PC beat 'em ups

Games
#1

I made this thread to try to get someone to enjoy Aces Wild with me.

This was one of my favorite genres back in the NES days. But I skipped all the 3D consoles so I missed that era of brawlers. The only traditional ones I’ve played in the last five years were emulated Capcom arcade games and Castle Crashers, which is kind of boring in single player.

Then One Finger Death Punch kicked off a renaissance! I played it until my hands hurt. If you haven’t tried it yet, stop reading and go download it.

I figured one good beat 'em up on PC was lucky enough. Then I saw a video for Aces Wild over at notonsteam.com that looked extremely intriguing. I hadn’t heard of it, so I wanted to make sure it had good cred. It did. I bought it Friday and I’ve been playing ever since. If you’re any kind of a brawler afficionado, you need to check it out. I don’t recommend it to newbies unless you’re willing to put some effort into it. It takes a lot of practice to read the enemy tells and fully grasp the combat system. The payoff is even more fist pumping and brutally powerful impact. The weird thing is nearly the entire game takes place in the air. There is an invincible dodge mechanic that makes it play almost like a shoot 'em up. You’ll need to dodge through the enemy attacks and projectiles, then gather them up with basic attacks or smash them with strong attacks. The boss fights are a nice balance between frustration and the thrill of victory. They feel like genuine duels, similar to the DLC bosses in Dark Souls. Someone please buy this and love it so I can share in the joy.

I still have more to play. Guacamelee! was ported recently to PC. Even though the brawling shares time with Metroidvania style exploration, it looks like the combat system opens up midway through the game. Anyway, I wouldn’t mind a lighter beat 'em up after OFDP and Aces Wild. I’ll grab it at the Thanksgiving sale.

I keep linking to Ben Ruiz’s blog. He’s developing Aztez with a keen eye toward proper beat 'em up design, which I’ve been reading about thanks to his devblog. You may know Ben from his orgasmic moans after landing a nice attack in the game he’s making. I’m not as big of a geek as that, though I do enjoy myself. The other reason I’m keeping an eye on his game is the turn-based boardgamey overworld map he’s making to give context to the fights. I really like that idea from Wargame: AirLand Battle. Combat is the meat of the game, so I just need a wrapper around it. That beats some lame story and shitty cutscenes.

Speaking of which, I’m debating whether to play some of the Third Age / 3D brawlers that have made their way over from console. I took a passing glance at the Devil May Cry games and even Castlevania. I just don’t know if I can handle all the crud that surrounds the combat. It has to be really good, like Batman. Maybe I will hold out for a purer experience. I wish they’d port Bayonetta to PC.

The last PC brawler I played five years ago? A River City Ransom clone called Zombie Smashers X2 by Ska Studios. The developer sold out to Xbox LIVE, so we haven’t seen any of his latest games on PC, such as the Dishwasher series. He recently announced he will port them soon. That’s even more to look forward to!

It’s a great time to play beat 'em ups on PC.

Bargain Thread 2015
#2

Well, Metal Gear Rising is coming soon enough, which is the closest you can get to Bayonetta (not in mechanics, but in tightness).

#3

River City Ransom: Underground met its Kickstarter goal yesterday, so there’s another PC beat-'em-up for you.

Guacamelee! is quite good. Definitely worth a buy.

Unfortunately, as with JRPGs, shmups, fighters, and a couple of other genres that have fallen by the wayside in recent years, beat-'em-ups are traditionally Japanese, which means PC releases are rarely a thing. This isn’t going to get better with time, despite the constant preaching about how this console generation is going to make things better for PC releases; if anything, it’ll get worse as smartphones become more and more popular and the Japanese continue to lose any reason to use PCs (which aren’t generally user-friendly due to language-related reasons).

#4

That’s one where I’m not sure I want to do all the QTEs, cutscenes, checkpoints, and brick wall boss fights. I will probably hold out.

Yay, I forgot about that. For some reason, I was vaguely concerned by some of the things I saw in the Kickstarter. I looked at it again and it seems fine. I’ll keep it on my radar. It will probably be a while though.

Unfortunately, as with JRPGs, shmups, fighters, and a couple of other genres that have fallen by the wayside in recent years, beat-'em-ups are traditionally Japanese, which means PC releases are rarely a thing. This isn’t going to get better with time, despite the constant preaching about how this console generation is going to make things better for PC releases; if anything, it’ll get worse as smartphones become more and more popular and the Japanese continue to lose any reason to use PCs (which aren’t generally user-friendly due to language-related reasons).
I wouldn’t say that, at least in the short run. They port most of the big console 3D beat 'em ups now. It’s also another nostalgia genre where young people in the indie community want to make modern versions of the 2D games they used to love.

I think it’s a great time for PC brawlers.

#5

Not true. It has gotten a lot better in the past year or so and I suspect the trend is continuing. Many Japanese devs have been surprised at how succesful US PC releases have been, since Japan PC gaming is tiny. The Platine Dispotif folks have been really happy at their sales. Even Capcom has been surprised at how well SFIV PC sold.

We won’t see smartphone games hit PC, but many indie Japanese devs will stick to PC, and I think that market will grow- the Japanese PC indie scene has been held back due to heavy disorganization.

Also, you’ve got a ton of Japanese-inspired American indies.

On top of that, you’ve got the fairly big-name kickstarters like Shantae/Mighty No.9, while not beat-em-ups, they made a ton of money.

I think the key is going to be localization and how aggressive US indies can be in getting Japanese titles localized. The talent is out there to do it right.

#6

I’d say the recent DMC: Devil May Cry (I played the PC version recently) is as good as Bayonetta.

#7

Devil May Cry is awesome, Castlevania is not that great, and Sleeping Dogs has a great brawling system, though the game is too big to be called a beat-em-up.

#8

But it has platforming segments. :( This is one time I’d love to have an arena mode DLC.

#9

There’s an endless combat mode available once you finish the game (I forget its name), and a seperate one with Virgil in his DLC.

#10

Maybe I can get Jason McMaster to play through the story to unlock that mode for me.

I will look into this game some more. Thanks!

#11

Most of them are easy!

#12

Really looking forward to the new River City Ransom. I have not had time to give One Finger Death Punch a chance yet.

#13

My kid just finished one finger death punch so this was good timing. I went ahead and picked up Aces Wild. Co-op and gamepad support sounds like a win to me.

#14

Elitism alert: I refuse to play a 2d brawler that doesn’t have full xyz movement. Even the first game, Renegade, had this. The only exception to this rule is Mark of the Ninja. (Shank 1 and 2 were abominations in my eyes). So Aces Wild? Not gonna bother.

#15

Aces Wild seems a little like the excellent Bangai-Oh, and the less-good Bangai-Oh Spirits. Unfortunately, for Dreamcast and DS respectively.

#16

Ah yes, Devil May Cry has the “Bloody Palace” mode. I heard Ben Ruiz talking about it in one of his blogs. Looks like the one in DMC includes the bosses from the campaign too, which is perfect! And it’s not a GFWL title, so save games probably transfer between PCs. I’ll add it to my wishlist. Turin, don’t delete your save. :)

Great. I’m curious to hear how you like the local co-op. I heard some whispers about a wonky zoomed-out camera.

Let me know if you have any questions on the mechanics. I think I’ve got it all down now.

More freedom of movement is the last thing I want in Aces Wild. Half the game takes place in the air, and you can stay up there perpetually. So you have 360 control through dashing, jumping, dodging, charged attacks, and slight adjustments while mashing the light attack button. Getting comfortable with the air game is probably the biggest challenge at first – until it becomes second nature and starts feeling great. Watch the YouTube video.

I’ve seen videos for that before. Aces Wild is still a beat 'em up at heart. You have to defeat a screen of enemies before moving on. But it takes a lot from shoot 'em ups too.

#17

Continuing this discussion from the Bargain Thread:

Yes, they are different types of combat. I hope no one buys DmC expecting Dark Souls.

I really dislike QTEs on principle, so I’ve never paid much attention to the God of War series. DMC games seem like the best option for me on PC if I want to play a 3D beat 'em up.

Any news on this?

#18

DMC is great, but it doesn’t really get going until the new game+ difficulty opens up. Just be sure to play it on the most difficult setting you can.

#19

That’s an interesting approach to the taxonomy of these games. I definitely didn’t expect Dark Souls, but mentioned it as a distantly related reference point, in that both are third-person games in which your primary action is deep, skill-driven melee combat.

I also don’t really like QTEs, and they were one of the things that annoyed me about God of War. But I’m enjoying both OFDP and DMC for the first half-hour or so, though I’ll probably restart DMC on the highest difficulty. I had picked the normal one, since I’m relatively new to the genre and didn’t want to jump into something geared at long-time veterans, but then was poking around and saw that there are like four more modes that only unlock as you beat the previous ones, so I should be okay jumping into the third one up.

#20

I had to bring this over from the Bargain Thread for further discussion. I’m fascinated by my fascination with beat 'em ups because I normally hate difficult, arcadey, manual execution type games. I don’t usually care for challenge for its own sake. I’m more likely to sneer at old NES games than easy modern ones. But I think with many beat 'em ups, the challenge increases linearly. I love mastering the techniques organically when I hit a small wall.

It’s the same with high scores. I can’t think of any genre where I bother with them. But then I became glued to Arkham City as I tried to climb the leaderboards.

Two things that help are mentally preparing myself for a challenge, and enjoying the mechanics even when I have to retry. I raged at Dark Souls when I first played it because it failed on both counts. And most of the recent beat 'em ups I’ve played really respect my time. The checkpoints in DmC make it a pleasure to try again.

I’ve heard many people suggest playing Dust on the highest difficulty right away. That’s probably what I’ll do, just to keep myself honest with the mechanics. By the way, I have to laugh at you cruising through a game in a “few weeks.” When I’m hooked, they don’t last more than a weekend!

[EDIT] Thinking about it some more, I suppose what I need from this game is a little depth. Or is it breadth? I can never remember. Anyway, if I can beat the game with a single attack, it’s going to get boring, unless that attack is so compelling I can’t stop (like 200 straight critical strikes and counters in the Batman games).