Beat 'em Ups (Including Switch List)

[BIL]

Working as intended, it's Son of Ninja Gaiden feat. Kong

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.

SAR is an excellent comparison! A couple of late 80s gems with showstopping style and first-class design prowess... lesser-known than several iconic predecessors, easily as good. Seek THE FACTS, or face NO FUTURE!

I only wish SNK's game had a beautiful ACA release like Ikari and Guevara etc. It's by far the best rotary topdown run/gun they ever published, imo. SNK 40th Anniversary's version is just about tolerable, at least on PS4 (can't speak for the Switch one), with the game's sheer excellence carrying it over the line. Those Digital Eclipse shitbirds screwed up the LS-30 emulation, so you have to manually hold the direction you want, or your space marine bro will just point n' shoot like it's Contra. 3; Easily worth putting up with, though, especially with such perfectly-judged player VS enemy balancing.

[Sima Tuna]

Anyone on here excited for Double Dragon Gaiden. I kinda am. The devs have proven they have the ability to make a decent beat em up in the past. I never played Streets of Red but channels I trust said it was at least solid, if unremarkable. While I enjoyed Double Dragon 4 quite a bit (which marks me out from reviewers who played it,) I did feel at the time that ArcSys needed to evolve the visuals away from the same reused assets. The new DD Gaiden has a great look to it, even if the heads are a little too big for my personal taste. But it looks like the environments lean more heavily into post-apocalyptia, which has always been one of the more interesting yet less explored parts of DD's world. Plenty of beat em ups stole ideas from Fist of the North Star, but rarely did they fully steal the setting. I can only think of maybe Undercover Cops and Crime Fighters 3 that feel properly post-apocalyptic.

The wide variety of playable characters look awesome. That was one of my favorite features from Double Dragon 4. I love the idea of playing as a tag team of Abobo and Burnov. The movesets seem appropriately flavorful as well. Abobo's sprite is adorable and his little hammer fists mashing the ground make me smile.

The game is going to be "roguelike" but who knows what the fuck that means. Every arcade game is a "roguelike" just without metaprogression (plenty of true roguelikes don't have metaprogression anyway.) I'm guessing it will be like Fight 'n' Rage, which isn't a roguelike but has coins you can use to buy shit in the store. That passes for "roguelike" by some definition lmao.

Bimmy and Jammy look ok. I'm glad they aren't clones but have their own movesets.

I am seriously tempted to buy this day one. I normally never buy any game day one, let alone a beat em up (because good beat em ups are rare.) But this one is very appealing to me personally. What do you guys think?

[Sumez]

It's funny how people have come to expect "metaprogression" from anything marketed as a "roguelike", given that concept is pretty much contrary to the entire idea of one

[Sima Tuna]

It's funny how people have come to expect "metaprogression" from anything marketed as a "roguelike", given that concept is pretty much contrary to the entire idea of one

Just today I had to laugh at a review I saw for Double Dragon Gaiden. When they got to the value-for-money portion of the review, they said something like this:

Considering we almost cleared the game in a single sitting, normally we'd say the price is too high. But considering the roguelike nature and replayability, we feel the price is completely fair.

And I had to laugh when I heard that. Immediately, I thought "Yeah, that's why they made it a roguelike, innit?" That's why developers of arcade genres like shmups and beat em ups throw "roguelike" into their game description or somewhere in the unlock system. They throw in that tiny bit of randomness so reviewers will pick it up and tweak their scores up. Because reviewers don't know shit about arcade genres and replayability, but they sure do understand the current year "roguelike" craze.

(That review was from SwitchUp btw.)

Also I agree that proper roguelikes should not have metaprogression. Unlocks? Sure. Unlock more classes or whatever after you accrue x amount of hours in the game. I don't care about that as long as the classes are sidegrades rather than upgrades. But dying your way to victory shouldn't be as prevalent as it has become in roguelike/roguelite design.

[velo]

Streets of Rage 4 DLC is the only "roguelike" beatemup I've played. Mayhem Brawler 2 is supposed to be a roguelike and I bet it's what the upcoming Shredder's Revenge DLC will be. It's probably an overdue trend and I'm not looking forward to it. Adding luck-based mechanics doesn't automatically add replayability to an action game.

It's funny how people have come to expect "metaprogression" from anything marketed as a "roguelike", given that concept is pretty much contrary to the entire idea of one

Yeah, nowadays "roguelikes" aren't even a fusion of real roguelike + action game, they're these grindy mobile game abominations. The SoR4 roguelike mode was pretty well done for what it was but even there it's something to unlock stuff with, not something I'd particulary want to play for its own sake.

