Golden Axe/Stage 1

Note that the home versions' Beginner Mode has some differences. This walkthrough is intended to help a single player through the game; playing with a friend will make the game much easier, although magic pots will be more scarce. This first stage is very straightforward. You'll see a short cutscene of Alex's death (or, in home versions other than the Amiga, your character will explain that Alex was killed).
 * 1) The damage done by your attacks is doubled.
 * 2) All levels of magic only ever use two pots.
 * 3) There are no maps or bonus stages, and the game ends at ../Stage 3/.
 * 4) The boss of ../Stage 3/ is Death Adder Jr. rather than Lt. Bitter.

This walkthrough is for the home versions based on the sega genesis version (most). Enemy placement in the arcade is NOT the same, and the arcade enemies have more attacks. Examples follow.

1) At the beginning of stage 3 on the arcade, a red dragon is available. This should be used as much as possible, as it easily handles everything else in the level, including the Silver Knight at the end, who is otherwise a challenge.

2) The hammer wielding giants can toss you up in the air if you try to cross over them on the ground, unless you are riding a Bizzarian. All other large enemies EXCEPT death Adder himself can do something like this. This makes a combination of magic and tail attacks the best way to beat the first level, because while on the Chicken Leg they can't toss you, making it easy to get into position for tail swipes.

3) the jump and slash technique is by far the most effective attack on the arcade. However some smaller enemies can do this to you too when you are riding a beast to knock you off. This is more of a problem when using a chicken leg than a dragon, because the dragons have great range and the enemies are too stupid to not just run into the breath every time, except of course for those pesky skeletons, who will high jump and down thrust for major damage.

4) the large knights are much smarter on the arcade and will not let you dash attack them repeatedly. Try in and they will slash you with their swords. (On the home version only axe battler has trouble with dash attacking them) A much better plan is to save a dragon of some sort to deal with them. They also have  a shield bash attack. to deal with the red ones on stage 5, hold onto the blue dragon, they will happily walk into the firebreath which has a slightly longer range than their sword.

5) magic attacks seem more powerful in the arcade to me.

6) most glitches related to endless slicing do not exist on the arcade. However, the sword wirlders can take advantage of the terrain on the finds path in a few spots on the arcade.

Soon after that a Dark Green Heninger and Dark Green Longmoan appear onscreen. These are the weakest of enemies, you can take them out with even the most basic attacks. They are quickly followed by a Purple Heninger and a Purple Longmoan. Get rid of them and hit the Blue Thief twice until he drops his magic pots (walk into them to collect them).

Next you'll see a Dark Green Heninger and a Storchinaya riding a Chicken-Leg. Mounted enemies are more trouble than ones on foot, so knock her off and take the beast for yourself. Note that it cannot do jump-attacks or special attacks. Then use it to kill them. Jump up onto the rock platform (this is important) and continue on your way. Soon two Blue Thieves will appear. Get the pot from the top thief, then get two more from the bottom one. Just past this area you'll meet a Dark Green Heninger and a Dark Green Longmoan. Use whatever attacks you like on them. Up next is your first boss battle.

There are two Light Green Heningers immediately challenging you, one on a Chicken Leg, and two giants with hammers at the far end. They won't attack just yet, so focus on the weaker enemies. Knock the Heninger off his Chicken Leg. If you've still got the one from earlier in the level you can use the second one to attract the enemies and then kill them. After this the Bad Brothers will decide to attack. Simply use your magic to weaken them, and then use fast attacks to take them down (the Chicken Leg's dash attack really helps here). Be careful not to stand over them when they are getting up as they sometimes use an attack as soon as they get up. They will occasionally use ramming attacks, but on the whole they are slower and focus on brute force. They also cannot ride the Chicken Leg, leaving you with one less annoyance if you're knocked off it. Once both are dead you've finished the first level.

Bonus Stage
A Blue Thief will appear and take two of your magic pots. Get them back as well as two more. You'll notice you've lost your Bizarrian (if you kept it to the end); Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder was the only game in the series to allow you to keep the same Bizarrian between levels.

Map
The map now shows your progress towards Death Adder's castle. You're told that Turtle Village is a shortcut, so that's your next destination.