now about the amiga capabilities, it was a beast in 1985 but was surpassed in many ways by the mega drive later on. it's not just about being "difficult to convert", which actually is not in some ways, as the amiga is easier to develop for in terms of graphics and sound, but simply about the overall capabilities and golden axe is a good indication of this, since it's the most impressive beat 'em up on amiga yet it's still far from the mega drive version which, in its turn, is far from golden axe 3 or streets of rage 2! in fact, I've been thinking about a remaster project of the mega drive version of golden axe. that's something I'd love to work on. using a 32 meg cart + with all the knowledge and tools that we've got in the meantime (such as the XGM sound driver), something amazing could be done. dunno if I'd have the time for this but it'd be nice if some other folks or even sega themselves would consider this. golden axe is such an iconic game, unique and always thrilling to play through with those lovely conan the barbarian/adventurous vibes

@@iXien people have a really bad memory. The Amiga version uses the arcade tileset, and the programmers used all the tricks in the book to make it arcade perfect (graphically). The megadrive version is a CUT down version, because Sega could not have carts with more than 8mbits because it was too expensive. the graphics were cropped and reduced (less detailed tiles) than the arcade, and in consequence, less detailed than the amiga version. And the amiga version has an awesome rendition made by David Whittaker !

I had a Sound Blaster Pro. The MS DOS version had really good music.

Hope everything is back to normal for you by then. 👍

Akaikabe yep, I remember this! It’s probably the most fun version of the game due to this “modding” capability.

Yep, this is quite common with a lot of older PC games that use basic file names.

Also not sure if it was mentioned, but the msdos version actually plays a teeny bit better than it does here. I had it back in the day and if you search youtube for other vids you can catch it playing a bit better. Still has slowdown and scrolling issues but it just looks extra unplayable here, and it wasn't quite that bad.

@@ugzz Yeah, it played much better on a normal dos. I suppose the emulator is the problem here.

Ah, nostalgia is a great thing at times. It can remind us of when things were fun no matter how bad they were.

Megadrive version destroys it😂😂

Yep, a lot of work this month on videos.

Wow, they were still making pal bordered games on the PS2? Sad.

@@RetroCore It was entirely at the discretion of the publisher and developers so you never knew what you were getting until the PAL release and somebody complained online about how bad the PAL conversion was, or you took the chance yourself to find out. I'd been switched over to imports for years by then, it just made life easier knowing that every game would at least run the way the original developers intended.

Cool. I need to check that out.

@@RetroCore Ah, I spelled it wrong. It's by "Xfixium", not "Xfinium". Here is a video of the work, lots of his stuff is amazing kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oK6oa5x93NbenWg.html

Nice 👍

Thanks and welcome to the channel.

@@RetroCore ...yes, thanks! Looks like you put a lot of time and effort into these videos. I appreciate that a lot!

I had many a lcd game back in the days before GameBoy. They have a lot of nostalgia.

I agree. It plays much faster and feels more responsive.

@@RetroCore the megadrive version is subpar to the arcade. that's unfortunate....

This guy never cuts the Amiga any slack, always moaning about one button controls. Sounds like a broken record. That's the way it is. Get over it. I never had any trouble as a kid. Amiga Golden Axe is a fantastic port, one of the Amigas best

All commodore and Amiga games had the up button for jump in those days. Yes it sucked balls, but you can easily remap the buttons nowadays, or rewire your controller.

The Amiga version was a quite good port but the arcade version remains just the best.

@Benjamin Owuye Jagun Yes, most Amiga arcade ports were crap but Golden Axe is a good port that looks and plays well.

It has the Arcade ending which is sadly missing in the Mega Drive.

*one stinking fire button on a joystick* 👎🏻

@@afriend9428 later were two. Lol.

😂😂😂 amiga version is a joke 😂😂😊

Oh man, that's a shame. Would be cool to still own it.

Wow, it's cool they still have an original GOLDEN Axe and that it still works!

@@RetroCore Yeah, they've even replaced buttons and fixed the screen after it had what seemed to be cap issues. The cab is quite faded at this point thanks to where it sits, but I have to give the owners credit for keeping it running. It's just too bad that it's not Revenge of Death Adder, since, outside of playing it at Galloping Ghost the times I've visited my sister in Chicago, I haven't seen a Revenge of Death Adder cab since the mid 90s.

Actually, the MSX has 2 buttons as did the Sharp and NEC computers of the time. But for some reason the western systems only used one. Well, unless you had loads of money and played on an Acorn.

Maybe they can't due to the ripped voice samples from movies. They could replace those I guess.

Yep, there's a lot of versions of games we often don't know about.

I don't know. The C64 port just bored me. Having to deal with one player at a time was so tedious I thought.

Very true

@Lassi Kinnunen I haven't tried running Golden Axe with DOSBox before, so I'm not sure. Actually I haven't even tried running older games with pc speaker support only. But that is an interesting question for sure. Maybe I should give it a go someday.

The PS2 version is nice to play together with a little child.

