Golden Axe III

 For the unlicensed Famicom game, see Golden Axe (Famicom).

n/a

Golden Axe III
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console, Steam, iOS
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega CS1 M2
Sound driver: SMPS 68000
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-06-25 ¥6,8006,800 G-4093 US ▼ (Sega Channel) 1996-05-01 KR 199x GM8087JG AS 199x G-4093 JP ▼ 2007-09-04 600pts600 US ▼ 2007-10-22 800pts800 EU ▼ 2007-10-05 800pts800 JP ▼ 2011-05-12 ¥333 (350)350i 9+ US ▼ 2011-05-12 $2.992.99 9+ EU ▼ 2011-05-12 €1.591.59 UK ▼ 2011-05-12 £1.991.99 AU ▼ 2011 $2.992.99 US ▼ 2012-05-02 $2.992.99 211202 EU ▼ 2012-05-02 €2.492.49 211202 DE ▼ 2012-05-02 €2.492.49 211202 UK ▼ 2012-05-02 £1.991.99 211202 AU ▼ 2012-05-02 $3.493.49 211202 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 211202 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 211202 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 211202 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 211202 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 211202 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 211202 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 211202 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 211202 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 211202 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 211202

Golden Axe III (ゴールデンアックスIII) is a Sega Mega Drive beat-'em-up game developed by Sega CS1 and published by Sega. The third game in the Golden Axe series, it was physically released in Japan, Asia, and South Korea in 1993, and was later broadcast via Sega Channel in 1996.

Story

Damud Hellstrike (ダムド＝ヘルストライク), the Prince of Darkness, has taken away the Golden Axe and put an evil curse over all the warriors. However, the curse is lifted from one of the heroes, who must journey to free the others from the curse, defeat the villain, and return with the Golden Axe.

Gameplay

Branching paths

The game is a belt-scrolling beat-'em-up, similar to the previous entries in the series. It includes new characters, new moves (special attacks, teamwork attacks and teamwork magic spells), and forks within stages where players can choose which path to take. There are five selectable characters, and two players can play simultaneously.

Characters move in any direction using the D-Pad. They can run with or . They jump with and can jump higher when running. Sarah and Chronos can triangle jump off walls by pressing the D-Pad toward the wall while pressing or double jump by pressing again in midair. Characters attack enemies in front of them with . They have special attacks when jumping, running, or jumping while running. They can grab enemies in close range with and then hit them with again or throw them by holding the D-Pad away from the enemy while pressing . They can perform a sweep attack with +. They can attack enemies all around them with +. Every character has a powerful unique techniques performed by holding or while pressing +. Each character also has a projectile attack, performed with + for Kain and Cragger and with + for Sarah and Chronos. In two-player games, the characters can do team attacks by facing the two characters toward each other; when the characters acknowledge each other, one player can press to throw the other.

The mischievous thieves from the original game who carried magic potions and food have returned. They can be attacked to drop power-up items, including food that replenishes health and magic potions, which are picked up by pressing while standing over them. When characters have at least one magic potion, they can cast a magic spell with , which attacks every enemy on the screen. Magic potions are kept in an inventory for each player. The power of magic spells increases when a new segment of the potion inventory is filled; each segment requires more potions to fill than the last. Casting a magic spell consumes all of the potions in the last full inventory segment as well as any potions in an unfilled inventory segment. There are three levels of magic for every character.

Each character has a health meter and drains as the character takes damage from foes. When the meter is totally drained, the character loses a life but revives in place at the cost of an extra life. If there are no extra lives remaining, the game can only be continued if the player has credits remaining. There are two selectable difficulty levels (Normal and Hard). Hostages appear in many of the stages, usually guarded by an enemy that must be slain to free them. Some hostages are trapped in barrels or other destructible scenery. Freeing a hostage earns an ankh, and an extra life is rewarded for every five ankhs earned.

At certain junctions in the stages, players can choose the next path to take, which determines the next stage that is played. Some of the stages end with fights against "cursed" versions of the other characters; winning the fight frees the character from the curse. In single-player games, the player has three other characters to free; in two-player games, there are only two. If players choose a route to the Golden Axe that includes freeing all of the cursed characters and defeat Damud Hellstrike without using a continue, a second fight with Damud Hellstrike is unlocked, which gives the good ending once won. Players are given a rank (from F, E, D, C, B, A, AA, to AAA) after completing each stage, based on their score, and shown the rank and the route taken upon completing the game.

