Agreed, I played a bit of the third one and didn't like it at all.

I'm glad that Sega America didn't waste it's time bringing it out here. Yeah, once CD-ROMs were introduced and "CD Quality" sound was the norm. It all kind of became a bit generic. It mostly lacked the heart of the old 8/16-bit chiptunes of the era. With certain exceptions like you said though.
I don't know if you knew this, but Sega remade a bunch of their older games on the PS2 in Japan. With improved visuals and remixed music even. One the remakes was the original Golden Axe. The remixed music they made is actually pretty good as well.