S2RPS - Beat 'Em Up 911

[BIL]

The boss is also a really cool design, although he wasn't nearly aggressive enough. He's a rogue military lookin dude with a giant grenade launcher in one hand and a DEAD BODY he drags around in the other.

Ah, the dead - evergreen accoutrements for any aspiring baddie.

[it290]

I've been getting a bit into Night Slashers recently, having never dipped my toes before. I'm so-so on the mechanics so far (the hitbox on the kick-enemies-in-the-ground thing is fiddly at best and the knife enemies are pretty obnoxious + the whole thing seems to rely on using bomb stock at the right time shmup style, but I'm loving the breezy length and how forgiving the bosses generally are. Mostly, I just love the theme—why didn't we get more horror themed beat 'em ups? Some indie dev needs to jump on this. It's almost everything I wanted Zombie Revenge to be (although, damnit, I can't help but love that game too).

[Randorama]

Sir IlPalazzo: thanks a lot! My Julius, Sledge and Red Freddy require now more practice, but I believe that sooner or later I will be able to consistently clear them without dropping lives. For Geld...I need more practice, and stocking up 1-2 lives may ultimately suffice for the 1-CC. I had to switch to Boris first, as I never bothered to try him out. Clearly the easy choice, indeed.

A general observation is that stages are generally easy if one plays them at speed and is very careful about the bottleneck passages (e.g. stage 4 has a section with two Spike guys and a super-fat/Lollipop guy). However, I am playing the Japanese version, which includes extends (500k, then one every 1M), and steeper increasing rank. From stage 4 onwards, enemies can be very fast and aggressive, so getting totalled because enemies will combo you to death becomes a possibility (...unless you use the special on time, which I sometimes forget to do).

Anyway, this is a doable 1-CC, which would then leave me with...Asterix as the missing title for an "All-Clear arcade Konami Beat'em ups" prize. Not Sure if I will attempt the feat

Also, anyone would like to offer more input on Mutation Nation and Robo Army? I am half-tempted to revisit them out of sheer nostalgia, but any comments on mechanics and pitfalls to avoid are welcome.

[Air Master Burst]

Mostly, I just love the theme—why didn't we get more horror themed beat 'em ups? Some indie dev needs to jump on this.

I found this upcoming game that might fit the bill a couple weeks back, looks like it could be a fun time if it ever materializes.

Anyway, this is a doable 1-CC, which would then leave me with...Asterix as the missing title for an "All-Clear arcade Konami Beat'em ups" prize. Not Sure if I will attempt the feat

How many credits did Turtles in Time take you? Or did you just avoid the arcade version entirely? That game is some bullshit.

ETA: Also do you include Bucky O'Hare or not?

ETA2: So I just played the Maiden Cops demo, and it was ok I guess. The walk speed is torturously slow, but they do let you vert run, so I guess it sorta evens out. I couldn't figure out how to make any of the special attacks work consistently, it seems like they might be context based? Either way, the whole thing feels kinda janky. Enemy attacks are poorly telegraphed and have some ridiculous range and priority. There's a lot of dead space in levels where you're just running for ages to get to the next encounter. The boss fight is a pretty solid design, and is easily the highlight of the demo. Honestly, it feels like it was made by someone who played Fight'N Rage and loved all the opposite things about it that I do. I'll probably give it a pass unless they really revamp some stuff.

I think I'll try this adorable looking Last Beat game next.

[Sima Tuna]

Night Slashers always felt just that little bit jank, like a lot of Data East games do. But it's still supremely fun for casual play. I, too, wish for more horror-themed beat em ups. Splatterhouse and Night Slashers are the only ones I'm aware of. Night Slashers is also a super obvious JoJo ripoff (mostly parts 1 and 2,) but that hardly needs to be said, does it? I'm just glad they ripped off something of quality and did it well.

Spoiler

Brown-haired martial artist is Jonathon Joestar. The metal armed dude is Stroheim. Chinese girl is Lisa Lisa. A lot of the other shit is ripped straight from comic panels.

