The Legendary Axe

When the PC Engine arrived in 1988 it needed games that would show the difference against eight-bit rivals within seconds. The Legendary Axe did exactly that: an action platformer with large, detailed sprites and smooth scrolling that immediately looked like it was running on different hardware from a NES. Development is credited here to Victor Interactive Software, with NEC publishing.

The hero carries an axe, and one mechanic built around it defines the whole experience: a power meter for the swing. The weapon only reaches full strength when the meter has refilled, so hammering the button produces feeble hits and a quick death. That gives combat a rhythm unlike most platformers of the period, where you attacked as fast as your thumb allowed. The route runs through jungle, caves and stone structures, difficulty climbs steadily, and the game expects you to memorise enemy placement rather than improvise your way through.

During the Western life of the TurboGrafx-16 this was one of the first titles reviewers repeatedly held up as proof of what the console could do. What stands out today is how cleanly it is designed: no padding, clear rules, an honest difficulty curve. The demands on jump precision and attack timing are high but never arbitrary, and the short length works in its favour. On OldGame.cz you can launch it straight in the browser, so there is no PC Engine emulator to configure and no HuCard image to track down. It is a single-player game.