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What are beat 'em ups? For the purposes of this thread, when I say beat 'em ups (aka "side-scrolling beat 'em ups", aka "brawlers", aka "belt scrollers" in Japan) I'm talking about the formative gaming genre, born in the arcades, where the player guides their characters left to right through waves of enemies, beating them into submission via fisticuffs. Classic series of the genre include Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and far too many others to list. Born in the arcades, the genre is marked by the simplicity of its concepts and gameplay - both a positive and a detriment - and frequently punishing difficulty. Many people mistake simplicity for shallowness and write the genre off as full of nothing but quarter-munching unfairly punishing timekillers. It's true, a number of beat 'em ups, especially older games, can be like that - but many of them are a rewarding challenge of strategy and skill. You only need to watch a skilled player 1CC or speedrun a beat 'em up to see just how intricate the best of these games can get.  Where should I start?New to beat 'em ups? I would strongly recommend the recently released Streets of Rage 4, available on Steam/PS4/XB1/Switch. It has great graphics, a phenomenal soundtrack and a host of modern quality of life and difficulty adjustment features that means players can tailor the difficulty of the game to their comfort zone. The combat and combo system are great, the characters are distinct and varied, and each character has a fairly large moveset.  Game Trailer Dedicated Thread Other Modern Games Worth Checking OutModern beat em ups tend to incorporate RPG elements and/or aim for deeper gameplay than their classic counterparts. A couple that I'd recommend checking out are: Fight N Rage (PC/PS4/XB1/Switch) - Made by a single dev from Uruguay, Fight N Rage is mechanically one of the best modern beat 'em ups out there, with ideas derived from both beat 'em up and fighting games. It features a rich combo system (with tutorials!) for each of the playable characters and stages with multiple routes depending on player actions. If there's a downside it's that some of the art is oversexualised, and there's way too much unnecessary grimdark-ness and violence against scantily clad women for my tastes.  Game Trailer Odin Sphere Leifthrasir(PS4/PS3/Vita) - A beat 'em up RPG hybrid presented in a gorgeous storybook style. Leifthraiser is a remaster of Vanillaware's PS2 title Odin Sphere and improves upon the original in a number of ways. I've heard a lot of good things but it's still in my backlog so someone else can sing praises here.  Game Trailer Dragon's Crown Pro (PS4) - A love-letter to the beat 'em up classic Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara, much like Odin Sphere Liefthraiser this is an RPG Venture through a fantasy setting whacking all sorts of malicious creatures, gain equipment, spells and abilities, and marvel at the anatomical impossibility of the Sorceress and Amazon classes. As with Leifthrasir, Dragon's Crown Pro is a remaster of the original Dragon's Crown though the changes this time around are entirely graphical.  Game Trailer River City Girls (PC/PS4/XB1/Switch) - The latest in the long running River City/Kunio-kun series, players control punk schoolgirls Misako and Kyoko as they punch their way through town searching for their kidnapped boyfriends. The game has seen praise for its graphics and soundtrack but mixed opinions on the gameplay - for what it's worth, I really enjoyed most of my time with it, mostly feeling like some of the boss battles were bullshit to the point of being unfun. Having seen someone speedrun it and effortlessly annihilate some of the bosses I had trouble with though, I might just be Bad At Game.  Game Trailer Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game - Complete Edition (PC/PS4/XB1/Switch) - A long awaited re-release of the Scott Pilgrim movie tie-in game, heavily based on the comics and with a soundtrack by Anamanaguchi. Made in the mold of the River City/Kunio-kun series, it's been a divisive game. Again like River City Girls I enjoyed my time with it, but would argue there's not quite enough depth here compared to many other beat 'em ups.  Game Trailer Easily Accessible ClassicsIt's been a very long time since beat 'em ups were considered a hip and happening genre. For quite a while, using an arcade emulator such as MAME was pretty much the only way to get access to the rich library of arcade beat 'em ups - thankfully re-releases and ports mean that there's a slow trickle of classic beat em ups that are now readily accessible on modern consoles. A few notable examples below: Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara (PC/PS4/XB1/Switch) - A two pack containing two Dungeons & Dragons licensed games, Tower of Doom and Chronicles of Mystara. In my opinion Tower of Doom shows its age a bit and is superseded by the much better Shadows over Mystara. With multiple classes, branching paths and a variety of moves available for each character, Shadows of Mystara has enough gameplay depth to satisfy, even with some bosses ramping the difficulty up significantly. It particularly shines in co-op play.  