Secret Shame Revealed II: I love China Warrior
Secret Shame Revealed is a recurring feature in which the 2D-X staff admits to loving truly awful games. This outing, Jeffrey L. Wilson fesses up to China Warrior.
When I was just a lad of 15 years, I had to make a major choice in the fall of 1989: would I beg my mother for a SEGA Genesis or a Turbo Grafx-16 to satiate my gaming lusts that holiday season? I plundered the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly and Video Games & Computer Entertainment for months on end in order to get the nitty gritty on the two systems. The result? I decided to go TG-16.
At the time that made sense for two very important reasons. Firstly, SEGA was my sworn enemy. The company had dared to challenge Nintendo and its 8-bit NES with the SEGA Master System, which sparked many a schoolyard pissing match between the fanboy factions. Secondly, the game screenshots on the back of the TG-16’s Halloween-like orange and black box made the system feel like a true next-level machine. Big sprites! Colors! More on screen enemies!
After a year of Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, my mom surprised me with a copy of China Warrior. The game’s protagonist (a Bruce Lee clone with none of his badassedness) and human enemies filled half the screen. Half the screen. Super Mario, Ryu Hayabusa, Little Mac, and a host of other NES stars were downright liliputian in comparison and, in my adolescent mind, couldn’t touch the graphical might of the Turbo’s 16-bit power. The only problem? That game was utter, utter ass. But I still love it.
Dungeon Fighter Online’s latest update sees higher player levels, new fighting areas
Dungeon Fighter Online (2D-X‘ favorite beat ‘em up of 2009) is receiving a big league content update in “Threshold of Power,” which will be available tomorrow January 27. This major addition ups the level cap to Level 50, and offers players hundreds of new items, dozens of new quests, several new skills for each character class, and new Advanced Avatar Items. Some of the new fighting areas include (courtesy of Nexon America):
Mini Fighter Emerges From Closed Beta With New Gameplay Tweaks
It’s been a while since we’ve heard any news about CJ Internet’s MMO action-fighter, Mini Fighter, but things have changed since we’ve interviewed the company back in August. The closed beta has ended, and the game is now open to the public, with a few new tweaks to make the game tighter.
Based on feedback from the closed beta, a number of improvements have been made to speed up loading times for low bandwidth users and improve overall performance. Characters and leaderboards have also been reset, so the only advantage players can carry over from the closed beta is the experience they gained in the game’s various battle modes. Some knowledge from the head honcho:
“We want Mini Fighter to be the most action-packed experience it can possibly be, and we believe that listening to our community is the best way to make that happen,” said Youngjong Jung, President and CEO of CJ Internet. “We invite players both new and old to join the Open Beta and experience the online brawl firsthand!”
That experience could be important, however, because the first Mini Fighter Battle Championship is scheduled to kick off in early January. Players who want to test their skills will be able to compete in three-on-three Team Battles or one-on-one Grand Arena matches, and winners will walk away with up to $4,500 in prize money.
Registration for the Team Battle matches opens today, while qualifying rounds for the Grand Arena matches will take place at the start of the championship. For more information about Mini Fighter and to join the Open Beta, please visit the official website.
Best 2D Beat ‘Em Up 2009: Dungeon Fighter Online
There aren’t that many 2D, sprite-based beat ‘em ups released nowadays, but Nexon America proved that the genre is still a terrifically viable with Dungeon Fighter Online. A mash up of the traditional fist-to-face brawler with MMO and fantasy elements, Dungeon Fighter Online allows you to select one of five character archetypes (Gunner, Priest, Mage, Fighter, Slayer), customize your look and gear, and then take it into the virtual world to scour dungeons and slay many, many enemies (or battle other players in the PvP arena). It’s fast, hard, hitting, and easy to pick up and play – - the mark of a well-designed beat ‘em up.
Interview: Robby Zinchak, Associate Producer, Final Fight: Double Impact
Filed under: Beat Em Ups, Compilation, Interviews
If you’ve thought it was a Capcom lovefest around these parts thanks to the ongoing discussions regarding Jetpack Attack, Mega Man 10, and Cody’s inclusion in Super Street Fighter IV, prepare for one more round of the warm fuzzies. As promised, our interview with Robby Zinchak, Associate Producer, Final Fight: Double Impact, who kindly filled us in on the upcoming title and the franchise as a whole.
