Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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A playthrough of NEC's 1990 action-platformer for the TurboGrafx-16, The Legendary Axe II.

The Legendary Axe II is posed as the direct sequel to youtu.be/ktlD0GymN3o, a well received Aicom title that was released alongside the TurboGrafx-16 in late 1989.

I say posed, because beyond the title and shared genre, there's little to suggest that they're related. The Legendary Axe II was created by Red (the team behind Bonk, Tengai Makyou, and Gate/Lords of Thunder), who took things in a very different direction.

This time around, the king and queen of the "Ancient Kingdom" have died, and a contest was held to determine which of their sons would assume their father's role. In a fit of greed, Prince Zack offered himself to the dark side in exchange for the power to defeat his brother, Prince Sirius. Life in the Ancient Kingdom sucks under Zack's rule, stirring Sirius to action. As Prince Sirius, it's your job to defeat your brother, crush his puppeteer, and save your lands from the encroaching darkness.

The tone is far more somber and grim than it was in the first game. The lush jungles and bright blue skies have given way to claustrophobic spaces rendered in oppressively dark and dreary color schemes. Instead of fighting wild animals, giant spiders, and spear-chucking tribesmen like before, you now get to hack away at zombies, skeletal dragons, giant clawed robots, and some gross abominations that serve as bosses.

The gameplay has also changed a fair amount. The charging power gauge is gone, and while the game is called "The Legendary Axe II," Sirius can swap between three primary weapons (a sickle and chain, a sword, and axe), and the axe's limited range makes it the least useful of the bunch.

It bears little resemblance to the first game, but The Legendary Axe II is arguably as good as its predecessor. The controls feel better, the back half of the adventure isn't dominated by an endless maze, and the moody soundtrack and horror-tinged visuals together create an incredibly tense atmosphere. If you enjoy a good hack-and-slash platformer, I'd recommend giving this oft-forgotten gem a close look.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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