Fans of old-school arcade-y beat 'em ups in the vein of Final Fight and Streets of Rage take note: there's a new game that's just hit Kickstarter and it could be right up your alley. Jitsu Squad is a colourful, co-op brawler for up to four players and a Nintendo Switch version sits at the start of the stretch goal list.

With a Kickstarter campaign that looks to tap into the nostalgia of the classic side-scrolling beat 'em ups and self-described as a "hardcore game made for gamers, by gamers", Jitsu Squad has a rather in-depth story to go along with its bold art style. Did we ever play those street-brawling classics for the tales they told, though? Long story short, four warriors have brought back to life in the form of ass-kicking animals and must battle against evil to find a secret stone.

Coming from developer Tankuki Creative Studio, the game has been several years in the making as evidenced by a cursory scroll through the dev's Facebook page. It features a deep system of commands, combos and counters but with accessible combat which should be familiar to anyone who's ever enjoyed a belt-scrolling beat 'em up before. As well as Final Fight and Streets of Rage, the press release also name drops Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Marvel vs Capcom II and Super Smash Bros., too. Quite the list!

There's much more information available on the game's Kickstarter page. With 29 more days to go at the time of writing, Tanuki Creative is looking to raise €50,000, with the Switch version coming if the game hits its €80,000 stretch goal. The game is already quite a way through development, and the campaign is designed to "make the universe of Jitsu Squad as big as possible".

With a proposed completion date of March 2022 for the digital version (according to the Kickstarter page), it seems that Jitsu Squad won't be beating Streets of Rage 4 to the punch, but presentation-wise this is looking promising and there's plenty of room for colourful co-op experiences on Switch. The PR literature prices the game digital version of the game at $19.99.

Let us know below if you'll be throwing down some cold, hard cash to enlist Jitsu Squad.

[source kickstarter.com]