Together Retro: Beat-'Em-Ups

[Sarge]

Yeah, I'd say you're looking at roughly two hours for Gaiapolis.

[marurun]

I finished up my first of 2 games for this month yesterday by beating Advance Guardian Heroes on GBA.

I wasn't into it at first, and I still think it's one of Treasure's weaker titles, but after a rocky start I thought the game became more fun once you power your character up a bit. I think that the game basically forces you to go for some fairly well rounded stats though, whereas the first game was quite flexible in that you could max out one stat a ton and do surprisingly well.

You actually have to be kind of careful about not over-min/maxing in the original Guardian Heroes. If you max out strength on Han or Gingiro, enemies get thrown too far and too fast to be able to combo or juggle them well. And if you buff Gingiro's speed too much... I don't remember the exact problem I had, but I think it involved one of his special moves going through enemies too fast and him getting hit by the elemental damage afterwards as a result.

[Exhuminator]

Decided to join the credit feed club today, and MAME'd this over my lunch break:





Armored Warriors is an arcade beat 'em up developed and published by Capcom in 1994. (In Japan this game was called Powered Gear.) Armored Warriors' hook is that it's about mechs battling instead of humans or humanoids. Sure the mechs still punch and kick each other, but there's all kinds of weapons thrown in the mix. Flame throwers, missiles, machine guns, bombs, and even laser rapiers to name a few. As you destroy enemy mechs, you can grab their parts and latch them onto your own mech. Yes you can steal arm parts, shoulder weapons, and even leg parts. This may sound similar to Novotrade's 1993 beater Cyborg Justice... I'll leave it up to you to decide if Capcom stole some ideas there. At any rate, it sucks when an enemy rips your own arm off! For an arcade game, Armored Warriors has a decent plot, told my talking head cutscenes. Graphics are above par as expected from golden-era Capcom, although the OST is a bit milquetoast. You can choose from four different mech pilots and their mechs to play as, and up to three people can co-op simultaneously. Genre vets will likely find Armored Warriors to be a bit too easy, and like all arcade beat 'em ups it does get a bit repetitive. To break up the monotony, there are occasional on-rails gunning sections, a bit like a shmup. If you have good enough taste to enjoy mech games, there's no reason why you shouldn't give Armored Warriors a try. Not too many arcade games let you stomp little dudes to pieces in a marauding death-mech. Ex's Rating: 8/10

A few more screenshots:

[Sarge]

That one's on my list to visit before the month is up. I've been trying to hit some games I've never played before, but the temptation is awfully strong to go for the games I know are stone-cold classics.

[noiseredux]

okay I beat Guardian Heroes. My opinion remains the same: great looking game that is a slog to play through. Everything feels so clunky and meh.

I'll write something more thoughtful later, though.

[lordb0rb4]

okay I beat Guardian Heroes. My opinion remains the same: great looking game that is a slog to play through. Everything feels so clunky and meh.

I'll write something more thoughtful later, though.

I share the same opinion as well.

[Gunstar Green]

Decided to join the credit feed club today, and MAME'd this over my lunch break:

I adore Armored Warriors. It's a really chaotic game with great animation and a lot of fantastic alternate deaths for enemies depending on your weapon. It gets even better with multiple people especially in the weird boss fights where you combine. It's one of those games that fell through the cracks due to lack of a console port.

okay I beat Guardian Heroes. My opinion remains the same: great looking game that is a slog to play through. Everything feels so clunky and meh.

I'll write something more thoughtful later, though.

I share the same opinion as well.

[noiseredux]

okay I beat Guardian Heroes. My opinion remains the same: great looking game that is a slog to play through. Everything feels so clunky and meh.

I'll write something more thoughtful later, though.

I share the same opinion as well.

I knew you had good taste

[BoneSnapDeez]

The problem is you guys are playing with characters other than Nicole.

[prfsnl_gmr]

The problem is you guys are playing with characters other than Nicole.

You’ll be pleased to know, Bone, that in Advance Guardian Heroes, you have to fight all of the characters from Guardian Heroes (for reasons that make sense in a Treasure game). The last one you fight? Nicole, because she’s the toughest.