Golden Axe III [Archive] - Sega-16 Forums

Phexar

07-12-2009, 11:49 PM

I'm neutral on my thoughts about this game... I did initially like it more than the previous two because of the ability to block and some other added moves (along with a few nice tunes), but it feels a bit fiddly nowadays and I hate whenever the giant-four-armed-goat-headed-demon fellows show up, especially in Cursed City where they cram you into a small area with two of them. Chronos (the panther) is the only character I can comfortably take them out with, thanks to his dashing spin attack (which cuts through pretty much everything in the game, in fact).

I also didn't like that they went back to the original Golden Axe magic system after the upgrade they had in Golden Axe 2, or the new Bizarrians, half of which were mostly useless. That said, I think it is a decent game, though a little lacking in several ways compared to Golden Axe 1 & 2 even if it does add some things of it's own to make it stand out from the previous two.

Baloo

07-13-2009, 12:27 AM

Mine is the only opinion that matters!

He's got everyone there.

GEN ESIS GAMER

07-13-2009, 12:34 AM

After playing Golden Axe III several times, to me it doesan't feel like a true Golden Axe title. kind of like the way Beast Rider is.

Aarzak

07-13-2009, 04:37 AM

Everything here is below what you'd expect for the third game in this series. The visuals are awful, the magic, dragon or not, is just laughable compared to the awesome effects of the first game, and the gameplay received a few new moves just to prove that it was aware Streets of Rage had been released. Terrible, terrible game.

Like I said, there's a reason Sega kept this game in Japan.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

I'm glad they kept this turd in Japan. Its the least they could've done.

Christuserloeser

07-13-2009, 05:07 AM

to me it doesan't feel like a true Golden Axe title.

It's developed by a different team - like all Streets of Rage games are developed by different teams, or all Shinobi games. Of course there are some team members, producers, directors, level designers, graphic artists, that are involved in more than one of the games - like Yuzo Koshiro did the music for all the Streets of Rage games, and Motohiro Kawashima was involved in the music for both Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3. Also, "Team Streets of Rage", the guys behind Super Shinobi and Streets of Rage, is fully credited in Streets of Rage 2", although it was developed mainly by Koshiro's Ancient (Beyond Oasis).

In case of Golden Axe 3 it seems to be developed by at least some of the GA2 staff - like the music. Naofumi Hataya and Tatsuyuki Maeda composed the music of GA3, Naofumi Hataya also did the music for GA2, which is why GA3 sounds so similar to GA2.

Chronos (the panther) is the only character I can comfortably take them out with, thanks to his dashing spin attack (which cuts through pretty much everything in the game, in fact).

If I remember correctly, all of the character's have a special that cuts through everything - e.g. Sarah's thrown sabre. But yeah, I think the game's the most fun with Chronos and Sarah.

Everything here is below what you'd expect for the third game in this series.

Have you recently played the first two games ? - Like TmEE and Fonzie, I really think GA3 wipes the floor with GA1 and GA2. It just plays so much better.

That said, I really enjoy playing GA1 and GA2 nowadays.

Anyway, here's a pretty good review of the game:

qWn0zTJUfnQ

The visuals are awful

I agree that some stages do look pretty 8-bit. Others however do look impressive for its time - like the stage when you ride the giant eagle's back.
The game came out along with games like Mazin Saga, Fatal Fury, Jurrasic Park, Taz-Mania, and Ecco The Dolphin, and I think it holds up very well to those.

It also does look a lot like GA1 and GA2, but in comparision to GA1 and GA2 there are some things that did improve:

- much bigger, more detailed character sprites
- twice as many stages
- more playable characters & more bosses

Here's a map of the different routes you can take:
http://goldenaxe.classicgaming.gamespy.com/daimages/newimages/ga3manual/GA3page25-26.jpg

the magic, dragon or not, is just laughable compared to the awesome effects of the first game

No. When previously you had three characters with three spells, you now got four characters with four spells, two of which are as impressive as the most powerful spell of each character of the previous games.

Here are screenshots of the co-operative team specials along with their equivalent magic spells:
http://goldenaxe.classicgaming.gamespy.com/daimages/newimages/ga3manual/GA3page21-22.jpg
The co-op moves are an idea they obviously 'borrowed' from Streets of Rage 1. (Streets of Rage 2 was released just a few weeks before Golden Axe 3, and does not include the team moves anyway.)

and the gameplay received a few new moves just to prove that it was aware Streets of Rage had been released.

It plays totally different in comparision with GA1+2 (which play almost identical) or Streets of Rage.

Like I said, there's a reason Sega kept this game in Japan.

Which would be what exactly ?

The number of Japanese [Sega] games from 1993-1996 they've released in the US went down to way below 50% of SOJ's output. Most of these games are among the very best games ever released for the machine, see Monster World 4, Battle Mania 2, Dragon Slayer, Pulseman, Langrisser 2, Pengo, or Surging Aura.

Zebbe

07-13-2009, 06:13 AM

We didn't need another thread for this game, every game reviewed has a thread for it already.

Go to the review and click on the forum thread link and see where you'll get.

Aarzak and Melf are missing that this game WAS released outside of Japan. I have the Asia region version myself.

Christuserloeser

07-13-2009, 06:15 AM

I heard it also was available via the Sega Channel in the US, like Megaman: Wily Wars and others.

Iced Snowman

07-13-2009, 07:16 AM

GA3 is alright but could have been a hell of a lot better.

Christuserloeser

07-13-2009, 07:26 AM

Well, Streets of Rage 2 came out at about the same time, and that's better, so yeah.

Alianger

07-13-2009, 07:37 AM

The game came out along with games like Mazin Saga, Fatal Fury, Jurrasic Park, Taz-Mania, and Ecco The Dolphin, and I think it holds up very well to those.

It also does look a lot like GA1 and GA2, but in comparision to GA1 and GA2 there are some things that did improve:

- much bigger, more detailed character sprites

You seem to have a very selective memory in this case.

1993: Ranger X, Gunstar Heroes, Blades of Vengeance, Aladdin, Landstalker, Puggsy, Robocop vs. Terminator, Phantasy star IV, Street Fighter 2 CE, Splatterhouse 3

1992: Streets of Rage 2, World of Illusion, Gleylancer, Thunder Force IV, Twinkle Tale

Does GA3 even compare to _any_ of those? No.

The characters are not "much bigger", the bosses are even smaller and much less intimidating (not counting the final one) than in the prequels.

Christuserloeser

07-13-2009, 08:03 AM

Phexar

07-13-2009, 08:33 AM

Alianger

07-13-2009, 08:45 AM

Streets of Rage 2 came out 14-01-1993, GA3 25-06-1993. I admit that's more than a few weeks, but it's not that it would have made the GA3 team to throw away their work to start from scratch just because Streets or Rage 2 looked so much better. Heck, although SoR2 indeed looks much better, some stages in SoR2 look exactly as bland as some of the worst stages in GA3 - see the arcade in level 3-1 or when you're inside the truck (level 2-2).

