Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

[XtraSmiley]

Awesome post man!

I'm with you on Hook, very underrated IMO.

As for Sailor Moon, I thought the backgrounds were too static and the game came off as unfinished or rushed to release to me. I although though it grew boring quickly, but I never 1CC'd it, so I'm not as familiar with it as you are.

Which version of UCC did you play?

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Awesome post man!

I'm with you on Hook, very underrated IMO.

As for Sailor Moon, I thought the backgrounds were too static and the game came off as unfinished or rushed to release to me. I although though it grew boring quickly, but I never 1CC'd it, so I'm not as familiar with it as you are.

Which version of UCC did you play?

Sailor Moon is definitely pretty unpolished and unfinished lol. It has a lot of quality stuff in it, but I'm curious how much of that is deliberate design versus just lucky accidents. I think the art assets are fantastic though; the sprites rule and the backgrounds capture the 90s anime really well. I do think it's a very fun game but it definitely takes a particular mindset to get into; it wouldn't be my first recommendation in the genre.

I'm playing the original Japanese Undercover Cops. I know the US release is like an unfinished beta lacking moves and music unless you get the alpha renewal version or whatever which seems like an impressively bad mixup.

[Kino]

Sailor Moon's such a fascinating beat em up, within certain contexts. Late period release with a respectable amount of offensive & defensive options for the time, yet the meta hearkens back to the simplicity of Final Fight (albeit with a much more aggressive AI.) Also a rare example of a brawler with a halfway entertaining scoring system.

Painfully unfinished, as evidenced by all the unused art assets inside the data. Would've been interesting to see how it turned out, had they allowed the programmers time to fine-tune everything. Guess we should count our blessings it turned out as well as it did, considering Gazelle was clearly a front for Yakuza money laundering.

I'm playing the original Japanese Undercover Cops. I know the US release is like an unfinished beta

Technically it was completed, it was just an earlier build than the Japanese release. In short, Irem finished the initial version, gave some pre-release boards to the international distributor, Irem wisely decided to polish the game up further, distributor sells the earlier builds to American arcades anyway. Alpha Renewal was their way of correcting that mistake.

[Sumez]

Doesn't sound like my definition of completed

[velo]

Captain Commando - playing Sailor Moon inspired me to come back to this game and try it with the turn-around punch infinite. It actually really improves the game; CC has that same issue with enemies having too much health and the player not having good damage-dealing options (unlike Final Fight which smartly tunes its grabs, making them into a really satisfying way of crushing single targets once you have them isolated) - but the infinite basically replaces FF's grab, giving you a good way of flattening enemies as long as you've put yourself in a position to be able to stand still. So I'm enjoying this game a lot now. It has a bunch of unpleasant bosses still - Monster totally stinks - but to be honest I've come to think Shtrom Jr. is pretty fun outside of his divekick... I just got a run up to the stage 8 boss Doppel so I'm happy with my progress here.

I never got the hang of CC's infinite (or FF's). Which character are you using, and are you using turbo? That Shtrom divekick is what trips me up the worst when I try to use Baby.

[Sima Tuna]

Shitrom sucks and is a big part of why I never bothered to try 1ccing. The other part is Marbin spam.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Cleared Undercover Cops!

Good game, but it's probably my least favorite out of the Irem brawlers I've put real time into (compared to Ninja Baseball Bat Man and Hook). A lot of little things in it are off - like in Hook, your basic attack string is de-emphasized and is outright ineffective on many enemy types (even the standard Dooby grunts can walk out of your string from stage 2 and can punish you through it from either 3 or 4), but you don't have any especially interesting or satisfying moves to replace it, meaning that many lategame fights end with you just spamming jumping, dashing, or dash-jumping attacks. This is particularly awkward with the speedy, dodge-happy Brad enemies who largely can't even be grabbed and whose aggressive dash attacking forces you into simple and occasionally repetitive tactics whenever they come on screen.

