I put in some time on Legendary Axe this past weekend. Honestly, for reasons unknown, this was a game I never did play very seriously or at much length over the years. I thought to myself recently, "but really, what respectable TG16/PCE gamer doesn't have at least some reasonable skill at, of all games, Legendary Axe?" So over the past few days I set out in earnest to change that.
I did O.K. Didn't beat the game, but I did improve to the point that I could basically get pretty far to the fifth level on a few lives. Got killed by one of the bosses I encountered therein. Not impressive overall, but no doubt much better from a personal standpoint. I would say that beginning the weekend my Legendary Axe skills would be classified as "bad," whereas now I could say with pride that they are "barely adequate."
But what the experience did was remind me what a solid game it really was. Of course there are many of these in the TG16/PCE library, but just as an example. I know I risk sounding really "old balls" here, but it's just a fact that what constituted a good game "back in the day" is much different than today. And, Legendary Axe wasn't just a niche favorite on an obscure but beloved console back then. It was widely respected as top notch.
On that fifth level, where you have to move through the castle with room 5A-5Z, or what have you, there is a bit of a maze aspect to it, where if you choose to walk across to the door, rather than drop down the well, or vice versa, you can be set back several rooms, and have to move through again. Although not the most complicated of "mazes," after a few mistakes you better start remembering the proper way to go, (on top of memorizing all of the patterns of enemies you encounter, and have to beat, again), or else you will just languish in those rooms, die, and eventually have to start over at the beginning of the game. There wasn't any hand-holding back then. There weren't convenient saves you could rely upon. It was a great feature. Basically, game creators challenged you to figure it out independently, or if you were unable, you could just f*ck off.
I think it is more than that many mass market games are very different today. I think newer generations of people are different. I mean different physiologically or mentally. They are not inferior of course, perhaps just sophisticated in other ways. Generally speaking mind you. I don't know, my six year old foster kid kicks my ass at Super Smash Brothers Brawl on the Wii. In older generation games, you had to work with a much more limited margin of error, and required a lot of sustained concentration, memorization, practice, accepting failure in stride. Those sort of skills helped a lot, and more than that, were necessary. That's one of the things that make a game like Legendary Axe so immersive. People who grew up on stuff like Turbografx16 games were hard-wired for that kind of experience.
And to think about the development of a good game back then is somewhat impressive. In those days, there was one try to create a game from the beginning to end phases, stick it on a piece of physical media, and ship it out. There were no fixes to download after the fact. Either the game was broken or it was not. Legendary Axe is a pitch perfect game basically, and hasn't needed an update in 25 years. Not that I know a lot about what is entailed in the whole process. Maybe those guys on here who are building a HuCard game from scratch much better understand the challenges. That is mindblowing. It is like seeing a long-extinct species suddenly appear again in the wild.
In addition to the game play, the graphics are decent as well. I don't get too caught up in how a game looks really, within reason. Obviously a game 25 years ago on certain levels cannot compete with modern productions. But then again, realism is just one school of art. No one ever looked at "Starry Night" and told VanGogh this sucks, because it doesn't look like what I see when I stare at the sky.
Legendary Axe wasn't just a good game "for it's time." It was just good.
Topic: Legendary Axe (Read 378 times)