Well, yeah in fact it does: Its color palette looks a lot like Landstalker or Phantasy Star 4. Its character sizes and animations are similar to what you see in Blades of Vengeance, Streets of Rage 2 or Splatterhouse 3 - although GA3's only 8Mbits while all of the games you've mentioned are 16Mbit or more (aside of Puggsy).

Anyway, like I mentioned, some of its backgrounds look very 8-bit (especially the earlier stages), while some look great (especially the later stages). All in all it looks a lot like Golden Axe 1 and 2.

I am aware that these were already pretty old by the time GA3 came out, but hey, if you think GA3 sucks visually: so does GA1 and 2.

The sprite artists could've at least learned from their fellow colleagues before or while working on the game, and touched up the graphics accordingly. I admit that it does look somewhat better in later stages, but still below average for the time.

As for the other games I think you're stretching it quite a bit. GA3 might compare to one or two aspects of some of them, but as an overall package it is a huge disappointment for 1993.

I don't know who exactly worked on GA3's graphics, but don't you think Sega should've put all they got into one of their already established and popular franchises? The arcade sequel (1992) looked absolutely amazing, and would've still looked pretty great if the right people worked on porting it to the MD.

I don't think GA1/2 suck for their time (well, 2 is somewhat disappointing), but it might have to do with the power of nostalgia :)

TheEdge

07-13-2009, 09:29 AM

Like I said, there's a reason Sega kept this game in Japan.

I never new it was only released in Japan. I didn't find it too bad.

I did feel that Golden Axe II would have benefited from one extra level but thats just my opinion.

Christuserloeser

07-13-2009, 09:29 AM

I don't know who exactly worked on GA3's graphics, but don't you think Sega should've put all they got into one of their already established and popular franchises?

I've been checking the game's credits and it seems it's about 50% of the GA2 team that did GA3. The major difference seem to be the sprite artists, who in my opinion did an awesome job in GA3, as these look MUCH better than those in GA2. - I'll see if I can find out who did the conversion of GA1 to MD and then post my findings.

I don't think GA1/2 suck for their time (well, 2 is somewhat disappointing), but it might have to do with the power of nostalgia :)

GA1 is quite impressive for its time (1989), but other games released that same year look even better - like Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Shinobi, Mystic Defender, or Phantasy Star II. Still, quite impressive for its time.

Actually, yeah, it seems that nostalgia plays a huge role as to why people love GA1&2 but hate GA3. I ordered GA3 right when it's been released (mailorder was the only way to buy games where I lived), so I've played it just weeks after first playing Streets of Rage 2.

I remember being dissapointed with the graphics myself, although I thought the character sprites looked pretty much as good as in Streets of Rage 2 (different style aside, SoR2 looks a lot more anime than any Golden Axe). And the music was and in fact still is awesome!

Despite the changes they made, at least they kept the theme of skeletons being thoroughly obnoxious all the way. :p

Haha, yeah, but not really: Try playing with Sarah. For some reason they're a lot easier with her.

Christuserloeser

07-13-2009, 10:22 AM

Here's the credits I promised:

Golden Axe MD
Software Design: Takosuke, Moto CBX1000, HAM TAK, WAKA
Visual Effects: Kyonsy Kyonsy, Cane, Chisuke, Roco
Sound: Hankyoku, Decky, Imocky
Assistant Programmer: S2, Yang Watt, Vinyl Boy
Producer: Kan
Director Bros 400
Assistant Director: Opa-Opa
English Messages: Niya, Tsugu,
Arcade Game Design: Team Shinobi

If Team Shinobi did the arcade version, then the credited team did the MD conversion. Hankyoku, Decky, Imocky composed the arcade score though. Whoever did the MD sound conversion either isn't credited or Han, Decky, Imocky themselves supervised the conversion.

Golden Axe 2
Planner: Fuzzy
Character Design: Hiro.K , REW
Background Design: Toyo Ozaki, SANT,
Programmer: Takubon , K.Koba
Sound Effects: Hatabaw
Messages: Marsh, Kakuka
Checkers: Kyamura , Mu , Dehehe, Ax , Taka O , Sunset
Special Thanks: Gas Ges Gos
[Music: N.H] (not credited)

The team behind GA2 is totally different to the guys who did [the MD conversion of] GA1, yet it plays strikingly similar. Would be interesting to know if there was anyone of Team Shinobi involved. GA1's director, Makoto Uchida, wasn't.

Golden Axe 3
Main Planner: Fuzzy
Planner: IIZ
Character Design: Warukatta, Shige.D.O.R, Souly.S.Kine
Background Design: Shige.D.O.R. Matsu G, SANT, Ninjyaman
Main Program: Takubon
Program: ZAN/Marucchi, K.M
Sound Program: BO
Music and Sound Effects: N.H, Ryunosuke, Lotty, T.S
Messages: James
Package and Manual: Ayanokami, F.Hamster
Special Thanks: Todoroki Taiyo, Virtual Suto, All Test Players, ...And You

Fuzzy (director), SANT (graphics), Takubon (main programmer), N.H (music) were already involved in GA2.

Alianger

07-13-2009, 08:02 PM

I do like the music a lot, I'll agree with you there. Many memorable compositions, and it's technically accomplished as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLRbjkk3E3U&feature=PlayList&p=DDE6226DCE06A866&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18

"The Castle" is nearly as epic as the best tracks in the prequels.

Melf

07-13-2009, 09:10 PM

No. When previously you had three characters with three spells, you now got four characters with four spells, two of which are as impressive as the most powerful spell of each character of the previous games.

I didn't find any of the magic effects in the game to be particularly cool-looking, and most didn't even seem to feel like they had any impact, unlike the earth shaking and dragon fire from the first.

Which would be what exactly ?

That for being the third game in the series, it fails to impress. Say what you will about GA 2, but that at least felt like a GA game. This one seemed like a game they just tacked the license onto. It just doesn't feel right to me.

Aarzak and Melf are missing that this game WAS released outside of Japan. I have the Asia region version myself.

So they only failed to release it in North America, South America, and Europe, the biggest Genesis markets? :p

I am aware that these were already pretty old by the time GA3 came out, but hey, if you think GA3 sucks visually: so does GA1 and 2.

Thing is, I don't expect the third game in a series to look as bad as the first.

Christuserloeser

07-15-2009, 04:26 PM

I do like the music a lot, I'll agree with you there. Many memorable compositions, and it's technically accomplished as well.

I loved it as much as that of many of the other games I had - such as the Illusion games, Sonic, Thunder Force, Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Wonderboy, Darius II, etc. pp. - It's one of the very best soundtracks on MD with loads of memorable compositions and only one or two fillers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLRbjkk3E3U&feature=PlayList&p=DDE6226DCE06A866&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18

"The Castle" is nearly as epic as the best tracks in the prequels.

Sounds pretty tinny on Youtube... Here's some recordings I made via my HD model 1 Genny:

link removed

I recorded it via my 70s Pioneer amp with bass set to +4. That sure is experimental but it sounds awesome on my setup. - If anyone has a 5.1 setup with separate subwoofer please let me know if the bass is total overkill or if it's okay.

