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Golden Axe : The Revenge of Death Adder...and why I think Sega hates us!

VGEsoterica

Member
Ok well not really...I don't actually think Sega hates us. I just think they forgot a LONG time ago what fans wanted vs what they thought we want! (see Game Gear Mini lol)

Of all the Sega arcade games never to receive a home port, The Revenge of Death Adder stings the most for a number of reasons. I get why maybe Model 3 games were too difficult to bring to Dreamcast even if we may have really wanted them, but with Death Adder I really can't how it's still locked to the arcade pcb.

Gameplay wise it's start to finish a beat em up masterpiece. The System 32 hardware could do some amazing things in 1992 with rotation and scaling, and Death Adder takes advantage of the hardware in the best ways possible. Huge sprites, awesome colors, and effects usage that ADDS to the game vs just being there to show off what the hardware was capable of without it making sense gameplay wise. Controls are tight, the action is solid, and the world the game inhabits is well imagines and really feels alive and filled with details. So it begs the following questions...

Firstly...how did Sega neglect to port what, at least in my opinion, is a near of not totally perfect 2D beat em up? It's one of my favorite genre's and Death Adder is in my top three beat em ups of all time. It's not like they didn't port a "meh" or a "it's decent" game home...they didn't port a gem. Everything from the graphical style and effects to the soundtrack and gameplay are examples of Sega at the top of their form. The game has everything you'd want including a decent length that doesn't make it feel like it ends just when you get into it.

Secondly..... if there was ever a game that seemed tailor made for the Saturn, Death Adder was it. Sega wasn't shying away from 2D games on the platform yet somehow this fell through the cracks. No licensing issues could have gotten in the way as it was a 100% Sega product ; no licenses cars like their racing games, etc etc. We even were given Golden Axe : The Duel...a 2D VS fighting game...so it's not like Sega didn't see value in the franchise on the Saturn. Makes a bit more sense why it wouldn't have come to Dreamcast but I'd still have happily accepted a System 32 compilation release for DC.

Were System 32 games too difficult to port to Saturn and the Hitachi SH2 processors considering it originated on the NEC V60 chip? Possibly going from a CISC to a RISC based chip made it impossible? I'd like to give Sega an out on this one and think it was a technical limitation

But honestly...its 2020 and the game could be on any number of platforms. Why Sega keeps Golden Axe : the Revenge of Death Adder behind lock and key is so confusing to me. An amazing game that, if you want to own a copy, will set you back a huge amount of money if you can even FIND a pcb for sale.

But if you haven't played Golden Ave : The Revenge of Death Adder yet....add it to your lists! Or wait until Sega releases the "Game Gear Mini 2" with a screen the size of a postage stamp and throws some System 32 games on there hahaha
 

VGEsoterica

Member


Honestly if you have never seen it in action you should. But absolutely play it if you haven't. Maybe the fact we got a Streets of Rage 4 means one day we will get a new game in the Golden Ave franchise. Just please not another 3D entry like "Beast Rider"....don't do that to us again Sega...begging you!
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Looked like this. Played it last time I went to Galloping Ghost Arcade
tPneMwM.jpg
 

VGEsoterica

Member
You can believe I'll be preordering this as soon as it's live.
ZgzvgLY.png

I get why they are popular but I wish their parts selection wasn’t so poor. Not for me personally form factor wise but having played a few the sticks and buttons feel pretty imprecise and mushy. Granted swapping them for some Sanwa or Seimitsu parts isn’t hard but the quality feels pretty cheap for what they ask for the cabinets.

Granted it’s still the cheapest way to play Death Adder without emulation
 
I get why they are popular but I wish their parts selection wasn’t so poor. Not for me personally form factor wise but having played a few the sticks and buttons feel pretty imprecise and mushy. Granted swapping them for some Sanwa or Seimitsu parts isn’t hard but the quality feels pretty cheap for what they ask for the cabinets.

Granted it’s still the cheapest way to play Death Adder without emulation

Oh, I agree 100%. The parts they use are pretty sub-standard. I have 8 A1Up cabinets myself and have swapped the sticks and buttons out on all of them except Star Wars. That one is perfect as-is. There's actually a pretty active A1Up modding community.

