The first part of the Rushing Beat trilogy, Rival Turf!, was quite possibly the most bland, boring, and lifeless beat-’em-up game that I have ever played. It was so painfully generic, using many of the usual tropes that was seen with beat-’em-up games at the time, while also introducing nothing new to the formula to make it stand out from others. And yet, somehow it keeps getting rereleased despite how bland it really is, even though nobody is asking for it every time it happens. Regardless, the game was apparently successful enough to where two more installments were made, but whenever they were brought over to the US, they were made into individual games as opposed to sequels to Rival Turf!, for some reason. The first of these games would release shortly after the original, and would be simply known as Brawl Brothers.
When I went into this game, I was expecting something on a very similar level as Rival Turf!, because not only was the box-art incredibly generic, but it also granted me with one of the most lifeless title screens I had ever seen from a video game. It was all setting up for yet another disappointment to greet me, but surprisingly, what I ended up getting wasn’t as disappointing as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a bad game, nowhere near the same quality as other games of the genre, but for being a follow-up to Rival Turf!, it managed to improve the gameplay in several areas, and managed to actually introduce new stuff, unlike the original game. With all that in mind, I would say that this game isn’t necessarily awful, but incredibly lackluster, giving exactly what you would expect from an early SNES beat-’em-up, while bringing new elements to the table that would both improve and degrade the experience.
The story is typical for a 90s brawler, where a big bad guy kidnaps a group of individuals related to our main characters, and you have to go out and save them, which is fine enough I guess, because I really don’t care about the story in these particular games, the graphics look fine enough, looking like every other SNES game/SNES beat-’em-up at the time, and it does its job, but not much else, the music is also fine enough, with there being plenty of tracks to listen to while you beat up dudes, but none of them stand out as memorable, the control is basically the exact same as the previous game, except now you get a special attack, which is pretty neat I guess, and the gameplay is what you have come to expect from one of these games, but surprisingly, it is actually more fun here then the previous installment.
The game is a 2D beat-’em-up, where you can take control of up to five different characters, which is pretty cool for one of these games, take on a set of four VERY LONG stages, beat up many different goons and baddies along your journey using plenty of kicks, punches, and what have you, gather plenty of weapons and health items to give you an edge over the many foes that you will encounter, and defeat several bosses along the way, three of which happening to be the people that you are trying to save. It all comes down to being what you think it is, but again, to the game’s credit, it does feel more fun to play then the previous installment…. not too much more fun, but fun enough.
In terms of actual new additions, like I mentioned earlier, you get the option to play as five different characters at the beginning, which is actually quite a lot for this type of game, and it does add quite a bit of replay value to it, so that is pretty cool to see. In addition to this, there is also now a new Angry Mode that you can turn off or on, where whenever you take too much damage from enemies, you will start to glow, and you will be able to deal much more damage to your foes while being invulnerable for a short amount of time. Once again, this change isn’t anything too drastic to the formula, but it is a nice change of pace from most other games. And that is pretty much all of the major changes that we have here, but I will stress again, the game does feel better to play. The combat feels much faster, the speed at which your character moves feels just right, and there is enough moves to where you won’t feel like you will only just mash through the entire time…….. most of the time.
But really, that is all the game has going for it. It is still your average 90s beat-’em-up in every sense of the word, and once again, it isn’t that much better then other games like Final Fight and TMNT IV, so you have very little reason to try this out over others. Not to mention, there are some things holding it back. First off, like I mentioned earlier, there may only be four stages, but these stages are LONG, where it feels like you will spend from 10-15 minutes just getting through one section of them, which isn’t necessarily good for one of these games. And secondly, this game also introduces maze stages into the mix! You remember how in games like Super Mario Bros., there are those castles where you have to go down the right path and order in order to proceed forward? This is essentially what these stages are, except they are in a beat-’em-up game, and I don’t know who thought of this, but either way, it was a HORRIBLE idea. Obviously, you get lost really easily, and since a lot of the game relies on you to beat up enemies before you can scroll on to the other side of the area, you can spend what feels like an eternity in these sections just trying to find a way out, which completely kills the flow of the game.