[Randorama]

Air Master Burst: TMNT2 took me one credit...once, in co-op play (4 of us), and anyway other people used more credits.
Absolutely grey area/dodgy type of 1-CC, but I don't want to touch the game ever again, so I am counting it as "valid" to save my mental health ("No! I will not revisit this for the 1-CC!").
When I was a teen I had the patience and desire to play it with other people; now, three decades afterwards or so, I don't.

Bucky O'Hare, I 1-CC'ed it back in the day.
I was thinking that it is more of an action game or at least an hybrid of, dunno, action game and belt scroller?
It's one of those games that fit well in the Scrolling Action Monogatari thread but in this one, too.
I do remember that it's an easy game until the "bump car" level, and the rest is memorising the right patterns for the overbearing last few bosses.
I think that after one week of playing the game, back in the day, I reached the submarine boss; it should have taken me 2-3 more months to complete the rest (I had more patience, as a kid).
I also think that it is a fun game, once you learn how to play it.
Konami in their arcade heyday, though, had a...funny way of gauging difficulty, I'd say.
That was (and still is) an aspect of the game I was not fond of.

I think that Suchisdeath and I discussed Night Slashers a few pages ago (...in 2018). I'd link to my embarrassing post in which I "discussed" the JoJo vibes and the game more in general, but I will spare you guys from the tackiness

After all these years, I do play it from time to time and remain of the opinion that it's a great game exactly because of the DECO traditional "great design vision, sloppy programming execution" approach (and the JoJo vibe), and because it *still* does something near-unique with respect to game/world setting.

[BurlyHeart]

Bucky O'Hare, I 1-CC'ed it back in the day.
I was thinking that it is more of an action game or at least an hybrid of, dunno, action game and belt scroller?
It's one of those games that fit well in the Scrolling Action Monogatari thread but in this one, too.
I do remember that it's an easy game until the "bump car" level, and the rest is memorising the right patterns for the overbearing last few bosses.
I think that after one week of playing the game, back in the day, I reached the submarine boss; it should have taken me 2-3 more months to complete the rest (I had more patience, as a kid).
I also think that it is a fun game, once you learn how to play it.
Konami in their arcade heyday, though, had a...funny way of gauging difficulty, I'd say.
That was (and still is) an aspect of the game I was not fond of.

I was a big fan of the tv show as a kid and had many a toy. See my avatar! This game is on my to-do list for sure.

It also finishes the story of that the animation never got to, due to being cancelled, which which is very cool imo.

[Randorama]

Burlyheart: I think that Bucky O'Hare originated in a comic by Larry Hama and Michael Golden, two grizzled Marvel veterans who wanted to have a go at multi-media franchises (I am not googling this one up, simply to see if my memory is still good enough). The art was really lovely, as your avatar indirectly shows.

Fun facts: Konami went on this path with Bucky (originally an obscure Marvel comic), and TMNT from an underground comic series, self-published by Eastman and Laird, if I recall correctly. Asterix...well, you might have heard about it, but let's say that this and a few other tie-in games from Konami (say, G.I. Joe) were based on slightly more mainstream franchises

Capcom went with Cadillacs, which is based on Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales, a beautifully illustrated but poorly planned comic indie series (Fantagraphic Press: my father still owns the issues).
Warriors of Fate I & II (Capcom) are based on an old (but popular) manga on the Chinese Three Kingdoms saga (and there is a turn-based strategy game on Famicom), and then went full mainstream with D&D and Aliens Vs. Predator (though the original idea comes from the Dark Horse Comics).

I am pretty sure that there more tie-ins in the genre, but I can recall these ones right now.

EDIT: Well, IGS produced one million games based on the Three Kingdoms saga and one on the Journey to the West saga (and Technos produced an old but interesting beat'em up/platform).
I'll stop here before I lose an afternoon digging into this matter, I guess!

[drauch]

Capcom went with Cadillacs, which is based on Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales, a beautifully illustrated but poorly planned comic indie series (Fantagraphic Press: my father still owns the issues).

Yeah it's technically based on Xenozoic, but it was made as a tie-in for the TV show of the same name. Then the comic continued afterwards under the Cadillacs name with different authors/artists, which is unfortunate because Schultz draws like a god. I'm sure you know all that and not trying to sound snooty, but just spouting it in case someone else is interested.

I think you're thinking of Kitchen Sink Press, btw; Fantagraphics has never released anything Xenozoic/Cadillacs.

