The Quest For The Golden Axe

A terrible scourge has settled on the land of Yuria. The evil reptilian creature Death Adder invaded the peaceful villages and by-ways of this ancient land, putting the population to the sword (and worse!). His armies of thugs and other murderous creatures now run amok in yuria, terrifying the innocent citizens and exacting crippling taxes from the people. Food is running low, and there is little hope of freedom.

The very existence of Yuria is now threatened - Death Adder has kidnapped the king and his daughter, the beautiful Princess, and he is holding them captive in their own castle. Death Adder has also found the Golden Axe, the magical emblem of the land of Yuria, and plans to destroy it and kill the royal family unless all the people of Yuria bow to his will, swearing an oath of allegiance to his evil regime accepting him as ruler.

There seems to be little chance of defeating Death Adder and ridding Yuria of his evil hordes - the King's armies were crushed long ago in fierce and bloody battles. But an alliance of three warriors from the farthest corners of the land may just manage the impossible...

Press Fire to start a one-player game or the second player's fire to start a two-player game. At the start of play, you must select the character you wish to control. In a two-player game, each player must choose a different character.

Ax-Battler

A barbarian from the far plains of Yuria, Ax-Battler is a fearsome warrior motivated by hatred of Death-Adder. Soon after the invading armies arrived in Yuria they put Ax-Battler's mother to a horrible and lingering death. Returning from a quest, Ax-Battler was treated to the sound of this mother dying screams and will not rest until he has heard the dying screams of Death Adder.

Ax-Battler can command Volcano Magic, which can reach up to four levels of power depending on how many magic pots he is carrying when he casts a destroy spell.

Gilius-Thunderhead

A Dwarf from the mines of Wolud, Gilius-Thunderhead lost his twin brother in the battle to defend their homestead against the blood crazed soldiers of Death-Adder. Members of the Dwarvish race are very closely bonded to their relatives by emotional ties - and in the case of twins, this bonding is immensely strong. Gilius Thunderhead has sworn by all he holds sacred to join his brother in death by killing Death adder and then committing suicide.

Gilius-Thunderhead can command lightning magic, which can reach up to three levels of power depending on how many magic pots he is carrying when he casts a destroy spell.

Tyris-Flare

Tyris-Flare is an amazon warrior queen, the last surviving member of her jungle tribe. She has nothing more to live for - her people were all put to the sword by Death Adder's evil minoins and the jungle in which her race has lived for generations was razed to the ground. She has sworn by all that is sacred to her people that she will avenge their deaths by defeating Death Adder and liberating the land of Yuria.

Tyris-Flare can command fire magic, which can reach up to six levels of power depending on how many magic pots she is carrying when she casts a destroy spell.

The Quest

Your quest is straightforward in nature, but difficult to achieve, your goal is to kill all of Death Adder's soldiers - and then face up to Death Adder himself in the final showdown.

Kill off all the evil creatures in the land of Yuria, and you can liberate the kidnapped king and princess and restore the land that you love to peace and prosperity. Fail, and Death Adder will rule forever.

The Woods

Starting out in the woods outside Turtle village, your aim is to progress to the right of the scrolling, clearing each section by killing off all of Death Adder's minions. A sword appears at the top right of the screen with the message 'GO' to show that your journey can continue. In the woods you meet the lowliest of Death Adder's minions - they are the least skilled fighters in his army, but you must stay on guard. They're dumb, but there's a lot of them! And you meet up with the Twin Sumos and the Lizard Women. While you're in the Woods try to grab and save as much magic as you can - you'll need it later on...

Turtle Village

All the people have been scared away from their homes in the village by Death Adder's marauding hordes. The soldiers you meet on the streets are meaner and and tougher than the raw recruits you met in the woods - some of therm are riding bizarrians.

Eagle Island

This island is the back of a huge eagle - with Skeleton Swordmens hiding in its feathers. They're particularly difficult to beat - being dead, they have no further fear of death! Narrow bridges make the battle even more hazardous.

Approaching The Castle

On your way of Death Adder's lair you have to fight through cobbled streets, defeating wave upon wave of evil enemies.

The Castle

Prepare for the final battle with Death Adder. If you win this conflict, then your quest will be successful.

Riding Bizarrians

Death Adder has imported some very strange creatures to the land of Yuria, which some of his soldiers ride as cavalry animals. Called Bizarrians, these creatures can give you a real edge during combat - if you can knock the rider off the back of a bizarrian, it's possible to climb into the saddle and use the animal itself as a powerful weapon. As an additional bonus, the bizarrian takes the hits until you are unsaddled.

Bizarrians have different attributes, depending on their breed. Some will spit flame or fireballs in the direction they are facing when you press the fire button, while others can inflict damage on the enemy with their sweeping tails - just move the joystick to the left or right to make the creature turn around when one of the Death Adder's soldiers is close by.

Although Bizarrians are fairly docile mounts, waiting quietly for a rider to mount them when no-one rides them. Try and stay in the saddle for as long as you can...

And if you complete a section of the game while you're mounted on a Bizarrian, it departs when you make camp and rest up for a while before attempting the next section of the quest.

Collecting and Using Magic

You start the quest to liberate Yuria with one magic pot - but you're sure to need more than that to complete the battles ahead.

Every so often, you'll come across little Elves who scamper around the current screen area clutching sacks. If you chase after them and nudge them, or strength bars. If you walk over a magic pot, it is added to your character's magic reserves; similarly walking over a strength bar allows you to increase your energy reserves by one unit.

Watch out for the Elves that sometimes appear when you are resting up at the end of a section. Under the cover of darkness, they attempt to steal pots of magic and strength bars from these visitors...

Whenever you use magic, your character will cast a spell that uses up all the magic he or she is carrying in the form of magic pots (shown in the status panel). This may prove powerful enough to kill off all the hostile creatures in the current screen area, but if you are facing particularly strong opponents of Death Adder's creatures may be able to recover from the spell and fight some more.

Strength And Credits

You start the game with three lives, divided into units of strength and displayed at the bottom of the screen in a bar read-out that is your Hit Meter. Each time your character takes hits, strength is lost, but you can replenish strength if you can persuade an Elf to drop a strength bar... When you finally run out of lives, the game ends and the score board appears.

Survival Skills

1. Practise work on your jump and attack skills to get your timing perfect - mastering the attack and all its variations is the best way to win.
2. Experiment with the joystick to discover all the special moves.
3. Ride a Bizarrian whenever you can.
4. Learn the shortcomings of each enemy, then concentrate on defeating them by attacking their vulnerable spots.
5. Assess each situation to decide whether to retreat to a better position or close in for the attack.
6. Learn to jump and twirl to get behind an attacker - blows to the back are usually fatal, so make sure you are always facing your foe.

Game Controls

It is important that you master the controls that are used during combat - quick reflexes are needed to win battles, and you will almost certainly lose a fight if you have to think about what you are doing.

Pressing fire while your character is standing still results in a basic slashing motion with the weapon that he or she is holding.

Up, Down, Left and Right on the joystick cause the hero you are controlling to walk up, down, left and right in the current screen are. You can't go off the left of the current screen area at any time, and can only walk into a new area to the right when the pointer sword and the word 'GO' appears at the top right of the current screen area.

Amiga and St:

Player 2 can join in the game at any time by pressing fire on the joystick.

To select a character, player 2 must keep fire pressed and move the stick left or right. Once fire is released, the game will stop and the graphics for player 2's character will load in.

Loading

Golden Axe loads and runs automatically. Reset your machine, then follow the instructions for your computer; during play, follow the instructions and change disks appropriately.