Golden Axe

Golden Axe is remade by Sega for the PS2 using polygonal graphics. Originally developed by Makoto Uchida (now at Wow Entertainment, director of Dynamite Cop and Wing War and producer of Alien Front Online) for the System 16 arcade board, Golden Axe brought a fantasy setting and three selectable characters to the beat-em-up arcade craze. Uchida originally wanted to make a theme similar to Dragon Quest, but seeing as how the higher ups at Sega didn't quite see the charm in that, Uchida and his team ended up making Golden Axe, thinking that selectable characters and flashy magic spells would make for a success. The game did end up becoming one of Sega's big franchises early on and spawned multiple arcade sequels as well as sequels in the home.