Best Lesser-Known Beat-'em-Ups

[alan_fatima]

The branching paths and secret areas in levels were cool. And the gameplay was fine. But it's just so damn easy, and the limitation of only three bad guys on the screen at once just kills the game's replayability. The AI, for some reason, is way dumber than it was in Final Fight 2, which was a much tougher game to finish.

Agreed, the low enemy-count, along with the enemies not being very difficult or varied really hurts it. The combat is really fun, though. You can pull neat stuff like for example, with Guy: Jump in down+attack, normal combo but don't do the last hit. Instead double tap forward and go into the running combo, but don't do the last hit. Instead, finish with the palm ki-burst special.

Lucia can the same but with her up-kick special at the end OR her super.

[Mzo]

I recently played Final Fight 3 co-op with Geen and all I could think about was Haggar's ponytail.

His ratio of party in the back to business in the front was out of control.

They did add a move that lets you change a back grab to a front grab, like in Streets of Rage. There's also a super meter and super moves.

[kedawa]

Wasn't Two Crude Dudes the unofficial sequel? I had the Genesis version of that and it was a decent port.

I really don't see much similarity between the two games.
Other than having Karnov as a boss, I don't think Bad Dudes is connected to any other series.

[Melf]

You want a lesser-known beat-'em-up? How about one that virtually no one knows about?

Taito's PuLiRuLa. This game is fucking WEIRD.

[Mzo]

Yes, that looks amazing. Any difference between the PS and Saturn releases?

[Melf]

No idea. I've only played it on MAME.

[Mzo]

I tried looking it up and couldn't find any good info. I generally go Saturn on these but the PS version was done in-house by Taito while the Saturn version was farmed out. Why did they remove this from the US Taito Legends? That's bullshit.

[gameoverDude]

Yes, that looks amazing. Any difference between the PS and Saturn releases?

The PlayStation PuLiRuLa doesn't run at a full 60 FPS like the Saturn does.

[Mzo]

The PlayStation PuLiRuLa doesn't run at a full 60 FPS like the Saturn does.

Cool, thanks a lot!

[GohanX]

I just sold my SNES copy for $50, and it's a pretty good beat-em-up. It's way faster-paced than FF 1, but the enemies aren't anywhere near as memorable. I like the branching paths and super moves. If it's $10 on VC, it's worth buying. Just be sure to properly set the CPU helper to not hurt you or else you'll want to kill him within seconds.

You and jyoung are right. I really like the way the game plays, although the enemies themselves are kind of bland and easy. It's fun, but not $50 fun. A remake of Final Fight 1 using 3's engine on cps hardware would be AMAZING.