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.

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Browsed the thread and Im surprised nobody has mentioned this one:

Gets all the feel and aesthetic of the first 2 DD games down pat, really great OST that pays tribute to the original while taking some good (imo) creative liberties with it. Played it a bit and its tough af. Also, its free.
 
The Phantom released, it is cheaper than Rita's Rewind and more pleasant to look than GI Joe, but that's pretty much it, they focused more on the cool cover box and pre-order bonus than the game itself, Lady Death will probably have the same issues.
One more licensed game down, there still Toxic Crusaders and that Jay and Silent Bob game, that is almost a decade in development, to go.
 
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The Phantom released, it is cheaper than Rita's Rewind and more pleasant to look than GI Joe, but that's pretty much it, they focused more on the cool cover box and pre-order bonus than the game itself, Lady Death will probably have the same issues.
One more licensed game down, there still Toxic Crusaders and that Jay and Silent Bob game, that is almost a decade in development, to go.
Based on the demo I was thinking The Phantom needed like another year or two in the oven, oof. So much for Lady Death.

Toxic Crusaders demo is actually good. I watched a little bit of their update video. They said they had looked at other licensed games that have been released in the meantime, to make sure they kept up... i.e. they're trying to maintain feature parity with the likes of Rita's Revenge and the Karate Kid game. Uh, well. They did mention adding a tag team system where one player gets to pick two characters and switch between them. Jitsu Squad has that, it's a cool idea that should've been done 30 years ago.
 
I bought the game shortly after release.
It's fun but you're dead on it's niche.
After the first few weeks I kinda forgot about it.
Yea its weird cause it doesnt have much casual appeal since attacks are committed and its so focused around the crowd control mechanic. But also its not hardcore enough for dedicated players, combo routes are too simple and the roguelite mechanics aren't impactful enough to make each run unique.

Also characters aren't treated equal some just have no link potential at all, multi hit specials are wonky on some characters and wont count toward crowd controls properly.
 
Consider me Double Dragon'd out. Every couple of years there's a new remake or reboot or true and honest sequel.
This one's more of a spinoff.
This guy made some decent guides for it if you want to get a feel for how the game works. Its focused around getting multikill finishers using special meter. get 3 4 or 5 and you get a health drop of differing sizes and if you're full health you get money for them. So you have to weaken enemies then line them all up for a finisher "crowd control".
 
Yea its weird cause it doesnt have much casual appeal since attacks are committed and its so focused around the crowd control mechanic. But also its not hardcore enough for dedicated players, combo routes are too simple and the roguelite mechanics aren't impactful enough to make each run unique.

Also characters aren't treated equal some just have no link potential at all, multi hit specials are wonky on some characters and wont count toward crowd controls properly.
Bout to take a dive into Double Dragon Gaiden in the next week or so, wish me luck. ima bit of a niche person myself tbh so I'm optimistic about enjoying it. Arcade beatemups didn't have fancypants 5-minute combos and they were more "hardcore" than practically anything coming out now, I legit can't comprehend why some people think they're so necessary. Honestly these trailers that are nothing but air juggle combo demos don't get me interested in the game at all. Like, you got any footage of the bad guys hitting back?

I think the roguelite concept maybe has some potential to work with beatemups, but I wasn't in love with the roguelite modes in SoR4 or Shredder's Revenge... or Dawn of the Monsters, which has a rather half-assed one (randomized upgrades in the otherwise nonrandom arcade mode). Mayhem Brawler 2 is going to be a roguelite as its main mode and so are two of the games @Sparky Lurker linked above, so I guess it's going to be a thing whether it's retarded or not.

This free update patch trend for beatemups is very cool... somehow they're better than paid DLC most of the time.

Consider me Double Dragon'd out. Every couple of years there's a new remake or reboot or true and honest sequel.
They revive the IP in some completely different random way every couple of years, but the games have nothing to do with one another. "Double Dragon 4" is so amateurish I can't believe it's actually an official game let alone a numbered sequel, but I thought Neon was worth playing, if lacking in staying power.

Been on kind of a Double Dragon kick lately and it reaffirmed that DD Advance is #1. It proves that sometimes you really can polish a turd. They made all the stuff in the franchise that never worked quite right, work right.

Browsed the thread and Im surprised nobody has mentioned this one:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=LN1MCksdFZU
Gets all the feel and aesthetic of the first 2 DD games down pat, really great OST that pays tribute to the original while taking some good (imo) creative liberties with it. Played it a bit and its tough af. Also, its free.
I tried this for a bit too, has potential. It was interested that it was made in GameMaker, as opposed to say Beats of Rage... every BoR game feels like a BoR game imo, regardless of where the sprites were ripped from, and this feels more unique. It also seems to have more thought put into the actual gameplay than most fangames, although the balance still seems wonky on first impression. Wrestler Guy seems way too good.
 
They revive the IP in some completely different random way every couple of years, but the games have nothing to do with one another. "Double Dragon 4" is so amateurish I can't believe it's actually an official game let alone a numbered sequel, but I thought Neon was worth playing, if lacking in staying power.

Been on kind of a Double Dragon kick lately and it reaffirmed that DD Advance is #1. It proves that sometimes you really can polish a turd. They made all the stuff in the franchise that never worked quite right, work right.
I think the fan games of Double Dragon are better and there's dozens of them to choose from now.
 
Like, you got any footage of the bad guys hitting back?
This is a consistent problem beat em ups and even action games still have where once you get better at them the game really can't fight back at all. River City Ransom underground has pretty good footsie AI initiating combat is the gameplay, the combo is the reward. SoR4 is great obviously but once you get comfortable with combat spamming specials is the primary way to bypass enemies' defenses (anti-air, hyper armor, parry, etc)


Most of Hideki Kamiya's games have addressed this issue. From Viewtiful Joe onward you generally have to dodge or block an attack or break some kind of shield before you get to juggle the enemy because most attacks are uninterruptible with normal means. Even then a lot of enemies break out of juggles in his games. Meanwhile DMCV has the worst example of juuggle chaining in the series.
 
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