That for being the third game in the series, it fails to impress.

I agree, but you could say the same about Sonic 3 or Bare Knuckle 3, and perhaps most sequels on MD/G in general.

In the end I think it's just a good game. It certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel, but they did some subtle but important changes to the gameplay that really adressed some of the issues of the first two games.

In my opinion it's easily the best game in the series - on Mega Drive of course, the arcade games are better.

Btw, I don't think that you'd not be entitled to your opinion about the game or something, nor that your review wouldn't be valid, but considering the many positive features of the game your opinion on this game's qualities seems to tend towards a rather extreme side: a 4/10 is a rating that comparably few games at Sega-16 received, and most of them were definitely and without any doubt pretty damn bad games that worked very hard to earn their low rating. That's why I think that in this particular case the game deserves a 'second opinion' - a second review. That's something I've been vocal about in respect to the few more controversial reviews on the site:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7861

So they only failed to release it in North America, South America, and Europe, the biggest Genesis markets? :p

We don't really know how big the Asian market was back in the day. What we do know however is that today it's easily the biggest market for everything MD.

Thing is, I don't expect the third game in a series to look as bad as the first.

Why am I thinking about EA when reading this statement ? =P

Alianger

07-15-2009, 05:13 PM

I loved it as much as that of many of the other games I had - such as the Illusion games, Sonic, Thunder Force, Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Wonderboy, Darius II, etc. pp. - It's one of the very best soundtracks on MD with loads of memorable compositions and only one or two fillers.

I recorded it via my 70s Pioneer amp with bass set to +4. That sure is experimental but it sounds awesome on my setup. - If anyone has a 5.1 setup with separate subwoofer please let me know if the bass is total overkill or if it's okay.

Good, but it's in mono. I'd prefer to have the bass as accurate as possible and then mess with it myself. Thanks though.

Check out Gauntlet IV and Master of Monsters for more epic, medieval goodness :)

Christuserloeser

07-15-2009, 05:16 PM

Yeah, they both got awesome soundtracks.

- What do you mean by 'it's in mono' ?! Did I mess up something during recording? :sweat:

Alianger

07-15-2009, 08:22 PM

You mean you don't know the difference between stereo and mono?

The Mega Drive can do stereo panning with its 6 FM channels, which means it can play an instrument through either the left or right speaker. When there's no panning, the music is in mono and all instruments are heard from one source, in the center of the soundfield.

This game has lots of panning, especially on the brass-like instruments which are played in the left and right speakers at the same time using two channels. Try listening to it in headphones and the effect becomes much clearer.
Panning makes the music more dynamic and powerful as you can hear each instrument clearly.

Also, the psg (master system) in the MD is always in Mono, but may appear to be panned if you listen to .vgz files in winamp, because the plugin does this automatically for some reason. The youtube example is apparently recorded like that, which is why it sounds a bit 'spread out' and thin.

The snes is more advanced as it can pan an instrument for example 70% to the right and 30% to the left using just one channel (out of 8 compared to 6 on the MD). Just thought I'd mention that :)

Melf

07-15-2009, 08:47 PM

Btw, I don't think that you'd not be entitled to your opinion about the game or something, nor that your review wouldn't be valid, but considering the many positive features of the game your opinion on this game's qualities seems to tend towards a rather extreme side: a 4/10 is a rating that comparably few games at Sega-16 received, and most of them were definitely and without any doubt pretty damn bad games that worked very hard to earn their low rating. That's why I think that in this particular case the game deserves a 'second opinion' - a second review. That's something I've been vocal about in respect to the few more controversial reviews on the site:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7861

We're only giving one review per game, but there's always the comment section, forum thread, and even a Double Take article for second opinions.

We don't really know how big the Asian market was back in the day. What we do know however is that today it's easily the biggest market for everything MD.

The U.S. and Europe were definitely the biggest markets for Sega during the Genesis era, and the fact that Sega teased gamers with GA 3 via the Sega Channel and then changed its mind says something about its confidence in the game.

Christuserloeser

07-16-2009, 01:16 AM

You mean you don't know the difference between stereo and mono?

Of course I know, but I didn't notice that the recordings were in mono. I'll have to find out what happened.

acdc

07-16-2009, 06:59 PM

i liked this game one is great but part three i like it more then part 2
different routes to take and new moves

Christuserloeser

07-18-2009, 10:09 AM

If I remember correctly, all of the character's have a special that cuts through everything - e.g. Sarah's thrown sabre. But yeah, I think the game's the most fun with Chronos and Sarah.

I'll have to test the sabre thing out again because IIRC it didn't go through a blocking enemy, but I don't know. I only know for certain that Chronos's dashing spin tears through everything making him a little overpowered in comparison to the rest of the cast.

You're right! The thrown sabre doesn't cut through a blocking enemy and it doesn't make Sarah invulnerable, unlike Chronos' dashing spin. - However, Sarah's roundhouse kick does make her invulnerable. And if you hold forward before pressing bunch + kick, she'll do a very powerful variant of that move.

I first noticed it when I was browsing Youtube for some video material in the post of mine you've quoted. Some guy posted a non-TAS in Hard (!) but playing with Sarah:

_AFZlgfIAhE

This game has lots of panning, especially on the brass-like instruments which are played in the left and right speakers at the same time using two channels. Try listening to it in headphones and the effect becomes much clearer.

I re-installed the drivers for my new sound card the same day I made the GA3 recordings and I forgot that the default setting was having both analog input channels centered. :?

Btw, Golden Axe 2 is known for not doing much with the stereo capabilities on Mega Drive. Golden Axe 3 however indeed uses stereo a lot, as I had the opportunity to witness once again when re-recording the tracks in stereo and comparing them with the mono recordings. :o

Here are the new recordings: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V67MAG8I

I didn't find any of the magic effects in the game to be particularly cool-looking, and most didn't even seem to feel like they had any impact, unlike the earth shaking and dragon fire from the first.

I strongly disagree. Like I posted earlier, the most impressive magic spells are those that you can only do in 2 player mode. Please do have a look at the following scan of the relevant page of the game's manual below, as it gives you a good impression what to expect (see "Tidal Wave", "Falling Sun", "Summoned Golem", Death Arrow"):

When previously you had three characters with three spells, you now got four characters with four spells, two of which are as impressive as the most powerful spell of each character of the previous games.
Here are screenshots of the co-operative team specials along with their equivalent magic spells:
http://goldenaxe.classicgaming.gamespy.com/daimages/newimages/ga3manual/GA3page21-22.jpg
The co-op moves are an idea they obviously 'borrowed' from Streets of Rage 1. (Streets of Rage 2 was released just a few weeks before Golden Axe 3, and does not include the team moves anyway.)

NeoVamp

07-20-2009, 11:29 AM

Does anyone know the correct level select cheat for Golden Axe III ?
I tried the one on gamefaqs but it didn't work, and neither did the "hidden message" cheat.