The game leans into NB Bat Man's approach to encounter design where each stage kind of has its own themed gimmick, so you aren't just fighting the same stable of guys throughout, but doesn't do it as successfully - beyond some of the gimmick enemies being too thin for general combat, like stage 3's mole-people and stage 4's bikers, the central roster of enemies is too sparse; the final stage just falls on continuously using Brads and Makakus (the game's heavies, whose brutal anti-air seems specifically designed to complement Brads) over and over.

The bosses are generally good; they're varied and require unique tactics without feeling niche or like they have to be cheesed - the final boss is an exception though; he and the gauntlet of player-character clones right before him more or less can't be interacted with normally and call for awkward tactics.

Despite my criticism I think it's a solid game. The music and of course the art, from Akio, are fantastic, and though the action ends up being too thin compared to genre greats, it's still fun - its variety helps that a lot; keeping things from ever feeling like they're getting old or repetitive up until the somewhat misjudged final stage.

I never got the hang of CC's infinite (or FF's). Which character are you using, and are you using turbo? That Shtrom divekick is what trips me up the worst when I try to use Baby.

Shitrom sucks and is a big part of why I never bothered to try 1ccing. The other part is Marbin spam.

I'm rolling with Hoover still; the others (especially Jennety) do have an easier time with Shtrom but even with the infinite I don't think the game feels very good without Hoover's extra damage.

I've never used Final Fight's infinite but I think Captain Commando definitely calls for it; it would still be basically playable without it (again, unlike Sailor Moon) but definitely less fun. I don't really like using turbo in beat-em-ups and generally don't use it in this game... but actually I do pop it only for the double Shtrom boss fight in stage 6 because it seems to be the only way to make the fight even somewhat reliable. Outside of that I don't think it would really add anything and seems like it would make the infinite harder.

Shtrom feels like a poorly-judged boss (this seems par for the course for Captain Commando) but I've warmed up to him a tiny bit. I think there's an interesting positioning challenge there in dealing with and anticipating his strafe and zipping around the field to chase him down; it's just that that divekick of his sucks and dominates the fight. If he were toned down slightly - if the divekick came out more slowly and had less z-axis tracking, mainly - he'd probably be a great boss, if still a little strong for stage 2. As it is, I'd still rather deal with him than Monster.

The double Shtrom fight seems like it completely stinks though. I don't know if there's any actual way to handle that fight outside of using the safespot that doesn't even always work.

[Sima Tuna]

The thing about Shitrom that makes him so awful is you never fight him alone, and then Double Shitrom comes along to completely steal your lunch and kick you in the nuts.

I don't remember the japanese names, but I use the Mummy guy when I play. I need the range to fence with all those asshole enemies like Marbin who have dickish attacks. I don't use the infinite and I suppose I probably should. I don't use infinites in any beat em up. Partly because my execution sucks and partly because I don't really want to learn infinites.

Captain Commando has a great look to it and it gives you a lot of tools/moves pretty early in the legacy of beat em ups. But in terms of (early) beat em ups with a lot of moves, I think I prefer Golden Axe 3 to Captain Commando.

Battle Circuit seems to be Captain Commando: Improved Version, although I remember encountering a ton of gimmicky and weird shit in that game. And the last boss is complete BS.

I know for a fact that LordBBH has 1cc clears of Captain Commando, so you can always watch those. He has some strats for both Shitroms.

[samspot]

What do y’all think of River City Girls, DD Gaiden, etc? They are in a new humble bundle but i dont trust the average steam reviewer on this type of game. https://www.humblebundle.com/games/brutal-beat-em-ups

[Sima Tuna]

I haven't played either, but I have asked people who do play beat em ups extensively about those games.

River City Girls is made by Wayforward, and I happen to think they're a pretty overrated developer in general. I can't say if THIS game is good or not, but it looks really bad. Seems to me on the surface like another Scott Pilgrim situation, where the mainstream (who don't understand beat em ups) think a game is awesome, but people who play a lot of beat em ups think it's bogus.

Double Dragon Gaiden had a lot of press right up to release, and then immediately after release the reception cooled down significantly. Which I take to mean the sponsorship/preview deals expired and people are now sharing their mostly ambivalent opinions.