Characters

	Kain Grinder (カイン＝グリンダー)
	A mercenary resembling Ax Battler that excels using the battle sword. His close friends were killed and his tribe was torn apart by the demon army, so now, responding to Gilius's call, he will face the demon army to satisfy his revenge. His attack has the best range in the game and does the second-highest damage, but his movement and attack speed is middling. He uses water magic.
	Sarah Barn (サラ＝バーン)
	A swordswoman resembling Tyris Flare. She once belonged to a troupe of traveling entertainers, but ever since the soldiers of the demon army suddenly appeared and killed her friends, she has been waiting for her moment of revenge. Wielding the Blue Dragon Sword passed down from her father, she dances nimbly around her opponents, and tears them up. She has high movement and attack speed but average damage and range. She uses fire magic.
	Chronos "Evil" Lait (クロノス="イビル"=レート)
	A humanoid black panther. He was once a human, but was turned into a half beast by the curse of the demon king Damned, who obtained the Golden Axe which amplifies his evil powers, placed a curse on him. He has joined the fight to defeat the demon king and regain his human form. He has high movement and attack speed but average range and poor damage. He uses wind magic.
	Proud Cragger (プラウド＝クラッガー)
	A giant who boasts super strength. He has lent his strength to overthrow Damned after Gilius rescued him from underground confinement by the demon army. His attack power is notable even amongst the four. He is sometimes mistranslated as Broude Kragger He is the slowest character in the game and has poor attack range, but he does the most damage. He uses earth magic.
	Eve (イーヴ)
	A warrior who appears as a boss character in multiple stages and as a playable character in the VS mode.

Bizarrians

Rideable monsters called Bizarrians appear in the stages, ridden by enemies. After dismounting the enemy riding them, a character can hop onto the creature to ride it with . Each Bizarrian has its own unique attack. They cannot attack while jumping but can perform a charge attack while running. Bizarrians can be dismounted with +.

	Green Snail
	Attacks using its short tongue.
	Purple Snail
	Attacks using its long tongue.
	Green Dragon
	Attacks by grabbing and throwing enemies with its bite.
	Red Dragon
	Attacks by belching a fast-moving wave of fire that rolls across the ground until hitting a target.

Thieves

Thieves appear sometimes and drop items when attacked. Items can be picked up by pressing when standing over them.

	Green Thief (緑のシーフ)
	Green thieves drop health items.
	Blue Thief (青いシーフ)
	Blue thieves drop magic potions.

Items

Items are dropped by thieves when they are attacked or sometimes found within destructible objects such as barrels or chests.

	Apple (リンゴ)
	Restores a small part of the character's health meter.
	Meat (肉)
	Restores a large part of the character's health meter.
	Life Up (ライフアップ)
	Permanently increases the length of the character's health meter and completely restores any lost health.
	Magic Potion (魔法のツボ)
	Adds another magic potion to the character's inventory.

Stages

	Stage 1: The Vast Field
	The player can choose to play stage 2A (upper path) or 2B (lower path) after completing this stage.
	Stage 2A: Ancient Mound
	The player proceeds to stage 3A after completing this stage.
	Stage 2B: Tender Hamlet
	The boss is Cursed Proud Cragger (or Cursed Kain Grinder if playing as Proud Cragger). The player can choose to play stage 3A (upper path) or 3B (lower path) after completing this stage.
	Stage 3A: Dim Jungle
	The player can choose to play stage 4A (upper path) or 4B (lower path) after completing this stage.
	Stage 3B: Cave of Crystal
	The player proceeds to stage 4B after completing this stage.
	Stage 4A: The Scorching Sand
	The player proceeds to stage 5A after completing this stage.
	Stage 4B: Bloody Street
	The player can choose to play stage 5A (upper path) or 5B (lower path) after completing this stage. The boss is Cursed Sarah Barn (or Cursed Kain Grinder if playing as Sarah Barn).
	Stage 5A: Death Mountain
	The player can choose to play stage 6A (upper path) or 6B (lower path) after completing this stage.
	Stage 5B: A Voyage to Castle
	The player proceeds to stage 6B after completing this stage.
	Stage 6A: Ride the Whirlwind
	The player proceeds to stage 7 after completing this stage.
	Stage 6B: Cursed City
	The player proceeds to stage 7 after completing this stage. The boss is Cursed Chronos Lait (or Cursed Kain Grinder if playing as Chronos Lait).
	Stage 7: The Gate of Fate
	The player proceeds to stage 8 after completing this stage.
	Stage 8: The Castle
	Final Boss
	If players have freed all of the cursed characters, a second fight with Damud Hellstrike is unlocked after completing the last stage, which gives the good ending once won.

