Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Air Master Burst »

Bassa-Bassa wrote:Check Oriental Legend for the most complex. Time requirements will force you to do with with confidence special attacks which rival KOF's super special moves. Use your special moves only if you can keep the ki bar charged up. Lose your weapon and good luck with your new set of moves. There're like 30 different items to learn which you must keep and use with a real-time icon-based subsystem, an unparalleled number of bosses, many of them optional, unique enemies for every stage, hidden paths and weapons, five characters to master, hidden combination techniques for simultaneous play...

It may not be the most deep (I think something like Alien vs Predator's Kurosawa mode is deeper while not being as complex), but if you want to spend time and time learning new things with every play for a proper clear and don't mind some ugliness here and there, this is the game everybody skips just for these reasons. And then, you can try the subsequent titles from the company, they were the last people making these after all.
Everything about this sounds fantastic, although I'm not great at the more complex fighting game inputs so hopefully the specials aren't too hard to pull off in the heat of combat.

How do Knights of Valour and Gladiator compare to Oriental Legend? Should I try the original versions or the revisions of these games when the time comes?
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Well, OL's super special moves are not easy to pull off even if you're used to fighting games and use a proper controller, but they're overpowered, so it makes sense. The problem is that time constraints make of them almost vital for some bosses, which is one aspect where you can see the game needed better testing.

KOV and Gladiator are more refined games for sure, closer to Mystara's mechanics and art style, but I don't know them as well, mind. Revisions when talking IGS is a convoluted matter, as there're the ones which are just numbers in the boot screen and the ones which even change the game name and illustrations. There's a revision of OL which doesn't provide with extra lives and I ignored it for that reason, and never liked the idea of adding enemies as extra selectable characters, so I'd recommend to begin with the original ones. Seems the earliest KOV version which had some bugs isn't included here, anyway.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Air Master Burst »

Been rocking some King of Dragons arcade on the Capcom collection and it is WAY harder than I remember. I'm starting to think the machine I got my 1CC on back in the day wasn't set to max difficulty, because holy shit this game has a couple absolutely brutal bosses that I don't remember sucking this bad. Black Knight can die in a fucking fire; that nasty homing afterimage sprint has ended a good few runs. Great Dragonian is kind of a pain, too.

Compared to Final Fight this game is also kind of an unresponsive mess, but that's just part of the charm. It's also possible I'm handicapping myself by only using the elf and the wizard, but the melee characters all feel bad without combos and this game's input is just janky enough that the parry isn't reliable.

I'm not into this game enough to try for the max difficulty 1CC yet, but I'll get around to it at some point.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by velo »

Air Master Burst wrote:Been rocking some King of Dragons arcade on the Capcom collection and it is WAY harder than I remember. I'm starting to think the machine I got my 1CC on back in the day wasn't set to max difficulty, because holy shit this game has a couple absolutely brutal bosses that I don't remember sucking this bad. Black Knight can die in a fucking fire; that nasty homing afterimage sprint has ended a good few runs. Great Dragonian is kind of a pain, too.

Compared to Final Fight this game is also kind of an unresponsive mess, but that's just part of the charm. It's also possible I'm handicapping myself by only using the elf and the wizard, but the melee characters all feel bad without combos and this game's input is just janky enough that the parry isn't reliable.

I'm not into this game enough to try for the max difficulty 1CC yet, but I'll get around to it at some point.
I've been playing this myself, dialed down to normal. I think I could handle it if not for Black Knight/Royal Guard. I actually like the melee. Nobody's going to make a belt scroller without a combo system ever again, so might as well cherish it.

Some other news:

New Double Dragon on its way. Looks and sounds nothing like what I'd want, and it's a roguelite, which could be good but I bet it won't be. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967 ... e_Dragons/

Itadaki Smash has been out a few months, looks fairly old-school https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520 ... aki_Smash/

Skinny & Franko, apparently sequel to an Amiga game I never heard of. Demo definitely feels like Amiga-quality gameplay. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2114 ... _Violence/

Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon's Fist... single plane Spartan X clone. "Enjoy new music from legendary former Namco composer Norio Nakagata (Zombie Nation, Genpei Tōma Den), sound effects by Hirofumi Murasaki (Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Clockwork Knight), and character voices by Suika." Looks pretty good. https://www.nintendo.com/store/products ... st-switch/