What I have on good authority from people who DO know beat em ups is that Double Dragon Gaiden is a lot closer to Devil's Dare 2 than a Double Dragon game. Movesets look very abbreviated compared to a classic DD game. I believe you only have one attack button, a jump and maybe a super modifier? Combos are built around tagging in and out your characters. When the game launched, it had a hilariously obnoxious hot dog award that would pop up a full-screen notification every time you killed 3 or more enemies at a time. So a good player would end up staring at hot dog reward messages the entire play session.

I would not buy River City Girls 1 or 2 personally. I have thought about picking up Double Dragon Gaiden, just to see how it is. I've heard the stage order you choose can make the game very obnoxious (or not,) as certain levels fill up with gimmick hazard sections the later you wait to take them. See, you choose your own level order and the order you select influences the length and difficulty of later levels.

[BurlyHeart]

What do y’all think of River City Girls, DD Gaiden, etc? They are in a new humble bundle but i dont trust the average steam reviewer on this type of game. https://www.humblebundle.com/games/brutal-beat-em-ups

River City Girls can be fun, but it is not an arcade experience. You level up and buy moves as you progress. Some people like this, some don't. I enjoyed my time with the game, and if it had an arcade mode I would've revisited it (but never have.)

Double Dragon Gaiden is fun, but it has some pacing issues (too slow) as well as a large difficulty spike at the end. Very long too. You can catch my 1CC here to get an idea of the aesthetics and gameplay, as well as some more thoughts in the description. https://youtu.be/9bi3YMI_VfY?si=X-3cAQdIdufftG-v Some people really hate the chibi style, but I think it is alright.

Battletoads I own but have never played. I've heard the beat em ups sections are kinda fun but very limited. It is mostly a variety of racing, platforming etc.

I have never played either Slaps & Beans games. I've heard they're okay for a laugh, but not technically great beat em ups.

[spmbx]

I went into river city girls expecting a more standard belt scroller experience. And well, that wasn't really it. It just didn't click with me and i think i played it maybe half an hour tops. It's probably not a bad game given the chance, and maybe i will in the future but for the time it was something i wasn't up for.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

The thing about Shitrom that makes him so awful is you never fight him alone, and then Double Shitrom comes along to completely steal your lunch and kick you in the nuts.

I don't remember the japanese names, but I use the Mummy guy when I play. I need the range to fence with all those asshole enemies like Marbin who have dickish attacks. I don't use the infinite and I suppose I probably should. I don't use infinites in any beat em up. Partly because my execution sucks and partly because I don't really want to learn infinites.

Captain Commando has a great look to it and it gives you a lot of tools/moves pretty early in the legacy of beat em ups. But in terms of (early) beat em ups with a lot of moves, I think I prefer Golden Axe 3 to Captain Commando.

Battle Circuit seems to be Captain Commando: Improved Version, although I remember encountering a ton of gimmicky and weird shit in that game. And the last boss is complete BS.

I know for a fact that LordBBH has 1cc clears of Captain Commando, so you can always watch those. He has some strats for both Shitroms.

Forgot that the characters have different names in the Japanese version lol; I mostly just remember their names by the voice clips Captain Commando calls out in MvC2.

Marbins are definitely annoying; one of the more problematic fat guy enemies in Capcom brawlers. The game does use them pretty sparingly, though, there's only like one or two each in stages 2, 3, and 6 (where they're priority targets you can dispatch fairly quickly with aggressive play) and then the big rush of them at the end of 8. I would say they aren't really run-defining enemies despite being problematic - Mummy's range does help with them, and Shtrom, but neither is an important and problematic enough situation to warrant giving up Baby's superior attack power, which will let you get rid of every enemy in the game twice as fast.

Not to defend Shtrom too heavily because I do think he's a pretty flawed boss, but at least you do spend almost all of his fight taking him on solo. His Marbin backup doesn't show up until he's nearly dead, and you fling yourself around the arena widely enough while heading Shtrom off, or at least chasing him down, that they don't really get the chance to catch up to you - they do occasionally get in the way, but most of the time they're a non-factor.

