Rank 'em ups
Ranking the genre whose classics are more likely to be mid when compared to any other genre.
48 Games
12 Comments
Been meaning to give River city girls and the new turtles one a shot after streets 4, really wasnt expecting it to be so good.
yeah i preordered RCG 1+2 when i saw that playasia bundle, also been meaning to get around to turtles and that one that launched close to it, final vendetta
"Ranking the genre whose classics are more likely to be mid when compared to any other genre."
I have to ask, are you just ranking "arcadey" beat em ups here? I've never seen anybody call something like Final Fight 1 their favourite game, but I've seen numerous people call something like Odin Sphere, Viewtiful Joe, or Guardian mf Heroes their favourite game of all time. There are a lot of beat em ups I've played with more combo depth and involved stories than anything here if that sort of thing interests you, even if they aren't the most traditional examples of the genre.
Also, it's nice to see somebody rank Armoured Warriors so high. I just played it again and remembered how underrated it was. The sheer amount of work that went into sprites and how many weapons could be attached was insane. If you haven't played the SNES version of Turtles in Time I'd also give it a rec, it's much improved in just about every way.
I have to ask, are you just ranking "arcadey" beat em ups here? I've never seen anybody call something like Final Fight 1 their favourite game, but I've seen numerous people call something like Odin Sphere, Viewtiful Joe, or Guardian mf Heroes their favourite game of all time. There are a lot of beat em ups I've played with more combo depth and involved stories than anything here if that sort of thing interests you, even if they aren't the most traditional examples of the genre.
Also, it's nice to see somebody rank Armoured Warriors so high. I just played it again and remembered how underrated it was. The sheer amount of work that went into sprites and how many weapons could be attached was insane. If you haven't played the SNES version of Turtles in Time I'd also give it a rec, it's much improved in just about every way.
I just mostly played them via coop in fightcade thats why most of those are from arcade, but not all, I played battletoads and streets 4 in the pc gamepass.
I just started river city girls recently and I'm having some fun, although I'm more in a racing game vibe recently.
oh cool, i have some recs then that will blow your mind
Guardian Heroes by Treasure has 5 different playable characters with totally unique movesets and properties. If you beat the game you unlock the true main character Serena who is super complex to play, with the decoy protagonist Han being extremely simple with a few good special moves in comparison. It also has an unusual story focus with FMVs, 5 different routes, 30 maps total, and a morality system. The RPG level ups help a lot and you can either use fighting game motions to input any spell instantly, or scroll through a menu in real time.
Viewtiful Joe feels like a playable tokusatsu with time manipulation powers and camera effects being part of your canon arsenal. It feels kinda basic at first but really eases you into the mechanics as you buy and unlock more moves. You can even chain rider kicks together and the story is hilarious.
Ghost Chaser Densei is super ahead of its time, particularly the SNES version. I made a full writeup here https://backloggd.com/u/C_F/review/217100/
I would also rec Odin Sphere, though it's quite an unusual hybrid of genres. The PS2 version is more slow paced and methodical but the Leifthrasir port revamped the gameplay to be much more fast paced to the point there were setups to land 999 hit combos. Every character also plays totally uniquely and has a story that feels straight out of a Norse mythology tragedy. You can even play with the PS2 gameplay if you prefer it.
I'd also consider stuff like Yakuza or God Hand to fall in this genre as 3D equivalents but yeah. As an aside, have you played Final Fight 2-3 or Mighty Final Fight? imo all of them improve heavily on FF1 but they're pretty traditional beat em ups so you may be a bit burned out of them lol
Guardian Heroes by Treasure has 5 different playable characters with totally unique movesets and properties. If you beat the game you unlock the true main character Serena who is super complex to play, with the decoy protagonist Han being extremely simple with a few good special moves in comparison. It also has an unusual story focus with FMVs, 5 different routes, 30 maps total, and a morality system. The RPG level ups help a lot and you can either use fighting game motions to input any spell instantly, or scroll through a menu in real time.
Viewtiful Joe feels like a playable tokusatsu with time manipulation powers and camera effects being part of your canon arsenal. It feels kinda basic at first but really eases you into the mechanics as you buy and unlock more moves. You can even chain rider kicks together and the story is hilarious.
Ghost Chaser Densei is super ahead of its time, particularly the SNES version. I made a full writeup here https://backloggd.com/u/C_F/review/217100/
I would also rec Odin Sphere, though it's quite an unusual hybrid of genres. The PS2 version is more slow paced and methodical but the Leifthrasir port revamped the gameplay to be much more fast paced to the point there were setups to land 999 hit combos. Every character also plays totally uniquely and has a story that feels straight out of a Norse mythology tragedy. You can even play with the PS2 gameplay if you prefer it.
I'd also consider stuff like Yakuza or God Hand to fall in this genre as 3D equivalents but yeah. As an aside, have you played Final Fight 2-3 or Mighty Final Fight? imo all of them improve heavily on FF1 but they're pretty traditional beat em ups so you may be a bit burned out of them lol
wait yakuza counts?
im confused with like what is a beat em up and what is a hack n slash and if theres any difference whatsoever in including both of them, not that I played that many hack n slashes to begin with...
im confused with like what is a beat em up and what is a hack n slash and if theres any difference whatsoever in including both of them, not that I played that many hack n slashes to begin with...
I'd like to think character action games are just beatemups melded into the adventure genre
a hack-n-slash generally is weapon focused i guess while with god hand and yakuza it's more about the over the top martial arts
genre terms can be confusing lmao
i think it's fair to argue 3D melee combat and character action games being an extension of beatemup. Maybe 'belt action' or 'belt-scrolling' is the more appropriate term for 2D arcade-style brawlers.
i think it's fair to argue 3D melee combat and character action games being an extension of beatemup. Maybe 'belt action' or 'belt-scrolling' is the more appropriate term for 2D arcade-style brawlers.
but then again, how to single-plane brawlers like ninja warriors, splatterhouse or mad stalker fit into that? lmfao
MagneticBurn
1 year ago