Together Retro: Beat-'Em-Ups

[lordb0rb4]

Hey Ex, you really should not use "beat" when it comes to arcade games my friend, they're really designed to eat as much credits as possible.
I think 1CCers are NOT the norm.

It's hard for me to feel like I really beat an arcade game, when I can just endlessly feed it virtual quarters to continue until the credits. For me arcade games are mostly just content tourism. There are ways to make them harder of course; "I only have three dollars in credits." or go all out and 1CC one I suppose. You're right though, arcade games in general were designed to be shiny and eat all your money.

I know what you mean and that's one of the reasons i avoided for a long time Arcade games too, but there are TONS of jewels that no gamer should avoid.
The most confortable mindset for me is to try not to "abuse" and play a ton of it ina short period of time, it just doesn't feel right...

[Xeogred]

Just finished Cadillacs and Dinosaurs in 1P. This might not be the most original beat 'em up out there—it feels a lot like a mashup of SoR 2, Growl, TMNT 4 and Final Fight—but it does manage to distinguish itself through the dinosaur/dino mutation theme, some colorful characters, a great synth rock/jazz rock OST and several minor but important design choices that make it play really smoothly. For example you can jump sideways, keep running while changing directions, and if you grab a machine gun you can strafe while mowing down a whole group of enemies like domino pieces (which also happens rarely enough to not get old). It all comes together quite well and elevates it to being one of the best brawlers I've played so far.

Oh and does anyone know what the second difficulty slider does?

Full thoughts: https://minirevver.weebly.com/cadillacs ... s-arc.html

Yeah overall, probably the best one I played this month.

[Sarge]

Yeah, it's worth acknowledging what they were built for, and just enjoy the gameplay and the content.

Speaking of which, I did some content voyeurism of King of Dragons again this afternoon, via Capcom Classics Reloaded on PSP. Good emulation there, actually. It also shows me how solid the SNES port turned out; that one I can beat legit. This one I fed more quarters into. Apparently I'd changed the settings to max my lives out, so I burned through around 18 doing so. That's not so bad, actually. I used the wizard this time; that makes for an interesting change of pace. As you might guess, he starts pretty weak, but ends up quite strong by the end as his staff upgrades.

Honestly, the upgrades are my favorite part of the game. I know that in some cases, they seem merely cosmetic, but I did notice that the game will still throw some of the older enemies at you so you can see how much your power has increased. Cool stuff. I also discovered a few new strats that I never employed before, so I figure I might be able to put together some better runs at some point.

I used to think the game was (slightly) inferior to Knights of the Round, just because I love that game's meaty-feeling combat, but seeing how much the characters can differ in KoD really gives it a lot of replay value. Definitely play both if you haven't. I'll give KoD a whopping 9/10. This is arcade Capcom at its finest.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Solid game. I always kind of thought of it as a prototype for Capcom’s Dungeons & Dragons games.

Though I think I had a sort of revelation these last few days. Beat 'em ups are one (the only?) genre where I have a hard time getting into the really early stuff. I just don't enjoy games like Kung-Fu Master and Renegade, and even some fof the late 80s classics. Those early-mid 90s gems are just so much better to me. Contrast this to genres like shooters and platformers, where I can't get enough of the primitive single-screeners.

I saw this post and remembered how much I love Kung Fu (NES). As a result, I went way down the rabbit hole researching the series, and decided to play through Kung Fu Master (GB). It’s actually a really solid, albeit incredibly short, game, and I knocked it out this afternoon. I might also have to try out Spartan X-2 (Famicom) and Vigilante (TG16) so I can say I’ve run the series.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Alright then y'all. Should I attempt these?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Yes!!!...even if only to see if they still work...or out of morbid curiosity...IMO, PC games didn’t really “get” action-oriented gameplay until people invented the FPS genre.

[marurun]

That's not entirely true. Some very early action puzzle games were quite reaction-heavy, like Lode Runner and Boulderdash.

[lordb0rb4]

Alright then y'all. Should I attempt these?

I just loved this picture, post impressions ASAP!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yes!!!...even if only to see if they still work...or out of morbid curiosity...

Note only do they work but I also managed to scrounge up this (literal) beast:

I'm gonna have a run at these. Wish me luck.

[Sarge]

I played through Dungeon Magic, the Taito arcade game, not the NES RPG (published by Taito, created by Natsume). It sports an interesting isometric view, but the combat system doesn't actually let you attack on the diagonals; it still plays like a belt-scroller. The hit detection feels a bit off to me at times, which impacts my enjoyment a bit.

You get to choose from four characters: the swordsman, a bigger dude that punches things (and sometimes slashes), an elf girl that kicks stuff (and does a flipping leg slam, ouch!), and a wizard. All of them have a somewhat standard assortment of moves: a dashing attack, a normal combo, the ability to grab and punch or throw enemies, and unique supers. They also have the ability to charge up attacks. Each character also does something different in that case. For instance, the elf shoots a bow, and a much more powerful charged bow attack when charged to the maximum. The wizard can shoot a fireball, or let loose an area attack when fully charged. The puncher will actually pull out his sword for a large slash, and it sends out a shockwave at maximum. This adds a little bit of character to the game, along with the solid sprite work.

Once again, though, brawlers can have interesting mechanics, but miss the "feel" to elevate it, and I think the iffy hit detection just drags the game down too much, despite all the interesting things going on here (including a rudimentary leveling system and weapon upgrades). I'd say the game gets a 6/10 from me. A little better than average because of the presentation, but really lacking that extra oomph to elevate it to a genre great.