I usually check Murphagator's clears when I need references for brawler runs and had forgotten about LordBBH. His safespot for the double Shtrom fight does seem more reliable than the one I was using (his is further to the left) but I'm still not fully comfortable with the fight.

Battle Circuit is great for sure, I can vouch for that one. Its boss fights are kind of more pattern-based and less crowd control-focused than a lot of Capcom's brawlers and its last boss can be very different depending on the character (I think it's not too bad with Green but definitely pretty slow with Blue) but it's one of their best arcade entries for sure.

[samspot]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the humble bundle. Seems better to spend my time on one of the classics. I don’t have patience for grindy games right now.

[velo]

Shitrom sucks and is a big part of why I never bothered to try 1ccing. The other part is Marbin spam.

The double Shtrom fight seems like it completely stinks though. I don't know if there's any actual way to handle that fight outside of using the safespot that doesn't even always work.

Shtrom x 2 was the point where I decided the game was hopeless and I would never 1cc it ever... but I stuck it out and did it anyway, eventually.

It's the one point of the game where I don't know what the devs expected you to do. (As you know...) you can (sometimes) jab them to death right after they come through the door, or hang in the "safe" spots in the upper left/right and mindlessly jab away. I don't have a video at my fingertips, but I've seen a faux infinite where you stand on top of them and jab left twice, then right twice, etc, never finishing the combo but not whiffing the jabs either. It's also not totally impossible to hop in and mix it up the normal way, to an extent, as a last resort. Put all that together and maybe you can win more often than not. The silver lining is that you only have to kill one.

Battle Circuit seems to be Captain Commando: Improved Version, although I remember encountering a ton of gimmicky and weird shit in that game. And the last boss is complete BS.

I definitely see it in the character designs. Maybe some of BC's special moves descended from CC's weirder attacks like Cap's flamethrower. It's got some similarly weird bosses too.

Gameplay-wise, Captain Commando doesn't have as unique an identity compared to Capcom's other beatemups. The guns are better in AvP, Punisher etc; the horses in KotR and WoF are better than CC's useless mechs. The characters aren't that strongly differentiated. Imagine how different the game would feel if you could end chains with throws, like FF, WoF, etc. It's sort of interesting that you have two sets of jabs (standing and walking-forward)... wish that had caught on more but it's a bit subtle. Something about the feel of the game and the basic physics of the way attacks land just happens to sit right with me though.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Finally cleared both Captain Commando and Knuckle Bash. Very glad to have nailed the first of those in particular.

Captain Commando is better than I would have said it was years ago. Its combat is a little too simple and flat compared to the higher-tier Capcom stuff - no strike throws, low damage, throws being barely stronger than your attack strings, enemy types being largely similar to each other - but it gets enough of the fundamentals right to be a very fun, fast-paced, simpler brawler, especially when played with the infinite which improves the pacing of the game a lot. (To be honest I would still say the game is below par for Capcom standards if played without the infinite.)

The bosses are a big problem though. Shtrom's absurd divekick and Doppel's uncontrollable special-requiring randomness once he splits make them both annoying fights (Doppel is at least reasonably manageable as long as you bring a bunch of health into the fight though) but they're workable and reasonably fun if a bit poorly-considered - but Monster, double Shtrom, and Genocide are all terrible boss fights; the last one especially (he can be cheesed, at least, but fighting him directly is probably not gonna work out). I think there are enough poor, overly random bosses in the game that I hesitate to say whether it's a great beat-em-up, even though the standard combat is really enjoyable.

Knuckle Bash is fun if obviously flawed. Its wacky presentation and weird slightly-nonlinear structure make it appealing, and it has enough unique twists - being able to walk while punching, grab pummels being a central source of damage and each enemy type having unique grab escape times, almost every enemy in the game being unique to that room - that it's fun to see through to the end. It has some very weird-feeling collision detection on a handful of fights and a few enemies you have to fight in awkward ways due to overbearing hitboxes, but on the whole it's fast and dense enough that it was very fun to get a clear in despite its fundamentals being messy.

