Memory Replayed

I decided to buy Super Mario Brothers from the Wii Shop channel with my remaining 500 points (the other 500 were spent on Opera - which I am using more than I thought I would). Whilst browsing through the available games I noticed that Golden Axe was available and was listed as being a Mega Drive game. I used to play Golden Axe on my friend's, and later my dad's PC and got rather excited when I realised I could relive my childhood experience of playing the game. I have made a previous attempt at getting hold of Golden Axe and a version was supplied to me by a work colleague that would run on XP (this was a few years ago and I was still running a PC). Unfortunately there were a few problems with the game speed and it was not really playable - I was quite disappointed at the time but didn't really persevere with trying to get hold of a playable copy. Returning to the version available from the Wii Shop Channel; I knew that there would be no problems and that I was about to play a game that I spent many hours trying to complete when I was younger.

Playing games originally intended for older consoles requires the Wiimote to be turned round. This results in a less active player, slumped back onto the sofa in my case, and provides an insight into the contrast between the way in which older home consoles were played and how the Wii offers a new kind of interaction. The rotation of the Wiimote activates a previous mode of play that refers to the early Nintendo consoles and the player shifts to being a less physically active play participant. I am sure that there are other games that require the Wiimote to be used in the horizontal mode and playing these will be interesting as it will provide a further insight into the active-passive relationship with the console.



As previously mentioned, I first played this game at a friends house. Unfortunately I can't remember the name or model number of the computer console that we used but I am pretty sure it had a 16 colour output and it wasn't bought as a games console - it was used for my friend's dad's work, it may have been an Amiga of some description. I really enjoyed the game and when my Dad brought home an old Apricot 286 from work I borrowed the Golden Axe disc and installed it. My brother and I played the console in two player for hours on end, completing several levels but not the whole game whilst my sister (who was a little too young to play) watched us avidly - something that she remembers doing a lot of. I remember that out of the three available characters I was always the axe wielding dwarf and my brother was always the man in the blue pants. The friend that I first played the game with (and played the game with on many occasions) always wanted to be the scantily clad woman; a selection that he always found highly amusing.



// I remember getting the feeling that the only reason that my brother let me play as the dwarf was that I was quite skillful at using that particular character. Little did he know that if you kept hitting '5' on the keyboard you were pretty much untouchable, when playing on a 286 at least.

I was also permitted to use the arrow keys rather than the more cumbersome Q,A,O,P and Space configuration that my (I should mention, older) brother relegated himself to using. Again, at the time I felt as though this was being 'permitted' as my skill at playing as the dwarf would get us further through the game. //

I have noticed several differences in the version of the game playable on the Wii. Firstly the game is a lot more difficult than the version that I played as a child. I seem to remember that the sweeping axe motion of the dwarf character could be used to catch an opponent in a loop of continuous health damage. As previously mentioned, the '5' key controlled the weapon of a particular character and hitting it repeatedly would result in a combo or series of combos (for my character at least), when attacking an opponent it was relatively easy to defeat them as there didn't seem to be enough time for the computer controlled character to launch any kind of assault.

However, this is not the case in the Megadrive version that I am playing on the Wii, on the other hand I no longer need to wait for several minutes for a level to load, or magic to be played (the magic animation used to take ages to travel across the screen on a 286 so we used to try not to use it). I am sure that the colours of some of the opponents in the Megadrive version are different too, but I would have to check that this recollection is not just a little hazy.

Again, I am beginning to recall a lot of information and incidents of play from playing this game again. Computer games and other objects used within play seem to be able to act as a visual cue for memory recollection. A shift back to the child like play-mode not experienced for many years seems to occur instantly without thought or consideration. By playing Golden Axe I am recalling sets of movements (or combinations of buttons) that haven't been used for many years - I can remember the exact sets of opponents that appear after each battle as well as the best methods of defeating them (using the magic as more magic would be available soon for example). I still remember positions that could be situated that allowed the player to attack the opponent without being in reach of them - something that doesn't seem to work on the Megadrive version. These positions do not exist, something that I can only put down to the platform that the game is being played on. The combination of the visual stimuli and the soundtrack working together seem to bring these memories to the forefront of my consciousness immediately. I can occupy the position of the Golden Axe player immediately without practice or rule/play reading - the visual and audio stimuli allow for this occupation to take place.

Some of the points discussed here can be contextualised by viewing the following clip taken a few days ago: