Top Ten Fighting Games And Beat-Em-Ups:

Top Ten Fighting Games And Beat-Em-Ups:

Final Fight is probably the first beat-em-up game I remember playing in the arcade. It was just so cool. Waves of punks coming after Haggar and Cody and they just beat the crap out of them with wrestling moves and karate. It didn't make much sense, but it was so cool. The continue screen with the dynamite was so dramatic that it still sticks in my mind as one of the greatest continue screens of all time.

Next up is probably Street Fighter II. It combined everything that was awesome about karate movies and action movies, then made it into an international fighting tournament. Each fight was different, and the fighters had such personality and cool moves that I always enjoyed seeing how each fight would play out, even if it was just me holding forward and heavy punch, it all just looked so badass and became a cultural phenomenon.

After that, I'd have to say X-Men the Arcade Game was top-tier. It was like playing a version of the 90s cartoon. Nobody cared that the characters were actually from the 1989 pilot episode. It was enough to trash sentinels and then stomp on them, and use your mutant power to clear the screen. The mutant powers always felt so impactful and powerful, especially if you were low on health, and cleared the screen to save the day.

Number 6 is a tough call, but I think I'm gonna have to give it to Peacekeepers on SNES. It's cool for the same reasons X-Men Arcade was cool, except ramped up to 10. So, there's a superhero team, and they're taking on monsters and mutants with karate moves and huge wrestling slams. Even bigger if they're in “Angry Mode” and they just launch the bad guys. Plus, each character has their own attacks, special attacks, and super special attacks, so it's all really satisfying to keep beating on baddies, which is important because that's all you do in beat-em-ups.

This one probably a little more obscure: Saturday Night Slam Masters for SNES. It was a wrestling game that combined wrestling with beat-em-up mechanics, instead of the total clickfests that most wrestling games were at the time. The grapple system was still a clickfest, but they were on their way out. Cool special moves, tournament fighter-style and a memorable cast meant that I could keep playing. It probably started my love of wrestling games.

Number 4! Oh well, that's gotta go to Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. I can still play this game and enjoy it. Plus, it introduced some of my favorite characters like Cammy and Fei Long! It blew my mind that they just put the boss characters in there. It's like they said forget it. Just put everything that made Street Fighter cool into one game. And the world is better for it.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the same next-level kind of insanity. Only now they let two characters tag-team together and unleash all kinds of crazy special moves, assist attacks, and hyper combos with a few easy button presses. This game was always pure eye candy. Did it make sense that little Mega Man could body slam Captain America? No, but it was so cool nobody cared. It was worth it to see them all on the screen together.

Oh, gosh. What's at Number 2? Super Street Fighter 4! I love that on the touch-screen version they let the player unleash super moves and super combos with a simple poke! Sure, it was the same animations over and over, but it meant there was a level playing field and wasn't a combo and clickfest. Plus, it still has most of my favorite characters like Cammy and added Juri Han! I can always still pick up and play this one.

Number 1 is BlazBlue: Continuum Shift! A great cast of colorful characters, big colorful attacks, and a complex, crazy anime-style narrative make this game my favorite. They put a lot into this game, including story modes, tournament modes, and branching visual novel-style presentation. This many ways to play plus such cool moves for each character means I never get bored of it!

Bonus: Lastly, the perfect way to end the 90s fighting game craze! In 1999, there was Tekken Tag Tournament. The inputs were easier, the characters were cool (You could play as a dinosaur!), it was easier to do combos, they let them tag between each other, each with their own crazy moves. Plus, they even added an unlockable bowling mode, which automatically makes it my favorite. How many other fighting games have a bowling mode?

Liberty or Death (1993 SNES):

It's an American Revolutionary War Strategy Game! Well, Calling Liberty or Death a strategy game is a bit generous. It's much more a resource management game with a historical framework. Every move you make takes a certain resource, whether its food, gunpowder, or troops. The battle system is really limited. You move one square at a time, and troops need to be right next to each other to attack. For this reason, it doesn't hold up. I always wanted to like this game more than I actually do.

It's quite literally just whoever has the most things wins. For a historical game, I understand this. It puts the pressure on the players to launch quick and smart attacks, but the one move at a time mechanic really limits your paths to victory. For the British, you want to use your Navy to quickly cut off America from Europe, and capture Philadelphia, or the American General. (Washington)

Now, if you're the Americans, you want to seize Boston to cut off the English Navy immediately, and send delegates to Europe to gain support and allies. Just like Washington did. You can also capture the English General. (Cornwallis.) If you can gain enough support/denial for American independence by running newspapers and delegates to states, they can switch sides from the British to the American army or vice versa.

The resource management and delegate processes can actually be pretty fun, and it's always satisfying to gain support from such-and-such new state. However, the battle system is just tedious and not fun, when it should be the focus of the game, because you'll be doing it a lot. Like I said, everything moves one square, and everything has to be close up to attack. Even the guns. Add to this that you need to manage each resource before battle (Troops run out of food and powder.) and it makes the gameplay very dull...you'll have to use bayonets if you run out of powder, or the battle just ends if you don't have enough food.