[Air Master Burst]

Finally cleared both Captain Commando and Knuckle Bash. Very glad to have nailed the first of those in particular.

Knuckle Bash is pretty dope despite being kinda jank. I wish Toaplan had made a few more belt-scrollers, I think they could've nailed it (Gazelle's Sailor Moon might be evidence of this, although I'm not sure how many Toaplan people actually worked on it).

Also, excellent job on the Captain Commando clear! I recommend Battle Circuit next, or maybe Armored Warriors if you want a real challenge.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Thank you! Knuckle Bash really was enjoyable once I worked out a couple of the weirder boss fights. Its aesthetics really help sell it; it has a lot of really hard-hitting attack animations that make it feel great to smash through enemies.

I've actually already cleared Battle Circuit and Armored Warriors! Battle Circuit is one of my favorite entries in the genre, but I have mixed feelings about Armored Warriors - bluntly, I only cleared it with the jetpack cheese - just to see if I could - and don't know how motivated I am to go back and try to clear it normally. It seems far and away the most difficult of Capcom's brawlers by a tremendous margin if played normally, far outstripping Final Fight - but iconoclast's clear does make it look fun, and it has great aesthetics, so maybe I'll go back to it and try and learn it properly someday.

I don't know what game I'll go for next. The ones I have the most progress on are Sailor Moon, Knights of the Round, and Double Dragon 2, which could all be fun - but maybe BIL's recent clears will get me to give Ninja Gaiden a real shot.

[BIL]

I don't know what game I'll go for next. The ones I have the most progress on are Sailor Moon, Knights of the Round, and Double Dragon 2, which could all be fun - but maybe BIL's recent clears will get me to give Ninja Gaiden a real shot.

Had a great time with Ninja Gaiden. R2RKMF is unified at last! now staunch arcade loyalists Randorama and BLOODF can't complain it's named after the FC game.

I already want to go back and improve on my overly-safe first clear... I can consistently handle Round 4's big onslaught out in the open, now. It's all in the game's deceptively agile movement; both the 8way run, the emergency superjump, and my big missing link - the plain old regular jump. You have just enough time to jump free of a crowd, land near a would-be punisher, and hop clear before they retaliate; even with the fastest-striking Kickers which dominate that setpiece. (they look like Luchadores to me, especially with their dropkick combo, and STRONG TEAM's clear love of Puroresu; gonna have to search up some official enemy names)

Before I was like "Buddy, WTF?!" Mark of a quality action game, or just quality game, period. Play should continue to evolve beyond mere survival!

They took an an unusual approach to movement overall, reminding me of Ikari or Gain Ground; where you're quite alarmingly slow, but so is everyone else, battles unfolding like a relentless underwater RTS. As with those games, it's a unique slow-burn intensity. A few bosses have a real "duel to the death on a postage stamp" pressure, with a single interfering zako forcing you to juggle and improv.

Only real complaint is, I wish you could speed the scrolling up. When I revisit an action game I've learned to survive, I like to haul ass where I can. It's really just Round 2's opening where I get antsy though.

I'm surprised to say I actually like Wild Fang the most, of the Strong Team beltscroll duo. "Surprised," as WF's one-enemy-per-attack policy isn't a favourite of mine, and I really smacked face-first into it, early on. But again, having learned to use the movement to my advantage (marginally quicker than NG's, though still on the low side), it really opened up. It's actually the more forgiving game of the two, in hindsight, though both will wipe out your lifebar on one misjudged attack.

I really dig the "boxer, not brawler" ethos of these games. The RNG drops sound like a disaster on paper - some runs are comically more generous with swords and Dragons than others - but they play so solidly under even the worst luck, I forgot about it pretty quickly. They're also full of the attention to detail I've come to expect from Tecmo's AC team. Those onslaughts in NG, the enemies are uniquely single-down; one good combo or throw will punch a nice opening into the horde. And Wild Fang's most annoying backstabbers (Drunkers and Minotaurs), their attacks are powerless to break your mounted combo; allowing you to neutralise them and savage their comrades in one fell swoop. As with Rygar and its countless subtle advantages, there's this distinct sense of the designers wanting you to discover this stuff.

