We’re once again playing catch-up on some missed titles from the ’80s, but this time it’s a real land of contrasts. On one hand you have Vigilante, Irem’s almost direct follow-up to Kung-Fu Master. It tries to move things into the streets of New York instead of the Devil’s Temple, and adds in…nunchucks. That’s it! It’s a bit of an uninspired push forward.
On the other hand, we have Capcom’s Dynasty Wars/Tenchi wo Kurau. Not only is this based on an extremely popular ’80s manga, but it’s also kind of amazing! What if a beat ’em up took place on a horse, and you had buttons to attack in either direction. It also has an experience system, and it’s very clearly a game that arcade sickos savored for quite a long time.