Toxic Crusaders, of all things, getting a new game. Nice graphics. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2303 ... Crusaders/
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by velo »

...and to continue

Kung Fury made it to Switch. Very "retro". https://www.nintendo.com/store/products ... on-switch/

Jitsu Squad got a Switch port, maybe others, people seem to like it.. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1522080/Jitsu_Squad/

Mayhem Brawler just got another update with a new character and a boss rush. MB started out pretty good but the updates have done it a lot of favors imo.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Sir Ilpalazzo »

Air Master Burst wrote:Been rocking some King of Dragons arcade on the Capcom collection and it is WAY harder than I remember. I'm starting to think the machine I got my 1CC on back in the day wasn't set to max difficulty, because holy shit this game has a couple absolutely brutal bosses that I don't remember sucking this bad. Black Knight can die in a fucking fire; that nasty homing afterimage sprint has ended a good few runs. Great Dragonian is kind of a pain, too.

Compared to Final Fight this game is also kind of an unresponsive mess, but that's just part of the charm. It's also possible I'm handicapping myself by only using the elf and the wizard, but the melee characters all feel bad without combos and this game's input is just janky enough that the parry isn't reliable.

I'm not into this game enough to try for the max difficulty 1CC yet, but I'll get around to it at some point.
This is a month late, but I think the wizard (and elf, to a lesser degree) are a good deal easier to clear with than the melee characters. Their range is massively more valuable than the ability to block, and their slightly lower HP isn't meaningful.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Air Master Burst »

Sir Ilpalazzo wrote:[

This is a month late, but I think the wizard (and elf, to a lesser degree) are a good deal easier to clear with than the melee characters. Their range is massively more valuable than the ability to block, and their slightly lower HP isn't meaningful.
So this game kind of got to me and I've been plugging away at the max difficulty 1CC. Wizard definitely has an easier time with most bosses, but crowd control is much harder because neither of the ranged characters can hit more than one enemy at a time (and the wizard's relatively slow attack doesn't help either).

This game fucking slaps a lot harder than I ever gave it credit for since the machine I got my 1CC on back in the day was MAYBE cranked to half difficulty at best. I'm now convinced this thing was designed for max difficulty, because enemy placements are shockingly excellent, and the enemy damage is tuned perfectly to make the full-health score bonuses from food JUST out of reach if the wrong enemy hits you.

The lack of any dedicated crowd control actually makes this game tough as nails, but at no point do they ever quite send too much at you for an efficient player to reasonably handle. It's also shockingly fair outside of a couple bullshit hitboxes, with almost no unavoidable damage for a careful player(Black Knight can still get fucked tho). King of Dragons will absolutely make you better at z-axis footsies.

I was going to write a lot more about this later, and I still intend to. I have GREATLY increased my esteem for this game lately by playing it on max difficulty, and indeed I now believe it to be Capcom's finest unlicensed belt-scroller.
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Sima Tuna
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Sima Tuna »

Interesting. I wrote off King of Dragons because it doesn't cater to my brawling sensibilities. No sick combos? Bleah! :P

I look forward to reading about its secret top tier status.
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BloodHawk
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by BloodHawk »

Sima Tuna wrote:There's exactly one video on youtube about the collection. It's by tetsuo9999 who always does the community a service by repping these unknown games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y7GjajRF7k

The comments bring up one complaint that makes me a little unsure about paying money for the collection. That being, apparently the image is stretched and you can't revert it to original aspect ratio. Not a great look (lol) if true.

But yeah, I've always wanted to play these games and they look super cool. I'm still debating if I really want to spend the money. If the collection were $20 instead of $30 I'd have jumped on it for sure. No idea what the input latency is like. I assume it's going to have 1-2 frames of added input lag over emulation at least, since that's how the Switch works. Very few Switch arcade ports can retain the original input latency numbers. You pretty much need an M2 on the job for that.
I am a sucker for the arcade packs on Switch so I picked up the collection and gave it a try. Can confirm that the image is stretched to 16:9 and I couldn't find a way to get the original 4:3. UPDATE: as of version 1.0.8 they enabled 4:3

Couple other things that bothered me: There is a smoothing bi-linear like filter that you can't turn off (i want muh pixels!!!). It's not as noticeable in handheld mode but definitely stands out on a TV. Then something is definitely off with the sound emulation where the music sounds raspy.

The input lag isn't bad though. As you guessed it feels a frame or so behind over other emulation methods but it's not bad enough to impact gameplay.

