Say Hello To My Golden Axe

A classic side-scrolling arcade beat ‘em up (or hack and slash) that introduced many new cool features to the genre was the epic “Golden Axe”, relaseased in 1989 by Sega. The game included was set in a medieval and fantasy world, where the three main characters (Ax Battler the Barbarian, Tyris Flare the amazon and Gilius Thuderhead the dwarf) have magic powers unique to each of them. Ridable beasts called “Bizarrians”, very menacing-looking bosses, great visual effects when the powers were activated and enemies shrieking when you killed them (even their dead bodies stayed in sight instead of vanishing, like was the rule) were some of the innovations that made this game a hit.

The plot is basically about beating an evil entity known as Death Adder that has captured the King and his daughter, and threatens to destroy The Golden Axe and the royal family unless the people of Yuria accept him as their ruler. Before getting to the palace to kick Death Adder’s ass though, you’ll have to fight his henchmen, including men armed with clubs and maces, skeleton warriors, and knights.

Check out this great fan site named Death Addler’s Castle and go see what the original arcade game looked like at the Killer List of Video Games. If you have the need to play this fantastic game right now, don't worry, it's normal and you can find a Golden Axe online clone clicking on the link (sorry couldn't find the real thing). Now go blast them!

What Fun Games Are All About

Since the blog is focused on arcade games (and especially the free ones), it seems fitting that I recommend you one of the best I’ve come across while looking around the web. I’m talking about iFunSpace, a site presenting a pretty good selection of browser based flash games. The one I’m most interested in is the Arcade Games section –for obvious reasons- but you can also explore the rest of the games in the puzzle, card and brain games areas.

Apart from the online playing, you can mingle with other gamers through a chat feature, posting comments about the games, and even challenging your pals to beat your high scores (or at least try), which is pretty cool. To get this kind of exchanges with other players you’ll need to register an account on the site though.

Let me tell you that bringing a social or community feel to arcade games is a genius of an idea, and iFunSpace really seems to be exploring its potential when encouraging gamers to challenge and interact with each other. Me likes the fact that anyone can play the arcade games for free, whenever and as much as they feel like and all on their own browser (meaning they don’t need to download anything).



I’ll recommend you a couple of fun games that you definitely have to try out: I really like Crazy Coins, always have, and you have some classic arcade games like Pacman, Super Mario and Q*Bert. Last but not least you can play Curveball, Raiden X and Spikey’s Bounce Around, which really managed to caught my attention and made me want to come back for more. In fact, I’m off to play some of them right now, see you there!

Ain’t afraid of no Ghost ‘n Goblins

I just couldn’t continue to ignore a truly awesome arcade game that’s considered one of the most difficult games ever made, so once again you’ll have to suffer by reading my incoherent ramblings about the classic sideways scrolling platformer “Ghost ‘n Goblins”. Released in 1985, the game puts you in the role of a certain brave knight named Arthur, and your objective is to rescue the Princess (sounds familiar?) by fighting ghosts, zombies, demons and other undead creatures.

The high difficulty of the game has to do with the fact that you can lose a life if you don’t finish the level within three minutes, or if your character is hit twice by an enemy (also, you’re returned to the start of the level) and that in order to defeat the game, you must complete it twice. But that’s not all, as you’ll face moving platforms, ladders and water & fire hazards.

Luckily, not everything is bad news, and you’ll also find power-ups such as bombs and daggers that will help your cause a great deal. And if you have lost your armour because of an enemy, you can find it along the way and put it back on. If you're dying to play Ghosts n Goblins you can try it out with that online version and reminisce old memories. I also recommend reading some good GnG tips & tricks, a little strategy and info and funny trivia about the game so you know your stuff before slashing those zombies.

Just say yes to Narc

What do you get when you mix a pair of ultra-violent and badass narcotics agents, a great cooperative gameplay, nasty attack dogs, a couple rocket launchers and an evil mastermind only know as “Mr.Big”? An awesome and one of a kind side-scrolling arcade shooter is what you get! Hitting arcades in 1988, Narc happened to be released at the time of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug extravaganza, which is probably why it got away with such carnage: they were “only” blowing up dealers, junkies and such criminals after all.