Game Trailer Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle (PC/PS4/XB1/Switch) - A collection of six classic Capcom arcade beat 'em ups, this collection contains Final Fight, Captain Commando, The King of Dragons, Knights of the Round and Warriors of Fate, as well as two games that were previously unavailable on consoles - Armored Warriors and Battle Circuit. This is a good way to dip your toes into a grab bag of older arcade beat 'em ups.  Game Trailer Emulators don't scare me, what should I play?Everything under the sun is open to you, but here are a couple of my favourites. Arcade: Aliens vs. Predator, The Punisher SNES: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time Genesis/Mega Drive: Streets of Rage 2 Beat 'em up-adjacent Threads What if beat em ups but 1 vs 1?: Fighting Game Thread What if beat em ups but 3D with complex combos?: 3D Hack n Slash/Character Action Thread What if beat em ups but 3D and 1 vs 100s: Dynasty/Musou Series Thread What if beat em ups but a MMO: Dungeon Fighter Online And above all, remember: 
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Mar 14, 2021 08:26
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I'm almost full health and you're almost dead but I grab the food anyway
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Mar 14, 2021 08:34
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Any beat 'em up with co-op and friendly fire mechanics is a surefire way to test the relationship between you and anyone you hold dear.
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Mar 14, 2021 08:37
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In upcoming beat 'em ups news, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge was announced a few days ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86JYR7bK6RU It's being developed by Tribute and published by DotEmu, and looks to be taking cues from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (such as throwing Foot clan soldiers into the screen). I'm cautiously optimistic, there seems to be some sort of special meter below the turtles' health bars marked NP (ninja power, I assume?) so hopefully we get some cool risk/reward stuff with special moves similar to how Streets of Rage 4 operates.
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Mar 14, 2021 08:40
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hi, Double Dragon Neon is a great game with an even greater soundtrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW98Z9W1X5I
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Mar 14, 2021 08:45
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 Also gotta recommend Streets of Rage Remake v5.2, a fanmade recreation of the original SOR trilogy with a remixed soundtrack, branching levels, tons of unlockables and an expanded moveset for all characters. Before SOR4 it was the most definitive version of the classic beatemup franchise, and despite Sega's half-hearted attempts to strike it down every few years, is freely available to download online.
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Mar 14, 2021 09:09
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I’ve never been much of a beat ems up guy but I like SOR4 a lot. I bought a month of game pass under false pretenses so I can try River City Girls, and I’m excited for the Ninja Turtles Game. Oh, and I have the Genesis clamshell Scott Pilgrim on the way (someday).
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Mar 14, 2021 14:29
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I played a bunch of Turtles in Time as a kid at a friend’s home in the SNES. I don’t think we ever got past the second or third level unfortunately. I also used to be able to walk to a now closed arcade with my cousins where we would play the Simpsons and X-Men cab for as long as we had quarters. I then ignored beat ‘em ups until SoR4 last year and has a ton of fun. I should devote more time to playing some. Oh! In HS, I discovered Little Fighter 2 which was a neat game.
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Mar 14, 2021 15:16
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This is one of those genres that sort of passed me by, but I've definitely been intrigued by its recent renaissance. I'll probably pick up one of the newest releases on sale some time. I think the only real beat 'em up I've played was a Double Dragon title on my original brick Gameboy, which I miss and wish I still had even though at the time I foolishly threw it out many, many years ago it had already stopped working. I'd have gotten it fixed or something, though.  It may not have been a DD game to be honest, I have only vague memories of it. Does Shank count? I played those. But you can't move on the z axis if I recall correctly, and that seems like an essential aspect of the genre? Sway Grunt fucked around with this message at 09:36 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 14, 2021 15:56
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Cadillacs and Dinosaurs should be added to the emulator section of the OP, game owns I'm also a big fan of Knights of the Round on SNES and Arcade I've beaten TMNT4 probably more than any other video game. My roommate and I would speedrun it every day after class Sophomore year.
