20 Megadrive Games You Must Play Before You Die

20. Golden Axe

Developer - SEGA AM1
Genre - Scrolling Beat-em-up
Release Date - 1989
Current Price (Approx) - £5 - 10

SEGA's earliest marketing efforts - particularly before the unveiling of Sonic - revolved around the quality of the arcade conversions that were available on the Megadrive.

While Altered Beast did a pretty good job of proving the company's claims, it was with Golden Axe that they achieved a game that was as close to arcade perfection as anything else from the time.

It helps that the game is also a damned good scrolling fighter, offering the player the choice of three characters with different skills and magical abilities as they combat the evil Death Adder and his massive army.

Happily, the game is also easy to get your hands on these days as it is available for digital download and is fairly common if you want to get the original cartridge, especially if you're happy getting it as part of the Mega Games 2 compilation.