When you think Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive, if you'd prefer) beat 'em up chances are the first things that come into your mind are names like Golden Axe, Alien Storm and - of course - Streets of Rage. The scrolling fighter was the arcade genre of choice before Street Fighter II showed up and made everyone potty about throwing fireballs at each other, and as a result there are numerous examples of this type on both the Genesis and SNES.
The guys over at iretrogamer have decided to take a look at some of the lesser-known examples on Sega's 16-bit. Some of these you'll have heard of even if you're not a Sega fan - Cyborg Justice being perhaps the most famous - but most are pretty left-field choices that only the most dedicated of Genesis lovers is going to know.
A big Nintendo Life shout goes out to Taito's eco-friendly Growl for its amazing music, Two Crude Dudes for its massive sprites and Mazin Saga for the fact that it combined side-scrolling action with one-on-one boss battles. Oh, and DJ Boy gets an honourable mention for its hilariously bad racial stereotypes - some of which were edited in the North American version.
Do you have fond memories of these games? Let us know by posting a comment.
Comments 29
Streets of Rage 2 or 3 is what first comes to mind when I think of Mega Drive beat 'em ups. Still, this is NINTENDOlife.
Accolade's Double Dragon (original) was a great port of the arcade version, probably the best graphically right up until the more recent versions of Double Dragon. Outside of some slippery controls, it was like having a DD machine at home and the cart is kind of rare to boot.
Golden axe 1 2 3
Streets of rage 1 2 3
The sound of the axe. Golden axe music and sound fx was great
I played Two Crude Dudes back in the day. Never really like it. I have heard of Growl and DJ Boy, but never played them. I would like to play DJ Boy one of these days.
Segalife.com
I liked this video, reminded me of Game Sack and MetalJesusRocks.
TMNT Hyperstone Heist comes to mind. It was the closest Genesis got to Turtles in Time.
But we SNES players.....We GOT Turtles in Time! Muhahahahaha!!!!
Hyper Stone Heist was very good, yes. Growl was a pretty shoddy port of an already mediocre arcade title. DJ Boy is an AWFUL game!
The Punisher was a playable enough port, I thought.
@AcclaimDev Did the Genesis have a port.of Double Dragon? I know the Master System did.
I haven't played Cyborg Justice in 25 years, and I forgot the name of the game. You guys just helped me rediscover one of my all time favorite genesis games. I've spent twelve years now trying to figure out what the hell that robot building game I played as a kid was. Nobody had a clue. Finally an answer!
The last game, however you pronounce it, looks really good too. Gonna get them both.
I actually enjoy the Sailor Moon beatemup on Genesis and play it every now and then
There were also that one Power Rangers game based on the movie and the awesome VR Trooper game as well.
@NinChocolate Most of the old sailormoon games were good especially considering they were licensed games.
@Tasuki It sure did! It was an unlicensed version but still a physical release for Genesis back in the heyday.
http://doubledragon.kontek.net/features/ddarcadevsgenesis.html
All through my childhood I wanted an arcade-perfect port of Double Dragon so much, but was always disappointed with the computer and 8-bit ports (I know, I'm a spoilt brat ). Then along came the Mega Drive version and it really was brilliant. Graphically, if not aurally, it was hard to tell the difference between that and the arcade original.
Two Crude Dudes was another favourite of mine.
@WilliamCalley I wish...
@AcclaimDev Oh nice, I will have to look for a copy at some point. Thanks for the info
No love for comix zone!!
@LevelJumpr Hi I'm one of the hosts in the video. We omitted Comix Zone after deciding it was a well known game. In fact, we tried to stay away from any games that have been rereleased in compilations such as Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Thanks for watching!
Shui Hu: Feng Yun Zhuan is an awesome unlicensed Taiwanese beat 'em up that has been translated and released by Piko Interactive as Water Margin — The Tales of Clouds and Wind.
@samuelvictor
What?! There was a Punisher beat-em-up? And it was made by Capcom? I sure wish they would re-release this, as I completely missed this!
Mystical Fighter for the MegaDrive. It was an odd, Kabuki themed game, but totally in the beat-em-up category.
Edit: they actually mention it in the video! It doesn't look as good as I remembered it, lol.
Well the main fighter I'm playing right now is River City Ransom: Tokyo Rumble... having a blast!
Hopefully some of these retro classics make it onto 3DS or Wii U eShop. Mazin Fighter looks really great.
Eeaaarrrghhh... DJ Boy. I played it in the arcade once as a kid and thought it was mega sweet. Then I went to the game store (anyone remember Babbages? No?) with my precious saved-up allowance and bought it. It was a big deal as a kid because it was the first time I bought TWO games at once (the other being Shadow Dancer). Or maybe because it was the most money I had spent at one time at the point. At any rate, I proudly took my games home, plugged in DJ BOY, and was.... horribly disappointed. I did eventually beat the game because I wanted to get my money's worth, but man... it must have taken years due to sheer disappointment. What a dumb game.
@Hey-Cha-La
That's the thing - some of the licenced beat-'em-ups were amongst the best of their type. Sega's Spider-Man was awesome, and I know Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men have their fans. It's a shame that licences present such problems years later.
Two Crude Dudes. Pretty crappy game, but what a title!
Oh God
Growl
Oh God
Gotta Protect that Wildlife from all those Poachers
I wonder why his videos don't get many views even though they are featured on this site.
@BionicDodo
Crudebusters was an awesome game when I was a kid! But yeah, it hasn't aged well.
yup, ive got all the ones i want, im set
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...