2D Beat 'em ups - From Double Dragon to River City, from Final Fight to Streets of Rage, from Golden Axe to Castle Crashers, from Shadows Over Mystara to Dragon's Crown, from fan-made to official.

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
MembersSchoolPizza said:
Counterpoint, though: The TMNT game
Click to expand...
TMNT is a little better than Simpsons and X-Men, but they're all basic button mashers with cheap enemies/bosses designed to suck quarters away.

I played through the 6 player X Men at a barcades recently and had a good time, but that was more from drinking and talking shit with the other players. The actual gameplay gets old after a couple of levels.
 
Calandrino said:
Konami's licensed arcade games like Simpsons and X-Men were low effort compared to stuff like Vendetta and Metamorphic Force.
Click to expand...
Vendetta is fantastic but just as cheap if not cheaper than Simpsons and X-Men because if you get knocked down by enemies and especially bosses there's no wakeup invincibility. So you just get annihilated.

It's kind of like playing against Death Adder in the first Golden Ax and he just goes "Fuck this!" And summons a dragon that does damage that cannot be avoided. And sometimes he knocks you down and summons the dragon again just to deal extra damage and there's nothing you can do about it other than hope to kill him first WHILE dodging the invincible 2 skeleton warriors that also cannot be killed.

Beating the first Golden Ax was fucking euphoric. It's not even a situation where save scumming is going to help you by much.

I think Simpsons and X-Men get kind of a bad wrap because of the gameplay. It's just basic and all about controlling enemy mobs and knowing boss patterns. Just super basic like Final Fight. The Jap version of X-Men is a little better because that version gives you more powerups to use your mutant power so you get to have more fun with it. I never encountered a 6 man arcade machine but played the fuck out of the 4 player one.
 
I can't remember if it's been mentioned but if not then Abyss Odyssey SHOULD be mentioned. It has mixed reviews on Steam but I think some of that comes from people assuming it is a game like [game] but it's more like [other game] but it's also a rogue lite souls-like with procedurally generated levels. It sounds horrible but if you are the kind of person who's into those sort of things you will be disappointed!

What the game actually is (in my opinion): an interesting brawler that will click when you realize that the combat system is something that oscillates somewhere in between Final Fight and Street Fighter 2. For me that was an "oooh I get it" moment.

Should you try Abyss Odyssey? Maybe, it's not for everyone. Probably not, even though I really like it.
Should you buy Abyss Odyssey? Most definitely, give Ace Team your money.
 
MembersSchoolPizza said:
Here's my hot take: The Simpsons arcade game isn't very good. Don't get me wrong... I played the shit out of it, it's always going to have a place in my heart, and the production values as far as graphics and such are good. But the actual gameplay is really not all that great. It's just "fine". It's not "bad", but if it wasn't for the Simpsons IP, it would be completely forgettable.
Click to expand...
For me it's the mechanics. A good beat-em up will feel like you're actually making contact with the enemy, they are responding accordingly to your attacks, and if you're good enough, you can take on the bosses with little to no hassle. I always use Streets Of Rage 2 as THE quntessential example of a GOOG beat'em up because you absolutely get all of that in the game. With the Simpsons, it's like you're attacking, but you're swinging in the air and the enemies are somehow getting hurt... like they're not locked-on to your hits. There's probably some wonky hitboxes and invincibility frames going on in that game.

Of course, being an arcade game means it's a quarter eater considering the enemies also recover quicker and wreck you if you as much get near their proximity.
 
Smaug's Smokey Hole 2 said:
I can't remember if it's been mentioned but if not then Abyss Odyssey SHOULD be mentioned. It has mixed reviews on Steam but I think some of that comes from people assuming it is a game like [game] but it's more like [other game] but it's also a rogue lite souls-like with procedurally generated levels. It sounds horrible but if you are the kind of person who's into those sort of things you will be disappointed!

What the game actually is (in my opinion): an interesting brawler that will click when you realize that the combat system is something that oscillates somewhere in between Final Fight and Street Fighter 2. For me that was an "oooh I get it" moment.

Should you try Abyss Odyssey? Maybe, it's not for everyone. Probably not, even though I really like it.
Should you buy Abyss Odyssey? Most definitely, give Ace Team your money.
Click to expand...
I may have misread it as Abe's Odyssey, so I then looked up Abyss Odyssey and it looks very interesting. I'm not a fan of what Atlus has been doing with Megami Tensei/Persona these days, but I did like Trauma Center, so I might check this title out
 
TVB said:
I may have misread it as Abe's Odyssey, so I then looked up Abyss Odyssey and it looks very interesting. I'm not a fan of what Atlus has been doing with Megami Tensei/Persona these days, but I did like Trauma Center, so I might check this title out
Click to expand...
It's an Ace Team game, the ones that made Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages, Eternal Cylinder etc. Those guys are always up to something.

It's a bit like if you could play as SF2 Ryu in Final Fight. Or SF2 Ryu in a 2D Devil May Cry(Viewtiful Joe does not count) because the enemies are monsters and centaurs.

I am incredibly biased though, it's not a great game but it is a game I liked after it clicked and I also really like the developer. Maybe the game clicks with you, maybe it doesn't click and goes BLAM! REFUND!, who knows. Probably the latter if I'm being honest.
 
Smaug's Smokey Hole 2 said:
It's an Ace Team game, the ones that made Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages, Eternal Cylinder etc. Those guys are always up to something.

It's a bit like if you could play as SF2 Ryu in Final Fight. Or SF2 Ryu in a 2D Devil May Cry(Viewtiful Joe does not count) because the enemies are monsters and centaurs.

I am incredibly biased though, it's not a great game but it is a game I liked after it clicked and I also really like the developer. Maybe the game clicks with you, maybe it doesn't click and goes BLAM! REFUND!, who knows. Probably the latter if I'm being honest.
Click to expand...
Ok you've convinced me. I'll check it out
 
BrunoMattei said:
Vendetta is fantastic but just as cheap if not cheaper than Simpsons and X-Men because if you get knocked down by enemies and especially bosses there's no wakeup invincibility. So you just get annihilated.
Click to expand...
But you can kick standing enemies while you're grounded, and it does a lot of damage. I find it an altogether reasonable game until near the very end.

BrunoMattei said:
It's kind of like playing against Death Adder in the first Golden Ax and he just goes "Fuck this!" And summons a dragon that does damage that cannot be avoided. And sometimes he knocks you down and summons the dragon again just to deal extra damage and there's nothing you can do about it other than hope to kill him first WHILE dodging the invincible 2 skeleton warriors that also cannot be killed.
Click to expand...
None of this rings a bell. Is it some kind of heresy from the extra level in the Genesis port?

TVB said:
Yes, but which one? Because for me, the best one has got to be the arcade port of Turtles in Time (the SNES one is also a classic one)
Click to expand...
The SNES/Genesis TMNT games are generally considered better than the arcade versions. Some of the best evidence that Konami was sandbagging in their arcade games for Americans tbh, because that really shouldn't happen...

iirc the original arcade TMNT drops a bunch of iron ball traps if you go too long without dying, wish I had the proof handy because I hate to lie about it.
 
Calandrino said:
But you can kick standing enemies while you're grounded, and it does a lot of damage. I find it an altogether reasonable game until near the very end.
Click to expand...
Vendetta's end game boss rush is indeed brutal.

Calandrino said:
None of this rings a bell. Is it some kind of heresy from the extra level in the Genesis port?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Genesis port. It also adds a short but sweet "endurance" mode where you fight mobs of enemies. I love Golden Ax but it's one flaw is that the controls are stiff.
 
BrunoMattei said:
Vendetta's end game boss rush is indeed brutal.
Click to expand...
I think the cheapness starts on the second-to-last level with what are effectively blind deaths from falling objects and molotov guys, but at least you can memorize what to do and be done with it. The boss rush is like, fuck you, eat shit, you're not getting to the end of this. Still only matter of gittin gud, but knowing what's coming doesn't guarantee results. Vendetta is high-stakes. You can one-shot most enemies with a beer bottle or molotov, but you can also go from full life to dead in a couple seconds.

BrunoMattei said:
Yeah, the Genesis port. It also adds a short but sweet "endurance" mode where you fight mobs of enemies. I love Golden Ax but it's one flaw is that the controls are stiff.
Click to expand...
I like Golden Axe's brevity. You tour everything the game has to offer in about 15 minutes, and then it's done. They really don't make 'em like they used to. Apparently even in the Genesis days that was considered too short, hence the added level, but it's all palette-swapped romhack hardmode versions of stuff you've already seen. Maybe I'm just salty because it's harder than the rest of the game put together, but it's like one of those overly long director's cuts. GA2 is similarly way too much of a decent thing even though it's only like half an hour.
 
Calandrino said:
Maybe I'm just salty because it's harder than the rest of the game put together, but it's like one of those overly long director's cuts.
Click to expand...
Oh, piss baby can't beat Golden Axe! Where's your Nintendo Rewind feature and savestates now, fucker? Because I beat that shit legit so suck my dick. Signed, Bruno Fucking Mattei esq.
 
BrunoMattei said:
Oh, piss baby can't beat Golden Axe! Where's your Nintendo Rewind feature and savestates now, fucker? Because I beat that shit legit so suck my dick. Signed, Bruno Fucking Mattei esq.
Click to expand...
Call me when you beat Comix Zone with the good ending with no save states or rewinding

; )
 
Sparky Lurker said:
Vengeance Hunters trailer:

Nalua Studio Presents - VENGEANCE HUNTERS.mp4
Click to expand...
Looks delightfully basic, other than the juggles and air combos. At 30 seconds you can see the classic Capcom life-draining supermove. No secondary meter. Incidentally, the best NeoGeo beatemup is Final Vendetta, which came out like a year ago. Vengeance Hunters probably can't top that, but it should be able to better the likes of Robo Army and Ninja Combat, I would hope.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom