Way I figure, since Nintendo has various flagship franchises other than Super Mario, Sega should of established some flagship franchises to compete with those Nintendo franchises.
I don't think Golden Axe should of matched wits with Zelda given Zelda is more high-fantasy and Golden Axe is more hyborian, but I can imagine Alex Kidd being the counter to Zelda.
There is one franchise that was supposed to be the counter to Zelda : Story of Thor / Oasis series.
The franchise was labelled as being part of the
Mega RPG Project.
Sadly it only got three games, one for Mega Drive, the sequel for Saturn, and one spin-off for Game Gear.