Complete Golden Axe Remake 1.5

[Millia Sharihen]

1) Balance feedback - exploit damage:
By interrupting basic attack combos before they finish and repeating, you can keep enemies stunlocked indefinitely. This allowed me to clear the entire game without healing or losing lives - feels like an unintended mechanic.
Suggestion: add a counterattack from the enemy after repeated hits to prevent infinite stunlocking.

2) Boss combo issue:
Playable bosses currently have full combo strings, dealing massive damage. In the original GA series, bosses typically knocked enemies down with a single hit rather than chaining combos. This would be more balanced and true to the source material.

Thoughts? Worth fixing these two?

In my opinion.

1) I think it depends on how many hits we're talking about for stun-locking. I've seen mods where if you hit them like 3 times in a row they counter-attack which is just annoying. I'd probably clock it at 6 to 8 hits or something. I think it's fine for cannon fodder since it's been a part of Beat-em ups for so long, but bosses should probably have something to prevent extended stun-locking, otherwise they lose all their challenge. Think it's a good idea, though.

2) Boss Combo Issue: If you reduce the damage on the combos I think that could work. Variety in enemies, especially bosses is nice so I'd lower the combo damage, at least on a base difficulty.

 

[shirakani]

1) Balance feedback - exploit damage:
By interrupting basic attack combos before they finish and repeating, you can keep enemies stunlocked indefinitely. This allowed me to clear the entire game without healing or losing lives - feels like an unintended mechanic.
Suggestion: add a counterattack from the enemy after repeated hits to prevent infinite stunlocking.

2) Boss combo issue:
Playable bosses currently have full combo strings, dealing massive damage. In the original GA series, bosses typically knocked enemies down with a single hit rather than chaining combos. This would be more balanced and true to the source material.

Thoughts? Worth fixing these two?

For #1, that can be done but will require editing every enemy to have a breakout counter. Something that can be looked at for ver 1.6.

For #2, playable enemies and bosses have not yet undergone rebalancing and polish like the core cast. The focus of ver 1.5 was to get the core cast into a polished state as well as fix major level bugs. Basically, 1.5 should feel like a much MUCH more polished experience compared to 1.4. It's been so long that I actually hope ppl will revisit 1.4, then compare it to 1.5 just so you can clearly see how much has changed between the versions.

Ver 1.6 will focus on fully integrating GA2/GA2Arc/GA3 levels as well as redoing/rebalancing and polishing playable enemies/bosses. I did mention that bosses do not necessarily need to have combos like the core cast or playable mobs. They are bosses, and should play uniquely... that will be what I will try to achieve when polishing them for 1.6.

 

[kimono]

1) Yes, the stunlock (hit, pause, hit again) has been a staple of beat 'em ups since time immemorial.
In OpenBor, for example, there's an

escapehits

command that triggers an enemy reaction after a certain number of hits.
(escapehits 6 for your information for the bosses).
This is often configured as an unstoppable counter-attack, but one can also imagine a dodge in a given direction or anything else.

2) Yes, the playable bosses can be rebalanced.
I'll provide the values for their health and damage output so we can determine the best settings for them.

 

[shirakani]

1) Yes, the stunlock (hit, pause, hit again) has been a staple of beat 'em ups since time immemorial.
In OpenBor, for example, there's an

escapehits

command that triggers an enemy reaction after a certain number of hits.
(escapehits 6 for your information for the bosses).
This is often configured as an unstoppable counter-attack, but one can also imagine a dodge in a given direction or anything else.

2) Yes, the playable bosses can be rebalanced.
I'll provide the values for their health and damage output so we can determine the best settings for them.

Say, on the topic of escapehits... Is there a counter variable that can make an attack UNescapable? Remember during our testing phase, we ran into some problems with mobs breaking out of multi-hit special moves. If we want to keep some of these, we need to make them unbreakable/unescapable. Otherwise, I'll be forced to redesign all the multi hit moves which will be a shame to lose...

 

[DCurrent]

Say, on the topic of escapehits... Is there a counter variable that can make an attack UNescapable? Remember during our testing phase, we ran into some problems with mobs breaking out of multi-hit special moves. If we want to keep some of these, we need to make them unbreakable/unescapable. Otherwise, I'll be forced to redesign all the multi hit moves which will be a shame to lose...

If you just use escapehits raw, there's no way to prevent it from breaking multi-hit attacks. You'll need to mix it in with other solutions. One is simply using script to trigger your escapes instead. Another is make sure enemy escape move has a cost, and then add short duration seal effect to the multi-hit attacks.

