It's the year 2015 and the most powerful organization of the planet, a company named Deutschland Moldavia, is threatening to take over the world by genetically manipulatin humans into mindless slaves or powerful monsters. The Peace Keepers is a side-scrolling fighting game similar to games in the Final Fight series. The player can choose from four characters (plus two that become available later in the game) with different strengths and weaknesses. In addition to combinations of standard attacks, jump-, run- and throwing attacks, all characters can also block attacks, perform single heavy attacks, special attacks that consume a certain amount of energy and super attacks. Super attacks damage all enemies on-screen, but can only be used twice per continue. If a character is hit repeatedly, there is a chance that they temporarily switch into "angry-mode" during which they are invincible and more powerful. Most levels offer different paths and exits, and after every level, a different character may be selected. This means that levels may be played through in different orders and that it is not at all necessary to play through all the levels to reach one of several endings.
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Yep, not a really great beat'em up, but neither the worst one. No idea how the first levels feels so silent on music when I could check many average tracks.
We started out the Rushing Beat trilogy on a pretty bad note with Rival Turf!, which was one of the most boring and bland games that I have ever played in my life, especially from the beat-’em-up genre, but then we saw improvement from the next title, Brawl Brothers… or at least, as much improvement as you could expect from these games. While it didn’t really introduce anything too new or exciting for this series, or for this genre as a whole, it did play a lot better than its predecessor, to where I would say that it wasn’t awful, but instead just… there. Hey, that’s better praise than being just straight dogshit, if you ask me. But anyways, it’s been long enough, I’ve been having too much fun with life recently, so I feel it is about time we go ahead and end off this series with the final installment of the trilogy, The Peace Keepers.
Ever since I played Brawl Brothers, my brain has grown to a decent size, so when I went into this game, I had zero expectations, other than I would probably hate it. It would be safe to assume that this would be the best of the series, since it was made last, but I still wanted to go in with as little hope as possible, just so I wouldn’t be that annoyed by the end of the game. So, after playing through, I can say that I was right to go in with little expectations, but that is not to say that this game is bad. Out of all of the games in the series, I would say this is indeed the best one, but that is only by a very SMALL margin, and at the end of the day, it is still mostly just a whatever entry.
The story takes place in the distant year of 2015, where the evil corporation known as Deutschland Moldavia, or DM for short, is in control of most of the world and its resources, using them for genetic research that end up affecting the lives of many, so it is up to the Peace Keepers Flynn, Echo, Al, and Prokop, to go and stop them, which is about as generic as a beat-’em-up plot can get, but at this point, I really don’t care, the graphics look about the same as the previous two games, so there isn’t much to say about that, the music is… of a certain quality, and it certainly does fit well with the quality of this game, but for some reason, the music is turned off by default, which is stupid as hell, the control is exactly what you would expect from a beat-’em-up, so moving on from that, and the gameplay is also what you would expect from a beat-’em-up, but I will give them credit for changing things up a little bit.
The game is a 2D side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of four different characters from the beginning, go through a set of at least 8 stages through several generic areas you would expect to find in one of these games, beat the fuck out of anyone that comes your way with regular attacks, grabs, throws, or even special and super moves, get various different weapons and health items to help you out along the way, and fight a good number of damage-sponge bosses that are not that fun to fight. It is all too familiar for those who have experience with this set of games, and it is just about as fun as you would expect, but again, I will give it credit, there are some new things to admire here.
First of all, out of all of the games, this game has the most focus on story out of all of them by far. At the beginning of the game, you can watch a several-minute long cutscene detailing how all of the characters are involved in the plot, and throughout the game, you will stop in your tracks to hear the characters exchange dialogue with NPCs and bosses before continuing, which also contribute to the plot in some way. It is about as professionally put together as well as any shovelware piece of hardware could be, but hey, at least it is there. In addition to this, this game definitely has the most replay value by far, as not only are there multiple characters to play as, but there are also more characters you can unlock as you keep playing, and there are even multiple pathways you can take throughout, leading to different stages and different endings. Once again, for a game like this, that kind of addition is admirable, and it will certainly give you plenty to work with, but I couldn’t care less about seeing what any of the other endings or stages are after just one playthrough.
That is all for one simple reason: it is still mostly just more bland beat-’em-up action. Not only does it look and sound generally the same, but it also plays the same too, with the combat feeling stiff and awkward, the hit detection being as rough as can be, and it having no differences from other, much better games from that era. I’m sorry that I don’t really have much more to say in that matter, but this single piece of criticism perfectly encapsulates my overall feelings for this entire series. While none of them are flat out terrible games, and they would be good alternatives for those who didn’t have access to any of said better games, they pale in comparison to most other beat-’em-ups at the time, and I don’t see any reason as to why they were made other then to cash in on a popular trend, even though the developers clearly didn’t understand what made this trend and genre work to begin with.