[velo]

How's Asterix Slap Em All? Looks like it got a sequel recently.

[Kino]

Inspired by Kossy recently skyrocketing the WR to previously unfathomable heights, I finally pulled off a decent score run in the first Denjin Makai. Still got some work to do before I can even come within striking distance, but I'll keep at it.

B'mup fans tend to ignore this one in favor of it's sequel Guardians, and rightfully so. Guardians is more fluid, the movesets are more robust, your dash inputs don't get eaten, shit like this never happens lmao... but there is one particular area where I believe DM1 has the upper hand.

So, belt scrollers have a reputation for being unsatisfying for scoreplay, but there's a case to be made this game was a rare exception. At the heart of it, Denjin Makai is Gunnail in b'mup form; the lower your health, the higher your score multiplier. At moderate health, all score is doubled, and at 10% or less health, all score is quadrupled. Simple enough, but there's just one issue: Denjin Makai is a one life game. In a genre like this, with enemy AI being so unpredictable, you can imagine what a nerve-wracking experience being one hit away from death at all times is.

Furthermore, when at low health, you have access to a Desperation Move. It takes a couple seconds to activate, and drains 100% of your power meter, but it yields the highest amount of points of any of your special moves. Needless to say, you'll be using this move alot on serious score runs. Macaw theorized on a (sadly lost to time) Gamengai thread that Belva had the highest scoring potential out of anyone, since his "Thunder Break" Desperation nets 10K points per hit, as opposed to most of the other characters who get a mere 5K or less (Tulks also gets 10K, but his glacial movement speed makes him useless, don't use him). At cursory glance, this made perfect sense. However, as Kossy proved in recent months, Macaw underestimated the versatility of Iyo's "Fire Storm".

Whereas all other characters remain stationary during their DM, Iyo has the unique ability to move around while she's performing hers. This allows her to earn on certain formations (the barrels on the Highway, the unarmed ambushing enemies in Bay Side, etc.) where others such as Belva don't have enough time to deploy their DM. Also makes her much more viable in practice, since she can try to maneuver out of harm's way before her DM ends. If Belva misses any of his targets, he's likely to eat a combo during the recovery.

Not sure if it's coincidence or tremendous foresight on WinkySoft's part, but they successfully subvert the usual pitfalls b'mup scoring suffers from. There's only one section in the entire game with infinitely-spawning enemies, and they wisely made the timer very short during that fight. Reliance on random point items is similarly at a minimum; there's one screen where you have to correctly guess which enemy will drop a Gold Trophy, but aside from that everything is more or less 'fixed'. No mind-numbing hour-long milkfests, no suiciding all your surplus lives away, no praying for the most lucrative RNG drop, just gotta keep throwing caution to the wind to see any progress. As it should be.


Oh yeah, slight tangent about Guardians, while we're kind of on the topic. If you've ever wondered why that game appeared rushed, why the main villain from DM1 is now the protag etc., a very persistent Korean superfan cracked the case back in 2021. He tracked down planner Nozomu Yamagishi, and the long & short of it is basically:

• Guardians began production under the title "Denjin Makai II"
• Banpresto, seemingly unimpresto with the sales of the first game, refuse to release a sequel & demand that WinkySoft retool it
• Due to budgetary reasons + an impending deadline + some devs still adamant about making DM2, many elements of the original Denjin Makai remain in the final product
• Guardians is delivered mid '94 in incomplete form, no soundtrack, no end credits, voice acting & story removed. Yamagishi and a couple other devs resign out of disgust with the situation
• Banpresto dusts the game off a year later, hastily pop in a soundtrack & end credits, Guardians is released late '95
• Yamagishi & co. don't regard the game as "Denjin Makai II", despite it's roots. While half the playable roster were from the original DM, they're considered part of an alternate continuity
• Girulian becoming the new main character was going to have something to do with the demon that possessed him in DM1 being defeated. This was axed along with the rest of the story [Surprised by this, honestly. It would've made more sense for his face-turn having to do with him telling the truth about Central Command becoming tyrannical]
• "P. Belva" stands for "Progresso Belva"? Macaw's theory of it being "Powered Belva" was way cooler sounding
• We still have no explanation on what the deal was with this sign, rip

Hooray for executive meddling!

