Together Retro: Beat-'Em-Ups

[alienjesus]

I should note, I was playing as Alan Hunter when I was trying out the game, which I know means I was the slow power hitter. I don't know if strategies change at all based on the character.

Some little things that irk me: is there a dash? I felt really slow. Also, enemies have a small amount of knockback when punched, so once I got a hang of Alan's range, I often found I would punch enemies right out of range, which would leave me open. Is there a preferred character to try?

There is no dash until SOR3 for most characters. Skate gets the ability in SOR2, but no-one can dash in the original.

Most people like Axel best but I've always preferred Blaze or Adam. Blaze is my choice - she seems to have ever so slightly longer range which makes up for her weaker attacks, and she has higher speed for mobility too.

[Sarge]

The twins are the worst part of the game for me. You can tell by their movement patterns, though, which one is going to try to slam you and which one is looking to jump kick you. You want to stay clear of the one that's trying to slam you, and try to pop the one that jump kicks when she lands. That's how I've always done it, but I usually have to relearn the fight when I revisit the game.

I'm definitely Team Axel for the original. He's got lots of speed (more than enough, although Blaze moves faster laterally), and his default combo is very powerful, usually enough to finish off goons in one combo early on. Plus, he doesn't do that flip like Blaze does. But really, though, he or Blaze is a good choice, especially if you're like me and go for grab moves on bosses all the time. Grab, knee, knee, press jump to flip to the back and suplex that joker. As you say, though, don't do it on the fat flame guy. What you want to do with him is bait him into flame throwing from a diagonal. You can walk forward as he comes by, and pop him in the back. Just make sure you don't trigger the throw animation (go neutral on the stick) or you're gonna be hurting.

In other news, I absolutely suck at Final Fight. I was using Haggar, and it took me $5 worth of credits to beat the game! Even worse, I found out I was just on Normal! Yeesh.

[Ack]

It sounds like I should keep experimenting to figure out which character I like then. I'll see what I can come up with.

One thing I do like in the first Streets of Rage is that special moves are acquired via items as opposed to sacrificing health. I never was big on that mechanic; it made it into more of a desperation maneuver than a carefully chosen and timed tactic.

[Sarge]

Oh, right, that reminds me: if you're about to die on a boss, use that desperation move! You can't actually keep them when you die, and it's always reset to give you one use on death. There are a couple of spots within stages where they're a good idea to use as well.

This goes out the window in the last stage, though. No desperation moves for you.

[Ack]

Yeah, I noticed that. I actually made it to the twins on stage 8 when I ran out of continues. I'm guessing I was just short of the final boss.

[Sarge]

Yep, you were right there. I've had several runs ended there myself.

[noiseredux]

Picked up the new Genesis collection for Xbox One on my lunch. Will be raging some streets this weekend.

[ESauced]

Picked up the new Genesis collection for Xbox One on my lunch. Will be raging some streets this weekend.

Does that collection have online multiplayer? I’m not around this weekend but if so I should pick that up and we could get a game going

[noiseredux]

Picked up the new Genesis collection for Xbox One on my lunch. Will be raging some streets this weekend.

Does that collection have online multiplayer? I’m not around this weekend but if so I should pick that up and we could get a game going

It does!

[dsheinem]

Glad to hear The Bouncer is short - that one is on my list, too.

Past that I will probably play some SoR games, revisit Knights of the Round (which I once played with noise), and finally get around to playing those early IREM beat em ups (e.g. Ninja Baseball Bat Man). I am actually going to take a few cues from y'all too, so I look forward to see what you are playing!