I haven't tried online yet, but all of the games excluding Demon Front and The Gladiator show online functionality from the main menu.

Controls are customizable, but didn't notice any type of turbo or autofire options.

If you love these games I still recommend waiting for a sale.
Last edited by BloodHawk on Sun Jun 11, 2023 8:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

I don't think I posted about it here at the time, but a few months ago I 1cc'd Golden Axe (MD version). I can definitely say I've come around to this game and think it's a classic.

The moveset is well balanced and has deceptive depth. Dash attacks let you bypass footsies but in group fights their recovery is often far too high to toss out carelessly. Standard pokes are risky against stronger opponents but offer many options and breathing room if successful. The "turn around" attack is an excellent heavy-attack in disguise that offers great range and power in exchange for longer start-up. The different combo finishers let you choose raw damage or i-frames. Jump attacks also bypass footsies but require some setup. Most importantly the game could be said to have a little pseudo combo system in how the downstab works. Key to victory is following up knockdowns with the tremendously damaging super jump downstab. It feels great and it absolutely destroys enemies, but there's a fair amount of nuance to setting it up, requiring different spacing depending on what move you hit with and other circumstances.

I mentioned before that I greatly appreciate the length and pace of the game. It's very psikyo length, able to be cleared in 10-15 minutes at most. It feels very good to blaze through and it's got great variety...I've seen some people say it needs more enemy variety, but I think there's plenty. The small enemies are mostly the same, but the bad brothers, knights, beast riders, and skeletons are all very distinct in their movesets and the strategies you approach them with. Factor in riding mounts and the occasional ledge based battle, and the game manages to keep every stage distinct.

The enemy AI is also very characterful. It's one of the few beat em ups where you don't feel safe even when out of poke range, thanks to enemy dash attacks. Granted, once you learn the fairly static and easily manipulated AI this becomes less of a challenge, but the larger fights get hectic enough that keeping control of everything is difficult and lots of tricky situations arise.

I think the MD version feels more polished on a raw gameplay level. Yeah the backgrounds aren't as detailed and Death Adder doesn't form out of snakes, but the game is tighter and more challenging as a whole with more aggressive enemy waves and a final stage and final boss that caps things off with a satisfying final challenge on all fronts. Also Tyris wears a thong.

Anyway being sour on the game for a long time, I now consider the game a classic and one of the top beltscrollers out there.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Sima Tuna »

Nice. If you liked Golden Axe that much, I think you should definitely try Golden Axe 3. It adds an impressive amount of move variety to each character. Even enemies benefited from a glow-up to their game plans. Imagine my surprise when the first enemies in the game were able to neutral jump counter to my attacks like they were playing Street Fighter. :lol:
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Air Master Burst »

Golden Axe is pretty dope, although I still maintain Revenge of Death Adder is the best of the lot. 3 is pretty cool too, although I remember it having a couple really crappy levels.

I'd still take King of Dragons and D&D:SOM over Revenge of Death Adder but it's a pretty tight race. I feel that Capcom has better boss and level design, despite the far simpler controls.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by BrianC »

New DLC for TMNT Shredder's Revenge is coming with Miyamoto Usagi as a playable character (I hope they don't call him Usagi Yojimbo like the 80/90s cartoon). More info here
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Sima Tuna »

I have a ton of those Usagi books laying around in my house. I loved those when I was younger. They were like readable Kurosawa movies.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Sima Tuna wrote:Nice. If you liked Golden Axe that much, I think you should definitely try Golden Axe 3. It adds an impressive amount of move variety to each character. Even enemies benefited from a glow-up to their game plans. Imagine my surprise when the first enemies in the game were able to neutral jump counter to my attacks like they were playing Street Fighter. :lol:
Yeah I've played a bit of 3. It's definitely an interesting game considering it expands the mechanical/moveset suite into full on fighting game territory with the addition of blocking and specials. It hasn't quite clicked with me yet, since one of the problems with more complex beat em ups is sometimes you lose that simple intrusiveness and you're left not sure what you're doing wrong when you die or what meta you should be playing to, but it definitely seems like a very nice game and I enjoyed what I played.