In spite of this, I just thought I'd write about this weird historical strategy game because it had so much promise. Some of the resource management is fun! It's always fun to get new troops or new support. But, the part that should be fun, battling, isn't. If you don't end the game before 1800, the game ends with British victory automatically, and Thomas Gage becomes Lord Governor of the 13 Colonies. It's a shame then, that America only has a small path to victory. It's historical, but that also means it's limited.

Surprisingly, I thought the strongest point of the game was also it's biggest weakness...the music. The same 1-minute battle ditty plays on loop for every battle, which gets annoying when you're moving square by square. Now, during the resource management phases you get rousing midis with flute noises and drums, and even “The Star-Spangled Banner". An upbeat continenntal theme which calls America “The Land of Liberty and Justice” plays in the event of an American Victory.

Overall, “Liberty or Death” is a nice educational resource management game. There's sort of an idea of a strategy game there, but it falls flat and the most exciting parts quickly become the most tedious. I'd say unless you really like historical tactics games, you're better off skipping this one. It has some cool ideas though, as sort of a historical “what if?”. Unfortunately, as much as I want to wonder “What if the Spanish had helped American independence instead of France?” I just keep wondering “What if this game were more exciting?”

GAME ACCESSIBILITY REVIEW: SUPER METROID (SNES):

  As I was growing up, there were often games I’d watch my able-bodied twin play and consider inaccessible for myself. 1994’s Super Metroid was one such game. The game seemed to require quick reflexes for shooting and jumping I just didn’t have. It was a shame because Metroid seemed like it involved a lot of exploring (rare for side-scrollers, back then.) and looked like an amazing world.  The map is huge!

  Because of these 3 things, (rapid button pushing, huge map, dexterity issues.) I sort of avoided playing this game back in its prime. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised at how accessible and fun it is! Full disclosure: I use a walk-thru for some parts, but because I want a semi-1994 experience, I only use it when I’m stuck. I’m frequently grateful that walk-thrus exist; at the same time, it’s fun to explore the planet.

   Most of the advantage of Super Metroid’s accessibility comes from the fact that it is a 2D side-scroller, as were previous Metroid titles. What I mean is you can only move left and right, but by the same token, your enemies have the same limits, and from what I’ve seen, they don’t always move too fast or fill up the screen (like in Castlevania.)

   There are a few relics from the 90s, such as in-game save points. Also, buttons are readily re-mappable in the game’s start-up screen, but not in-game. Despite the ease and pace of the game, it is a massive labyrinth. I would say that’s it’s major setback for accessibility, but that’s easily overcome with modern technology. Also, I just can’t resist the game’s foreboding futuristic atmosphere, which seems inspired by Alien. Only replace Sigourney Weaver with the bounty hunter Samus Aran. Not that it effects accessibility but for a 16-bit game, the soundtrack and graphics are, well, super.

   In the modern gaming world, it’s hard to imagine a game as well balanced for a side-scroller. Since a major emphasis of the game is on exploring, I think, you don’t get mobbed. Or perhaps this is a processor limitation or something about the 16-bit era in general. The flipside to that of course, is probably the only reason it’s inaccessible. If it were ’94 still, I’d undoubtedly be lost and have no idea what to do; but since it’s not much of the frustration is removed.

   Modern side-scrollers tend to fill up the screen with enemies or move at breakneck speeds. So far as I can tell, there’s only one timed part of the game; the lab escape in the beginning of the game, but as the game lets you retry as many times as you like, (and that’s the beginning, so yes, you start at the beginning. Save points come a little later after you learn to use missiles.) it’s easy. Overall, I feel the game gives you time to figure out it’s platform-jumping and other logic puzzles. This is something sorely lacking in modern gaming, and also adds to the feel of isolation in the game.

     I’m glad I picked up this gem from the past again, and was happy to discover it wasn’t as inaccessible as I thought back then! But, it is a game of its time. Without modern walk-thrus, I might have never played it again. But, I do like that it moves the game along at a predictable speed, rather than blasting the player through the story with tons enemies and quick draw reflexes. These are the sins of the modern side-scroller (You can actually trace it back to Metal Slug…even Contra.) So, it’s nice to have a game that lets you take time. However, it’s probably because you’d get lost in pre-walkthru times! Double-edged sword.

    In conclusion, while exploration in Super Metroid can be tiresome, it’s still a good game and is well-paced enough to make it plenty accessible for me. There’s a good balance of logic and action, and it actually avoids most the things I thought would make it inaccessible. My 9-year-old self probably wouldn’t have liked it, but now I’m able to appreciate the game’s maze, especially because I have walk-thrus. More importantly, it’s me playing this time. Some games are worth a second look, especially when it’s through your own “alien” eyes.

FINAL GRADE: B-

ACCESSIBILITY GRADE: B (Well-paced action and logic puzzles. Re-mappable buttons. Screen is almost never cluttered. Enemies have predictable patterns.)

FORGIVENESS FACTOR: C (Fairly old-school; you get save points. That‘s it. A game of its time.)

 CONTROL: B (There‘s pretty much a 1:1 action/response ratio; the rest depends on what you’ve configured. )