What happened to beat em' ups?

[Sarge]

I would say he's just the artwork, and not the soul, but that'd be selling him short. His creature designs are fantastic. But there's also something special about how the games (in most cases) tell their tales. And from the third game on, they have pretty impeccable balance.

[Exhuminator]

I sincerely believe, with no sarcasm, that Dragon Quest never would have been as successful as it is without Toriyama's art design. That's not to say that the underlying game design and plots aren't meritorious on their own. But they are the sundae, and his art is the cherry.

[marurun]

I do think his art was important, but not defining, in the first game, but as the series has gone on, the consistency of the Toriyama art has been critical to the series. If they make a title without his designs, or even just a different look or style (since he won't live forever), I think the series will just end right then and there.

[Sarge]

Toriyama was certainly mega popular, and I'm pretty sure they ran ads for the game in Shonen Jump. I don't know that the series would die right there, but there's really no real impetus to change the look of the series.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I sincerely believe, with no sarcasm, that Dragon Quest never would have been as successful as it is without Toriyama's art design. That's not to say that the underlying game design and plots aren't meritorious on their own. But they are the sundae, and his art is the cherry.

Seriously, though, the plots aren't meritorious (and I love DQ!).

[Tanooki]

They're inextricably bound to one another, though in the early days when the only art really was basically his on the paperwork as the Famicom was too basic, and people in the US had no damn clue at all really yet, he could have been dropped and it likely would have survived. The art is key, foremost key now as it's a consistent beacon to the series and Toriyama fans in general they seek out, but the story telling and the fact they stay on a grounded pattern does it as much if not more justice too. Take how FF decided to get asinine into MMOs, linear at #13, boyband looking, inane/stupid side garbage for only the most committed (like blitzball) and plots ranging from somewhat classic to whiny emo garbage. It has run a lot of people off of it all for the lack of any consistency a fan can rely on.

If you look at the art though, it has helped drive other games too like Blue Dragon which was on oddly xbox but also later the DS twice, but it also went flat after that dead now over 6 years. That had him in on it, the music stylings of Ueamatsu from Final Fantasy, and others from various RPG greats like Namco's Tales series. It was a good blend of much talent that put DQ in the #1 spot in Japan and still highly loved and relevant worldwide. Sometimes a blend can work there or not so much with Blue Dragon.

And with that we're entirely off beat em ups.

[Exhuminator]

Seriously, though, the plots aren't meritorious (and I love DQ!).

IIRC you haven't played through DQIV or VIII yet.

--

Another Final Fight classic everybody forgets about:

I didn't want to do it, but you've all forced my hand. The nuclear option as to why Final Fight beats Streets of Rage:

https://tinyurl.com/kqs4cvm

[strangenova]

That's some hella good art!

[Xeogred]

Seriously, though, the plots aren't meritorious (and I love DQ!).

IIRC you haven't played through DQIV or VIII yet.

--

Another Final Fight classic everybody forgets about:

I didn't want to do it, but you've all forced my hand. The nuclear option as to why Final Fight beats Streets of Rage:

https://tinyurl.com/kqs4cvm

https://youtu.be/kEkXQEGx_oQ?t=19m32s

[akeley]

Bit funny reading this debate, since for somebody raised in the micro-land - as opposed to y`all console kiddies - there is only one master brawler in town:

When it arrived on my ZX Spectrum, the quality of the port was so ahead of everything else regarding gfx/sfx/gameplay it really had no competition. And even looking outside the microcomputer niche, sure SoR/FF/DD are all great (I`d say SoR>rest btw) but they definitely stand on the leather-clad shoulders of this giant.