Ax Battler Commentary, quick and dirty notes by jquestionmark

Pre-game starts with a text crawl explaining the story.
	the gods gifted mortals with a Golden Axe
	lots of wars were fought over it, until the king hid it away
	evil armies arose and destroy the castle and claim the axe
		they don't, though, the castle is fine
	and as we'll see in the opening cutscene - the king calls on the one man that can save the world - AX BATTLER
	
[game start]
	
Game starts out in Firewood Castle
	we're treated to a "cutscene" that is text with a black screen
	The Golden Axe has been stolen!
	We have a castle full of guards, but lets call this random guy to go get it instead!
	
The castle (as well as towns) and overworld control like dragon quest or other RPGs
	unlike other RPGs, the random encounters are fighting game style
	really, a lot of this is like Zelda 2, though a lot cooler looking (in my opinion)
	unlike normal fighting games, if you get hit, the fight is instantly over
	this is actually great for the speedrun - not only are fights slow, but you get two text boxes after each one you win
	a lot of the run comes down to luck (low encounter rate) and playing the odds (trying to lose your slowest fights without reducing your health enough to be in danger)
	
The random fights have a different pool of possible enemies in each area of the game
	different strats are needed for each, but they are 100% consistent
	it's all down to player execution, and it's pretty unforgiving
	
Unlike RPGs and fighting games, but like Zelda 2, the dungeons are platforming/action segments
	we come to this cave to get a bomb so we can access a town behind a mountain. 
		why is the town behind the mountain?
		why is a bomb capable of detonating an entire mountain hidden in a cave?
		don't worry about it, it's Ax Battler
	between the fights and this dungeon, it should be clear that the hitboxes and movement is a little funky
		that's part of the game's charm
		once you're used to it, it's very consistent, just maybe not what you'd expect when you first start
	
By now, you've probably noticed that Ax Battler exclusively uses a sword
	don't think about it too hard
	
Every bridge automatically triggers an encounter, often against one of the harder enemies in the area
	having extra damage to take on the bridges to lose the fight quickly can be very helpful
	
The bomb is used to detonate the mountain and get access to Firewood Village
	that's right, this town, on the other side of a river and mountain range is the village associated with the castle
	each town contains: an inn, a training hall, and a password hut
	the inn lets you exchange the magic vases you get for winning fights to heal fully
	the training hall lets you learn a new skill
		non-combat skills are essential to completing the game
		combat skills are essential because it's 100%
			but also because the game is miserable with only the base attack
	this town has the high jump, which greatly increases your jump height and makes it possible to get to a lot of otherwise inaccessible platforms
	
Magic Vases are gained for each victory
	In addition to inns, you can use them to do magic attacks
	good news is, these do a ton of damage
	bad news is, they use the start button, so you can't pause during fights/dungeons
	worst news is, they make the screen flash like crazy, so when there's a couple of these later, if possible provide an epilepsy/flashing lights warning
	
The second town is Turtle Village
	this is handy to visit to potentially set up a post-tower death warp (depending on health)
	it also contains the first new attack, which allows a full bar of damage instead of a half bar
		the attack and its hitbox are awful, but they do more damage
	there's a talking Chicken Leg / Axebeak monster here
		we won't be talking to them, this is a speedrun
			((is talking to this worth an incentive? who knows, I like dumb little incentives))
		
The tower on the peninsula has the next item we need
	The tower is full of living statues, ghosts, and traps
	High jump is required to complete it
	The item is a crystal, which we're going to throw in the sea by Turtle village
	
The crystal is tossed into the sea, and summons a giant turtle!
	even better, the turtle is a dungeon
	nothing too fancy here, but the enemies sure are weird
	
This drops us off in the desert next to the town of Sand Marrow
	this town has the jump attack skill
	it's not super important, but it's 100%, and when it's handy, it's very handy
	
The desert (referred to as the Desert of Death) has a comically high encounter rate
	this is a great time for donations
	also a good time to try to figure out why there are so many animate skeletons, or why everyone is wearing fantasy bondage armor
	
The pyramid is interesting
	it's possible to go through it, and on the way encounter enemies that are unique to that area
	but what you really want to do is climb it
	There's a key in a treasure chest, that unlike the items prior to now, isn't actively used
	the next dungeon contains a door that is only open if the key is obtained
	
The next town is Southwood
	it has the very best attack in the game
		good damage, good hitbox, doesn't feel weird to execute
	this town has a port, that in any other game, we would get open again
		we will never see this port again, and will never take a ship into or out of it
		