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Mar 14, 2021 20:25
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Also, cross-post:Light Gun Man posted:If you are looking for a nostalgia-loaded newly-made TMNT brawler I would suggest giving this one a try, it's pretty good
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Mar 14, 2021 20:35
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The Ninja Warriors Once Again/Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is one of the best recent releases - it's a remaster of a SNES game which in turn was a reimagining of an old arcade game, and it was made by the exact same people who did the SNES version so it all looks super authentic even though they redrew everything. These are the two new characters they added for this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBdqthDsQdU
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Mar 18, 2021 03:03
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Shoutout for Fight N' Rage, I share your opinion on it. Unnecessarily grim at times, but overall a really great game, great bang for your buck and file size.
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Mar 18, 2021 13:36
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some DLC for SoR4 showed up in the steam db yesterday https://steamdb.info/app/1585820/
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Mar 25, 2021 00:54
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A trailer is out for the Streets of Rage 4 DLC - Mr. X Nightmare! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LwwRrI-NY0 The DLC adds three new characters, though they've only revealed the first so far - Estel. (I'm pretty sure the second of the three silhouettes is Max, not sure on the third though) It's also adding a new Survival mode. There's also new moves for the cast, new weapons, and perhaps most awesome of all a bunch of new music tracks by Tee Lopes! The video description mentions that the DLC is being released alongside a free update to the game, so I think its likely the new moves at the very least will just be part of the general update rather than being DLC locked. Streets of Rage 4 is absolutely the best beat 'em up I've played in years though and I'll be grabbing the DLC day 1 and diving back in.
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Apr 9, 2021 00:30
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Third's Shiva unless they're hugely pranking us and it's Roo under a wig  anyway hell yeah
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Apr 9, 2021 00:44
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Has there been any Beat Em Ups like MK Shaolin Monks? That's always been my favorite because of the combos and opportunities for some degree of strategy with doing teleports and projectiles. Whenever I play another Beat Em Up they seem too simple compared to Shaolin Monks.
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Apr 9, 2021 01:20
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Holy poo poo I was hoping for DLC but that looks unbelievable 
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Apr 9, 2021 01:25
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I've wanted a real followup to Cyborg Justice for the longest time because the idea feels so good but the execution of the original is terrible
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Apr 9, 2021 01:51
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The Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle is extremely good imo, but it looks like it is only on ps4 and switch.
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Apr 9, 2021 02:37
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Fighting Elegy posted:Has there been any Beat Em Ups like MK Shaolin Monks? That's always been my favorite because of the combos and opportunities for some degree of strategy with doing teleports and projectiles. Whenever I play another Beat Em Up they seem too simple compared to Shaolin Monks. The games that spring to mind for me in that 3rd person brawler style are The Warriors (from 2005, I believe it's had a re-release on the PS4) and the old Lord of the Rings hack and slash games LotR: The Two Towers and LotR: The Return of the King (PC/Xbox/PS2/GC). Unfortunately none of these really have the depth of combos that Shaolin Monks allows. A better suggestion might be Fight N Rage if you haven't tried it. A significant portion of its gameplay is based around chaining together sick combos via fighting game style inputs - the game also has a very solid training mode to take you through the character abilities and learn how to string their combos together. It's a 2D game so if that's not a deal breaker for you I think you'd find the technical execution rewarding.
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Apr 9, 2021 03:35
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New TMNT gameplay trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GemOAwU-9fo
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Apr 14, 2021 17:56
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I liked River City Girls a lot (on top of the music and art, the writing was great) but I feel like blocking was completely hosed, I could never pull it off. I also hated how your only way to damage downed enemies was a stomp. I didn't think the bosses were too bad, but I cheated and used healing items like a coward.