[Sima Tuna]

SoR4's roguelike mode crashed on me the two times I played it. It happened on wave 14ish and pissed me off so much I haven't gone back. If you're going to force me to play your shitty mode to unlock alternate movesets then it better be fucking stable!

[Mortificator]

So gather round shmups fans cause now I do ken
Double Dragon brothers and their roguish Gaiden

* rogue as defined by Professional Gaming Journalists, reality may differ, see Sima for details

This is a 6-button game: jump, attack, action, special, run, tag. "Action" is a grab for some characters and a strike for others.

In a Technos belt-scroller, you'd have various attacks based on your input, your facing, your state, the enemy's state, or some combination. Not so much here. There's your basic combo, running attack, two jumping attacks (normal and coming off a running jump or double jump), and whatever's on your action button. The moveset variety comes from your specials. Each character has three, one from pressing special while your stick / pad is neutral, one while you're holding sideways, and one while you're holding up or down. You can expect these to have higher damage and some invincibility. Your specials cost meter and can only be used when the meter's full. It'll slowly recharge on its own, faster if you dish out damage. A full meter is also required to tag in your partner, though this doesn't cost meter, and instead's on cooldown as the character you switched from exits the screen. You choose a "primary" and a "secondary" character at the start, but as far as I can tell there's no difference in role.

For scoring, it incorporates a combo counter similar to SoR4 that thankfully does not get zeroed if you're hit, but the primary scoring goal is something different: simultaneous KOs with specials. A few other things count as special KOs besides your literal special attack, including weapon and environmental kills. You get more cash the more simultaneous KOs, and if you get at least three at once you also get a food item (which will give cash on consumption if your health is full). Cash functions as both your main currency and your score. At the end of each block, four random upgrades will be presented for each character. You then buy a single upgrade for Dude A and a single for Dude B, or choose the fifth option for one or both of them and keep stockpiling cash.

You have no extra lives. If both your characters get their asses killed, you can buy a double revive for an escalating cost each time you pony up. Once you're dun with a run - one way or the other - your run's file is deleted and your cash is converted into the sub currency, tokens. Let's rewind for a second... at the start of a run there's a menu with options to adjust the difficulty of various aspects up and down (Amusingly, the option to disable continues is called permadeath. Roguelike language really was the One Weird Trick to get reviewers to stop bitching about classic arcade design). The aggregate of all those determines how favorable the cash -> tokens exchange rate is, with harder settings lowering the cost per token. Token collection is the quasi-roguelike-like metaprogression element. They're used for unlockables, and for continues, separate from the cash-based revive system. The only thing there that really matters to players like us is unlocking characters.

There are four normal stages, with end bosses homaging DD I-III-IV-Return (V presses its ear to the door, thoroughly cucked). You can select them in any order and the ones you tackle later will accordingly be made longer and tougher, as well as getting score sidequests. They have environmental hazards roughly on par with the first DD. Once you beat those four, the benevolent mayor will give you the option to retire with a fat cash reward, or you can go on to the fifth and final stage.

I went with Billy and Jimmy my first run and cruised through most of the game, but that came to a violent end in the finale when fighting the four big bosses at once. I'm talking complete anal destruction. Tagging to get out of combos, something it's specifically designed for, and the character I tagged from being killed in the seconds he stands around before hopping offscreen. Reviving with no invincibility time, getting teabagged by three guys + whatever the chick equivalent is before any inputs can register, losing both characters again. In short order my cash was gone and my save was deleted after paying out a measly 5 tokens.

I did a second run, this time with Marian and Abobo, and cleared it that time to a 50-token payout. Marian's pistol and rocket launcher almost break the game for survival, enemies don't understand how to handle projectiles, though you'll feel very Willy bringing guns to a kung fu fight. Abobo naturally handles the close encounters. The devs should do something about the final boss fights, though. I'm all for brutal challenges, but replaying the entirety of a mostly easy game just to retry the one really hard part has never been for me.

All in all, I'd rate Advance, II Famicom, and II arcade above it, yet Gaiden's stronger than the rest of the Double Dragons. Which is kind of faint praise... for all that it's an icon in the genre, most DD games have been severly flawed in one way or another. But I enjoyed it and think I'll try a Linda / Lady Okada run now.