Overall, despite the somewhat unique changes found in this installment, there is nothing more that I can say in a positive light, as this is still more of what you would expect if you have played the other games in this series, and it warrants no reason for playing it if you have access to the other, better games. I would recommend it for those who were fans of the other Rushing Beat games, as well as those who just adore beat-’em-ups in general, but aside from those two reasons, there is nothing else that this game offers to entertain audiences, and thus is a generic waste of time. But hey, now that I am done with these games, I can at least be happy knowing that I never have to play them again. That is pretty sad, being happy about not having to do something, but I will take it at this point.
Game #477
Ever since I played Brawl Brothers, my brain has grown to a decent size, so when I went into this game, I had zero expectations, other than I would probably hate it. It would be safe to assume that this would be the best of the series, since it was made last, but I still wanted to go in with as little hope as possible, just so I wouldn’t be that annoyed by the end of the game. So, after playing through, I can say that I was right to go in with little expectations, but that is not to say that this game is bad. Out of all of the games in the series, I would say this is indeed the best one, but that is only by a very SMALL margin, and at the end of the day, it is still mostly just a whatever entry.
The story takes place in the distant year of 2015, where the evil corporation known as Deutschland Moldavia, or DM for short, is in control of most of the world and its resources, using them for genetic research that end up affecting the lives of many, so it is up to the Peace Keepers Flynn, Echo, Al, and Prokop, to go and stop them, which is about as generic as a beat-’em-up plot can get, but at this point, I really don’t care, the graphics look about the same as the previous two games, so there isn’t much to say about that, the music is… of a certain quality, and it certainly does fit well with the quality of this game, but for some reason, the music is turned off by default, which is stupid as hell, the control is exactly what you would expect from a beat-’em-up, so moving on from that, and the gameplay is also what you would expect from a beat-’em-up, but I will give them credit for changing things up a little bit.
The game is a 2D side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of four different characters from the beginning, go through a set of at least 8 stages through several generic areas you would expect to find in one of these games, beat the fuck out of anyone that comes your way with regular attacks, grabs, throws, or even special and super moves, get various different weapons and health items to help you out along the way, and fight a good number of damage-sponge bosses that are not that fun to fight. It is all too familiar for those who have experience with this set of games, and it is just about as fun as you would expect, but again, I will give it credit, there are some new things to admire here.
First of all, out of all of the games, this game has the most focus on story out of all of them by far. At the beginning of the game, you can watch a several-minute long cutscene detailing how all of the characters are involved in the plot, and throughout the game, you will stop in your tracks to hear the characters exchange dialogue with NPCs and bosses before continuing, which also contribute to the plot in some way. It is about as professionally put together as well as any shovelware piece of hardware could be, but hey, at least it is there. In addition to this, this game definitely has the most replay value by far, as not only are there multiple characters to play as, but there are also more characters you can unlock as you keep playing, and there are even multiple pathways you can take throughout, leading to different stages and different endings. Once again, for a game like this, that kind of addition is admirable, and it will certainly give you plenty to work with, but I couldn’t care less about seeing what any of the other endings or stages are after just one playthrough.
That is all for one simple reason: it is still mostly just more bland beat-’em-up action. Not only does it look and sound generally the same, but it also plays the same too, with the combat feeling stiff and awkward, the hit detection being as rough as can be, and it having no differences from other, much better games from that era. I’m sorry that I don’t really have much more to say in that matter, but this single piece of criticism perfectly encapsulates my overall feelings for this entire series. While none of them are flat out terrible games, and they would be good alternatives for those who didn’t have access to any of said better games, they pale in comparison to most other beat-’em-ups at the time, and I don’t see any reason as to why they were made other then to cash in on a popular trend, even though the developers clearly didn’t understand what made this trend and genre work to begin with.
Overall, despite the somewhat unique changes found in this installment, there is nothing more that I can say in a positive light, as this is still more of what you would expect if you have played the other games in this series, and it warrants no reason for playing it if you have access to the other, better games. I would recommend it for those who were fans of the other Rushing Beat games, as well as those who just adore beat-’em-ups in general, but aside from those two reasons, there is nothing else that this game offers to entertain audiences, and thus is a generic waste of time. But hey, now that I am done with these games, I can at least be happy knowing that I never have to play them again. That is pretty sad, being happy about not having to do something, but I will take it at this point.
Game #477
A completely forgettable beat 'em up. A game you play for three minutes because it's in the Nintendo Switch SNES library.