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Apr 14, 2021 21:29
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exquisite tea posted:New TMNT gameplay trailer! Seems promising. The dash flip thing looks like it can be used for evasion and it looks like juggles are possible so hopefully you can tear through Foot clan like a blender 
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Apr 14, 2021 22:33
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Wear a loving mask, BITCH https://twitter.com/gameralphabeta/status/1380701994881585152
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Apr 15, 2021 21:01
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Mode 7 posted:In upcoming beat 'em ups news, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge was announced a few days ago. I am carelessly optimistic for this, and if the online co-op is any good I may end up having to buy it for both PC and Switch. Also, I feel like the animated half of the trailer is teasing the prospect of playable April and Splinter, which would be insanely hype. Going to be a little bummed if this is not the case, but as long as the game is good I'll get over it. I'll also holler in this thread for my personal favorite beat 'em up: The King of Dragons. I stumbled on it in high school when it was in one of those Capcom 100+ game bundled cabinets at the bowling alley. Made a point of playing it every week my friends went until I beat it, at which point I kept playing until I could beat the game on less than $4 or whatever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd-eT716oeQ Great music, great monsters, great fun all around.
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May 13, 2021 01:20
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exquisite tea posted:New TMNT gameplay trailer! I basically don't even care how this game plays the sprites are so loving good I HAVE to buy it.
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May 13, 2021 01:31
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RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE I haven't posted in a bit because that would take away from the time I spend playing Streets of Rage 4's absolutely amazing DLC but here's a grab bag of some beat 'em up related stuff. In terms of new games out, the only one that's crossed my radar recently is advertising-as-video-game Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game. It's on Xbox X | S for free as part of Game Pass Ultimate. I don't believe there's any other way to get it currently. Rest assured that if you don't have an Xbox or Game Pass I don't think you're missing out on much here. It seems to be a fine but dull generic beat em up, but hey, you can play as Bugs, Lola or LeBron and punch robots. YouTuber iconoclast575 has a playthrough of it here if you're curious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yRkzztBG80 iconoclast575's channel in general is full of pretty great 1CC content for a huge amount of beat 'em ups, well worth checking out if you want to pick up some tips on how to master some of the more old school and unforgiving beat 'em ups. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c?iconoclast575 He's also got some run-n-gun and shmup 1CCs there as well! Shmup youtuber Electric Underground (Mark_MSX) did a long podcast/video that ends up being a good overview/discussion of beat 'em up mechanics and strategy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYw7J2YQWC8 It's going to be a while until I can tear myself away from SoR4 again but I did manage to pick up Cobra Kai for Switch in a bargain bin. I look forward to finding out how terrible it is - my prediction? Very.
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Aug 11, 2021 01:42
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Also, Bitmap Books (makers of some very good retro gaming coffee table books) have a book about the history of Beat 'Em Up games coming! https://twitter.com/bitmap_books/status/1424774107556720641 I have and utterly love their amazing Art of Point n Click Adventure Games book and can't recommend them enough, this will be a pre-order from me as soon as I can.
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Aug 11, 2021 01:50
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wuikMQdRIQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOJIROu6qjk
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Aug 11, 2021 01:55
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Just got the physical edition of Scott Pilgrim ( Complete Edition ) in from Limited Run. It's a shame it didn't make that top 10 modern games, love the game, and the soundtrack is amazing.
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Aug 11, 2021 18:49
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Mode 7 posted:Also, Bitmap Books (makers of some very good retro gaming coffee table books) have a book about the history of Beat 'Em Up games coming! i have their crpg/jrpg books and they're incredibly good. i shouldn't also buy this one but i probably will
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Aug 11, 2021 20:13
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Trip Report: I went and 1CC'd Space Jam: A New Legacy: The Game on its Normal mode on my first attempt because Don't bother. There's 5 enemy types, there's no grabbing/throwing enemies, you have a basic combo, jump attack and dash attack but none of them combo together particularly well. The only scoring mechanic is getting a bonus from juggling enemies, which you'll struggle to do with the clunky nature of your attacks. You do have a basketball constantly on screen that you can throw for a weak stunning hit or charge for a larger, small AoE blast but there's rarely much reason to bother with doing so. But hey it was free and I think I still enjoyed it more than the most recent Battletoads, so there's that.