Or just don't use enemy specials to break away - that's honestly kind of lazy anyway. You could instead just give moves pushback or set the native combo sequence/delay so players characters always use their knockdown moves as intended.

There are dozens of ways to prevent player stunlock cheating that are more organic. Don't get too hung up on escapehits as a plug and play solution.

DC

 

[shirakani]

If you just use escapehits raw, there's no way to prevent it from breaking multi-hit attacks. You'll need to mix it in with other solutions. One is simply using script to trigger your escapes instead. Another is make sure enemy escape move has a cost, and then add short duration seal effect to the multi-hit attacks.

Or just don't use enemy specials to break away - that's honestly kind of lazy anyway. You could instead just give moves pushback or set the native combo sequence/delay so players characters always use their knockdown moves as intended.

There are dozens of ways to prevent player stunlock cheating that are more organic. Don't get too hung up on escapehits as a plug and play solution.

DC

I did try the 'stun' parameter. It was my first thought... except using that parameter stopped the mob from entering the correct hit pain anim ie kneeling for head knocks or similar. 2nd issue was any stunned mob automatically got knocked down...

But hmmmm, alllllllll that being said, added pushback was the one thing I didn't think about... or also fiddling with the combo delay. That would probably be easiest ie modifying the combo delay so that the delay tolerance for the next move is longer than the hitstun of the mob... that way you can't cheese combo resets.

Thanks for the info DC, I will try this!

 

[DCurrent]

I did try the 'stun' parameter. It was my first thought... except using that parameter stopped the mob from entering the correct hit pain anim ie kneeling for head knocks or similar. 2nd issue was any stunned mob automatically got knocked down...

Stun was a typo on my part. I meant seal. That's an entirely different thing. It prevents specials that require X amount of energy for a given amount time. So you can use it to briefly disable enemy specialing out, assuming you give their specials cost. Also keep in mind, enemies follow the same rules players do. They have to pay energy cost to perform moves. Theirs just happens to default at 0.

DC

 

[kimono]

Public version 1.5 is finally here!

- 32 playable characters (instead of 3 in 1.4)
- New Skeleton select (with blood + stage 0 WIP) Eagle Stage, a bonus stage between the Castle and the Extended Level (a remastered Genesis Showdown level)
- An in-game NPC menu
- Plenty of new attacks like a stab (mid-range attack), special down, forward, attack, and up/down attack attacks
- Defensive moves: a dodge (double tap up or down), holding the back button on Pain for a small backward jump, holding the forward button for a charge to escape an attack
- An auto-regen by not touching any commands for a certain period of time

Thank you to everyone who helped make this new version amazing, you guys are the best
As a teaser, here's Greness accompanied by Lizardman (an allied NPC) in action:

Resource icon

Golden Axe Remake 1.5

Feb 22, 2026

Golden Axe

• kimono
• Games

 

[Nevinchik]

Congrats on the release, everyone! Really grateful to have been part of this journey. This is literally the Golden Axe game I dreamed of playing as a kid. Thank you!

 

[shirakani]

Congrats on the release, everyone! Really grateful to have been part of this journey. This is literally the Golden Axe game I dreamed of playing as a kid. Thank you!

We're only halfway there. It'll finally be the true Golden Axe game when all 4 games have been integrated and everything is highly polished.

For now though, enjoy the midway point.

 

[kimono]

Stun was a typo on my part. I meant seal. That's an entirely different thing. It prevents specials that require X amount of energy for a given amount time. So you can use it to briefly disable enemy specialing out, assuming you give their specials cost. Also keep in mind, enemies follow the same rules players do. They have to pay energy cost to perform moves. Theirs just happens to default at 0.

DC

Thanks DC for your wise advice. Your understanding of the engine far surpasses mine.
Even after years of using Openbor, I still feel like a novice and have so much to learn...

@LetsPG : I hope the game lives up to your expectations. Thank you for retrieving key resources from the memories of these old games and for the suggested palettes
@shirakani: Thank you for your help setting up so many characters; it really helped me progress to this update.

Now that the game is at version 4.0 with four players able to join, some groundwork has been laid for the next steps.

