Golden Axe: Death Adder Escapes

On the surface there is very little difference between the arcade and Genesis versions of Golden Axe. Both games involve players mashing buttons, beating up elves, casting spells and fighting the evil Death Adder. But if you look closer you'll see one significant difference: The endings. While the 1989 Genesis game featured a traditional high fantasy cinema, the arcade game was altogether different. Join us as we take a look at Golden Axe's original ending on this fourth game ending of Christmas!

Previously On Golden Axe: Three adventurers -- a swordsman, scantily clad woman and a midget with an axe -- go off on an adventure to save their fictional Conan the Barbarianesque world from magic and monsters. It seems the menacing Death Adder has kidnapped the royal family and plans on using them to cause mass destruction all across the land. Thankfully our heroes have sprung into action; they are ready to ride into battle and take down Death Adder once and for all.

Unfortunately, you can't fly an airplane to Death Adder's castle in the fictional land of Yuria. Instead they have to clear every town, forest and swamp along the way. Thankfully the trio discovered a city build on top of a giant tortoise. This helpful character was kind enough to swim through the ocean and drop the adventurers off just outside of Death Adder's home (which sits on top of a giant eagle). This demonic force may have thought he was safe, but it turns out that these three warriors will stop at nothing to rescue the King and his daughters and bring peace to this land. And to think, all it took was somebody deciding to build a whole city on top of a giant tortoise.

How It Ended: Congratulations, you have beaten Golden Axe. You have rescued the royal family and can now live in peace. Or can you? Just as it looks like the game is about to roll the obligatory credit sequence, we cut to three kids in an arcade. Hey, that's us! These kids couldn't be any more excited that they had enough skill (or money) to make it to the final boss and beat Death Adder's ass. But don't celebrate just yet, because Golden Axe has a horrible twist that could prove deadly to the slowest kid.

Almost out of nowhere, the arcade game morphs into a portal from Death Adder's castle to the Doy Doy arcade. One by one, every one of Golden Axe's menacing villains warp out of the cabinet and into the real world. Understandably, this freaks the kids out and sends them scurrying to the exit. Death Adder and his army chase after the kids, discovering a whole new world to conquer. Thankfully our three heroes have also made the journey and are ready to battle these evil forces once again. Thing just got real.

How It Should Have Ended: The ending is perfect, I wouldn't change a thing. However, that doesn't let Golden Axe the series off the hook. This was a fantastic set-up to what should have been an incredible sequel. Sadly, Sega decided against furthering the continuity. Instead of being yet another high fantasy brawler, Sega should have set the sequel in the real world. Watch as the midget axe battler takes out giant monsters AND sports utility vehicles. It would have been a great twist on the formula and would have set the series apart from the crowd. Alas, that wasn't meant to be. Both Golden Axe sequels went back to the tried and true formula found in the original arcade release. Boring!