6/18/24: edited for clarity's sake + corrected a couple false statements

[BIL]

^ Superb post! Was always curious about DM1's scoreplay; I remember Macaw's Gamengai posts you mention. Goddamn, it really has been a while.

Oh yeah, slight tangent about Guardians, while we're kind of on the topic. If you've ever wondered why that game appeared rushed, why the main villain from DM1 is now the protag etc., a very persistent Korean superfan cracked the case back in 2021. He tracked down planner Nozomu Yamagishi, and the long & short of it is basically:

Splendid dev lore

[Sima Tuna]

Denjin Makai and Guardians are both on my "to play" list. I keep hoping for an official port, even though that will probably never happen. I should just set it up in emulation, along with AvP and Cadillacs.

[Sumez]

Coincidentally just happened to pop my DM2/Guardians PCB into the cabinet yesterday. Played a single credit and enjoyed what I played.
What's "the" character to play? There's a lot to play from, and I'm not sure I have the patience to experiment in depth with all of them, but the chick I picked seemed cool, and quite traditionalSome of the more flashy ones seem really interesting too.

[Kino]

What's "the" character to play?

Girulian, his combos are way too satisfying. Running bulldog into drill kick into axe kick all day long.

Skullbyule is said to be the easiest to 1CC with, but I didn't find his playstyle as interesting, from my brief experience. The girls are unanimously considered bottom tier, should prolly avoid them.

[BrianC]

Dang! Denjin Makai has a remix of Eye of The Tiger during the final boss? Crazy!

[Sumez]

What's "the" character to play?

Girulian, his combos are way too satisfying. Running bulldog into drill kick into axe kick all day long.

Skullbyule is said to be the easiest to 1CC with, but I didn't find his playstyle as interesting, from my brief experience. The girls are unanimously considered bottom tier, should prolly avoid them.

Thanks! I was considering Girulian if only because he seemed the most "standard". But Tulks looks really up my alley as well. I love grab/throw focused characters.

[Sumez]

Unfortunately my available time with the cab these days is extremely limited, but I managed to get a short play as Girulian the other day, as well as two full runs as Tulks.

Unsurprisingly I'm enjoying this game a lot. It feels extremely easy for an arcade beat'em up as well. Even when it's going poorly, there's usually a health refill right around the corner - I've already managed to get through in two credits, so a 1CC should probably just be a question of figuring out the bosses that are currently stumping me. I'm still not sure on the big robot boss, and the jumping thing with two individually flying heads seems manageable, though I'm still struggling.
Also, the second phase of the final boss keeps getting me with his grabs, ground spikes, and other stuff going on. I think I have a plan for the final phase however.

I latched on to Tulks immediately after switching to him. He doesn't feel massively different from Girulian - but I always enjoy the focus on grabs and throws.

[BulletMagnet]

Capcom recently announced a Marvel fighting game collection, which includes a bonus game, namely the Punisher beat-em-up. Is this the first home version it's gotten?

[Air Master Burst]

Capcom recently announced a Marvel fighting game collection, which includes a bonus game, namely the Punisher beat-em-up. Is this the first home version it's gotten?

Well, that's an insta-buy.

It did have a fairly unimpressive Genesis port back in the day.

ETA: OK, I generally don't care about fighters much but that lineup is absolutely fucking STACKED. Children of the Atom, MSH, and XvSF were all formative games, and MVC is always a good time.

Of course, I'm still buying it for Punisher because Punisher is amazing.