Back in 2022, I played the first two Rushing Beat games and hated both of them. This was especially true of the first one where it was so bad that the poster promoting EDF made me wanna play that instead. I wanted to wait till NSO got the game but it never came out in Japan so I had to resort to drastic measures and the game was fine surprisingly.
Honestly the game is just very unoffensive to me as you could do worse but this one suffers the most from how exploitable the enemies are in this one. After a while it can get kind of boring despite the decent amount of moves. It even has a block feature and because I suck I can never get use out of it most of the time. I played as Elfin the entire time but with some changes.
One cool thing is that you can edit the color palette and names so I was able to just name the girl after me and also just have dumb enemy names like Jobber or Jaloob because why not? It makes me wonder why they let you do this though but it is funny.
The game is also oddly easy like they give you 30 continues which is insane for a beat em up. Granted you do only have one life but still it doesn't even take you back to a checkpoint if you die, it's kind of crazy. Maybe there's difficulty options? Though I didn't see them.
The game also has a lot of story but sadly I wasn't able to read anything that was going on so if I was missing out on something good then I'm sorry, I won't know what happened. I don't think there's a fan translation either which is a shame.
Overall it's just very "fine" as a game, I can't really recommend it though. It has some things going for it but I just think you're better off with other games. I guess it's nice that it didn't end on another bad note but I can't really see myself playing it again unless it one day shows up on NSO, I hear the US version is worse so try to avoid that one. Why did all of these games here tried to separate themselves in names??
Also screw the final boss' ultimate attack, why do you only get about a second to block a move that takes about 80% of your health?? It's not the worst move to dodge but god that made it stressful.
Actually before I go I should ask incase anyone reads this, did you even know this series is getting a 4th game in 2024? I thought I was finally done until I learned that back in September they did a trailer showcasing a new game. I doubt I'll play it but it says a lot when there's not even a Backloggd page for it still (at least at the time of writing.) Seriously out of all the old franchises to bring back...
Honestly the game is just very unoffensive to me as you could do worse but this one suffers the most from how exploitable the enemies are in this one. After a while it can get kind of boring despite the decent amount of moves. It even has a block feature and because I suck I can never get use out of it most of the time. I played as Elfin the entire time but with some changes.
One cool thing is that you can edit the color palette and names so I was able to just name the girl after me and also just have dumb enemy names like Jobber or Jaloob because why not? It makes me wonder why they let you do this though but it is funny.
The game is also oddly easy like they give you 30 continues which is insane for a beat em up. Granted you do only have one life but still it doesn't even take you back to a checkpoint if you die, it's kind of crazy. Maybe there's difficulty options? Though I didn't see them.
The game also has a lot of story but sadly I wasn't able to read anything that was going on so if I was missing out on something good then I'm sorry, I won't know what happened. I don't think there's a fan translation either which is a shame.
Overall it's just very "fine" as a game, I can't really recommend it though. It has some things going for it but I just think you're better off with other games. I guess it's nice that it didn't end on another bad note but I can't really see myself playing it again unless it one day shows up on NSO, I hear the US version is worse so try to avoid that one. Why did all of these games here tried to separate themselves in names??
Also screw the final boss' ultimate attack, why do you only get about a second to block a move that takes about 80% of your health?? It's not the worst move to dodge but god that made it stressful.
Actually before I go I should ask incase anyone reads this, did you even know this series is getting a 4th game in 2024? I thought I was finally done until I learned that back in September they did a trailer showcasing a new game. I doubt I'll play it but it says a lot when there's not even a Backloggd page for it still (at least at the time of writing.) Seriously out of all the old franchises to bring back...
Played back to back with Brawl Brothers and actually pulled through to the final boss. While i wouldn't say it's enjoyable, it still works better for me than it's predecessor (i learned about them being part 2 and 3 of a trilogy afterwards). There's more variation in perspective, characters and fighting style / moves (has there been blocking in Brawl Brothers already? Gotta check it out again). While there's still difficulties regarding the hitboxes, it's more controllable. Unfortunately you will soon stick go the A-Button Special Punch, although it drains your energy. Given the invincible frame, that comes with it, you somehow rely on this perpetuitiv move. Then there's the specials (which i discovered half-way). I think you really have to use them wisely, before you die and use up 1 continue. By doing so, getting to the end - and also beating the final boss - should be possible easily. There hasn't been any difficulty settings, so i guess 11 Continues is the way it's meant to be played. Further, there was no music at all, of which i learned was due to got it removed via the transition from the orig. japanese version to the us one (?). So this kind of dulls down the complete experience - no comparison to TMNT TiT for example, where the music really keeps you pumped up. Overall average and no total waste of time. Story and characters (real life scanned character pics!?) are hillarious and sort of C-Movie enjoyable too.
More Jaleco shovelware. Ugly graphics, no music, poor controls, and boring gameplay.