I never thought I'd ever have the occasion to mention this, but Golden Axe's artwork is due to Dermot Power: https://www.mobygames.com/game/199/golden-axe/promo/group-28...

I wonder if he was influenced by Vallejo.

https://dermotpower.com/

Well, the Golden Axe II cover was actually by Vallejo. The article links to his known game covers: https://vgdensetsu.net/2_BorisVallejo.html

The origin of the whole style seems to have been Frank Frazetta doing illustrations for pulp serials of Conan and John Carter of Mars, then book covers for Conan, then Gygax reads a whole load of pulp novels including Conan and builds a game system to play the adventures of those novels. Vallejo also did Conan art, and it seems his first book cover was for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Barbarian

There is a "Borisography" online if you want to explore his work.

The 80s had a different approach to nudity and body shapes. It fit in with the zeitgeist.

The 70's certainly did. The 80's is when everything started to get covered up.

As to why? I think you'll find Sir Mix-a-lot has some answers for you.

I was born in the mid 80s so I don't get this reference - what do you mean?

(I was struck by how erotic the works in the original article were. They would nearly all be censored out of any big name AI today... Which seems kind of a pity)