Also gave Revenge of Death Adder another try. I remember when I first tried it I thought that it seemed really hard, but coming to it with an understanding of how to play the first game, it's much more intuitive. It does feel like the developers were aware of what the most fun elements of the original game was, as things like the downstab strategies have been more mechanically "canonized": in the first game there were no otg's so you'd have to time your down stab just as the enemy got up in order to make it undodgeable, but Death Adder gives the attack fighting game esque otg properties, complete with really meaty hitstop when you land on their chest.

Good shit. Also fabulous presentation that matches the first game.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch/PS4 List)

Post by BloodHawk »

BloodHawk wrote:
Sima Tuna wrote:There's exactly one video on youtube about the collection. It's by tetsuo9999 who always does the community a service by repping these unknown games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y7GjajRF7k

The comments bring up one complaint that makes me a little unsure about paying money for the collection. That being, apparently the image is stretched and you can't revert it to original aspect ratio. Not a great look (lol) if true.

But yeah, I've always wanted to play these games and they look super cool. I'm still debating if I really want to spend the money. If the collection were $20 instead of $30 I'd have jumped on it for sure. No idea what the input latency is like. I assume it's going to have 1-2 frames of added input lag over emulation at least, since that's how the Switch works. Very few Switch arcade ports can retain the original input latency numbers. You pretty much need an M2 on the job for that.
I am a sucker for the arcade packs on Switch so I picked up the collection and gave it a try. Can confirm that the image is stretched to 16:9 and I couldn't find a way to get the original 4:3.

Couple other things that bothered me: There is a smoothing bi-linear like filter that you can't turn off (i want muh pixels!!!). It's not as noticeable in handheld mode but definitely stands out on a TV. Then something is definitely off with the sound emulation where the music sounds raspy.

The input lag isn't bad though. As you guessed it feels a frame or so behind over other emulation methods but it's not bad enough to impact gameplay.

I haven't tried online yet, but all of the games excluding Demon Front and The Gladiator show online functionality from the main menu.

Controls are customizable, but didn't notice any type of turbo or autofire options.

Without the ability to go 4:3 and remove the smoothing filter I don't see myself playing it much. If you love these games I still recommend waiting for a sale.
For those who are still interested in the IGS arcade collection, they just released a patch enabling 4:3 ( v1.0.8 )

It still has the smoothing filter that you can't take off and the music still sounds like your speakers are blown, but having the original 4:3 helps a lot as that was my #1 complaint. I can actually see myself spending some time on these titles now.

EDIT: Since constantly updating a spreadsheet and exporting it to a Table was a pain, I updated the original post of the thread with by removing it and replacing it with a link to a list I created on Deku Deals:

List of Beat 'em Ups on Switch
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Is it just a case of me not hammering the button fast enough, or do bosses in Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder have combo breakers?

Seems like if you manage a hit on them, they'll just grab or bap you in the middle of your combo 90% of the time, and instead you're supposed to get single strikes on them till they enter a staggered state and can be full combo'd.

Weird design choice if so.
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BIL
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by BIL »

Offhand, that sounds very Double Dragon, where attempting full combos on bosses (and former bosses) will typically get you floored, but boxing 'em with Y-axis footwork will whittle them for dispatch.

Comboing by installments
Spoiler
Image


(this is assuming you're not just LOLbowing the entire game ;3 even if DD1 can resemble a Buster Keaton caper as much as a beater - not that there's anything wrong with that, Keaton was a god damn ninja - I find it surprisingly enjoyable if the Spanish Archer is reserved for breaking out of pincers and disarming enemies)

Crime Fighters, bless its busted, willfully-unlikeable, yet undeniably fiery soul, has a similar stick n' move arrangement with a few of its bosses, notable the third, who's seemingly-unassailable / gun-mandatory, but can be reliably baited into jab-punishable whiffs. As always with CF1, you have to chisel away a layer of needless jank, but there's a consistent game under there. The fourth boss even has a go-behind strat with some pretty intense chainsaw dodging.

I like this more movement-imperative approach, as long as there's a reward attached. Beats a flat-out "Nah you can't hit these dudes repeatedly ever" rubric, which can be overly-disempowering, without sacrificing the intimidation factor of a good brawler boss.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Interesting, I'll keep that in mind. I'm not as well versed in Double Dragon, but it does seem like Death Adder's Revenge you have the freedom to poke and strike bosses whenever you've played the footsies right.
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Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Lander »

I witnessed Tecmo Knight (i.e. Wild Fang) for the first time today.
Good lord. I was expecting something fairly traditional from a <Company> <Genre> title, certainly not opulent kaiju-riding head-ripping carnage with no design reservations to speak of and KONG!