VS mode

Character select

There is a competitive mode in which two characters can fight each other in a single match, using the same moves and controls as the regular game. It can be played by a single player against a computer-controlled opponent or by two players. Any of the four playable characters from the main game are selectable, plus the boss character Eve (イーヴ), and both players can be the same character. There are four different backgrounds that can be chosen.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

History

Unused Western artwork titled "Silver Sword", by Boris Vallejo.

Development

Golden Axe III was once planned for a Western release, with Sega of America commissioning acclaimed fantasy artist Boris Vallejo to create packaging artwork. While the piece was finished, the Western version of the game was never released. However, in line with previous entries in the Golden Axe series, the Japanese version's artwork still draws significant inspiration from Vallejo's fantasy artwork.

Versions

It has since been brought to the Wii's Virtual Console service, was part of the Sega Mega Drive Collection and Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection and has been made available for more regions of the world. iOS and Steam versions were also released in 2011 and 2012, although the iOS version was removed from sale on iTunes in 2015.

Version history

Main article: Golden Axe III/Changelog.

System	Version	Size	Date	Comment	Ref	Icon
	0000020000000000000000000000002.0.0	5.6MB	201211292012-11-29	iOS6 Support
	0000010000000000000000000000001.0.0	4.7MB	201105112011-05-11

Production credits

Main article: Golden Axe III/Production credits.

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Golden Axe III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-04: "April 1993" (1993-03-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-06: "June 1993" (1993-05-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-07: "July 1993" (1993-06-08)

Print advert in Game Champ (KR) #1993-08: "xxxx" (199x-xx-xx)

Artwork

• 

  Unused Western artwork titled "Silver Sword", by Boris Vallejo.

• 

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 80 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 50 Cool Gamer (RU) 80 Computer & Video Games (UK) NTSC-J 62 Dengeki Mega Drive (JP) NTSC-J 52 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 80 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3 (RU) 80 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 65 Game Power (IT) PAL 81 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 60 Hobby Consolas (ES) 86 Igry Sega Luchshiye iz luchshikh. Vypusk 2 (RU) 90 Joypad (FR) NTSC-J 70 Mega (UK) NTSC-J 79 MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J 55 ProGames (BR) 75 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 34 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 57 Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-J 6 Sega Force (SE) NTSC-J 76 Sega Mega Drive Review (RU) 74 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 61 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 58 Video Games (DE) NTSC-J 74

	66
Based on 24 reviews

Golden Axe III

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual Epilepsy Warning

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, Asia
Cover
Cart Manual Epilepsy Warning

Technical information

Main article: Golden Axe III/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, UK
• Sega of Japan catalogue page: iOS (archive)
• Golden Axe III on iTunes: JP, US (offline)
• Golden Axe III on Steam

References

Golden Axe series of games
	Golden Axe (1989) | Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (1992) | Golden Axe: The Duel (1994) | Golden Axe (slot machine) (2010)
	Golden Axe (1989) | Golden Axe II (1991) | Golden Axe III (1993)
	Golden Axe (1989) | Golden Axe Warrior (1991)
	Golden Axe (1990)
	Electronic Golden Axe (1990)
	Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe (1991)
	Golden Axe: The Duel (1995)
	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 5: Golden Axe (2003)
	Golden Axe: Beast Rider (2008)
	Golden Axe (2009) | Golden Axe (2017)
	Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe (2012)
	Golden Axed: A Cancelled Prototype (2020)
Golden Axe related media
	Golden Axe The Music (2008) | Golden Axe I & II (2016)
	Sega Mega Drive Attack Manual Book Tatsujin & Golden Axe (1990) | Golden Axe (1992) | Golden Axe: Beast Rider Official Strategy Guide (2008) | The Art of Golden Axe: Beast Rider (2008)