SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics: Level Select, Secret Message, Sega Licence Screen, Good Ending Guide

At the character select screen choose your character with A button A button A button A button Start button C button C button C button C button. In a two player game the second player must enter it.

The code must be entered before the screen changes to the first stage. If done correctly you arrive at a blank screen with a number 1. Use up and down to reach the stage number you want:

1 : The Vast Field
2A : Ancient Mound
2B : Tender Hamlet
3A : Dim Jungle
3B : Cave of Crystal
4A : The Scorching Sand
4B : Bloody Street
5A : Death Mountain
5B : A Voyage To Castle
6A : Ride The Whirlwind
6B : Cursed City
7 : The Gate of Fate
8 : The Castle

To view the secret message, go to the title screen and enter the following code:
Up, C, Up, C, Up, C, C, C, B, A, Left, Down.

In the options press Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, C, A, B, C, A, B, C, A, B, C, A, B, C. (UDLR 5 times then ABC 5 times).

Golden Axe III features a secret formula for determining whether you get the good ending or bad ending. To achieve the good ending you must recover the Golden Axe. How? The game features two versions of the final boss; you’ll encounter the first form regardless of what you do as long as you make it to the end of the last level. If you defeat the first form, you’ll return from the castle and either 1) teleport back to the final boss room to fight the second from of the final boss; defeat him and you’ll collect the Golden Axe or 2) the game ends and some scrolling text tells you that peace has not returned to the land because you did not recover the Golden Axe.

There are 2 factors involved in determining whether you fight the second form of the final boss and a chance to get the good ending:

The number of continues remaining after defeating the first form of the final boss (you start the game with 4 continues)

The number of possessed main characters defeated during your playthrough.

The formula works like this: if A + B is greater than or equal to 4, you get to fight the second form of the final boss.

So for example if you take the top path at every branch point in the game you won’t save any heroes; in this case B is 0, so you’d need all 4 continues when defeating the first form of the final boss to see the second form. However if you take the lower path at every branch point in the game you’d save all 3 main characters, and therefore B = 3; so in this case, if you have have 1 or more continues when defeating the final boss’s first form (if A is greater than or equal to 1) you’d fight the second form.

Put another way, you’re given 4 continues when you start the game. For every possessed main character you defeat along your path, you’re able to lose one of those 4 continues when you defeat the first form of the final boss and still get to fight the second form.