Final Fight is considered by many, myself included, to be the face of beat’ em ups along with Double Dragon and River City Ransom. What’s allowed this game, and franchise, to be continually beloved after all of these years?
I think Final Fight has endured through the years because it features simple gameplay that’s a lot of fun. You can put a quarter in the arcade and immediately know how to play, no instructions required. Playing through the game with a buddy is a great co-op experience. Final Fight’s nostalgic gameplay still holds up, even today.
Virtual Vox Pop: What Should Capcom Do With The Final Fight Franchise?
Filed under: Beat Em Ups, Fighters, Virtual Vox Pop
Pictured: Cody demanding a return to Metro City
Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s the future of the Final Fight franchise.
Cody and Guy are back! Not in Final Fight, but in Super Street Fighter IV.
That’s not a slight on Super Street Fighter IV by any means, but as a long time fan of beat ‘em ups, I find it disappointing that Cody and Guy can’t throw haymakers within the confines of their own game. Think about it: here’s a generation of fighting game fans that associate the pair with the Street Fighter instead of Final Fight. My younger cousin, for example, stated that it was awesome that “Alpha 3″ characters are finally making a comeback. Capcom, methinks we have a problem.
Double Dragon Returns With “Revenge of the Wounded Dragon”?
UPDATE: It looks like the answer, sadly, is no. Revenge of the Wounded Dragon appears to be a new title that’s set to debut on PSN “soon.” A feature list, courtesy of the PlayStation Blog:
- Single player and local multi-player modes
- 4 beautiful environments with immersive levels, totalling 24 areas all of them packed with enemies
- 10 mini-games: Play them in single player or against your friends
- Finishing moves to defeat your enemies
- Dragon rage, your special power
- Co-op moves to use with your friends in multi-player mode
- Cool animated comic storytelling between levels
- 12 PS3 Trophies
- Leaderboards
- The ability to create your own soundtrack and relive your game by taking screens through the XMB!
My original jump-the-gun post after the break.
Review: Dungeon Fighter Online (PC)
Dungeon Fighter Online has been in open beta or a number of weeks now, which has given MMO fans the chance to thoroughly sample the gameplay – - and I’ve been amongst them.
Unlike other reviewable games that are more or less fixed when presented to the public, Dungeon Fighter Online’s MMO roots opens the door to evolving content (something, I suppose, may become commonplace with games of all types thanks to DLC), which renders a review as a snapshot in time. Therefore, take this Dungeon Fighter Online review as version 1.0 of an ever-changing document.
The mark of a well-crafted MMO is the number of hours that it draws from a player, and I can say with truth that I’ve poured more time into Dungeon Fighter Online in the past two weeks than any other game released this year.
Review: Dynamite Cop (Dreamcast)
Traditionally, beat ‘em ups have represented the most basic of video game storytelling and gameplay mechanics. Three of the most beloved and respected games in the genre – - Double Dragon, Final Fight, and River City Ransom – - feature protagonists on vengeful missions to rescue their kidnapped girlfriend from goons. It’s hardly the most original premise; it’s basically the “save the princess” idea transplanted into gang-infested urban environments. The action elements are typically cliched; they mainly consist of a player spamming the attack buttons as fast as possible as she guides a brawler through wave after wave of street vermin in a linear and, oftentimes, repetitive fashion.
SEGA’s criminally-overlooked Dynamite Cop takes those segments of the beat ‘em up genre and presents them with a refreshing spin that, although not genre-redefining, is a much need and welcome change to the beat ‘em up class.
Mini-Review: The Warriors Street Brawl (XBLA)
Anyone with a passing familiarity with The Warriors knows that it’s prime fodder for conversion into a decent video game. The cult movie centers on a rough and tumble Brooklyn street gang that’s framed for the murder of Cyrus, the most gangsta of gangstas, who holds an uptown meeting in Van Cortland Park in an attempt to solidify the various toughs into one monster gang that would pwn New York City. So our band of (fairly) good-hearted hoods must make it back home to Coney Island while being pursued by some of the oddest gangs that has ever appeared on film. It’s all about fighting from Point A to Point B in the concrete jungle – - a perfect beat ‘em up backdrop.
I first took a look at Paramount Digital Entertainment’s The Warriors: Street Brawl during the front end of the summer, and liked what appeared in the handful of screenshots. Well, the game is now available on XBLA , but is it worth the 800 MSP? That, friends, is a question answered for our full review (coming shortly), but I’ll share my initial impressions of this promising side-scrolling brawler.
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