Here's what's planned for version 1.6:
1) Integrate the remaining GA2 and GA3 characters, namely Dark Guld, Damned Hellstrike and clubman (from GA3 and yes, we almost forgot this little guy).
2) Many characters from RODA will also be present, such as Reaper (the armored skeleton boss), Bandit Chief, Dora, and some enemies to encounter on the battlefield.
3) Bonus characters like Centurion (Altered Beast), Alisia Dragoon and other surprises that I will reveal to you as we go along, will strengthen the ranks of the enemies.
4) Complete route GA2 (of which you have already seen the first 3 levels) and GA3, which will be recoloured and extended in places if necessary.
5) A Duel mode of 20 fights (interspersed with a return to the cell to regain 10% of life) where the player will be evaluated on their performance.
6) Many enemies (and heroes, for those who lack a walkup for example) present in 1.5 will also gradually receive new moves to diversify their range of attacks.

Once these six points are completed, a new version will be released, which I think will arrive much faster than the transition from 1.4 to 1.5.
Thank you for your continued support during development; it helps me a lot, both emotionally and physically.

 

[stonegolem]

I was waiting for an update and for some new content. Thank you.

 

[Nevinchik]

Thanks DC for your wise advice. Your understanding of the engine far surpasses mine.
Even after years of using Openbor, I still feel like a novice and have so much to learn...

@LetsPG : I hope the game lives up to your expectations. Thank you for retrieving key resources from the memories of these old games and for the suggested palettes
@shirakani: Thank you for your help setting up so many characters; it really helped me progress to this update.

Now that the game is at version 4.0 with four players able to join, some groundwork has been laid for the next steps.

Here's what's planned for version 1.6:
1) Integrate the remaining GA2 and GA3 characters, namely Dark Guld, Damned Hellstrike and clubman (from GA3 and yes, we almost forgot this little guy).
2) Many characters from RODA will also be present, such as Reaper (the armored skeleton boss), Bandit Chief, Dora, and some enemies to encounter on the battlefield.
3) Bonus characters like Centurion (Altered Beast), Alisia Dragoon and other surprises that I will reveal to you as we go along, will strengthen the ranks of the enemies.
4) Complete route GA2 (of which you have already seen the first 3 levels) and GA3, which will be recoloured and extended in places if necessary.
5) A Duel mode of 20 fights (interspersed with a return to the cell to regain 10% of life) where the player will be evaluated on their performance.
6) Many enemies (and heroes, for those who lack a walkup for example) present in 1.5 will also gradually receive new moves to diversify their range of attacks.

Once these six points are completed, a new version will be released, which I think will arrive much faster than the transition from 1.4 to 1.5.
Thank you for your continued support during development; it helps me a lot, both emotionally and physically.

Will both versions of the boss Hellstrike be available? The non-true Hellstrike is slower than the true form and deals less damage. He also has no magic, but instead has two protective purple knights (you could give him a magic that summons purple knights temporarily, like Mr. X from Sor X OpenBOR).

 

[Nevinchik]

One more question - are there any plans to add palette selection for friendly NPCs in the near future? I think it would really spice up the visual variety!

 

[shirakani]

Will both versions of the boss Hellstrike be available? The non-true Hellstrike is slower than the true form and deals less damage. He also has no magic, but instead has two protective purple knights (you could give him a magic that summons purple knights temporarily, like Mr. X from Sor X OpenBOR).

The summon bit will need a custom script so it won't be easy.
If you ask me, we could still improve current boss Death Adder and Death Bringer... Especially Bringer. He's supposed to be able to use magic like the player, and his ground shock wave needs homing properties. He's incomplete the way he is now, not to mention too easy to beat.

 

[Bloodbane]

What should the cost be though? The player's lives?

Hmmm... part of health should be good.

 

[shirakani]

Hmmm... part of health should be good.

As the NPC's are very powerful, maybe a scaling cost? Like say, first NPC = costs health, say 25%. If you call another one, it takes 50%... Call a 3rd one, takes 1 life. Call 4th, takes 2 lives.

That way you have to really budget and decide whether or not to have ALL your power on screen at once, or only some of it.

 

[kimono]

@Kratus implemented something that seems quite clever to me: summoning an allied NPC costs a life,
which prevents abuse of the mechanic and attempts to keep the allied NPC alive.
It can also be set to respawn at the start of each level by default, preventing it from being resurrected repeatedly.

 

[shirakani]

I'd prefer the life cost TBH. It also makes sense ie you are bringing to life another person... you have to pay with life.

 

[kimono]

It's worth considering, as there's a regeneration mechanism that allows you to regain health when there are no more enemies.
This health cost could then be implemented in version 1.6.

To answer @LetsPG , alternative palettes for NPCs are not a priority and will likely be integrated much later.