[Air Master Burst]

For licensed arcade belt-scrollers there's also Capcom's Punisher, Sega's Spider-Man, Irem's Hook, and Data East's Captain America. And maybe a couple more I'm forgetting.

It breaks my heart that nobody's tried to make an actual Streets of Fire beat-em-up, that movie fucking rules.

[BrianC]

I, too, wish for more horror-themed beat em ups. Splatterhouse and Night Slashers are the only ones I'm aware of.

Zombie Revenge?

[Randorama]

drauch:

Thanks. I swear that I forgot about the existence of the cartoon; I re-read the Mark Schultz comic a while ago and I was thinking that the game gets the comic's atmosphere quite right.
I also didn't know that someone continued it, go figure...and then I spent, like 2 minutes trying to remember the name of the "company with the sink logo", then brilliantly concluded that it was Fantagraphics
My father has all the comics (well, a Trade of the Italian version), which only covered the Schultz stories and work.
Stunningly brilliant world setting, and I remember that the stories were also nice.

Air Master Burst: ah yes, I forgot about those (and I 1-CC'ed all except Spidey, go figure). Early '90s arcades did include lots of tie-ins and licenses, didn't they? (...and I am suddenly wondering if Capcom's Knights of the Round might be a tie-in to/license of some manga, eh!).

General:

I indirectly mentioned this before (...didn't I?), but Violent Storm comes in 4 regional versions, which I order from easiest to hardest: Japan, Europe, Asia, U.S.
Only the Japanese version has extends (500k, then every 1M) by default, and the U.S. version should have the "bloody" set also by default (lots of blood spilling!).
I am too lazy to check again, but the U.S. version should also have "endless loops" as a default (and the loop is harder, with the final boss having a final, "true last boss" fighting phase).
The "B" revision (e.g. "AAB"=Asian A... B revision) is generally unplayable, as every enemy is blazingly fast and there are few items around.
The "C" revision is the way to go, and the only revision for the Japanese version (...or I only have the JAC version): extends.
Getting extends will increase the rank, so I imagine that periodically dropping lives may be a good strategy.

[Air Master Burst]

Just grabbed the Capcom Beat-em-up Collection on Steam because 10 bucks is too good to pass up. Pretty good emulation job, at least on Final Fight, which is the only one I've tried so far. Might go for the 1CC finally and work my way through chronologically (although I've already done the 1CC on Captain Commando and Armored Warriors). I'm really looking forward to digging into Warriors of Fate, but I'm a little surprised they didn't include the first Dynasty Wars game. I know it was ported to everything back in the day, but I don't think it's ever been released in any sort of retro compilation, or really in any form since the early 90s. I've never tried it, is it worth playing?

[Sima Tuna]

Dynasty Wars is on the first Capcom Arcade Stadium for $2 if you decide you just gotta have it. It's a pretty cool game but autofire is 100% mandatory imo. Dynasty Wars is like a mix of run and gun and beat em up. Aquas (neoxaquas) has videos on youtube if you want to see what the game looks like when played well.

From my time with the Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle, I have no complaints. I haven't noticed any lag in this collection and you have a lot of options to customize display modes, backgrounds and controls. All the games have online support too, of course. You'd have to ask one of the really big Final Fight experts (like Murph,) but it seems to be about the best way possible to experience Final Fight without sailing the high seas.

Warriors of Fate/Tenchi wo Kurau II is a fantastic game btw. Knights of the Round used to be my favorite capcom brawler. Mostly because it was the game that got me into beat em ups. But I've been playing more Final Fight recently, and WoF also. I can't praise them highly enough. Warriors of Fate has a very complex combat system with tons of cool moves you can pull off, balanced against rock-hard bosses who will destroy you if you look at them wrong.

Spoiler

I have tried, but I really can't enjoy captain commando. Don't get me wrong-I think it's cool whenever a beat em up includes movement tech, like dashing or running. The combat engine itself seems rather advanced and technical. But I can't stand some of the enemies and bosses. I also dislike the damage values. I'd like to see the game modded to double damage values. I'm curious what that would do. Even if my character died in one hit, I still think I'd enjoy it more than fighting against the endless walls of Damage Sponge that are CC's enemies. Infinites feel necessary just to cut the tedium of the fights.