[BIL]

Superbly written, putting on my Runark newsboy cap and poaching for R2R index.

That sounds notably alright! I kinda blank at the whole journo-rogue thing. As you say, if it gets them to STFU and pick up the controller, without mangling the game beyond recognition? Cool beans. Silly buggers.

end bosses homaging DD I-III-IV-Return (V presses its ear to the door, thoroughly cucked).

Nature is healing!

[Sima Tuna]

(Amusingly, the option to disable continues is called permadeath. Roguelike language really was the One Weird Trick to get reviewers to stop bitching about classic arcade design). The aggregate of all those determines how favorable the cash -> tokens exchange rate is, with harder settings lowering the cost per token. Token collection is the quasi-roguelike-like metaprogression element. They're used for unlockables, and for continues, separate from the cash-based revive system. The only thing there that really matters to players like us is unlocking characters.

I noticed the "permadeath" toggle too. Another point where I gave a chuckle. It could have just as easily been called 1cc mode, changing nothing about the mechanics of the mode itself, and been received very differently by reviewers.

It's most telling here that Fight 'n' Rage uses an almost identical unlock system, but does not call it "roguelike" or use the term "roguelike" anywhere. Shops that sell unlockables aren't that uncommon in arcade-inspired console games.

I have a soft spot for Double Dragon 1 FC, personally. It and DD4 are the games I've played and enjoyed the most. DD4 is a pretty cheap (as in, inexpensive and quickly-made) game that feels decidedly no-budget, but the unlockable characters are fun to play with.

[spmbx]

Speaking of fight n rage, for the switch people that want physical games and missed the limited run: i noticed theres a 5th anniversary non limited release (soon?) out

[velo]

They throw in that tiny bit of randomness so reviewers will pick it up and tweak their scores up.

It's getting middling-to-bad reviews anway.

I see from playasia that a new Double Dragon collection is coming soon, with 1-4, Advance, and Return.

[Sima Tuna]

They throw in that tiny bit of randomness so reviewers will pick it up and tweak their scores up.

It's getting middling-to-bad reviews anway.

I see from playasia that a new Double Dragon collection is coming soon, with 1-4, Advance, and Return.

That's a real shame. Gaiden looks pretty cool and it sounds like the developers are planning to support it after release with patches to improve aspects players don't like as much.

Return and Advance would be pretty cool to have on my Switch. I already have 1-4 on Switch and don't need to buy them again. It's kinda weird that people are so harsh on Gaiden, considering the quality track record with Double Dragon. Most DD games are flawed in some way. Even Double Dragon 2 FC has the awful left/right attack control scheme instead of punch/kick. Double Dragon 3 FC makes you play on one life IIRC. Double Dragon FC has platforming sections and a dumb door puzzle. Even Double Dragon 4 brought back the awful platforming sections, although they are easier imo. Double Dragon Arcade has hilarious slowdown. DD Neon I haven't played and it might be awesome mechanically, but it seemed like a total meme game based on the full playthrough I watched.

[velo]

Return and Advance would be pretty cool to have on my Switch. I already have 1-4 on Switch and don't need to buy them again.

official announcement: https://www.arcsystemworks.jp/portal/post-25709/

Okay, here's the actual deal with the DD collection:

* Full collection of all six games is physical-only and Switch-only
* Return and Advance will be sold separately digitally for "HK$54.70" (~$7USD?) each, and those are for all consoles + PC
* 1-3 are the NES/FC versions. The most recent Switch ports didn't have a version/region select iirc and the announcement says "in English" so probably no FC versions in the west.

Double Dragon Advance is the big news here, assuming the port is solid.

Oh, and Neon is absolutely a "meme game", not quite so much "awesome mechanically". I really did enjoy it but once I was done with it, I was done. DDA, I'd like to have another go at.

[BIL]

DD Advance is the be-all end-all Technos brawler, pretty much. I love DD2AC's simple relentlessness and DD2FC's masterful 2 enemies max brutality, too, but if I had to pick one there'd be no question. If that game had been released on the MVS circa 1996, it's be regarded as Technos's latter-day masterpiece; the only other game that combines raw Technos brutality with post-FF streamlining this well is Crime Fighters 2. Even confined to GBA, it's fuckin powerful.

I'd love for it to get a decent console release, just so more people might give it a look without dragging out a Gamecube, GB Player and arcade stick (not that it isn't worth doing so for). It's easy to assume it was just a portable arcade DD1, when it's effectively an all-series arcade/console anthology, folded into a reimagined DD1AC. The best kind of love letter to an iconic series - stern but affectionate.

