... Plus a question or two, to spark a little discussion.
First, my faves:
1. God Hand[PS2] - beat em ups are supposed to be over-the-top in execution, making your character basically a one-man army in the vein of old-school shmups. God Hand does that very thing and more, with it's unique take on combat freedom, by offering you the ability to switch out any collected fighting moves at any time(in a menu, of course). The roulette moves steal the show though, with some insane ways to stun or downright kill your opponents. IGN gave this game a 3.0. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/738/738253p1.html Blew my mind, when I give this game no less than a 8.5. The only thing that could've made it better was co op.
2. Battletoads[NES] - Considered to be one of the most difficult games ever created, it's also one of the funnest, with some seriously unique gameplay and level design(worm-riding, snowball throwing, swimming, spinning towers with clouds trying to blow you off it, surfing, and who can forget the clinger-winger level?). Plus co op up until the clinger winger level, LOL.
3. Double Dragon 2[NES] - It streamlined the combat from the original, added co op, and some great new moves, and viola! awesomeness in a little gray cart. I thought this version was better than the arcade version, but that also went for pt 1.
4. Viewtiful Joe[GCN] - Possibly the most unique beat em up ever. So unique, it even had a shoot em up level in it.
And now, on to my question. Should games like Ninja Gaiden, DMC, God of War, Otogi, and to a lesser extent, Jade Empire be considered beat-em-ups? I ask, because I see that they follow the same types of formulas, such as having to kill set amounts of enemies before moving on, combos and moves created for certain situations, boss battles where the enemy is ten times stronger than regular goons, and so on. Would people be more inclined to call Ninja Gaiden a beat em up if they only gave you the Falcon's Talons for use in the game? IMO, the beat em up genre has basically evolved into what we see these days. Not so much hack/slash/repeat, and more of a focus on freeform combos and such.
First, my faves:
1. God Hand[PS2] - beat em ups are supposed to be over-the-top in execution, making your character basically a one-man army in the vein of old-school shmups. God Hand does that very thing and more, with it's unique take on combat freedom, by offering you the ability to switch out any collected fighting moves at any time(in a menu, of course). The roulette moves steal the show though, with some insane ways to stun or downright kill your opponents. IGN gave this game a 3.0. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/738/738253p1.html Blew my mind, when I give this game no less than a 8.5. The only thing that could've made it better was co op.
2. Battletoads[NES] - Considered to be one of the most difficult games ever created, it's also one of the funnest, with some seriously unique gameplay and level design(worm-riding, snowball throwing, swimming, spinning towers with clouds trying to blow you off it, surfing, and who can forget the clinger-winger level?). Plus co op up until the clinger winger level, LOL.
3. Double Dragon 2[NES] - It streamlined the combat from the original, added co op, and some great new moves, and viola! awesomeness in a little gray cart. I thought this version was better than the arcade version, but that also went for pt 1.
4. Viewtiful Joe[GCN] - Possibly the most unique beat em up ever. So unique, it even had a shoot em up level in it.
And now, on to my question. Should games like Ninja Gaiden, DMC, God of War, Otogi, and to a lesser extent, Jade Empire be considered beat-em-ups? I ask, because I see that they follow the same types of formulas, such as having to kill set amounts of enemies before moving on, combos and moves created for certain situations, boss battles where the enemy is ten times stronger than regular goons, and so on. Would people be more inclined to call Ninja Gaiden a beat em up if they only gave you the Falcon's Talons for use in the game? IMO, the beat em up genre has basically evolved into what we see these days. Not so much hack/slash/repeat, and more of a focus on freeform combos and such.