The next dungeon is the cave
	if possible, it's best to go into here with 4 vases
	if you're confident in your timing, it saves time to change the magic to thunder (allows one cast to clear enemies instead of two)
	the cave has some very frustrating traps that require precise timing to destroy
	it also features water that changes your movement speed, and things that jump up out of it
	
Once clear of the cave, we have to walk to the next town
	a death at this point sends you back to Southwood, which would be unpleasant
	
The next town is Brookhill
	there's a required item here, the compass
		it's shockingly easy to forget
	the new skill here is tackle - it allows dashing and a dash attack 
		during the dash attack you're invincible, so it can be pretty handy 
		the dash attack only does a half bar of damage, though
		but it's needed to clear an obstacle on the mountain, so it's required either way
		
The forest is a really cruel dungeon
	some enemies have to be dash attacked, but other enemies take a full bar to kill and if you dash attack them, they'll get a free full bar attack on you
	if you don't have the compass, the forest dumps you back on the bridge
		i lost one run to this before I realized I needed to add the compass to my splits, personally
		
After the forest, there's a lone tree with a fruit
	how does everyone in this world not have scurvy if this is the only fruit and it's through a maze forest?
	after getting the fruit is an ideal time to death warp, rather than trek back to town
	
From here, we get a segment where two dungeons are required back to back

First, it's the mountain
	there's some cool jumps up through platforms here
	we also get to see the spot where tackle is required to break a wall
	at the top, if you don't have the fruit, you walk of screen and are at the foot of the mountain again
	if you have the fruit, you hold it up and summon the eagle, which takes you to a MUCH bigger eagle
	
This second area is on the back of a massive eagle flying through the sky
	the skeletons popping out of the platforms are jerks
	the shifting wind creates some unique challenges, but it's not terrible
	
After that, we're at the final overworld segment
	this area has 3 new, very tough enemies
	one of them, Death Adder is able to kill you in a single hit
		this is a major reason 100% is a category - there's an item that makes this so they just do a half bar damage instead
		worth noting, they are actually called Death Adder Jr in the Japanese version
			Death Adder has a loooot of kids
			
The final town is North Valley
	this has the coolest looking and most useless attack in the game
		for those familiar with the Golden Axe beat em ups, it's the jump downstab
		it's horrible to execute, usually leaves you vulnerable, and its generally the worst
		there are a couple enemies later that magic will be used to kill instead of this miserable tech
	This town is one of the main reasons 100% became a category
		in any%, there's no reason to ever come here
		that means, if you die, you go back to Brookhill, and your run is basically dead
		that's not very marathon safe, so yay for visiting North Valley
	worth noting, the the Japanese version, you have to enter the password hut to set your respawn point as this town
	
Before heading to the end, we need to grab a Magic Stone
	this is the item that makes Death Adders not an instant kill
	an old man in North Valley lost this, but I promise, he's okay with us keeping it
		he actually says as much if you stop back by and talk to him
		
From here, it's time for an overworld segment, a dungeon with instant death pits, more overworld, then the final castle

The ice cliffs are mean
	there are not only segments where if you fall due to a bad jump you die
	there are also segments where an avalanche can knock you off
	and segments over bottomless pits with moving platforms
	and to wrap it up, there's a section that you have to dash across and jump at just the right time, or you fall down to an area that's brutal to get back out of
	
The final castle is a lovely place where the floors and ceiling have spikes jut out at regular intervals
	fortunately, they also included a lot of moving platforms and platforms that don't have spikes, so that's nice
	each segement ends with a mirror to take you to the next segment
	one segment includes a moving cloud that a mistake results in you being back at the start
	there's also a segment that starts behind a waterfall where a mirror will try to show up and send you back to an earlier portion
	in the waterfall segment, there's a narrow waterfall that you can hang out in to jump up through a floor - everyone loves speedrun tech, haha
	one of the last segments has platforms with spikes on the bottom
		they kind of look like they have angry faces?
		not sure what that's about
	the very last jump is miserable - the window for it is narrow, and you have to account for the spikes coming and going
	
[time end]
	
After all of this, we're treated to a horrific boss fight!
	that's a lie
	the game ends as it started - with text on a black screen that reminds us how awesome Ax Battler is
	
For the end credits, we get the best song in the game
	our eagle bro gives us a ride back to the start, and everyone that we never talked to comes out of the towns to cheer us
	shoutouts to PP Chung/Psychadelic Chung - this music is so good
	
And that is Ax Battler!

sharif

Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe

Sega Game Gear

OdinNoah

USA / NTSC

JPN / NTSC

Golden Axe

Golden Axe Speedruns server!

Megami_infini

jquestionmark

Shime