Background:

Here is the seed by which everything else was grown.  A person was hard not to stumble across Golden Axe in an arcade in the late 80s.  Playing by yourself or with a partner, you hacked, chopped, and kicked your way through your enemies on the way to Death Adder himself.  Along the way you could hitch a ride on the back of dragon/chicken type creatures and lay waste to all who opposed you.

In this initial game we meet some of the characters who would carry through to the end.  Gilius Thunderhead, armed with green tunic and ax, joined Ax Battler and Tyris Flare in search of Death Adder--who only recently kidnapped the princess and king.  But it is not for adventure alone that our heroes journey along the path--but revenge!  Death Adder killed Gilius' brother, Tyris' parents, and Ax's mother.

The heroes were not only armed with their weapons, but powerful magic. Ax used Earth magic, Gilius used lightning, and Tyris used fire.  Their magic varied in power based on the number of "Magic Pots" they collected along the way.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:

1. Aside from introducing the heroes and fighting style that carried through the rest of the series, Golden Axe brought about several other "evolutions" in game play.  Stealing the mounts of your enemy added an entirely different balance of game play--and in-fighting among competing players.  The chicken/dragon/fish and its whirling tail of mild discomfort seemed the most numerous, and the fire breathing dragon the most powerful.
2. Similar claims can be made for the Magic Pots that were as precious as gold itself.  The warrior who held the potions, held the power.
3. Upon beating the game, the "end credits" held a special surprise.  The shot pulled back to show the Golden Axe game itself sitting in an arcade.  Each of the characters from the game burst from the machine.  The final scene shows the characters running from the arcade and into the street.
4. A person not caring about copyright laws can easily find a down-loadable copy of the original Golden Axe on the internet.  And if you are truly a purist, even easier to find are the original Golden Axe cabinets themselves.
5. Steve S. wrote in to point out  "A strange thing happened recently at a friends place.  There I was watching the movie 'First Blood' with Stalone, and all of a sudden, recognizable sounds drew in memories of the great Golden Axe arcade game, notably the death cry of the man falling from the chopper, and a few others.  I would almost bet that some of these sound bites were actually taken from the movie and put in the game, or vice versa.  Perhaps you would like to watch the movie yourself and check it out."  And when I did check it out, he was right.  Cool.

For movies of all the action, jump to the Game movies section.  Otherwise, jump to the pictures