Fighting games and beat 'em ups, the thread

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Samurai Shodown robbed me of many many quarters.
I had it on the SNES. Great game.

I also really liked Weaponlords. Crazy brutal for the SNES (honestly, it puts MK to shame), though I guess they were pretty lenient in fighting games back then...
The varied character, weapon and level design is also amazing (one stage has you fighting on the chest of a giant!).


Honestly, check it out if you are into the genre and don't know the game yet.
 
Yeah, it's surprising this never had any follow up releases. I never got to play it myself, but I remember reading about it.
 
I also really liked Weaponlords. Crazy brutal for the SNES (honestly, it puts MK to shame), though I guess they were pretty lenient in fighting games back then...
The varied character, weapon and level design is also amazing (one stage has you fighting on the chest of a giant!).
I saw this one in a magazine. The imagery certainly affected some of my fantasy RPG gaming at the time, but I didn't get to see or play it in person until many years later.

Its atmosphere kind of reminded me of Primal Rage:

 
I suck at fighting games, in fact a lot of games actually, but fighting games in particular (although I used to still play them - I have stopped since).

I probably played a few on Spectrum and Amiga, but was never an arcade groupie - far too expensive for my family.

I preferred the one on one style generally, the stamina sapping side scrollers just ramped the difficulty up for me. Of all the games I've played (probably a minute amount compared to others) my favourite is Bushido Blade, I loved the 'realism' and swordplay. Never got BB2 though.

IK+, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat and Tekken 2 were the others I spent the most time with.

As an example of my ineptitude I played Killer Instinct's Black Orchid and just spammed one long range attack type as it was the only move I could do.
 
I suck at fighting games, in fact a lot of games actually, but fighting games in particular (although I used to still play them - I have stopped since).
True story: one of the reasons I wrote Fight! was so that I could do the cool things in a fighting game that I could never do with a controller in my hand. If the discussion on my Discord is any indication, many players of the game fit into the same boat.
 
Mark of the Wolves.

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These aren't the best brawlers. Gameplay, they're very mashy, quarter munchy, and thoroughly an average quick arcade experience. But they do have a certain extra quality that makes them worth playing for anyone who loves brawlers and videogames

First off, did you know that Bert from Sesame Street has some relatives? They're Ninjas. They fight THE SATAN.



Ninja Kids. Play it. If you need to fight THE SATAN, forget about Pat Pulling, call the Ninja Kids. Bert's relatives don't mess around.

A bit better known than Ninja Kids is Growl.



In Growl you play Indiana Jones. Yes, there are other characters. You're not going to play them. You're going to play Indiana Jones.

Your mission? Murder every animal abuser that you see. Punch em. Whip em. Blow them up with rockets. Kill those bastards. It doesn't even matter if they're hot chicks in leather miniskirts. KILL THEM ALL.

You're gonna pick up the whip every time you see it. Why? Because you're Indiana Jones, and the whip is awesome. You are gonna whip it. Whip it good!

Growl's story must be experienced at least once. Don't watch the full playthrough I linked. Hunt down the rom and play it on MAME or something. Then when you're done, you can say that you have experience Growl, and those of us in the know will nod in understanding.
 
Anyone else add pro wrestling games as fighters? If you don't consider the mid 2000s classic Def Jam: Fight for NY. I think it did a good job of adapting the then-famous AKI wrestling engine to make a banger of a fighter. Lots of hip-hop and rap style, and some completely rad finishers:
 
I present to you a whole video of fighting games which you probably have never heard of. Look upon the great works of the 90s and despair!

 
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Final Fight: Streetwise, the game that killed the franchise. What makes this especially interesting is that the guy who made the video is both one of the concept artists for the game AND the voice actor for the main character.

 
I never played Dynamite, but I had the SNES version of the original game. I liked it at the time, but then again it was a relatively early SNES fighting game. After the next wave of games with their 24Mb carts started getting released, I sold Fighters History and can't say I missed it.

I'd say the one that deserved better was Eternal Champions.



Eternal Champions is a deeply overlooked game due to its difficulty. Let me TMI its virtues for a bit.

It does a special moves meter and taunt system better than Art of Fighting, imo. It is also a game that builds on fundamentals, so learning your regular moves and how they integrate into each other really opens up the game. The better players in fighting games understand you win by understanding the basic moves, not just the flashy special moves with minor regular move support.

Further that game really breaks the mold with "command entering" of moves to a new level (a concept really brought into parlance by Fatal Fury, but as commonly present as Street Fighter 2 Chun Li's 'Toe Tap' -- jump, while in air press down + Med. Kick). You can also "store extra charge" and then activate it later. Further, you can hold pressed buttons and add to it to pull off special moves.

e.g. Xavier (sorcerer guy) has three "Guile's Sonic Boom" special punch moves, hold back for 1.5 sec then forward + Punch. Each punch is a different special move. He also has a teleport swap for Light Punch + Medium Punch, a Transform spell for Light Punch + Medium Punch + Hard Punch. And everyone has a Taunt to attack another's Inner Strength meter to do special moves: Light Punch + Hard Punch.

Overcharged Meter is holding back longer than 1.5 seconds, then using some of that time difference to do something else before pressing forward + Punch releasing your "Sonic Boom" move. This is huge. You literally can press back for 7 seconds, walk forward for 4 seconds and then do your "Sonic Boom" special. You can literally jump forward, or mix in a two-hit combo, and then pull off your "Sonic Boom."

Command Hold is similar, press and hold Hard Punch and at any point you can add Medium and/or Light Punch to pull off either a Taunt or Transformation Spell special attack. Yes, you can even mix in kicks into your combo and then hold all the punch buttons you want to activate the multi-button special move as a command hold move. So if you want to throw your opponent with Hard Punch, add Light Punch to then Taunt them while down, and leave them held while you maneuver with jumps & kicks combo to add Medium Punch to your held buttons to release a Transform Spell, you can do it.

Really interesting stuff to turn fighting game combo thinking on its head. And something I read about as promoted in its game design way back in EGM days. It was forgotten, but I think it really opens up the combo paradigm. I mean a walking Sonic Boom or Flash Kick?! A charged up command held Sumo Throw changed E. Honda for Super Street Fighter II Turbo into frightening competitiveness. These ideas are huge and just waiting for pro-players to figure new things with them!
 
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I found out today that the loooooong belated sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves is officially in the works. Having become a fan of the first game's design and atmosphere over the course of the pandemic (thank you Switch store), I'm pretty excited. However, I'm sure my excitement pales in comparison to that of people who've been waiting for 23 years!

 
It's like a teaser trailer for a teaser trailer :hehe:

True, but it does point toward the game being a true chronological sequel (no costume changes) and Billy Kane being involved. The game will get a bit confusing with two dudes named a variant of "Caine" though. :tongue:
 
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