Genre of the Month (MAR 2024 TR) - Brutal Beat 'em Ups

[opa]

How's the SoR4 OST?

[Ziggy]

Super Double Dragon is actually my favorite game in the series. It has some interesting mechanics such as the block and catch mechanic, where you can anticipate an enemy's attack and take advantage of it. Also, you can hold down a button to charge up a special move, which comes in handy too. The music is catchy as well and I love the song on the stage where you are riding atop the truck. That song is just fantastic. The tune that plays at the end of the game is amazing too. Miss playing this game in two player mode with my friends!

I love Super Double Dragon! I feel like it has a combination of play mechanics that makes it feel fairly unique. I like how when you put someone in a hold, you can back attack other enemies. It's fun to alternate between hitting someone in a hold and someone behind you. The game plays at a snails pace though. I have to play it for a while to get use to the speed, and then I'm good. But if I was just playing another beat em up that's faster (which most are) then it just feels almost unbearably slow.

Knights of the Round is a great pick for sure. I never had a chance to play it back in the day, but it was a game I saw ads for and was curious about. I finally managed to pick-up a cart a few years ago, and my buddy and I had a few great couch co-op sessions with it.

I briefly owned this one on the SNES and thought it was OK (it's been a long time since then). But I recently just played a bit of the arcade version and thought it was fantastic. It's part of the Capcom Beat em Up Bundle that I mentioned earlier. That's definitely a fantastic package.

Final Fight on the SNES may have been my first experience with a game in the genre. One of the first times I ever saw a Super Nintendo was when my cousins brought their console and a copy of Final Fight to my uncle's house, while he was hosting a family party. My cousins commandeered his living room TV and I watched them play Final Fight while the adults were partying away. I was amazed by the game back then. Lol.

Awesome memory!

Final Fight on the SNES is a perfect example of how some ports weren't limited by the console but by how much they wanted to spend on memory. Since memory was expensive back then, someone made the financial decision to shove the game into 8Mbits (for comparison, games up to 32Mbits in size became more common by the end of the SNES's life) instead of just using however much memory it takes to make the best quality port possible. It wasn't uncommon to see a loss of frames and voice samples in an arcade to home console conversion, and sometimes that is because of a console's limitations. But with Final Fight, we lost 2-player game play, a playable character and an entire level. And I always found it strange that not long after they released (limited) Final Fight Guy. I've read that it had a few minor enhancements, but it basically just swaps Cody for Guy and I always found that bizarre. But yeah, luckily this one is also included in the Capcom Beat em Up Bundle.

How's the SoR4 OST?

I think it's pretty good. I mean, nothing is ever gonna compare to the SoR2 soundtrack because of the nostalgia attached.

I haven't had much luck getting a MAME emulator properly setup on my Mac, so I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of great games!

To be honest, I just don't have the time or patience these days to mess around with MAME. Although I really need to eventually, there's so many arcade titles that never had ports. I don't know if it's easier to set up and use in 2024, but the last time I was messing around with MAME it was kind of annoying to set up and use. So buying something like the Capcom Beat em Up Bundle feels sorta like, "Why pay money, you can play those on MAME for free." But when you buy it, it works great out of the box and you don't have to waste any time setting things up.

The fact that we are getting new TMNT games, a new Double Dragon that came out recently, and two new Streets of Rage games (SoR 4 and the new one Sega is working on) is wild.

The genre is most definitely NOT dead.

Ah, right, I forgot about the Double Dragon game. Neon, right? How was that one?

Speaking of that series, Double Dragon Trilogy is 80% off on GoG right now. So it's only $1.19 USD.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/double_dragon_trilogy

[Ziggy]

Sorry for my haphazard posting!

I’ll post more later, but I really love playing these types of games with my children.

We shamelessly credit-feed many of them, but we’ve gotten pretty good at others. My son, who’s 12, and I legitimately completed every 2-Player game in both the Double Dragon and Streets of Rage series. It was a great time, and it was a cool bonding experience.

My son, my daughter, and I also competed both Capcom D&D games, TMNT, and Night Slashers. (Night Slashers RULES, BTW.) We’re thinking about picking up Fight ‘N Rage or Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for our next 3-Player beat ‘em up.

In short, this is a solid, accessible genre that’s a great way to introduce people to classic video games!

Awesome post, thanks for sharing!

About it being a bonding experience... I don't have children, but when I was in my 20's I beat TMNT2 on NES with a friend. As stupid as it sounds, I remember thinking that it felt like a bonding experience. Something about conquering a beat 'em up together, I don't know. I can remembering us both being on our last lives, on our last continue, and fighting the last boss. I lost my last life, and while I sat and watched my friend on his last life with low health (possibly one hit left) I remember thinking there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he would win. But he did, he beat it! It was one of the few cherished gaming moments I have from my adult life.

Scott Pilgrim, I had a lot of fun playing that one with my brother. Was it this thread that someone posted that this game might not be as fun single player versus multi player? I actually have never played it single player, but I've been meaning to circle back to it. I think I picked it up on Switch a while back when it was re-released.

