God Hand

[AndrewTS 0]

It seems everybody these days wants to cash in on the old beat 'em ups, but rarely has it been pulled off well.

 

Urban Reign - It's pretty good, one of the best of them so far.

 

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks - ignore the storyline screwups and you've got a darn fine game. One of the few of these revivals to "get" that 2 player is one of the features that kept the genre going back in the day.

 

Spike Out - Excellent 3D beat 'em up. Older than the above--it's one of the games I'm hoping will become BC for the 360, but since hardly anyone even knows this game exists on Xbox, I don't expect it.

 

Final Fight Streetwise - So close, and yet so far.

 

Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance - Meh.

 

Anyway, this one is from the hands of a talented developer--Clover, who brought us Viewtiful Joe and Okami--and looks quite good. Oh, and it's clearly really, really weird. It's also directed by Resident Evil's Shinji Mikami.

 

Basically it seems like the Japanese take on what Fist of the North Star would be like in the Old West.

 

Oh--and gameplay vids....

 

E3 Trailer 1:

E3 Trailer 2:

Gameplay Footage:

[Scroby 0]

It looks like it could be fun but....

 

-I think its only for PS3

 

-The camera doens't look to good, but maybe you can rotate it.

 

-Looks chessy as all hell.

 

I do like the fact that apprently you have a traveling crowd who will cheer or boo you and apprently will laugh when something funny happens.

[Sideburnious 0]

Yeah the camera angle reminds me of Resi-4. It looks like it could be fun, but shame about it being only on Ps3.

[Thoth 0]

WTF? God Hand is on PS2.

[AndrewTS 0]

Yes, it's totally PS2.

 

What 3D game doesn't need a better camera? Remember that these trailers are fairly old, too.

 

Of course it's cheesy as hell. Beat 'em ups should always be that way. Plus it's a Japanese portrayal of the Old West, so it's expected.

 

No love for the Hyper Curb Stomp to the Groin or FOTNS Explodie Punch?

[Guest Vitamin X]

I'd count TMNT: Turtles in Time as a beat em up, and the best one by far, at that.

[Special K 0]

Alien Vs. Predator is tops for me. Battle Circuit, Streets of Rage 2, Punisher and Turtles in Time (no part. order) would round out my top 5.

 

Capcom made a ton of great quarter-munchers, though. The D&D ones were massive, there's Captain Commando, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and of course Final Fight.

 

Also, X-Men has a special place in my heart, not that it was really a great game but because you could play with 5 friends at the same time.

[Guest Marvel Man X]

As of late I thought MK: Shaolin Monks and Warriors were 2 pretty good beat em ups.

[Black Lushus 0]

Capcom made a ton of great quarter-munchers, though. The D&D ones were massive, there's Captain Commando, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and of course Final Fight.

 

Knights Of The Round!

[Anya 0]

Urban Reign was the best I've played in the past few years. Especially the middle part where you had a new partner almost every mission and new team up moves to see. The gameplay was smooth and the moves had impact. When you powerbombed someone it actually looked strong because of the animation. That is a small thing that can make a beat em up better.

 

Maybe the one thing they screw up most is grappling. Grabs are key! So many beat em ups have like one generic throw or no throws at all and it hurts the game. You cannot get by with just attack, jump attack and special. The games should be simple but not too simple and grappling is a good way to add a little variaty. Like in Streets of Rage you can punch them a few times, walk up to them to grapple and then from there you can do the knees then throw them or flip behind them. There's the team attacks and special situations where you can throw them at enemies or into bottomless pits. SOR and Final Fight are two of the earliest classic beat em ups and they have the best grappling system.

[Black Lushus 0]

Renegade!

[Special K 0]

I know everyone will disagree with this, but I rather liked the Bouncer. Decent rental. I beat it with two of the 3 characters, and then was sick of it.

 

I think if they could pull off something like Dead to Rights or the Punisher (the new one) with two player, it would be great.

 

There were a couple neat quasi beat-'em-ups in the arcades two, Dynamite Cop and, some zombie beat-'em-up.

[AndrewTS 0]

Dynamite Cop is okay but Dynamite Deka/Die Hard Arcade is better.

 

Fighting Force was a blast back when it came out but nearly unplayable today.

 

The zombie beat 'em up was Zombie Revenge. Horrible controls and level designs ruined a potentially awesome game.

[Anya 0]

The Bouncer is good. It just wasn't what Square had hyped. It's a fine beat em up. One of the better 3D.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I'm such a mark for SoR2. I rock the rollerblade dropsault.

[AndrewTS 0]

I dont' consider Gamefaqs posters to be much of an authority on anything but cheating (Legend of Zelda as Best. Series. Ever. aside ), but saw this list. I didn't play many of these games and didn't see them mentioned here, so anywho who has tried it should feel free to share their thoughts.