Director Muneki Ebinuma is a cool cat; said he was desperate to make up for what he saw as his failures in (the perfectly enjoyable imo) Return Of and Shadow Force; knocked it out of the park, by any measure. ala Alien Soldier's Hideyuki Suganami, he lamented a lack of cart space cutting down on features, but I think both games benefited from the resulting laser focus. 110% unrefined violence.

[Squire Grooktook]

ala Alien Soldier's Hideyuki Suganami, he lamented a lack of cart space cutting down on features, but I think both games benefited from the resulting laser focus. 110% unrefined violence.

By the way, that reminds me BIL (and forgive me if this is either off topic or something already brought to your attention) but have you seen some of this guys recent (ish) videos showing off some scrapped boss fights and cutscenes left on the catridge?

[BIL]

By the way, that reminds me BIL (and forgive me if this is either off topic or something already brought to your attention) but have you seen some of this guys recent (ish) videos showing off some scrapped boss fights and cutscenes left on the catridge?

Ha, I hadn't! Cheers, that is fascinating stuff! Jesus Christ, LOVE PENGUIN looks horrifying! Brrr, I'm glad that thing didn't appear in Act III's climactic underwater sequence, that shit would be Ecco levels of sleep paralysis demon. Seems like a pretty decent scrap too, although I wouldn't trade him for BugMax (always liked the raw physicality of mowing him and his pollen to ashes with nonstop bullet-cancelling Phoenix Force; can't compare with SHARPSTEEL or any of the beasts beyond the door for panache, nor indeed with Love Penguin! but I think he and the rando Shmup Snake™ beforehand are really there to let you recharge while cathartically tearing a couple mid-carders to bits with learned hyperaggression).

I guess Gunstar vet Melon Bread pulled rank on him for the game's "creepy sphere thing with bludgeoning appendages" spot!

I'm conflicted on the unused Epsilon-1 cutscene; it's awesome cinema, perfect for an opening attract mode; but it's also the kind of delay I'm glad the finished game goes without. I particularly love how Epsilon-One arrives in an eerie calm, following that relentless facility invasion; the uneasily gunfire-illuminated corridor firefight and tower climb, into another "turn lemons into napalm" exchange with Sunset Sting, and the subsequent ambush by Viblack, who suffers an all-time great boss pratfall, blind and on fire, crashing into Back Stringer's web, promptly getting his face devoured off; before a particularly vitriolic "kill this motherfucker before he drags you to hell" exchange, atop the poor dead bastard's twitching corpse. Apropos only the furiedly technical action... has this place gone to shit already? Half of these fuckers are at one another's throats, it seems! Just passing through, you fuckin feral abominations to Man Beast and God alike!

And after this wordlessly furied upward climb through hellish techno-jungle, bang, straight into dodging a ruthless hail of targeted lasers aboard the orbital elevator, before the BGM quiets, and the screen fades to white... fading back in to the one moment of peace and quiet in a very long stretch: a screen-spanning vision of cybernetic raptor death, hovering silently overhead. Not the deleted scene's spectacular show of force, just a wickedly personal, understated reveal. How'd this monstrosity get this close without Fou noticing? And why didn't it attack, bristling with killing technology? Hatred ~ I've Waited A Long Time For This Moment , I would venture - as per the intro crawl and manual, this showdown is quite literally as personal as it gets. And then all hell breaks loose.

AS uses lots of similar ellipses, giving it combined extremes of character and pace that actually make the midgame unskippable cutscene not only well-earned, but preternaturally welcome (I think so anyway; game's relentless!). It says something when your relaxing interlude is a scene of biblical destruction and mortal fury most other action games never dream of.

The game's dev process was by Suganami and Maegawa's accounts a nightmare ("a dangerous birth," the former memorably calls it); but it's the spectres of Silhouette Mirage and especially Guardian Heroes I think of, both of those games being easily on par with the MD Treasure Box trio (and Sin & Punishment)'s irrepressible hardcore joie de vivre, but also full of pace-sapping dialogue. But closer to home, also Hard Corps; I'd so shunt the st1 Cyclops's iconic walk-past to the earlier streets, a Cool Foreshadowing Detail™ to pick out amidst the rocketing pace; only for the big boi to just *WHAMMM* crash down out of nowhere as you reach the building summit, car in hand for a quasi-jumpscare. Didn't you notice him noticing you, amidst the pincering robo onslaught? Didn't you know your hunters were now the hunted? Now that's Interactive Fiction!