Shitrom is a terrible boss too and the person who made a Double Shitrom fight should feel bad.

[Air Master Burst]

Single Shtrom is annoying as hell but he rarely kills me as Mack. Shtrom and Druk are assholes for sure, that fight often comes down to hiding in the corner and getting lucky. I've done it with Mack and Captain, but I've never really liked Baby, even though he's probably the best.

It's been a while since I've played original Final Fight and I forgot how unforgiving some of these hitboxes are! Especially when it comes to breakable objects like garbage cans. I remember most of the boss strategies, but some of the mob fights after level 2 are just wrecking me since I'm used to younger, faster games. I've never been able to figure out how to properly aim the backwards jumping thing all the speedrunners do, but I'm guessing that'll be something I'm going to have to learn for the Cody 1CC. It never really feels unfair, though, except for occasionally getting stunlocked trying to get back up.

ETA: Also the lack of a forward command throw always messes me up a bit, even though it would probably be a bit redundant.

[BIL]

The backjump is similar to Metal Slug's - hit [jump] with the stick in neutral, then once your character's off the ground, hit [back] a split-second later. Super useful combined with Haggar's splash, since enemies hit with it will be yanked towards him, out of corners. You can also absolutely cheese certain areas by hyper-backhopping through them, despawning large enemies (the grassy, Andore-stocked lane midway through the last stage is a biggie).

I hated the reverse splash at first, finding it a little goofy and immersion-breaking in Haggar's otherwise supremely brutal moveset, but these days I think of it as a flying dropkick to the nuts.



One of the best primer posts on Final Fight ever, by EVN. His point about the uneven difficulty curve and stage 2's early wall is especially helpful.

[Air Master Burst]

That is a great post! While it's meant for Haggar, I imagine most of it applies to Cody as well (except I do find Sodom to be one of the easier bosses with Cody).

I think a lot of the bigger fights seem to come down to how quickly I can find a knife (and not accidentally tossing it because I'm not quite close enough to the guy I'm trying to slice up). The train is pretty brutal, I'm guessing that's where the machines earned the bulk of their money.

[Sima Tuna]

I haven't figured out the backjump either, so that post of BIL's is really helpful. I get backjumps randomly when trying to do other shit, but never backjump when I wanted one. Hopefully thinking of it like Metal Slug will help me learn.

I'm torn between Cody and Haggar for who to practice. Cody seems way easier to get consistently, thanks to knife loop and better movement. But Haggar's wrestling moves are way too much fun.

The subway is hell. That amount of enemies, that early into the game? Bruh. Capcom wanted your quarters. If I don't have perfect Andore strats and execution every time, it's easy to eat chain deaths. Let 2 Andores get onscreen and they'll double buttslam me into oblivion. I might set an autofire button just so I can stand up faster without killing my wrists.

[BIL]

Like with a lot of beltscrollers (thinking of Double Dragon II and Crime Fighters), it's important you take advantage of the scrolling to break down waves wherever you can. The screenload of enemies in that GIF, for example, only happens if you deliberately scroll all the way to the edge of the area. It's actually the rocker quartet from the opening, plus the Andore & friends wave that hits at the end.

The train interior is similar; you can make things dramatically easier or harder depending on your advance. You can actually despawn several enemies there, including an Andore, by hyper-backhopping, but it's best reserved for when you've really got the move (and stage) down, so you don't end up bringing the whole area down on yourself.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Warriors of Fate/Tenchi wo Kurau II is a fantastic game btw. Knights of the Round used to be my favorite capcom brawler. Mostly because it was the game that got me into beat em ups. But I've been playing more Final Fight recently, and WoF also. I can't praise them highly enough. Warriors of Fate has a very complex combat system with tons of cool moves you can pull off, balanced against rock-hard bosses who will destroy you if you look at them wrong.

Spoiler

I have tried, but I really can't enjoy captain commando. Don't get me wrong-I think it's cool whenever a beat em up includes movement tech, like dashing or running. The combat engine itself seems rather advanced and technical. But I can't stand some of the enemies and bosses. I also dislike the damage values. I'd like to see the game modded to double damage values. I'm curious what that would do. Even if my character died in one hit, I still think I'd enjoy it more than fighting against the endless walls of Damage Sponge that are CC's enemies. Infinites feel necessary just to cut the tedium of the fights.