 

http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/top10/514.html

 

Top 10 Lists : The Top 10 Best Current Generation Beat-Em-Up Games

 

#10: Rise to Honor (PS2)

#9: Ultimate Spider-Man (XBOX)

#8: Mystic Heroes (GC)

#7: Drakengard 2 (PS2)

#6: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PS2)

#5: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (PS2)

#4: Champions of Norrath (PS2)

#3: Gauntlet Dark Legacy (XBOX)

#2: Viewtiful Joe (GC)

#1: Dynasty Warriors 3 (PS2)

 

I only played Shaolin Monks and Viewtiful Joe, which were good. I know Rise to Honor use the full analog stick control gimmick and lets you beat people with chicken. A friend bought Drakengard 2 and he hates it.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I hate MK because I can't hit that A button fast enough sometimes.

[AndrewTS 0]

Japanese God Hand commercial; it has crappy sound, and unfortunately for me it cuts off part-way in. You may have to click past that point just a tad with your mouse to watch the rest.

 

Oh, and possibly NSFW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTlWWd7eaw

[Rendclaw 0]

rise to Honor is tough because of the movie action sequences... I got maybe halfway through it before I stopped... maybe I should get back into it...

 

Half of those games aren't true beat-em-ups IMO. Champions of Norrath and Gauntlet DL are RPGs with a beat-em-up element.

[AndrewTS 0]

Resurrecting this thread, because--after getting it dirt cheap and playing the heck out of it: I like Final Fight Streetwise. It's really violent, it's stupid, the camera kind of sucks, but somehow I still like it.

 

Don't get me wrong, it still probably would rank as a bad game to most, but there's a lot of information spread about it that was totally incorrect. Yeah, the cursing and other "mature" material is over the top and a bit much, but most of it is unintentionally hilarious. The cut scenes and acting are cheesy and dumb...but then again, so it's Final Fight period. If you can get over the fact that the Metro City here kind of craps over everything the fighters in the old game accomplished, it's not hard to get into.

 

Clips (a lot NSFW, mainly for violence/language) --

 

The original intro (toned down in the actual game, but shows you a bit of the combos too):

 

Kyle meets Nicky "The Weasel" Wissel in search of info:

 

Gameplay trailer (with Andore and katana-wielding Asian schoolgirls):

 

The stupid extermination mini-game:

 

Oh, and there's not just one generic throw, either. Besides your regular throw, you can also do a knee-lift combo, a german suplex (learned from Haggar), a quick giant swing (Haggar again), and you can also use a stun headbutt in the midst of a regular combo as well.

 

Most reviewers hated it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y06yENjRLyQ

 

Sadly, the arcade version of Final Fight that's available to unlock is a poor emulation; stick to the one included in the Capcom Classics Collection.

[In Credible 0]

that game looks badass!

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I kinda like the intro. It looks like an American Guy Ritchie movie opening (pre Madonna).

[Scroby 0]

God's back hand would have been a better name.

[luke-o 0]

I really liked God Hand, i enjoyed playing it round my mates house, i went out and bought a PS2 just to play it.

[Ripper 0]

Beat'em ups are never going to be reviewed well again because reviewers call them repetitive, which of course is exactly what they always were.

 

I think its a case of looking at the past games and forgetting what they were actually like.

[World's Worst Man 0]

I think its a case of looking at the past games and forgetting what they were actually like.

 

Nostalgia is funny like that.

[AndrewTS 0]

Like I said, Streetwise is cheesy, stupid, and you beat lots of people up. For variety you have silly mini-games and occasionally blow away glowheads (which are *totally* nothing like zombies) with shotguns.

 

With better visuals and a better camera, I don't really see how how you can complain that it isn't a fun *Final Fight* game.

 

Godhand is much the same way. It's cheesy and really stupid, and you beat the hell out of people. It's extremely retro in its game design, unlike Streetwise (which deliberately tries to update more and give you more variety). Streetwise does have an "arcade" mode that's more like a traditional FF game, but it's hella hard and you have no continues. Boo!

 

If you like Godhand, by the way--give Streetwise a fair shot.

 

that game looks badass!

 

Indeed, it is!

 

There's even a minigame where you beat up vehicles (it actually appears to be the same SUV from SF3--but in various different colors). Sadly, there's only one actual vehicle model to beat up.

[In Credible 0]

how cheap was it? and will the xbox version work on 360?

[AndrewTS 0]

how cheap was it? and will the xbox version work on 360?

 

$14.99 for my new copy, but used ones go for $12.99. Xbox version isn't playable on 360, unfortunately.

 

Speaking of beat 'em ups playable on 360, Anya brought the Buffy games to my attention. Both play on 360, although the first one apparently is better. Sadly, there's no co-op on either one. Surprisingly, those games have high scores across the board.