I'm a big fan of beat 'em ups as well, and I'm glad this is the topic for our March discussion! Totally agree with prfsnl on the genre being accessible and a good way to introduce people to classic gaming.

One thing that I really like about the genre is that while some games can have depth, they can also be mindless button mashers. Which is exactly what I want sometimes.

[Note]

Streets of Rage 4 is fucking awesome! I picked it up on GoG, and it's definitely worth the sale price. I think it might be worth full price. It plays really smooth and it has the satisfying and addicting THWAMP when you hit people.

+1

Streets of Rage 4 is the best modern game I have ever played. It is absolutely fantastic!!

SOR4 is up there for me too. My partner and I played through it quite a few times when it was originally released and we still go back to it. When I first saw the trailers, I wasn't a fan of the art style, but it grew on me over time.

How's the SoR4 OST?

Regarding the OST, I think it's pretty good. It's not on the level of SOR2, but I think it has some catchy tunes.

So buying something like the Capcom Beat em Up Bundle feels sorta like, "Why pay money, you can play those on MAME for free." But when you buy it, it works great out of the box and you don't have to waste any time setting things up.

I do have the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle on the Switch! I bought an import copy a few years ago and finished all the games on it. Great stuff on there, for sure! Battle Circuit really stuck out to me. What a fun and strange mix of selectable characters. I originally purchased it so my partner and I can experience some more beat 'em ups together.

However, there are a lot of interesting beat 'em ups that never saw the light of day on modern compilations or re-releases. I played a bit of Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder in a Barcade location near me, but I'd love to sit down and actually finish it. In a similar style, Rastan Saga III: The Warrior Blade is another arcade only beat 'em up that that I'd like to try out. But yeah, I used to have a version of MAME setup on an old Mac, and I don't recall it being too difficult, but I don't remember what application I used at the time. I recently tried again, and was having a tough time with it.

[marurun]

The thing about the SoR 4 OST is that it doesn’t exactly sound like an SoR soundtrack. It’s great and a good listen and fits the action, but it’s not quite as SoR as some might want.

[Ziggy]

One thing I'm a fan of SoR4 for is the graphics. When this game came out, my initial reaction was that I wasn't sure about the art direction. But I think they made a good choice. They could have emulated 16-bit style graphics, but that's not always the best choice. I always love the hand drawn style graphics. This looks more like Comix Zone than Streets of Rage, although it looks like it could easily be an evolution from SoR3. Say, if this game game out on Dreamcast. I think a 2.5D look would have been a mistake.

I made it up to what I think is the last boss but kept dying. I might have to use the option for more credits.

However, there are a lot of interesting beat 'em ups that never saw the light of day on modern compilations or re-releases. I played a bit of Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder in a Barcade location near me, but I'd love to sit down and actually finish it. In a similar style, Rastan Saga III: The Warrior Blade is another arcade only beat 'em up that that I'd like to try out. But yeah, I used to have a version of MAME setup on an old Mac, and I don't recall it being too difficult, but I don't remember what application I used at the time. I recently tried again, and was having a tough time with it.

For sure, there's lots of great arcade games out there. And not just limited to beat 'em ups. SNESdrunk has a video series, "Best arcade games that never got a SNES port" or something along those lines. I think GameSack has a few arcade videos as well. There's definitely some really awesome looking games out there that I would like to experience.

It's been a good 15 years or so since I've messed around with MAME on PC. I'm sure the usability is better now than the last time I used it. So I really should speak about how it's a pain in the ass to setup. But it kinda was back then. I should really check it out again.

[Markies]

The thing about the SoR 4 OST is that it doesn’t exactly sound like an SoR soundtrack. It’s great and a good listen and fits the action, but it’s not quite as SoR as some might want.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the original soundtrack.

The Retro Soundtrack where they play classic tunes during the levels?? That is fantastic and I listen to that one every time!

[Raging Justice]

Double Dragon Neon is one of the funniest games ever made, but the newest one is Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons:

I made it up to what I think is the last boss but kept dying. I might have to use the option for more credits.

Last boss is the twins, and when you beat one of them the other jumps into a robot or something if I recall.

So I have to do this because it seems to be obligatory whenever people talk about modern beat 'em ups. One game that beat 'em up fans praise a lot, but hasn't gotten the mainstream attention of Shredder's Revenge and Streets of Rage 4 is Fight 'N Rage



You talk about recent beat 'em ups any place online and I can almost guarantee you they will bring that one up. And on the topic of great soundtracks, I have to mention The TakeOver. The TakeOver's soundtrack is amazing and can rival the SoR games in my opinion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUF47T ... Vt&index=1

EDIT: Forgot to mention that one of those tracks is by Yuzo Koshiro himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19JgbJkM71E

[ZRofel]

Yeah, Fight'N Rage is fantastic. It feels like a melding of all the best parts of Streets of Rage and Turtles in Time.

[marurun]

Yeah, Fight'N Rage is fantastic. It feels like a melding of all the best parts of Streets of Rage and Turtles in Time.

Streets in Time: Turtles of Rage