Shitrom is a terrible boss too and the person who made a Double Shitrom fight should feel bad.

Warriors of Fate is really solid overall. I do have two big complaints about it, though.

First, the game has relatively low damage with no way to really get in on enemies and tear them up. One of the major elements that makes Final Fight so satisfying and its balance so good is that you do so much more damage to enemies through grabs and throws versus landing regular hits - so it makes going for grabs rewarding, and essential for crushing hard targets. But in Warriors of Fate, you don't really have any way of doing any more damage to enemies past what your basic attack string does - and everything has a pretty large amount of health. It's not as bad as Captain Commando in this regard but it does make everything feel too much like a battle of attrition.

Second, enemies can't be grabbed when they're in the middle of an attack... and they like to throw attacks out even when you're off-axis. This feels like total shit and I haven't been able to figure out a counterplay - the game has a very pared-down moveset, closer to Final Fight than later Capcom brawlers, and enemy damage is high. When you're in the middle of a crowd, often the only real avenue of escape you have is to go for grabs to free up some space - a genre staple - but this mechanic means that grabs can effectively just randomly fail and you have no way to prevent or play around it. It's obnoxious. This design choice has always irritated me in Alien vs. Predator - a game where grabs don't even matter that much, outside of the tragically-handicapped Schafer - but in Warriors of Fate it's an outright killer. The game is really capable overall, though, but whenever I put time into it I find myself having to enjoy it in spite of its weaknesses.

Captain Commando is definitely solid outside of its junk boss fights. I do think it's a lot simpler of a game than even Final Fight or most of Capcom's better brawlers, though - the enemy types aren't very distinct and your movesets aren't very interesting or technical, nor are the player characters very unique. It almost feels like the game that would have predated Final Fight.

It never really feels unfair, though, except for occasionally getting stunlocked trying to get back up.

I learned of a possible solution to this from iconoclast - hold jump and mash punch once you've been knocked down, and if your mashing is good enough, you should be able to guarantee a special immediately upon getting up. To be honest, I don't know how consistently workable this is - iconoclast played the game using autofire, which certainly makes this strategy either, and my controller of choice isn't conducive to mashing at all - but it's worth a try and might work for you.

Cody seems way easier to get consistently, thanks to knife loop and better movement. But Haggar's wrestling moves are way too much fun.

Cody's big two strengths are his knife usage and, actually, his ability to stand in place and throw out rapid punches, which will wall off most enemy types from being able to get in on you. It's a slower, more defensive technique, but a frequently vital one, and it makes dealing with Andores much easier, as they can't break through your jab wall unless another enemy walks in first and triggers Cody's stubbier, later attack string hits. (Guy can do it too, but Haggar can't - he's the only one who has to barrel through enemy lines and force openings in all circumstances as a result.)

[Sima Tuna]

Warriors of Fate is really solid overall. I do have two big complaints about it, though.

First, the game has relatively low damage with no way to really get in on enemies and tear them up. One of the major elements that makes Final Fight so satisfying and its balance so good is that you do so much more damage to enemies through grabs and throws versus landing regular hits - so it makes going for grabs rewarding, and essential for crushing hard targets. But in Warriors of Fate, you don't really have any way of doing any more damage to enemies past what your basic attack string does - and everything has a pretty large amount of health. It's not as bad as Captain Commando in this regard but it does make everything feel too much like a battle of attrition.

Second, enemies can't be grabbed when they're in the middle of an attack... and they like to throw attacks out even when you're off-axis. This feels like total shit and I haven't been able to figure out a counterplay - the game has a very pared-down moveset, closer to Final Fight than later Capcom brawlers, and enemy damage is high. When you're in the middle of a crowd, often the only real avenue of escape you have is to go for grabs to free up some space - a genre staple - but this mechanic means that grabs can effectively just randomly fail and you have no way to prevent or play around it. It's obnoxious. This design choice has always irritated me in Alien vs. Predator - a game where grabs don't even matter that much, outside of the tragically-handicapped Schafer - but in Warriors of Fate it's an outright killer. The game is really capable overall, though, but whenever I put time into it I find myself having to enjoy it in spite of its weaknesses.