Of course that instead of killing the offenders, you can just arrest ‘em (and the game even gives you a higher score if you do). Controlling either Max Force or Hit Man, you hit the streets and it’s game over for all the scum involved in the drug trade! You can even confiscate the drugs and the money for special points, and you’ll need to pick up a number of safe cards of a certain color in order progress to the next stage.

In 2005 a new version of Narc was released for the Playstation 2 and Xbox consoles, but I haven't played and according to most reviews it's trash. Play a cool NES version of Narc, check what the original arcade version looked like or read some trivia about the game.

Pilot your Raiden fighter

Let’s flash back to the year 1990 for a moment, and you’ll find yourself guiding your fighter plane in the most popular over-head vertical scrolling shooter arcade game of that time: Raiden (The title in Japanese translates to "Thunder And Lightning"). Sticking to the formula that became the standard of that era and genre, you will be piloting the experimental fighter know as the “Raiden Supersonic Attack Fighter” through several levels while you blow up massive waves of alien warships with your missiles and bombs. Collecting powerups is a must if you want to survive long enough to battle the large and nasty bosses and defend Earth from the invading extraterrestrials.

Play a remake of this classic game that is called Raiden X, and blow those aliens back to where they came from! Also check out some cool Raiden tips and hints or learn a little about the history of the game taking a look at the Killer List of Videogames.

Altering the Beast

Let me tell you about this side-scrolling, beat ‘em up arcade game that is sure to make you raise your eyebrows in disbelief that some much awesomeness can be possible. You take control of a shapeshifting hero, who has been raised from the dead by Zeus himself in order to rescue his kidnapped daughter, Athena. Did I mention something about the hordes of undead, demons and level bosses that you’ll have to fight if you wanna get a chance to rescue her? Didn’t think so!

But worry not my friends, as beating some white two-headed wolves (hint, hint: Do you think this wolf might be the Cerberus dog of Greek Mythology? I do! ) will reveal the power-ups orbs (“Spirit Balls”) you need to increase your strength and size and eventually transform into a beast powerful enough to clean the floor with all of them. And that’s not all, as you can turn into a different one in each level. Becoming a werewolf, a dragon, a tiger, a bear and more you’ll get a set of special abilities with each creature, such as the dragon’s ability to fly.

Yes, you got it! It is no other than the groovy “Altered Beast”, developed by Makoto Uchida and released in 1988 by Sega. With Ancient Greece-inspired scenery, two player cooperative gameplay and lots of action, you are really missing out if you’ve never played this game. Luckily, you can go play this Altered Beast online version. Catch some tricks and hints at the Arcade History site, and if your in the read mood take a look at this funny review about the game (gifs and all!).

The Terrors (masks) of Splatterhouse

I must confess that the next game I’ll discuss used to scare the bejesus outta me when I was a kid. Considering that this side-scrolling beat ‘em up was released in 1988, and that it contains pretty violent scenes with some serious amounts of blood, levels full of corpses, demons and other disturbing creatures, it comes as no surprise that “Splatterhouse” was the first game to get a parental advisory disclaimer.

It also was a shock to discover many years later, that the main character actually was not Jason Voorhees -the killer from the Friday the 13th series of slasher movies, but just some guy named Rick who has to rescue his girlfriend Jennifer from the infernal creatures inhabiting The West Mansion (also known as “Splatterhouse” and supposedly the mansion of Dr. Herbert West, H.P. Lovecraft’s “Reanimator”). At the time everyone and their mother just assumed that this was a Jason / Firday the 13th arcade game and didn’t pay attention to the backstory, which states that Rick is under the influence of the “Terror Mask”, a Mayan (or is it Aztec?) sacrificial artefact that looks an awful lot like a hockey mask and provides the wearer with great strength.

Instead of the more classic style of scrolling fighters like Final Fight and such, you’ll be able to walk left and right but not forwards or backwards into the screen. You can use several weapons to fight off the horde of monsters you’ll come across, such as a meat cleaver, wood rods, bones and a shotgun.

I've read somewhere that they are making a remake for the next generation consoles, and I say bring it on! (but port it to PC too!). You can visit West Mansion: The Splatterhouse Homepage, a nice and pretty extensive fansite or the official site for the 2010 Splatterhouse remake to get more info about the game.