[Lander]

Goodness, this thread has sent me searching today!

First into Downtown Nekketsu by way of its adjacency to Double Dragon and co - When's the modern port of River City Ransom EX, eh? Wonderful rendition of the myth, it deserves better than languishing relatively unknown on the GBA.
(In the meantime, I suppose I'll pop Underground back in and see if it ever got those last few well-needed polish patches to round off the remaining rough edges! Pleasingly technical for an RCR game, but definitely with eyes bigger than its belly.)

And now the rare bounty of lost Alien Soldier content, and accompanying vivid rollercoaster BILpost; good stuff, Squire!

It's always been a mysterious game to my mind; perfectly understandable mechanically, but with enough Engrish Deep Lore to cover multiple regions (love the Breaking News! ticker text retranslating it back for the JP audience ), and accompanying implied narrative, it lands neatly in "I'll never fully understand" territory.

I daresay the new footage raises more questions than it answers on that front, particularly absent any japanese reading skill, but knowing a full story depiction was considered prior to falling back on straightforward ride-or-die action is an interesting reframing of the mystery.

And what a spectacle on that cutscene! I'm glad they prioritized making an exemplary 16-bit action game, but it aches slightly that we missed out on wild Treasure cinema from the Sin and Punishment-ish era, when their subject matter had no qualms about being dark, weird and gribbly.

[cfx]

Speaking of fight n rage, for the switch people that want physical games and missed the limited run: i noticed theres a 5th anniversary non limited release (soon?) out

To add a bit to this, Switch and PS5 have a non limited US release, and Europe has a limited version with extra tat for those plus also PS4. All are via Spanish publisher Selecta Vision. They're all shown here on this Playasia page:
https://www.play-asia.com/search/fight% ... 0000000000

Selecta Vision page is here:
https://www.selecta-vision.com/selectap ... iversario/

I assume the US versions are available whereever.

I'm waiting for Playasia to ship the PS4 version to me.

[velo]

I just started on Final Vendetta and I'm honestly a little disappointed by how much of a Streets of Rage 2/3 clone it is. We've already got The Takeover, Super Punch Patrol, obviously SoR4 (and SoRR), aaaand Mayhem Brawler takes a lot from SoR4. First impression seems like it has the potential to be maybe the best executed take on the classic SoR style, and it does have a couple of twists like ground attacks.

I didn't realize until now that Gekido got a modern port. Not as good as it looks, I take it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1032 ... s_Revenge/

A few OP Switch games not in OP's list...

An American Werewolf in LA: https://www.dekudeals.com/items/an-amer ... olf-in-l-a
Itadaki Smash https://www.dekudeals.com/items/itadaki-smash
The Tale of Clouds and Wind (QUByte Classics) https://www.dekudeals.com/items/the-tal ... e-classics
Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon's Fist, if it counts (looks like Spartan X I think?): https://www.dekudeals.com/items/xiaomei ... agons-fist
Pixel Game Maker Series DRAGON PEAK https://www.dekudeals.com/items/pixel-g ... ragon-peak
Dusty Raging Fist https://www.dekudeals.com/items/dusty-raging-fist
Moonfall Ultimate (maybe, not sure from screenshots/description) https://www.dekudeals.com/items/moonfall-ultimate

Practically everything that isn't A) a port of something 30 years old or B) one of the four or so recent BEUs every talks about looks pretty terrible though. I'm ot getting my hopes up that there are any hidden gems out there.

[BloodHawk]

A few OP Switch games not in OP's list...

An American Werewolf in LA: https://www.dekudeals.com/items/an-amer ... olf-in-l-a
Itadaki Smash https://www.dekudeals.com/items/itadaki-smash
The Tale of Clouds and Wind (QUByte Classics) https://www.dekudeals.com/items/the-tal ... e-classics
Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon's Fist, if it counts (looks like Spartan X I think?): https://www.dekudeals.com/items/xiaomei ... agons-fist
Pixel Game Maker Series DRAGON PEAK https://www.dekudeals.com/items/pixel-g ... ragon-peak
Dusty Raging Fist https://www.dekudeals.com/items/dusty-raging-fist
Moonfall Ultimate (maybe, not sure from screenshots/description) https://www.dekudeals.com/items/moonfall-ultimate

Thanks for pointing those out! I went ahead and added them to the list.