I think Warriors of Fate feels less painful with the damage formula than Captain Commando because there are a few meme ways to extend damage. You can reset the horse combo infinitely iirc by just not completing it, which lets you take all of an enemy's bar. You can also do a lot of combo into throw shenanigans. Throws don't deal as much damage as they should, but characters like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei seem to put out decent damage numbers. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I were trying to use Huang Zhong though. I always get bodied when I switch to him or Wei Yan. The weapons you can pick up in WoF seem largely useless, except that they don't knock down. I have been able to trap enemies in damage loops where they couldn't get out and couldn't be knocked down. They'd lose a life in one "combo." But that still requires picking up the weapons (which are mostly garbage) and then getting a loop going.

I'm pretty sure mobility in WoF relies on either using characters with a mobile throw game or employing the mobility attack each character gets. Guan Yu has a shoulder charge, Zhang Fei has a superman punch. I've found both situationally useful for preempting enemy attacks and/or preparing attacks for when they wake up.

Cody seems way easier to get consistently, thanks to knife loop and better movement. But Haggar's wrestling moves are way too much fun.

Cody's big two strengths are his knife usage and, actually, his ability to stand in place and throw out rapid punches, which will wall off most enemy types from being able to get in on you. It's a slower, more defensive technique, but a frequently vital one, and it makes dealing with Andores much easier, as they can't break through your jab wall unless another enemy walks in first and triggers Cody's stubbier, later attack string hits. (Guy can do it too, but Haggar can't - he's the only one who has to barrel through enemy lines and force openings in all circumstances as a result.)

Good to know. I'm familiar with the "I'm going to stand here punching the air, and if you walk into my fist that's your problem" school of beat em up strategy. I wasn't sure if Haggar could do it or not. I know he can't do the offscreen knife spam that Cody can. In fact, attacking offscreen with Haggar is an amazingly strong strategy if you want to give up a credit. I have verified this with exhaustive scrub play testing.

[Air Master Burst]

5 hours of practice later and I still really suck at Final Fight. Still haven't raised either difficulty from the default and I've only made it to Edi once.

Personal issues and things I've noticed:

Cody moves slower than the "slow" character in most other belt-scrollers. The vertical walk speed is especially glacial. I'm not used to being completely unable to dodge most enemies. I'm sure there's a way, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out. I realize I have all the tools I need to avoid damage, but I still feel like a bulldozer trying to catch butterflies.

I've watched videos of actual good players, and I still can't really intuit either the backwards jumping thing or the grab-chaining. Mechanically I can do the backwards jump just fine, I just have no idea when I'm supposed to use it or where I'm supposed to aim my landings. As far as grab-chaining goes, well, I've always sucked at grappling in these games. I probably just need to git gud.

The pipe has hilariously low damage. It's still pretty decent in some situations for the added reach and instant knockdowns, but it's pretty funny to me how a muscle freak like Cody smashing someone with a big pipe does less damage than a few jabs.

Holy shit is the weapon use primitive. I don't necessarily need a separate button for pickups (although SoR4 shows how amazing of an innovation that is), but there's a reason pretty much every belt-scroller that came after included either durability or an intentional weapon-tossing mechanic. I frequently end up either throwing my knife away by accident (the red flashing helps but isn't always useful in the heat of battle) or accidentally picking up a pipe I don't want and getting stuck with it.

I've seen a lot of people complaining about how much health the enemies in Captain Commando have, but Final Fight is nearly as bad in this regard. I get that you're supposed to grapple for max damage or whatever, but that's rarely practical in crowds. The group fights here are just as much battles of attrition as in CC, but at least in CC your character moves and attacks faster. Fortunately Final Fight's bosses are way better than Captain Commando's.

Again, none of these things are objectively bad, it's just personal issues I have trying to adjust to Final Fight's particular brand of precision brutality. I'm basically at the point where I'm just replaying level 2 over and over until I can make it to Sodom without dropping a life. I'm sure I'll get there!

