Tag Archives: beat-em-up

Capcom Belt Action Collection with Rensuke Oshikiri (High Score Girl)

Magazine Translations

Capcom Belt Action Collection (Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle) consists of 7 titles that exemplify Capcom's beat 'em ups of the 1990s. "Powered Gear" ("Armored Warriors") and "Battle Circuit" are ported from their arcade versions for the very first time, and "Battle Circuit" and "Captain Commando" allow for 4-player simultaneous play. All titles offer online play, allow players to join in partway through a game, or even just spectate. Rensuke Oshikiri is a manga author that loves arcades, and debuted with "Masashi! Ushiro da!". His masterpiece "High Score Girl" was made into an anime in 2018, and has gained quite a bit of popularity. The series consists of "High Score Girl Continue" (volumes 1-5) and "High Score Girl" (volumes 6-9). The 10th volume is planned for release on 03/25/2019. While the downloadable version is already available, the packaged version of the Capcom Belt Action Collection will soon be released. We've interviewed manga author Rensuke Oshikiri about the charms of beat 'em ups, in order to convey the charms that this collection has to offer. Continue Reading

Dragon Ninja

Reviews

Hardware: Arcade
04/1988 (Japan, US)
ドラゴンニンジャ
Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja

Hitting the arcades almost one year after the genre-changing Double Dragon and three years after grandfather Spartan X, Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja was Data East's first beat-em-up. Like the recently released The Ninja Warriors, Bad Dudes leans into action movies featuring ninjas for aesthetics, since they were extremely popular at the time. Instead of controlling a ninja (well, a robot one anyway) against an army with the goal of assassinating the President though, this time you control a street brawling tough guy (or two, if you're playing multi-player) attempting to rescue the President from a group of ninjas known as Dragon Ninja. Continue Reading

Spartan X

Reviews

Hardware: Arcade
12/1984 (Japan), 1984 (US)
スパルタンＸ
Kung-Fu Master

Spartan X was an Irem developed arcade game in 1984, released overseas by Data East as "Kung-Fu Master". It served as one of the earliest example of a side-scrolling "beat-em-up" game (or "belt scrolling action" in Japan), a genre that would absolutely blow up in popularity in both arcades and on consoles over the next several years. It's safe to say that none of the many titles in the genre to follow couldn't have existed without this one. Continue Reading

Spartan X

Reviews

Hardware: Famicom/NES
06/21/1985 (Japan), 10/1985 (US), 04/15/1987 (PAL)
スパルタンＸ
Kung Fu

We often assume that simplistic games don't have a very rich history, but Spartan X is a perfect example of why this isn't true. It acted not only as a door to a brand new genre that would rule a large portion of the late 80s and 90s, a potential pathway to multiple world-changing games, a licensed game (sort of) and a transitional game for some notable individuals. When playing "Kung Fu" (the name that it was released under in the US) on my NES as a kid around 1988, I was unable to get past the third floor and would think "This game seems a little primitive..." (little did I know at the time how old the game itself actually was). I truly had no idea how significant what I was playing actually was. Continue Reading