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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Sumez »

Been curious about Tecmo Knight for ages just by merit of how absolutely bonkers it is.

Question is - is it actually a good game?
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by BIL »

Sumez wrote:Been curious about Tecmo Knight for ages just by merit of how absolutely bonkers it is.

Question is - is it actually a good game?
Hell yeah Image Maybe a great one - even without considering the janky wonts of pre-FF beltscrolling (compare Wild Fang to lovable but fundamentally busted Crime Fighters and Datsugoku). Packs the fine-brushed mechanics you'd expect of Tecmo; the tag system and its i-frames bring wicked audacity, letting you combo to the brink of retaliation in the heart of the scrum, only to escape and unleash further ruination. So you thought you were gonna outrange the unbeatably-monikered SMOKEMAN, Oni-san? Joke's on you bitch! WEEMAN is lashing you into your grave astride THE TIGER TONY! Pls excuse while Tony eats your three homies' faces off, omnomnom Image

No surprise that tags are a precious resource, much more akin to BOMBAS. And just like the [GRIP] button antics of its forerunner Ninja Gaiden, the chainable headcrusher/throatcutter attacks nail a balance of brutal power and vaulting mobility; artfully demolishing crowds with superhuman joie de vivre. It also inherited NG's crisply accurate touch-of-death ethos; more boxer than brawler. You can't afford to soak up random jabs while closing in on foes; they hurt, and can lead to vicious rallies, escapable only via bombing / 2P support. Happily, and crucially, enemies are in exactly the same boat; nail a filthy beastfucker square, and they'll be the ones needing backup (many have deliberately helpful, almost Soulsy windups, just begging for an astute counter-shot).

Altogether occupies a tripartite sweet spot of agile footwork, crafty i-frame tricks, and unbridled bludgeoning. Also very cool, ofc. :cool: 80s Beltscroller Orthodoxy: enemies blink to let you know they're dead. WILD FANG: Enemies get their heads punched/torn/blasted off as their bodies collapse in Hokutastic goresplosions. Also, chase down those errant skulls for points n' prizes! Image The formidably macabre Splatterhouse naturally commands attention as 2023's ultraviolent ACA debut, but in terms of body-shredding carnage, even it pales next to this rollicking bath of blood.

Image

He spilled SMOKEMAN's pint, so SMOKEMAN spilled his brains! I am ineffably pleased that big yin, while a generic purple demon thingy on the title screen, is merely a giant-sized 80s Action Badass™, in-game! :cool: Huge Guts demand Huge Mitts!
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Lander »

Hokutastic is exactly the vibe I was getting after seeing giant dudes advance unperturbed by their own violently gouting domes :mrgreen:

Some impressive interactions, I thought - particularly the jumping grabs that see Smokeman hopping between extra-giant bosses for invulnerable chain head-pounding, or Tiger doing that wild spinning neck lathe move. I'd take a crocodile transformation for even more spin2win in a prospective sequel.

And it's a bit of fun that they pull a Billiam And Lancelot during the intro;

We shall assault with aggression. Zounds!

Image

...Only to upstage our swole heroes immediately with giant battle :) sorry lads, pixel budget's on a squeeze!
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

BIL wrote:(many have deliberately helpful, almost Soulsy windups, just begging for an astute counter-shot).
I really like these outliers to the final fight formula where enemy attacks are telegraphed instead of instant. Puts more of an emphasis on reactive sidestepping rather than patient footsies range manipulation, which is very fun.

Only thing about Tecmo Knight, is it just me or something wrong with the rom I got, or does the game have the "only one hit per enemy" rule on hitboxes. Feels very much like a buzzkill when enemies are largely unassailable if grouped up, but I'm half tempted to wonder if this is some sort of bug in a bad version of the game.
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by BIL »

Lander wrote:And it's a bit of fun that they pull a Billiam And Lancelot during the intro;