[Sima Tuna]

Don't use the pipe. It's shit. The good weapons are the sword and the knife. Knife is only good if you're Cody though. Be careful not to mash around Holly Woods because they love to drop knives and force you to pick them up.

[Air Master Burst]

Tried playing Jitsu Squad today and had to refund it since the PC version wouldn't properly support my fightbox or my Saturn pad. It's probably for the best anyway, it uses like 8 fucking buttons and that's way too many for a belt-scroller. I'm especially suspicious of the concept of a Grab button.

Also got The Takeover because it was 4 bucks. It's ugly as sin and a bit on the janky side but I'll probably give it a full playthrough at some point.

Finally made it through Final Fight's subway without dropping a life, but I got super lucky on item drops so I'm calling it a fluke. The random drops are another interesting frustration about Final Fight.

ETA: Cody can also spam the pipe off-screen to great effect, you just have to be a little more careful on your timing and spacing. But yeah, it kinda sucks compared to the other two.

[Randorama]

Quick comment: Warriors of Fate II does have mechanics that allow players to quickly cut through stages, but they seem fairly technical.
They usually revolve around using the special attacks as conclusions to combos, if memory serves me well.

I believe that there are quite a few speed-runs on youtube, and some of them are quite impressive (e.g., 1-CC's clocking at 25 minutes or lower).
I never really learnt to perform any more complex combos, though I 1-CC'ed the game with Guan Yu.

I do second the feeling that the game is a battle of attrition, given the sheer amount of energy that even the zakus have, but I guess that the programmers really wanted players to master the more advanced moves...the game has enjoyed an everlasting popularity in Asia, and I have witnessed people tearing through the game easily in different Chinese arcades (I currently work in China).
Case in point, IGS's Knights of Valour series exists as an unofficial sequel series tapping on the sheer demand of Three Kingdoms-based games that existed (and still exists?) in Asian markets.

[Air Master Burst]

Case in point, IGS's Knights of Valour series exists as an unofficial sequel series tapping on the sheer demand of Three Kingdoms-based games that existed (and still exists?) in Asian markets.

Do you know of any good overviews of the various IGS belt-scrollers? They look fascinating but there's very little info to be found on many of them, at least in English.

[Randorama]

Air Master Burst:

Sadly I don't, though I understand that there are tons of dedicated websites in Chinese (...which I still speak poorly, sorry).
I know that some of the later titles play in a manner similar to the Capcom's D&D games, whereas earlier titles mix various mechanics from earlier Capcom games into their own relatively original blend.
Perhaps GameFAQs and similar sites may have links and/or FAQ's, though.

EDIT:

How to handle the final boss in Captain Commando with Mummy/Jennety? A few lines of text are fine, thanks in advance.
Also, I need more practice with Geld in Violent Storm, but the other bosses are becoming *almost* easy.
I should erect a statue to Sir IlPalazzo for his invaluable input, I guess

[Bassa-Bassa]

Case in point, IGS's Knights of Valour series exists as an unofficial sequel series tapping on the sheer demand of Three Kingdoms-based games that existed (and still exists?) in Asian markets.

Do you know of any good overviews of the various IGS belt-scrollers? They look fascinating but there's very little info to be found on many of them, at least in English.

Oriental Legend is the most overlooked for being the ugliest, I guess, but it's complex, hard, and really fun if you're used to fighting commands (otherwise I'd avoid it). I talked a bit about it in this other thread:

viewtopic.php?p=1442345#p1442345

[Air Master Burst]

EDIT:

How to handle the final boss in Captain Commando with Mummy/Jennety? A few lines of text are fine, thanks in advance.

He's actually pretty easy to grab loop to death, just keep him away from the edges so you can dance horizontally on him as he gets back up.

[BurlyHeart]

TNWOA: Managed to 1cc Hard Mode with Ninja last night in around 3100 seconds. The game is so tight. There are trophies for 3000 and 2500 seconds, so might I keep at it to see if I can get my times down. I played quite safe on the last level with the multiple robots (why do i think their name is Golem?), so I can make up a lot of time there. I'm still not happy with the St5 boss (why do I think his name is Jubei?). He can blow up a lot of my strats and end runs.

Forgive the hyperbole, but I am absolutely frothing at the mouth to try out Raiden. Now THAT is a burly character.