Golden Axe: The Duel (Saturn) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Sega's 1997 2D versus-fighting game for the Sega Saturn, Golden Axe: The Duel.

Played through as Kain Blade on the normal difficulty level.

As I seem to recall, Golden Axe: The Duel was the arcade-to-Saturn port that nobody ever really asked for nor wanted, mainly because everyone wanted a home version of The Return of Death Adder (a direct sequel to the original with some really amazing graphics). Twenty years later, we still haven't seen a home version of that one.

But Golden Axe: The Duel was a fairly good game, and I think probably unfairly maligned (to some extent) because of the disappointment over The Revenge of Death Adder. The port is virtually arcade-perfect though. The graphics are all really nicely detailed, make heavy use of scaling, and everything zooms around without any stutter or slowdown, which is impressive given how much of the screen can be in motion at times. The animation is quite fluid, and the busy stage backgrounds reflect different set pieces in the Golden Axe games well. The soundtrack is great, too, especially in the Saturn's improved Redbook audio mixes.

The Duel takes the heroes, some enemies, and a couple of original creations and throws them all into a Street Fighter 2 style fighting game, complete with a six-button control scheme and more quartet-circle moves than you can shake a stick at. The super moves are all powered by a SSF2T style power gauge, but in a direct nod to the original GA, you kick gnomes and collect bottles to charge it up. There aren't very many special moves per character, though, and the entire system is a bit on the basic side for a port released in 1997. The original arcade game came out in 1994, and the game play was already a bit dated at that point compared to Darkstalkers and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. A direct port three years later didn't really help it out in that regard.

It's all perfectly serviceable, smooth, and generally provides a nice, basic 2D fighter. This is, in my opinion, the main problem with the game. It's based on Golden Axe, one of the best arcade beat em ups of its era, and it's by Sega, one of the best arcade developers ever. So why is it all so average and so similar to everything else that was already out there? It really should have been better than "good."

I do like Golden Axe: The Duel, especially because of the fantastic presentation, but for me, the missed potential made the game itself fall a bit flat. It's not bad, it's not great, it just sorta... is.

But don't merely take my word for it. If you like Golden Axe and fighting games, you should try it. There is a lot of fun to be had with this one.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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