Sega Genesis

06-28-2010, 08:50 PM

This game has more moves than GA2 but cannot be used effectively. The enemies have neverending block, a smarter AI in general(they won't fall off cliffs) and cheap jump attacks that are hard to avoid(sometimes you can walk behind them when they are in mid-move and throw them). Character designs, the magic system, and the music suffered. When did little fat dwarf arab guys that slam their stomache into seem like a good idea? The multi armed ram head bosses seem to have moves that you can't avoid getting hit. That kind of gameplay was done away with years before and not brought back? Some of the "new moves" are harder to pull off and therefore less effective. Pick your path areas don't care for or enjoy. Take out the dwarf and add two new characters that don't even have weapons. Useless snail things to ride on that have a tongue made out rock with a round piece at the end that has no range. Good luck making that effective. Magic you have no control over how many you use. On GA2 you could use a couple knowing you were going to get more soon and still have enough for the big boss. Now you just have to pass some magics since you can't use them when you want to and must remain full. Level design not as good as GA2. Music not as memorable as GA2. Ok as a beat'em up/hack and slash but too bad it has the Golden Axe name on it IMO. These comments are from someone that can beat Golden Axe 2 everytime on hard with the dwarf loosing no continues and many times perfecting the last boss without even letting him let any skeletons out and has played and loved the game more than most perfecting the game play down to a science only to see this hack of a game GA3 come out.

Christuserloeser

07-06-2012, 07:26 AM

I didn't find any of the magic effects in the game to be particularly cool-looking, and most didn't even seem to feel like they had any impact, unlike the earth shaking and dragon fire from the first.

Found a video on YT showing the team spells:
OVPGQqYLAB4

Barone

07-06-2012, 09:28 AM

I beat this game today with my brother and I disagree with the review. Some things are just incorrect about it. For example there are some Street Fighter/Streets of Rage 3 style moves and some throws that weren't in the previous games, which contradicts the statement "The gameplay hasn't progressed in this series at all". And as I read it it seems like the reviewer isn't aware that the dragon IS in the game, and it comes when you have full magic and use it with the amazon. Discussing the audio is quite pointless, but I'd definitely say it is of at least higher QUALITY than the previous two games. All in all, GAIII did many more changes and much more progress compared to the second game, which to me felt like the exact same game as its prequel.
This.

like Fonzie once said, it puts its prequels to the grave, and I agree with it. GA3 is much nicer than GA1 or GA2
This.

Everything here is below what you'd expect for the third game in this series. The visuals are awful, the magic, dragon or not, is just laughable compared to the awesome effects of the first game, and the gameplay received a few new moves just to prove that it was aware Streets of Rage had been released. Terrible, terrible game.

Like I said, there's a reason Sega kept this game in Japan.
This post makes no sense. It was just SoA that make a dick move and decided to not release it in the US. SoJ and SoA were totally different most of the time in terms of business strategy, you can't refer to both (plus Sega in Europe) just like "Sega", saying "they" decided to keep this in Japan.

The visuals are awful? ahhahahaha. Just mindless...
In terms of colors, GAIII puts the first two games into shame.
The sprites are far more detailed. And the animation for characters and enemies has more frames...
I don't know what "awful" means to you.

Your review is broken, incomplete and some of your arguments make no sense.

Well your welcome to your opinion just like everyone else is to theres, though I think yours is wrong :p
Yeah, wrong.

Aarzak and Melf are missing that this game WAS released outside of Japan. I have the Asia region version myself.
This.

I didn't find any of the magic effects in the game to be particularly cool-looking, and most didn't even seem to feel like they had any impact, unlike the earth shaking and dragon fire from the first.

That for being the third game in the series, it fails to impress. Say what you will about GA 2, but that at least felt like a GA game. This one seemed like a game they just tacked the license onto. It just doesn't feel right to me.

So they only failed to release it in North America, South America, and Europe, the biggest Genesis markets? :p

Thing is, I don't expect the third game in a series to look as bad as the first.
It doesn't look as bad as the first game. It looks far better than both I and II. And II is the one which really sucks as a sequel, almost no improvements and relly bad looking for its time.
Your review show some bias due to the fact that the game wasn't released in US and your post just reinforces it.

There's no logic in what you tried to imply, like if GAIII was not released worldwide 'cause it sucks. Tons of horrible EA games (some of them very overrated in Sega-16 reviews) were released worldwide and this don't make them any better.

You gave the same score to this game that you gave for TechnoCop and Growl... To anyone that has ever played these games, it just shows how wrong your review is.

StarMist

07-06-2012, 11:56 AM

This post makes no sense. It was just SoA that make a dick move and decided to not release it in the US. SoJ and SoA were totally different most of the time in terms of business strategy, you can't refer to both (plus Sega in Europe) just like "Sega", saying "they" decided to keep this in Japan.Golden Axe 3 radiates the total cheapness that is the hallmark of games destined to stay in Japan (other Asian markets are by far secondary to the US so their receiving the game hardly matters). Sure, some very high production games have stayed in Japan but Japan has always got an overwhelming amount of shovelware and abortions; GA3 is one of those.

Your review is broken, incomplete and some of your arguments make no sense.The arguments make perfect sense within their own logic, which is all that they must answer to--not yours or mine. If you wish to call the article misinformed, ignorant, halfbaked, prejudiced, or something of the sort say so plainly, as sense and nonsense can only apply to the reviewer's own logic. For instance I think the rating of 4 nonsense considering how little of merit the reviewer found in the game and that his closing advice was to avoid the game unless given it or it were on offer for a pack of cards: it does not follow the reviewer's logic, that number should be lower.

It doesn't look as bad as the first game. It looks far better than both I and II. And II is the one which really sucks as a sequel, almost no improvements and relly bad looking for its time.

Other than F-117 Night Storm and Last Action Hero this is the ugliest game of 1993. The resolution is grainy, the animation mediocre at best, the sprites recycled, the backgrounds amazingly undetailed (v esp the crystal caves), and the enemy designs insipid when not altogether silly. Not only has it not improved upon GA 1 and 2 but Altered Beast on the Genesis is its superior in every way. The mounts really suck too.
Also, the music is generic at best and at worst totally ill suited such as the techno pop for lv 2 (no lv in a GA game should have techno pop). The sound effects for the player characters are very annoying even when one's strikes don't hit.

In the game's defense can be said this:
(1) = new characters. The blue panther in particular is cool.
(2) = more moves. The player character can block, double jump, jump and dash attack (downwards), use a Double Dragon style Jump+Attack move, do a standing power strike (also Jump+Attack it seems, but unlike the previous move not executed rolling the buttons), and there seems to be a special transfixing leap or run attack I've done but can't repeat.
(3) = co-op magic. However the 1P magic is total garbage in appearance and mechanics.

Since it did add some stuff and it's different enough to be mildly interesting I'd give it a 3/10. It's not an improvement or a fun game, and the presentation is despicable. Pretty much a Capcom fighter w/o the graphics of their better looking stuff (eg Captain Commando).