We shall assault with aggression. Zounds!
RedBro of House 2P is twisting in righteous anger, raising his blade to the heavens! Rrraaaa! :shock: Mildly startling to see the bros mugging in full flexing glory at the intermission screen, after a hard round of beasting. :mrgreen: My OFFICIAL headcanon: the conspicuously Rygaresque view of rolling green in st1 isn't just for show; this is Argus, beset by beastmen as ever, and SMOKEMAN is the guardian deity seen in the earlier game's interstitial temples. Image Argus no Senshi II: Argus Mokushiroku Image Would explain the big bugger's fondness for fatal acrobatics! Also explains the presence of TIGER TONY, who lent his head-stomping power to Rygar's nameless avatar, but evidently decided it's time to bust out the ol' TEEFS!
Squire Grooktook wrote:
BIL wrote:(many have deliberately helpful, almost Soulsy windups, just begging for an astute counter-shot).
I really like these outliers to the final fight formula where enemy attacks are telegraphed instead of instant. Puts more of an emphasis on reactive sidestepping rather than patient footsies range manipulation, which is very fun.
Indeed - very organic, and thrilling! Tecmo's telegraphing really does evoke Bloodborne's crowd rucks; lots of hearty windups and war cries to work with. Instead of a binary hot/cold scenario - you're either on target, or fatally off - you're encouraged to battle on the razorline between crushing victory and scuttling defeat.

Smokeman? THAT BOY AINT SCARED A NOTHIN
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Only thing about Tecmo Knight, is it just me or something wrong with the rom I got, or does the game have the "only one hit per enemy" rule on hitboxes.
Working as intended, it's Son of Ninja Gaiden feat. Kong :cool: Not an approach I'm fond of, generally - very annoying in action/platformers like ShatterBrain, where a charging zako will provide cover for his bro, your fist haplessly neutralised by his face. But I like Tecmo's mighty counterbalance: your jab is good for one face only, but the target will be utterly disabled, to an extent far beyond other brawlers. Unleash all hell on their gibbering mug? Or make a crafty escape? Or BOMBA through their would-be saviour's backstab, killing the stricken before punishing his aid? A single well-placed shot, a whole constellation of SENJUTSU Image

The hitstun is so strong, you technically can bludgeon your way through packs of enemies - striking oncomers during their windups, their socked comrades reeling uselessly.

Look at me! I AM THE BEAST NOW Image
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Of course, this denies the big rallies you'd get on an isolated target; it's also dangerous, with unlucky hits liable to slip through. Tecmo clearly catered for stick n' move; damage done on the run, combos attempted at deadly risk. In another crucial tweak, jabs add up; doing real, lasting damage, and knocking down in aggregate, freeing up time for authoritatively fatal beatdowns. Very different from Kishimoto et al, whose jabs (from player and enemy alike) are strictly overture, useless without followup:

CITY SLUM.WAV Image
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SOCK THE BRAIN.MP3 Image
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Similar to NG's katana, Wild Fang uses its time-limited POW as a pressure-relief valve; scads of unsightly beasts asploding and de-bonced via GODLAZ0R :cool: Regarding big combos, something I really like is your attack string auto-positioning enemies for a prompt headcrusher finish. SMOKEMAN's jab will shunt the bastards into place promptly, while WEEMAN takes a couple lashes; once they're in place, just hit [jump] and commence removal of offending cranium. Note also the direction select on your dismounting vault! Exactly the careful attention I've come to expect from Tecmo's AC division, a canon I've only just become acquainted with over the last few years.
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Klatrymadon
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Klatrymadon »

Get in!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2288 ... _Warriors/

(Still not keen on that name change, tbh - it's completely out of sync with the game's pessimistic "a plague on both their houses" outlook.)
Last edited by Klatrymadon on Tue Jul 11, 2023 1:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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BIL
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

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Beautiful. :cool: Mo Mad Murder Machines for everybody. Image
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Sima Tuna
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Sima Tuna »

Hopefully more people will discover this amazing game now.
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BurlyHeart
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by BurlyHeart »

TNWOA is the main reason I re-bought my PS4! Great game and top 3 modern beat em up imo. Gorgeous sprite work, fantastic OST, and an excellent diversity in the playable cast. You really do feel like a murder machine out there.

I not a fan of trying to speedrun games (love watching), but this is one game I would consider giving it a go. Very tightly made.

Considering selling my PS4 now and getting this on Steam, but I think I've gone too far down the Arcade Archives rabbit hole to turn back :lol:
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

BIL wrote:Working as intended, it's Son of Ninja Gaiden feat. Kong :cool:
Thanks for all the info and tips BIL! This game is some of the most enjoyment I've had with a new arcade game discovery since...discovering S.A.R, I think! Might go for a clear on this one.
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
Aeon Zenith - My STG.
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