Golden Axe Warrior(1991)

Any% Guide

Updated 2 years ago by Quarbit

Release History

v1.0.0 - July 13th, 2022.

Introduction

These are my personal notes cleaned up for public use. I wouldn't go as far as to call this a guide, but hopefully this will be useful. If you have any questions, send me a DM. I'm happy to help anyone get into this fun game.

General Notes

Bats and skeletons are more likely to drop health items than other enemies, so kill them if needed.
Thunder magic is weak, but it's long range is useful early on. Make use of it.
Despite guides to the contrary, there are no max health requirements to collect any items. You can collect every item and spell in the game at 3 hearts.
Earth Magic is your best friend. You'll need it to destroy blocks, but freezing enemies is a lifesaver. This this magic on any annoying teleporting enemies or clams and you'll have a much easier time.

TAS Guide

Zoboner completed a TAS of this game in 30:49.10 and there's quite a few important notes for us RTA runners. I especially recommend checking out the enemy drop and weapon damage tables.

https://tasvideos.org/5473S

Overworld Map

This map hosted on GameFAQs is a great resource and I will use the coordinates from that map for my guide. The map is unfortunately missing some items (e.g. the 50 horn cave in E15), but overall it's incredibly helpful.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/sms/588075-golden-axe-warrior/map/4872-overworld-map

Walkthrough

The overworld sections in this game are quite simple, so I'm going to quickly list which coordinates to go to and what to do when you're there. You can look at the world map separately to route this out. The dungeons. on the other hand, are where the challenge comes in. I'll be providing full maps with directions and notes on some optional items.

I recommend downloading the dungeon maps and viewing them in full screen.

Lab 1

H12

Enter bottom house and find Golden Apple in the fireplace

J11

Enter Lab 1

Deathwarp after killing boss.

Lab 2

J12

Enter house to get Health Container

G14

Slash trees on right entrance to open path on left
Slash the trees to find the entrance to the cave in the middle
Talk to Gillian twice to trade Golden Apple for Thunder Magic
We don't need Thunder Magic in the run, but it is required for the Long Sword

E15

Slash trees to find hidden cave for 50 horns

G13

Enter Lab 2

Lab 3

Death Warp to return to F9

OPTIONAL -- Use inn

Use Axe on tree

Enter Lab 3

Lab 4

Deathwarp to return to F9 Money Check

You should have at least 40 horns for the upcoming shopping trip.

Use Inn

E11

Cut 3rd tree from right for 30 horns

C11

Climb mountain

D10

Cut middle right tree and spend 50 horns for Earth Magic

B10

Cut 2nd right tree for 30 horns

Cut 2nd top tree in column for 100 horns

Climb mountain

Enter cave and get Long Sword

Cut trees and cross to right side

Earth Magic on middle rock, 6th from right for 50 horns

Kill enemies to reveal shop
Buy 4 Keys and 1 Magic Feather (200 horns)
If you're short, skip some keys. Pick up an extra key or two in Lab 4 (see lab map)

Climb Mountain at B4
Chop trees in the way
Use earth magic on far right rock to get magic potion

Use Earth Magic on rock

Enter Lab 4

After beating the boss, you can either deathwarp as indicated on the map or walk out of the dungeon. Walking out costs ~20 seconds, but entering the next dungeon with full MP is helpful for the boss. If you walk out, you can also easily pick up the key at 5,2 now that you have the canoe. Your choice.

Lab 5

Climb down mountain on west side with rope

Enter west house for 100 horns

Chop middle tree to enter shop

Plate Mail

Climb left stairs

Kill enemies to reveal cave with Plate Mail
Recommend Earth Magic on red dude

Heart Container

Climb right stairs

Cut tree around rock
Earth Magic on rock
Get Heart Container

Enter Lab 5

Lab 7 (7 -> 8 -> 6)

Long walk. See map
Enter Lab 7

Lab 8

Magic Feather to F9

If you're skipping the Dragon Mail, this should take you to H5. Continue on to the Flame Sword.

Dragon Mail Detour

C14

Get 30 horns in cave
Skip this if you have plenty of money

C15

Cut bottom trees to reveal shop
Buy Magic Feather for 30

A13

Sail

B11

Get Dragon Mail
Magic Feather to F9

Enter Forest Maze and follow this path to get out
SE, N, NE, S, N

Sail

Get Flame Sword
Sail

Dock

Use Earth Magic on bottom right grave to reveal save point
Save game to activate warp point

Kill enemies to reveal shop
Buy Magic Feather for 30 horns
Buy Meat for 20 horns (Skip if you're healthy)

Chop trees to reveal cave
Pay 10 horns to travel through tunnel to L2

Sail

Enter Lab 8

Lab 6

Magic Feather to M9

Enter Lab 6

Lab 9

Buy Meat for 20 horns
Buy Magic Feather for 30 horns
If you're short on money, skip the feather and walk back from dungeon 9 instead.
If you have lots of money, buy a Magic Oil as a safety.

Enter leftmost house for Dragon Shield

L10

Sail

K10

Use Ice Bell to reveal cave
Get Water Magic
We mainly get this to restore MP, but occasionally it's useful in the final dungeon

L11

Dock

*L12 (west side)

Chop trees
Use Ice Bell to remove totem

L14

Enter Lab 9

Final Lab

Magic Feather to M9

Watch cutscene

Enter the final dungeon

This is a long, confusing dungeon with a lot of teleporters. To make it easier to follow, I split the map into two -- one map is up to finding the Golden Axe and the second map is from the Golden Axe to Death Adder. I have also erased the rooms we don't enter to reduce visual noise.

The Golden Axe

Death Adder

Advanced Strats

Skip Dragon Mail

While on the way to Dungeon 5, stop in at H5 and use the save point to trigger the warp point. You can also use the inn here to heal if you did a death warp in Dungeon 4. After Dungeon 7, use the Magic Feather to warp to H5 and get the Flame Sword.

This is a huge time save and definitely recommended once you get comfortable with the run.

Skip Dragon Shield

Self-explanatory. Skip the Dragon Shield after Dungeon 6 and go on with the game. Should save about 30 or 40 seconds.

Skip Magic Container

The Magic Container at B4 can be skipped without much of a problem.

Skip Heart Containers

The Heart Container at I1 is pretty easy to cut out of the route, but the early heart container at J12 is a big help.

Random Ideas

There are random ideas I've had, but I haven't routed them out or done any serious testing.

Do Dungeon Order 1 -> 3 -> 2

Here are my rough thoughts

Get Golden Apple
Beat Dungeon 1
J12 Heart Container (skip???)
Get 50 horns at E15 (skip???)
Trade Golden Apple for Thunder Magic
Deathwarp to F9
Beat Dungeon 3
Save game at C5
Get Long Sword
Get 100 horn at A7
Get 30 Horn at B10
Get Earth Magic
Get 30 Horn at E11
Buy 3 Keys and 1 Magic Feather at F10
Beat dungeon 2
Death warp to C5
Go to Dungeon 4

Skip Long Sword

According to the TAS, it takes 2:28 to get the Long Sword (hearth + golden apple + exchange + getting the sword). With this skip, we only have to complete dungeons 4, 5, and 6 with the Battle Axe and we can maybe reroute the first three dungeons. Not sure if this is viable.

Skip All Armor and Shields

This would be a big time save, but the damage would be crazy. Not sure if this is viable.

Skip Water Magic

We really only get the water magic to restore our MP for dungeon 9. We could skip this, but given how quick it is I'm not even sure if it would be a time save. Need to test.

Buy fewer keys

Do we really need 4 keys? If we skip a key or two, we could skip the 100 horn cave in C2.