Barone

07-06-2012, 12:48 PM

Golden Axe 3 radiates the total cheapness that is the hallmark of games destined to stay in Japan (other Asian markets are by far secondary to the US so their receiving the game hardly matters). Sure, some very high production games have stayed in Japan but Japan has always got an overwhelming amount of shovelware and abortions; GA3 is one of those.
In which galaxy? US-made Genesis library is far worse in terms of quality compared to the JP-made Mega Drive library. The US is the side which got the most of the abortions and shovelware.
But since you are a hardcore advocate of abortions like Taz-Mania (that you score around 5 or 6), I couldn't expect anything different.

The arguments make perfect sense within their own logic, which is all that they must answer to--not yours or mine.
Tosh.

Other than F-117 Night Storm and Last Action Hero this is the ugliest game of 1993.
Please, don't be so ignorant...

Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
Caesars Palace
Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind
Dragon's Revenge
Awesome Possum
Gauntlet IV
James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
Mortal Kombat
Power Monger
X-Men
Wolfchild

Just some of the games also released in 1993. They don't look any better than GAIII and, in fact, games like MK look much worse. Power Monger uses 16 colors at best... X-Men seems to run at 15 fps, but you may like it since you love the also choppy Chakan.
Gauntlet has 1985 graphics but received an 8 from Ken in a review that he just "forgot" to mention anything about the graphics. I agree that the game is awesome, but the graphics are nowhere on par with other 1993 releases, neither 1992's, 1991's, 1990's... But in such case it didn't matter since the nostalgy was there.

The resolution is grainy
Grainy resolution? What?!

the animation mediocre at best, the sprites recycled, the backgrounds amazingly undetailed (v esp the crystal caves), and the enemy designs insipid when not altogether silly. Not only has it not improved upon GA 1 and 2 but Altered Beast on the Genesis is its superior in every way. The mounts really suck too.
I really don't have the will to do it, but a simple sprite ripping would show how much shit you're saying here. The colors, details and number of sprites were vastly improved compared to the first two games. GAII is the one with more recycling IMO.

About the backgrounds, well, seems that you like some plain blue "horizons":
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N1P18BqDKwk/ThFVL1sJubI/AAAAAAAAD2E/XQXvwITjPsc/s400/Golden_Axe_II_Stage_3_opening.png
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/112015-golden-axe-ii-genesis-screenshot-no-would-be-a-good-time-to.gif
http://gamehall.uol.com.br/galerias/_megadrive_goldenaxe2/Golden%20Axe%202%20%28JUE%29%20%5B!%5D_034.PNG

Just like...:
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/37376-mortal-kombat-genesis-screenshot-buddha-is-peacefully-watching.gif
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/37381-mortal-kombat-genesis-screenshot-sub-zero-is-using-his-cold.gif

Now THAT looks awful.

Also, the music is generic at best and at worst totally ill suited such as the techno pop for lv 2 (no lv in a GA game should have techno pop). The sound effects for the player characters are very annoying even when one's strikes don't hit.
You're clearly biased in these opinions but you can't deny that the voices sound much better.

It's not an improvement or a fun game
I'm pretty sure you always played alone.

Barone

07-06-2012, 01:18 PM

Well, here's it:

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/TyrisFlareGA1.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/TyrisFlareGA2.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/SarahVaneGA3.gif

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/AxBattlerGA1.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/AxBattlerGA2.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/KainBladeGA3.gif

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/GiliusGA1.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/GiliusGA2.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/ProudKragg.gif
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/CronusGA3.gif

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/DeathAdder.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/DarkGuld.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/DarkPrince.gif
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/DarkPrince2.gif

It's pretty clear that the GAIII sprites are far more detailed but you can try to argue with the images if you want, StarMist.

StarMist

07-06-2012, 01:38 PM

But since you are a hardcore advocate of abortions like Taz-Mania (that you score around 5 or 6), I couldn't expect anything different. You know perfectly well I'm not a hardcore advocate of Taz Mania, check your peevishness.

Please, don't be so ignorant...

Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
Caesars Palace
Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind
Dragon's Revenge
Awesome Possum
Gauntlet IV
James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
Mortal Kombat
Power Monger
X-Men
WolfchildThe only game here that slipped my memory is James Pond. Bulls vs Blazers and Caesars Palace are all but genre bound to uninteresting graphics. I'm not persuaded the MD could handle the type of graphics necessary to make Gauntlet look good--remember how Super Smash TV turned out, so that pretty much comes down to a genre clash too. MK looks fine--totally distinctive and fairly clean. Ugly fighters are Clayfighters, Kickboxing, Power Instinct, Art of Fighting, and so on. Wolfchild certainly looks better than GA3.

They don't look any better than GAIII and, in fact, games like MK look much worse. You know perfectly well this is not a fact.

I really don't have the will to do it, but a simple sprite ripping would show how much shit you're saying here. The colors, details and number of sprites were vastly improved compared to the first two games. GAII is the one with more recycling IMO.

These are not an improvement:

http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/5/d/5/gfs_2160_2_7.jpg
http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/f/0/5/gfs_2160_2_4.jpg
http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/e/1/c/gfs_2160_2_13.jpg
http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/9/1/2/gfs_2160_2_25.jpg
http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/1/6/c/gfs_2160_2_16.jpg
They're not even an improvement over James Pond.

Kamahl

07-06-2012, 01:50 PM

Ugh... this game makes my eyes bleed. The cyan sky is horrible but these backgrounds are just puke inducing.

Barone

07-06-2012, 01:56 PM

You know perfectly well I'm not a hardcore advocate of Taz Mania, check your peevishness.
That's not what the Taz-Mania Review thread says...

Bulls vs Blazers and Caesars Palace are all but genre bound to uninteresting graphics.
Hummm, sure... International Superstar Soccer or Side Pocket just look much better for no reasons.
When you set the sports genre the Genesis VDP just gets worse, weak and few several colors... That makes sense; not EA subcontracted US companies sucking at programming.

I'm not persuaded the MD could handle the type of graphics necessary to make Gauntlet look good--remember how Super Smash TV turned out, so that pretty much comes down to a genre clash too.
Sure, Probe (developer of Super Smash TV) was the best Genesis developer. Nothing could surpass Super Smash TV. Just like no platformer can look any better than Alien 3 and no fighting game can look any better than MKII. That might explain why everybody hates Sculptured Software, Treasure and just love Probe.

MK looks fine--totally distinctive and fairly clean.
ahahahhaah, good joke! Tell me another one!

These are not an improvement:
960×720???
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/004/457/challenge.jpg
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2339/goldenaxe22s.png

sheath

07-06-2012, 02:00 PM

Yeah, it's pretty bad how the Golden Axe games tend to use the single color "transparent" as the horizon way too often. The Streets of Rage games flatten the Golden I have to agree with Agostinho that the graphics in Golden Axe 2 are not vastly superior to either of the other Genesis games. The animations in Golden Axe 3 are also obviously superior. That's not hard to explain considering the ROM size increase.

I think the color usage in Golden Axe 2 is more frequently better than Golden Axe 1, especially in the first levels. From the moment I got Golden Axe in early 1990 I was disappointed by the colors.