EDIT: I should add that this is good news as it opens the door for Sega to bring this out on other platforms if it is received well enough. And there is a LOT of interest in this cabinet in the A1Up scene.
 
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VGEsoterica

Member
Oh, I agree 100%. The parts they use are pretty sub-standard. I have 8 A1Up cabinets myself and have swapped the sticks and buttons out on all of them except Star Wars. That one is perfect as-is. There's actually a pretty active A1Up modding community.

EDIT: I should add that this is good news as it opens the door for Sega to bring this out on other platforms if it is received well enough. And there is a LOT of interest in this cabinet in the A1Up scene.

yes I’m glad these games are being brought to more people. All I ever want is for more people to experience these awesome games haha. I just wish Sega made it easy on us all and popped it on Steam / Modern consoles. Would be awesome on Switch
 
Best game in the franchise, still an arcade-exclusive. Zero machines at arcades in America. No home port anytime soon.

In other words, just SEGA being SEGA xD. I need to play this again sometime.
 
Honestly, if SEGA Japan actually listened to Fan feedback from America and Europe and SEGA of America looked at what Franchises we want and did their own Survey, we would have gotten this many years ago.

I have zero hope that this will ever release because SEGA Japan don't like to look too deep in their catalogue for some reason. The best way is to find the original Director of the game and ask them to talk to SEGA that there are fans outside of Japan willing to pay money to make this happen. M2 should also be contacted about what games we want.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Honestly, if SEGA Japan actually listened to Fan feedback from America and Europe and SEGA of America looked at what Franchises we want and did their own Survey, we would have gotten this many years ago.

I have zero hope that this will ever release because SEGA Japan don't like to look too deep in their catalogue for some reason. The best way is to find the original Director of the game and ask them to talk to SEGA that there are fans outside of Japan willing to pay money to make this happen. M2 should also be contacted about what games we want.

it is odd how Sega of Japan looked at America as somehow lesser and not as trustworthy opinion wise, especially during the Genesis area. Sega of America MADE the Genesis what it was and gave Sega all that success in the 90’s, but they were still made to sit at the “kids table“ decision wise from what I’ve read of interviews / articles about those times
 

Orta

Banned
I'd cream myself if this turned up on the Switch. Would probably only cost about €5 too!
 

Vandole

Member
I dropped a lot of quarters in this back in the day with my friends. If you were the last to show up and you had to play as the Imp. Growing apples just wasn't the most exciting special attack.

Anyway, sign me up for a home release.
 
it is odd how Sega of Japan looked at America as somehow lesser and not as trustworthy opinion wise, especially during the Genesis area. Sega of America MADE the Genesis what it was and gave Sega all that success in the 90’s, but they were still made to sit at the “kids table“ decision wise from what I’ve read of interviews / articles about those times

SoA also made some terrible decisions to be fair, as they didn't seem to like to rely on SEGA's Japanese output and focused on EA and Western Titles a lot, but I agree 100% with how they treated them given how much success they gave them. I put it down to the CEO in particular who was stubborn as all hell to shift course with the Saturn and stop producing the successful consoles to put their eggs in the Saturn, so they stopped their revenue stream and ended up making huge losses on the Saturn.

They seem to be getting better but honestly they still don't communicate very well with the American or European branch (SEGA Europe blew most of their Dreamcast Budget on getting Arsenal to sponsor them, this was a dumb move given they made no definitive Soccer game and even more baffling that Peter Moore didn't get one made given his Background).

I just pray that ATLUS USA take the helm and tell SEGA that they can sell their lesser franchises at a profit like they have done for years with the SMT games. They seem to be really enjoying the workload at the moment from Interviews I have read and have really relished the challenge of localising Yakuza themselves and broadening their repertoire for both ATLUS and SEGA games.

My personal wish is for SEGA to buy Vanillaware and let them go all out on their games without restraint. Been a huge fan of their work since at least 2010 with Muramasa and I truly believe someone like SEGA can make them even more well known with the right budget behind them.

Sorry for the tangent.
 

nkarafo

Member
I never liked the new characters in this game. What was it, a horse lady and a giant with a small dwarf on his back?

The main character was OK but the others looked weird and had stiff animations and not as good looking attacks as the original characters.

The new mounts looked bas as well.

The magic effects looked nice but only one per character? The original had several depending on how many vials you have.
 
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