[Sima Tuna]

Gekido: Kintaro's Revenge is a very annoying game. It's one of those beat em ups where punching people often takes a backseat to navigating mazes, platforming and avoiding traps. The punching is snappy but lacks impact, since you are mostly hitting zombies and other creatures. It reminds me of Sengoku III in a bad way. Like that game, enemies take too long to kill imo. Unlike that game, you also have to solve puzzles, avoid hazards and backtrack.

I love the look of the game (and have ever since playing it on GBA,) but I don't think the gameplay is up to much. The engine and systems would be fun enough if you ran them through a total conversion mod that added decent level design and arcade progression.

[velo]

OK, cleared Ultra difficulty in Final Vendetta with Claire, but not feeling any pride in it because Claire is broken. Forward + punch + special executes her combo ending double kick without having to combo first. That's the best move in the game, in the same tier as the Double Dragon elbow and Splatterhouse 3 US spinkick. It's fast and stuffs practically every other attack and launches, so it can be freely spammed for crowd control, or used to start juggles.

After getting an enemy into the air, crossover w/running knee, then re-launch with the double kick, then repeat for infinite. Claire can launch with: the double kick, her standard combo, a running attack, or a grab. So she's a character who trades damage output for speed, except she can do 100% damage off of any random opener, even to bosses. She also has a safer throw than the grappler, so she's got everything.

I'm going to go back and try it with Duke. Of the three, he's the one who seems to need his whole movelist the most. I'm even starting to block now (it stops the girls' jumpkicks). He can infinite with crossover running uppercuts but the timing is harder and he needs more space for it.

[Sumez]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhH6hhBp4uU

The rushing beat sequel no one asked for, but secretly wanted!

[cfx]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhH6hhBp4uU

The rushing beat sequel no one asked for, but secretly wanted!

I'm very cautiously hopeful. I liked the first two in their Japanese versions, espeically the second game--if I recall the US ones were butchered. I never played the third.

[velo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhH6hhBp4uU

The rushing beat sequel no one asked for, but secretly wanted!

From the YT comments: "Hope they follow the steps of SOR4 without the "stubborn" aspect of some of the devs." I wonder what they could possibly mean.

DLC for Shredder's Revenge and Dawn of the Monsters has dropped. Compared to the (free) SoR4 DLC, they're both on the scrawny side. SR has roguelike mode plus two characters that play basically like the other seven, at least at first glance. DotM gets a new Voltron-like character, plus an arcade mode with two difficulties, "Normal" and "Nightmare". I cleared Normal on my first attempt. Nightmare looks suspiciously like they cranked up the damage/attack speed for enemies without bothering to playtest, just for the sake of showing up anyone who griped that the game is too easy. In the end you can parry/dodge everything, so I suppose it has to be doable, but it's rough going right out of the gate. Oh, and arcade mode has a "roguelike" option... have not played but based on the description it randomizes the upgrades you receive between levels and nothing else. Stretching that label transparently thin.

I'm only now jumping on the SR/DotM train, and having fun buuuut... just "but", the SR gripefest looks fairly exhaustive as-is. I think I've already put more time into DotM than I ever did DD Neon or RC Girls, and I'm not done yet, but it shares some of the same drawbacks as other Wayforward beat em ups. Maybe the new Rushing Beat can match the real heavyweights.

Another in the QUByte Classics series: the apparently pretty obscure SFC exclusive Gourmet Warriors aka Gourmet Sentai Barayaro now here for your console of choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYhzQuIpxcc

Don't think I've yet seen any comments around here on how the QUByte Classics games have turned out. Anybody have an opinion to share?

[cfx]

So brief it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing, but in Sega's just ended livestream for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, it was shown and stated that one of the included arcade games will be Spikeout.

EDIT: Shown in the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngnvrJNzfYY&t=270s

[Marc]

So brief it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing, but in Sega's just ended livestream for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, it was shown and stated that one of the included arcade games will be Spikeout.

EDIT: Shown in the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngnvrJNzfYY&t=270s

The crafty fuckers are getting two sales from me now, even though I'm long done with the series!

[cfx]

Website for Rushing Beat X with trailer: https://city-connection.co.jp/rushingbeatx/en/

I don't really like the look of that; looks stiff too.

[Sima Tuna]

Reminds me too much of The Takeover, which I thought sucked.

[cfx]

I was thinking it looked like Mayhem Brawler, but I can see The Takeover too now that you mention it.