Overall, despite a few new additions and the gameplay feeling much better this time around, Brawl Brothers is still a bad game, being more typical beat-’em-up action with no ground to stand on in comparison to others, and only existing to waste your time at the end of the day. I guess I could recommend it for those who enjoyed Rival Turf!, as well as those who are huge fans of beat-’em-ups in general, but don’t expect anything too new or great to be found here, because you won’t be getting either of those things. Unless, of course, you love going through numerous elevators that waste your time, because if you do, then this game is for you!
Game #419
When I went into this game, I was expecting something on a very similar level as Rival Turf!, because not only was the box-art incredibly generic, but it also granted me with one of the most lifeless title screens I had ever seen from a video game. It was all setting up for yet another disappointment to greet me, but surprisingly, what I ended up getting wasn’t as disappointing as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a bad game, nowhere near the same quality as other games of the genre, but for being a follow-up to Rival Turf!, it managed to improve the gameplay in several areas, and managed to actually introduce new stuff, unlike the original game. With all that in mind, I would say that this game isn’t necessarily awful, but incredibly lackluster, giving exactly what you would expect from an early SNES beat-’em-up, while bringing new elements to the table that would both improve and degrade the experience.
The story is typical for a 90s brawler, where a big bad guy kidnaps a group of individuals related to our main characters, and you have to go out and save them, which is fine enough I guess, because I really don’t care about the story in these particular games, the graphics look fine enough, looking like every other SNES game/SNES beat-’em-up at the time, and it does its job, but not much else, the music is also fine enough, with there being plenty of tracks to listen to while you beat up dudes, but none of them stand out as memorable, the control is basically the exact same as the previous game, except now you get a special attack, which is pretty neat I guess, and the gameplay is what you have come to expect from one of these games, but surprisingly, it is actually more fun here then the previous installment.
The game is a 2D beat-’em-up, where you can take control of up to five different characters, which is pretty cool for one of these games, take on a set of four VERY LONG stages, beat up many different goons and baddies along your journey using plenty of kicks, punches, and what have you, gather plenty of weapons and health items to give you an edge over the many foes that you will encounter, and defeat several bosses along the way, three of which happening to be the people that you are trying to save. It all comes down to being what you think it is, but again, to the game’s credit, it does feel more fun to play then the previous installment…. not too much more fun, but fun enough.
In terms of actual new additions, like I mentioned earlier, you get the option to play as five different characters at the beginning, which is actually quite a lot for this type of game, and it does add quite a bit of replay value to it, so that is pretty cool to see. In addition to this, there is also now a new Angry Mode that you can turn off or on, where whenever you take too much damage from enemies, you will start to glow, and you will be able to deal much more damage to your foes while being invulnerable for a short amount of time. Once again, this change isn’t anything too drastic to the formula, but it is a nice change of pace from most other games. And that is pretty much all of the major changes that we have here, but I will stress again, the game does feel better to play. The combat feels much faster, the speed at which your character moves feels just right, and there is enough moves to where you won’t feel like you will only just mash through the entire time…….. most of the time.
But really, that is all the game has going for it. It is still your average 90s beat-’em-up in every sense of the word, and once again, it isn’t that much better then other games like Final Fight and TMNT IV, so you have very little reason to try this out over others. Not to mention, there are some things holding it back. First off, like I mentioned earlier, there may only be four stages, but these stages are LONG, where it feels like you will spend from 10-15 minutes just getting through one section of them, which isn’t necessarily good for one of these games. And secondly, this game also introduces maze stages into the mix! You remember how in games like Super Mario Bros., there are those castles where you have to go down the right path and order in order to proceed forward? This is essentially what these stages are, except they are in a beat-’em-up game, and I don’t know who thought of this, but either way, it was a HORRIBLE idea. Obviously, you get lost really easily, and since a lot of the game relies on you to beat up enemies before you can scroll on to the other side of the area, you can spend what feels like an eternity in these sections just trying to find a way out, which completely kills the flow of the game.
Overall, despite a few new additions and the gameplay feeling much better this time around, Brawl Brothers is still a bad game, being more typical beat-’em-up action with no ground to stand on in comparison to others, and only existing to waste your time at the end of the day. I guess I could recommend it for those who enjoyed Rival Turf!, as well as those who are huge fans of beat-’em-ups in general, but don’t expect anything too new or great to be found here, because you won’t be getting either of those things. Unless, of course, you love going through numerous elevators that waste your time, because if you do, then this game is for you!
Game #419