The mere mention of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi and Streets of Rage at The Game Awards caught me off guard, but Sega's pledge to "produce brand new titles from the publisher’s treasure trove" was a personal highlight on a night designed to celebrate video games in the here and now. Between uncovering an old copy of Virtual Springfield in my parents' attic, and rediscovering the 33-year-old console RPG I spent a year renting from Blockbuster Video after it (optimistically) promised 300 hours of game time, retro games have featured pretty heavily for me in 2023, so the thought of reintroducing more of the classics into my life, this time with a fresh lick of paint and rebuilt to suit modern standards, from this point forward is exciting.
Like the games it went on to inspire, not least The Simpsons: Hit and Run, Crazy Taxi holds cult status for many players of a certain vintage. Jet Set Radio, on the other hand, perfectly encapsulated a moment in time; of teenage rebellion, garish color palettes, tongue-in-cheek post-NickToons era humor, and, of course, the Dreamcast.
Going back further still, however, sits one of my all-time favorite video games – one I first discovered on the Atari ST, and later became obsessed with on the Mega Drive/Genesis console – that's also in Sega's plans to be modernized for a new audience. That game is Golden Axe.
Axe to grind
Launched in 1989 with Makoto Uchida at the helm of development (the man responsible for the creating Altered Beast one year prior), Golden Axe was my introduction to the sidescrolling beat 'em up genre. With three playable warrior protagonists – an ax-wielding dwarf, Gilius Thunderhead; a two-handed broadsword-carrying barbarian, Ax Battler; and a longsword-swinging amazon, Tyris Flare – you're tasked with leading each character on a path of redemption against the vile dictator, Death Adder. Not only has Death Adder flooded the once peaceful land of Yuria with gruesome, hostile ne'er-do-wells, the bastard is responsible for the death of Gilius' twin brother, the murder Ax's mother, and the slaying Tyris' parents.
From there unfolds a formula we've seen so many times since, but, given this was my first time, I was besotted. Everything was just so cool – from the skeleton with outstretched palms character selection screen, to the variety of combat moves across the trifecta of protagonists, the devastating area of effect magic spells they boast, the weird and wonderful levels locales, and its storybook map progression, I was so in from back to front. To this day I can hum the map screen tune off-hand, and have the chip-tune squeak effect the little potion-carrying blue people make when you literally kick them up the bum to make them drop bell jars of magic.
Since the late '80s, Golden Axe has received a handful of sequels, including one mostly forgettable foray into action-adventure 3D in 2008, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, which incidentally marked the last new game in the series. Until now, of course.
"With that, I can't wait to see and hear more from Sega – not least how a modernized Golden Axe will look and take shape"
"In recent years, Sonic the Hedgehog has forged new paths for SEGA, bringing the franchise to life and reaching new audiences in ways we had only dreamed of in the past. Building off that success, we are digging into our legacy and reimagining several franchises to bring these games to more audiences around the globe," says Co-COO of Sega Corporation and CEO of Sega of America, Shuji Utsumi in a press release. "[This] announcement is just the start of our initiative. First and foremost, our ambition will be to create great games with memorable characters and worlds. We hope fans of all ages will look towards our future with anticipation as we release these projects in the coming years."
With that, I can't wait to see and hear more from Sega – not least how a modernized Golden Axe will look and take shape. Beyond Shuji Utsumi's comments, Sega doesn't give much more away with regards to a tangible timeline, besides saying the upcoming projects are currently "in different stages of development" and will launch "over the next several years".
It's (somehow) been 15 years since the last mainline Golden Axe game, and over 34 years since its MS DOS era debut. Who knows when its new and (hopefully) improved guise will poke its head above, but, alongside the likes of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage and Shinobi, I for one am already buzzing to see more.
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