StarMist

07-06-2012, 02:11 PM

Hummm, sure... International Superstar Soccer or Side Pocket just look much better for no reasons. Superstar's from `96, so to judge by chronological standards its graphics were an absolute joke as were every other 16 bit game's being made. And how many players are ever on screen at once for ISS? Do you get half each team? Cz in a basketball game there are ten players to animate at all times.

Sure, Probe (developer of Super Smash TV) was the best Genesis developer. Nothing could surpass Super Smash TV. Just like no platformer can look any better than Alien 3 and no fighting game can look any better than MKII. That might explain why everybody hates Sculptured Software, Treasure and jsut love Probe.
Alien 3 has much better graphics than Dynamite Headdy and Gunstar Heroes. Gameplay too.

Barone

07-06-2012, 02:17 PM

Superstar's from `96, so to judge by chronological standards its graphics were an absolute joke as were every other 16 bit game's being made.
BOOOOO. Fifa 97 looks far worse.

And how many players are ever on screen at once for ISS? Do you get half each team? Cz in a basketball game there are ten players to animate at all times.
This is how you advocate EA games? Great.

Alien 3 has much better graphics than Dynamite Headdy and Gunstar Heroes. Gameplay too.
Bye, Zoltor.

StarMist

07-06-2012, 03:34 PM

Bye, Zoltor.It's odd you chose to say bye as I have a feeling your post count is running short. Calling a review prejudiced, broken nonsense and the reviewer himself mindless just because you disagree with it...I thought you were past that.
And by all means don't stop at insulting me, Kamahl disagrees with you as well, and then I'm sure there's more you can find to be offended by in Melf's article--which was of course written expressly to piss you off. Meanwhile you haven't made any argument for your own case besides showing some very trivial frame counts for fight animations, as if an added two or three frames erases the shoddy backgrounds and questionable art style that pervade the entire game.
Too bad. It was fun while it lasted.

Barone

07-06-2012, 04:04 PM

Calling a review prejudiced, broken nonsense and the reviewer himself mindless just because you disagree with it...I thought you were past that.
I thought you would be better than changing what I said to make it appear worse, but that's life. I searched for "broken nonsense" in my posts but couldn't find it.... And please, show me where I said that Ken is mindless. I thought I said that his comment was mindless.

And by all means don't stop at insulting me,
And now the self-pity route, great.

Kamahl disagrees with you as well,
The "a lot of people agree with me so you're wrong" is a very good argument, keep bringing it on. The ebay prices of GAIII show that you're representing the majority's opinion as well, right?

and then I'm sure there's more you can find to be offended by in Melf's article
Yeah, I'm the one claiming to be offended here and getting snarky after seeing my off topic arguments getting disproved.

Meanwhile you haven't made any argument for your own case besides showing some very trivial frame counts for fight animations, as if an added two or three frames erases the shoddy backgrounds and questionable art style that pervade the entire game.
Hummm... I think you forgot about the horrible background images that I showed for GAII with skies made by one single blue color. Anyway, you seem to like that since you praised MK Genesis port poor graphics...
I also named several games from the same year that do look worse, as well as one with 1985's standard graphics that wasn't panned by the same reviewer (the graphics were not even mentioned in that review while used as arguments to justify the 4/10 score for GAIII).
And for the gameplay, there was already a video posted above my first post showing that... Reposting since you got lost:

I’d have preferred a few combos or some buddy moves at least. The gameplay hasn’t progressed in this series at all, and it becomes tiresome rather quickly.
OVPGQqYLAB4

That part makes me say that the review is broken, since I assume that the gameplay argumentation should be the most important one and it's clearly wrong.

My main criticisms about the review are the gameplay comments and the graphical analysis, and I explained them.
OTOH, you just came like the Melf's advocate, said a bunch of absurds, posted some bloody upscaled images, went out with nothing and is claiming to have been insulted while trying to satanize what I posted before.

Too bad. It was fun while it lasted.
Relax, I added your quote to my sig so you'll always be able to remember this epic moment of your awesomeness. By the way, that's why I said "Bye, Zoltor" since he had to open up space for you.;)

StarMist

07-06-2012, 04:43 PM

I thought you would be better than changing what I said to make it appear worse, but that's life. I searched for "broken nonsense" in my posts but couldn't find it.... -->
Your review is broken, incomplete and some of your arguments make no sense.from post #40.

And please, show me where I said that Ken is mindless. I thought I said that his comment was mindless. Fair enough, that placement was open to interpretation.

Hummm... I think you forgot about the horrible background images that I showed for GAII with skies made by one single blue color. Anyway, you seem to like that since you praised MK Genesis port poor graphics...No screenshot is going to prove anything. We both know how the games look and like different things.

That part makes me say that the review is broken, since I assume that the gameplay argumentation should be the most important one and it's clearly wrong.

My main criticisms about the review are the gameplay comments and the graphical analysis, and I explained them.
OTOH, you just came like the Melf's advocate, said a bunch of absurds, posted some bloody upscaled images, went out with nothing and is claiming to have been insulted while trying to satanize what I posted before.I addressed the game's merits he overlooked in my first post. I also stated his score failed to reflect the degree of his dislike towards the game, which is not an advocacy of his review. You are just reacting wildly as if your every opinion carries some kind of empirical necessity you can yoke about others. How about the idea that more moves don't automatically make it the better game? You don't prefer Eternal Champions to Street Fighter and Samurai Shodown.

Christuserloeser

07-06-2012, 04:55 PM

Well, here's it:

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/TyrisFlareGA1.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/TyrisFlareGA2.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/SarahVaneGA3.gif

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/AxBattlerGA1.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/AxBattlerGA2.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/KainBladeGA3.gif

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/GiliusGA1.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/GiliusGA2.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/ProudKragg.gif
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/CronusGA3.gif

GA:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/121/Sprite/DeathAdder.gif

GAII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/122/Sprite/DarkGuld.gif

GAIII:
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/DarkPrince.gif
http://spritedatabase.net/files/genesis/123/Sprite/DarkPrince2.gif

The sprites in GA3 are fantastic!

- It's really too bad some of the backgrounds aren't too hot, but if you'd take the sprites and put them in front of some more detailed backgrounds the game would still look amazing today. As it is it didn't age too well in that regards. (A few of) The backgrounds made it look dated even back in 1993.

My favorite stage always was Ride the Whirlwind btw:

XNP8JBK33Ec

It's basically rehashing a nod to Golden Axe 1 but I loved it. Especially the music.

Thenewguy

07-06-2012, 05:01 PM

I'm sorry, but Golden Axe III looks considerably worse than the first game, I just played through the two games to refresh my memory and all I can say is -

Making a vertical strip of graphics and then repeating it across the screen is no substitute for proper pixel art, the developers of this game should've been utterly ashamed of themselves.

Look at this lazy piece of crap -

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EXgDI8DeN_E/RyOoEQF9hyI/AAAAAAAABYQ/kOuwnum93I8/s400/Golden+Axe+3_016.jpg

Its not even as though they recycled the tiles carefully, mixing them together in different combinations, they literally just recycled them across the screen with no variation, thats completely unacceptable :?