I tried playing it with my boy but he wasn't interested 🙄. He always wanted to play Double Dragon Neon.

Retro Core I mean, can you blame him? It's a much better game

At least they understood what makes a good ending

The Mega Drive version also has that.

@@RetroCore Really? I thought it was only the Mega CD, I'm going to go and play it now. Flair forever Ax Battler never.

Well said 😁😎

No worries man. Thanks for watching for so long. I remember you from AG. You used the same user name, right?

There is also a bit more gore during the attract sequence on the Japanese version.

I never knew that. I've always played the Japanese arcade. I just thought it was missing from the home ports.

The screen-tearing on the DOS version is also likely an emulation issue. PC monitors typically ran at 70Hz back then but 60Hz is far more common on current systems, leading to issues where the emulated framerate doesn't scale cleanly with the display framerate.

@@221b oh yes, forget about that. you cant do anything about that for dos games about frame pacing. This cant been avoid, due above. The 8 sprite horizontal limit on the C64 is why you only see one enemy at same time. To been fair, there was compliment about that allready back in the days, so completly fair. But the tune is ace!

Like the guy with the st version i have very fond memories of the amiga version, and at that time it def felt very next gen as most ppl only had a nes or c64 , and most pc ppl had monochrome screens and no sound but internal pc speaker! Friends and family wanted to play it whenever they’d visit so not just me either ;) I still have not properly given the md version a shot as the sound and gfx felt worse then my amgia memories...tho i’ll admit the may somewhat rosecolored! The joystick controls you get used too (especially cially with other games on c64 and amiga using it)... and yes i did not like magic on kb, but this should be no issue with emu or indeed that whdload version i guess. My complaint was that it was a easy game and I completed it after a few days. Still enjoyed seeing this!

It sure does. I remember thinking it looked real as a kid.

@@RetroCore its maybe the best title screen from all versions.

These days that is definitely the case.

I can remember my mum buying me the amstrad version on a trip to town. Sitting in the post office looking over the box art and was amazed by it. Loved the game and play it once a year.

I like watching Retro Core with auto subtitles too, obviously Japanese-Scouse hasn't been added to the list of dialects yet. Agree about the Amiga version too, perfectly decent and surprising considering how bad most Amiga arcade ports were.

What did he really say? Not "Golden Axe Jew Bricks edition"?

Ah, best not to use the automated subtitles. I actually provide real ones. I do agree that the Amiga looks and sounds very good. I do mention that but sadly it is a horrible game to play.

@@RetroCore I did not notice that there were real subtitles, but now that I've seen the potential of automated subtitles, I'm not sure I want the real ones:)

Japanese version only, you're not going mad.

It's only in the Japanese version.

Thanks, Colin.

Can't deny that.

😂👍

Lold here

Lol, even just thinking about that is strange 😋

"playing gay is candlelight playing a really bad at games mega tribe clone" LOL

"Golden Axe Jew Pro Bricks edition"

I think this is KZfaq's auto subs. Mine are perfect as always. I have no idea what happened. I'll fix them tonight.

Retro Core Thanks! Also, for anyone that missed these subtitles, I have them saved on a Notepad. If you want to see them (again), I will copy and paste it in my next reply. Just be warned.... it will be LONG.

Captions these great deserve archiving.

I'm sure the Mega Drive version could have been so much better had it been given a 8mbit rom. It's such a shame the Mega CD port didn't give us what the Mega Drive game should have been.

Lol, or just Ken Shiro in drag 😁

Lol, I got fed up with people complaining.

Gauntlet would be a good one to remake.

@@RetroCore I heard the MD port's team were how they started before eventually forming the well-respected "M2". Any validity to that?

Classic 😂

They are more fun to watch but definitely not more fun to make as the home computer ports are often horrible to play.

Ahh. The good old Speccy, still game for a laugh, just not for playing ;-)

Played it back in the day. Naturally looks bad but worse is it doesn’t play like golden axe and was ridiculously hard

I agree. It's awful to play. Sometimes speccy games look bad but play well this does neither.

Still better than the C64 version.

Better than the amiga garbage

Yeah, you're right. I wonder if that was meant to be an Easter Egg?

Good thing I'm working on a better Mega CD Port.

Doom, no. There are too many ports and to be honest the doom fan boys are too toxic. Quake could be an option. I'll look in to that.

I said the ALT key 😋 Still, that was also wrong since that was the key for the Atari ST version despite the instructions saying they were for the Amiga.

It's only on the Japanese version of the game.

@@RetroCore oh okay, thanks for the response man.

It wouldn't surprise me.

It is bad, really boring too. The stages go on forever.

That they do.

Probably a compilation since there was a Sega Smash Pack for Windows PC (In the first volume)

Raptor is that the PC Scifi/space shooter from Apogee? Great game at the time

That's right. Great music, nice looking game but dull as dish water to actually play.

Agreed.

Hmm, that is a possibility.

Lol, it does sound that way.

The Amiga version sure has the looks.