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Aug 16, 2021 02:22
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https://limitedrungames.com/ Limited run games is doing a physical copy run of river city girls for ps5.
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Aug 16, 2021 05:33
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They're also doing the Double Dragon/Kunio-kun collection which contains almost twenty games, most of them brawlers (and many translated into English for the very first time).
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Aug 16, 2021 14:01
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:They're also doing the Double Dragon/Kunio-kun collection which contains almost twenty games, most of them brawlers (and many translated into English for the very first time). I'd known this collection existing but thank you for bringing this particular version to my attention
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Aug 16, 2021 14:09
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:They're also doing the Double Dragon/Kunio-kun collection which contains almost twenty games, most of them brawlers (and many translated into English for the very first time). I'm pretty unfamiliar with the Kunio-kun games outside of River City Ransom on NES and River City Girls (and Scott Pilgrim is practically a Kunio-kun game I guess). Has anyone done write-ups of the series anywhere? Are any of the others worth buying the collection for beyond curiosity since they haven't previously been in English?
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Aug 17, 2021 14:18
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Mode 7 posted:I'm pretty unfamiliar with the Kunio-kun games outside of River City Ransom on NES and River City Girls (and Scott Pilgrim is practically a Kunio-kun game I guess). Has anyone done write-ups of the series anywhere? Are any of the others worth buying the collection for beyond curiosity since they haven't previously been in English? Looking at the list again, I kinda overstated how many of the collection's games are primarily brawlers - aside from the NES games I presume everybody is familiar with, there's a game that's essentially an ancient Japan-themed RCR sequel and a 4-player fighting game of sorts, but all the rest are sports/athletics games with varying degrees of optional violence. Most of them are fun (and more playable in this collection than on real hardware due to performance enhancements, bug fixes, etc) but if you're strictly looking for brawlers then it might not be for you.
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Aug 18, 2021 06:02
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Correct, the MAJORITY of the games in the DD&KK bundle are sports games with brawler elements - think Nintendo World Cup or Super Dodgeball - but that's how Kunio games were on the NES. And they can be a lot of fun in multiplayer, which is where RCR shines as well. Bundle Breakdown: Double Dragon Games Double Dragon 1 NES Double Dragon 2 NES Double Dragon 3 NES Renegade Games Renegade Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun (Japanese Renegade) River City Ransom Formula Games River City Ransom Downtown Nekketsu Story (Japanese RCR) Downtown Special Kunio-kun’s Historical Period Drama! (RCR but in feudal Japan, aka Technos Samurai)  Sports Games Super Dodge Ball Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge Surprise! Nekketsu New Records! The Distant Gold Medal (Japanese Crash 'n the Boys) Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club – Soccer Story (Nintendo World Cup) Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day! (4 man footrace with RCR combat, including weapons) Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness (Hockey) Nekketsu Fighting Legend (2 on 2 fighter with RCR combat) Kunio-kun’s Nekketsu Soccer League (Sequel to Nintendo World Cup) Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes (NBA Jam but with multiple hoops and super jumps) 
Assepoester fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Aug 18, 2021 |
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Aug 18, 2021 08:01
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New trailer and April O'Neil character reveal for TMNT Shredder's Revenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RfrrEF1VLo Love the little mic drop move. The way she's been added in to the splash screen for the game makes it clear we'll likely see some more character reveals as time goes on - Casey Jones and Splinter seem like no-brainers. Going to be a long wait until whenever this releases in 2022 - I just hope that it's good. The music sounds pretty great, I wonder who they've got composing the OST?
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Aug 26, 2021 03:32
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