In the original Golden Axe you'd start off on a dirt mound, make your way past some trees, a river, come to a town etc, all in the course of one stage, each part of the stage would have the tiles placed in different positions and combinations, you didn't get an entire stage of repeating dirt mounds, then an entire stage of repeating cottages etc. I know one or two stages don't suffer from this in Golden Axe III, but as far as I can see the lazy type of levels far outnumber these, and totally kill the overall experience (and some of the stages with more variation have other problems anyway, such as being really low colour).

Christuserloeser

07-06-2012, 05:40 PM

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EXgDI8DeN_E/RyOoEQF9hyI/AAAAAAAABYQ/kOuwnum93I8/s400/Golden+Axe+3_016.jpg

This stage does something else GA1 did: palette cycling to simulate the transition from day to night.

And I always liked that stage for it is the only one (of any of the three games) that uses some brighter colors. Riding the fire dragons is a lot of fun too.

- Personally I think this game could have done with half as many stages - or a 12/16/24 Mbit ROM. Both would have allowed them to add more stuff to bring the stages to life.

Melf

07-06-2012, 06:00 PM

To anyone that has ever played these games, it just shows how wrong your review is.

This sentence alone is enough for me to ignore everything else you've posted. It's my opinion. Get over it.

Barone

07-06-2012, 06:04 PM

No screenshot is going to prove anything. We both know how the games look and like different things.
If the horizon represented using just a single tone of blue (and an annoying one) isn't a bad thing for a 16-bit game...

You are just reacting wildly as if your every opinion carries some kind of empirical necessity you can yoke about others.
Sure, "graphics are awful" is a pretty good description of a game that has more colors per screen and more details per sprite than its predecessors.
If you don't like the design art/style, than that's one thing. GAIII style feels more generic than GA. If that makes the visual awful for you, OK.
But to complain about "poor backgrounds" while several ones in GA and GAII are horrible doesn't make a good point IMO.
If you find the GA and GAII backgrounds worderful, than that's OK. But you can deny that one of the layers is just a plain color and, IMO, it really sucks. In such aspect GAIII was improved...

How about the idea that more moves don't automatically make it the better game? You don't prefer Eternal Champions to Street Fighter and Samurai Shodown.
Yeah, off topic.

The sprites in GA3 are fantastic!
Yep.

- It's really too bad some of the backgrounds aren't too hot, but if you'd take the sprites and put them in front of some more detailed backgrounds the game would still look amazing today. As it is it didn't age too well in that regards. (A few of) The backgrounds made it look dated even back in 1993.
The backgrounds are average and generic msot of the time, but at least they don't drop the ball as bad as some in the previous games. Like an area with darkened floor and trees but with a bloody bright sky made of one color.

I'm sorry, but Golden Axe III looks considerably worse than the first game, I just played through the two games to refresh my memory and all I can say is -

Making a vertical strip of graphics and then repeating it across the screen is no substitute for proper pixel art, the developers of this game should've been utterly ashamed of themselves.

Look at this lazy piece of crap -

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EXgDI8DeN_E/RyOoEQF9hyI/AAAAAAAABYQ/kOuwnum93I8/s400/Golden+Axe+3_016.jpg

Its not even as though they recycled the tiles carefully, mixing them together in different combinations, they literally just recycled them across the screen with no variation, thats completely unacceptable :?

In the original Golden Axe you'd start off on a dirt mound, make your way past some trees, a river, come to a town etc, all in the course of one stage, each part of the stage would have the tiles placed in different positions and combinations, you didn't get an entire stage of repeating dirt mounds, then an entire stage of repeating cottages etc. I know one or two stages don't suffer from this in Golden Axe III, but as far as I can see the lazy type of levels far outnumber these, and totally kill the overall experience (and some of the stages with more variation have other problems anyway, such as being really low colour).
You're talking about style and I agree about that. The art is poor in GAIII by comparison.
But IMO GAII is nothing to be proud about since to me it feels more like a hack of the first game than a proper sequel. GAIII at least brought some new stuff.

This stage does something else GA1 did: palette cycling to simulate the transition from day to night.

And I always liked that stage for it is the only one (of any of the three games) that uses some brighter colors.
Yes. GAIII colors are brighter. Some people may hate it but I hope that we have the right to like it. I actually like when I can distinguish background tiles, from my characters sprites and from the enemies sprites... That's something hard to do in many spots in GAII; things are just so brown...

This sentence alone is enough for me to ignore everything else you've posted. It's my opinion. Get over it.
Yeah, I know.

Mine is the only opinion that matters!
This doesn't make the review any better though...

Melf

07-06-2012, 06:24 PM

Doesn't make yours any more right either. That's how opinions work!

StarMist

07-06-2012, 07:23 PM

If the horizon represented using just a single tone of blue (and an annoying one) isn't a bad thing for a 16-bit game... The horizon? How about if the immediate background is just a single tile repeated into a wall? That's GA3. Whereas the pic you posted from GA2 (or GA1, they do look alike) has a fence made up of posts of different height, ie a fence that is in itself a composition which occupies the entire screen, rather than GA3's constant tiling or minor breakages with insignificant additions such as the distant, concolour hills in the opening stage.

Yeah, off topic.Nope, you were talking vaguely of GA3's gameplay improvements over 1 and 2. EC vs SF/SS &c is an exm. GA3 has a tedious, chunky, grinding lack of flow due to its extra moves. Not an improvement in my book.

All the rest of the stuff betwixt you and me is besides the point; I should've been more direct. I was trying to suggest something whilst opening a little discussion with you when I should've just made my suggestion and left it there. That suggestion being you curtail insulting people you disagree with--Black Tiger, Trekkies, reviewers, whomever--since iirc you've been banned for it in the past, and so the number of people here I like to talk with wouldn't be reduced.

Rather than flipping your lid how about suggesting Melf update his review with the information Zebbe and Christuserloeser provided, or yourself write a Double Take? There are lots of reviews where the critic either didn't know all the ins and outs of the game at hand or didn't succeed at conveying his knowledge of due to poor writing, space constrictions, &c, and it's not going to help anybody to be calling every one of these reviews broken. I do agree with the idea that misinformation undermines an opinion, but the value of any information is based on opinion to begin with.

Barone

07-06-2012, 09:12 PM

The horizon? How about if the immediate background is just a single tile repeated into a wall? That's GA3. Whereas the pic you posted from GA2 (or GA1, they do look alike) has a fence made up of posts of different height, ie a fence that is in itself a composition which occupies the entire screen, rather than GA3's constant tiling or minor breakages with insignificant additions such as the distant, concolour hills in the opening stage.
Nope, you were talking vaguely of GA3's gameplay improvements over 1 and 2. EC vs SF/SS &c is an exm. GA3 has a tedious, chunky, grinding lack of flow due to its extra moves. Not an improvement in my book.

All the rest of the stuff betwixt you and me is besides the point; I should've been more direct. I was trying to suggest something whilst opening a little discussion with you when I should've just made my suggestion and left it there. That suggestion being you curtail insulting people you disagree with--Black Tiger, Trekkies, reviewers, whomever--since iirc you've been banned for it in the past, and so the number of people here I like to talk with wouldn't be reduced.

Rather than flipping your lid how about suggesting Melf update his review with the information Zebbe and Christuserloeser provided, or yourself write a Double Take? There are lots of reviews where the critic either didn't know all the ins and outs of the game at hand or didn't succeed at conveying his knowledge of due to poor writing, space constrictions, &c, and it's not going to help anybody to be calling every one of these reviews broken. I do agree with the idea that misinformation undermines an opinion, but the value of any information is based on opinion to begin with.
EC vs SF/SS is off topic and a bad example.

If you have a personal problem with my behavior, just send me a PM with your complaints and I'll see what I can do for you.
Some people you advocate in your last post provided fake (not wrong or inconsistent) (I'm not talking about the reviewers) info that may lead to a lot of bad stuff to all readers of their posts. You may want to team up with them but I don't do that.
By the way, I never got banned.
If you feel insulted, hit the "Report Post" button.

Melf is the owner of the site, if he is OK with the info provided by his review, who am I to disagree?

and it's not going to help anybody to be calling every one of these reviews broken
An example of a PM I have already received:

Hey man! Yeah, your posts were some of the ones in that thread that convinced me to investigate game_name further! I grabbed a ROM just to make sure it would run in a Genesis and I was happy to find no region encoding on it. But I played through most of the first level and I couldn't believe the_reviewer had given it such a low score! Maybe he was just tired of 2D platformers in general by the time he played it, but I will never get sick of good 2D platformers, and I felt like this one was pretty awesome and definitely deserving of a spot in my collection!

And yeah, it's in pretty great condition! I was just lucky that I remembered that game and looked it up when I did, because a seller in the US just happened to be getting rid of some of his Japanese MD games at that time.

I really can't wait to sit down with it, hopefully some time this weekend!

To write an article or not is up to me, I think. I like to contribute to the Sega-16 community but I usually do it in other ways.
I'm prioritizing my hacks/fixes/improvements for MD games at this moment and I'll keep doing it if you don't have a problem with that.;)

sheath

07-06-2012, 09:20 PM

The popular view that game reviews consist entirely of unsubstantiated opinion with zero accountability really bothers me. The result of this predominant view is that one errant opinion turns into a popular opinion. The facts are still against the opinion, but now a lot of people are for it.

I'm going to add Golden Axe III to my saved searches now.

Also:
http://www.whipassgaming.com/genesisreviews/goldenaxe3.html

Christuserloeser

07-07-2012, 05:08 AM

http://www.whipassgaming.com/genesisreviews/goldenaxe3.html

Nice review! Good to see a link to a GA3 FAQ too. I think that most player's are lost without a guide. It took me a looong time to figure out all the stuff on my own, and I had a (Japanese) manual.

NeoVamp

07-07-2012, 08:05 AM

That was a good review indeed!, but the pictures he posted did remind me of my problem with Golden Axe III.

bad. color. use.

Look at the backgrounds, there's 2 layers right? well pretty much in every stage they use a theme,
ooh green hills in the background, better make the foreground layer completely green as well!

its all brown/brown or green/green purpleblue/purpleblue.

The game itself is quite nice, but I would have spend some more time on the bg's, making them more vibrant.

Kamahl

07-07-2012, 09:44 AM

Speaking of horrible cyan skies:
http://www.whipassgaming.com/images/genesis/goldaxe3_screen3.gif

sheath

07-07-2012, 09:52 AM

OVPGQqYLAB4

Crap, somebody is going to have to record all of that from real hardware, that emulator plus Youtube's crappy encoder completely botched the interlace effects.

VGTM

07-07-2012, 01:28 PM

If I were you, I wouldn't read another review by those guys ever again

Cucollins12

07-07-2012, 02:25 PM

I never understood why people didnt like golden axe 3, sure is no streets or rage 2 but is a good game, good graphic multiple characters and multiple pats

zetastrike

07-09-2012, 03:13 PM

I've been playing this on Fusion lately and it is fantabulous. There's just so much more you can do than in the first two, it blows them away. I like some of the more upbeat tracks, they're a nice break from the medieval sounding stuff. Some of the backgrounds are a little bland, but I can forgive it since the gameplay is so good. The bosses are a lot harder since it seems like they take a lot more punishment before they go down. I don't get how anyone can hate this.

Belpowerslave

07-20-2012, 12:17 PM

Good to see a link to a GA3 FAQ too. I think that most player's are lost without a guide. It took me a looong time to figure out all the stuff on my own, and I had a (Japanese) manual.

I know I definitely was, even with owning the manual. To me, I think this is the biggest problem with the game: People just don't know that these moves are in there, and without them they just assume it's the same old GA with new characters. Sega should have had some sort of training mode, or maybe just a demo screen for the new moves(something showing the characters doing them with the button commands at the bottom).

That was a good review indeed!, but the pictures he posted did remind me of my problem with Golden Axe III.

bad. color. use.

Look at the backgrounds, there's 2 layers right? well pretty much in every stage they use a theme,
ooh green hills in the background, better make the foreground layer completely green as well!

its all brown/brown or green/green purpleblue/purpleblue.

The game itself is quite nice, but I would have spend some more time on the bg's, making them more vibrant.

This was the other problem, I think, that a lot of people had. I mean, you look at Streets of Rage...and then look at SoR 2 and it will just blow you balls back. GA looks about the same throughout all three games(though I'd say that GA2 was probably the prettiest, especially the "Dragon's Throat" cave), and people were just expecting some sort of huge graphical update. I really don't mind it, it is in keeping with the series' style...

Crap, somebody is going to have to record all of that from real hardware, that emulator plus Youtube's crappy encoder completely botched the interlace effects.

Yeah, I noticed this when I attempted to gif all of the magic sequences. The flickering of the sprites just doesn't come off well, and you can't see half of it. I was going to just record all of them, then Divx-it, but never got around to it. I'll do it at some point, though, when I get back to WAG.

If I were you, I wouldn't read another review by those guys ever again

Still doesn't beat my all-time favorite quote: "Bel, I sometimes violently disagree with your views".

I never understood why people didnt like golden axe 3, sure is no streets or rage 2 but is a good game, good graphic multiple characters and multiple pats

I've been playing this on Fusion lately and it is fantabulous. There's just so much more you can do than in the first two, it blows them away. I like some of the more upbeat tracks, they're a nice break from the medieval sounding stuff. Some of the backgrounds are a little bland, but I can forgive it since the gameplay is so good. The bosses are a lot harder since it seems like they take a lot more punishment before they go down. I don't get how anyone can hate this.

With the fact that it was an import-only title for...well, until the various Genesis compilations hit non-Sega consoles down the line, the only bits of info you'd ever get on it were magazines(like EGM) bashing it...so for the longest time everyone just assumed it sucked, without ever playing it. Then the emulators hit and people got access to it, opinions formed, then it got released on compilation discs and even more opinions formed and now it seems like it's got a decent following. That makes me happy.

Bel