Great overview; added to my wishlist. I'd prefer if arcade style games did not get longer. I think they could do a better job of communicating the gameplay goals to players though. Shooters could be telling you that the first goal is to clear on normal, then on normal 1cc, then hard, then hard 1cc, then top scores on each etc. Actually build this expectation into the presentation of the game, along with the accomplishment of such. Similarly, no one should have to go hunting around for information about how scoring works.

A longer arcade run actually sounds super interesting, somewhat more testing in endurance than absolutely perfect play

I'm absolutely in love with this game and think it's a beat-em-up masterpiece. One aspect that wasn't touched on in this review is the music, which was a standout feature of the Genesis originals, and I personally feel the tunes here carry that torch very well!

I've only gotten old-school Axel but have been sticking with SOR4 Blaze myself. Definitely get knocked out of that flip attack a good bit but it's a solid move for sure. I'm not good at using the "power moves" effectivley just yet. Hard to decide when to use it.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

You need to unlock SR3 Blaze my dude! She is crazy ha, that's who I will use for my mania clear.

I think platformers like n++ do have a nice solution to appeal to the mainstream audience on the issue of length. that is the the level editor and like a ton of levelpacks, and online rating system with comments. players have the extreme amount of content (either randomized or handmade with community ratings/comments). even nintendo did their super mario maker and there is a mega man maker. wonder why that's not that widespread with e.g. danmaku games (like touhou or rrootage, not the asset-heavy ones), since there seem to be enough editors and stuff. rank approach sound close, but it does not seem to be that appealing to wider audience since it does not offer that much of a variety. I think the vr games like beat saber are so extremely popular purely due to that, like there's ton of variety and the new levels are made every day so the exploration-type person can explore like a ton of levels while learning to play, instead of remembering stuff, thus smoothing out their learning curve.

Speedruns depend on the character, but the time to complete Mania is a bit below one hour most of the time. Check Anthopants's channel if you want to know more.

Neat, been waiting for this review! It is a great game. I also had very low expectations (was prepared to get a refund when I bought it) because it had all the red flags you talk about and more like a combo juggling system, but I was blown away once I actually played it. The juggle system is something this game does super well which you didn't bring up, actually. It never feels like it overwhelms the classic beat 'em up gameplay. It doesn't over-complicate the move set with unnecessary redundant attacks or let you isolate enemies in the air and go anime on them. It's just a nice extra you can do to get in more damage. About the length, it's normal for Streets of Rage as 2 and 3 were also very long games only maybe 5-10 minutes shorter than 4. The prospect of all arcadey games taking this approach does not sit well with me. Fight N Rage handled it better in my opinion. It lasts a bit over an hour but has a lot of different routes with unique stages and bosses, which is a good compromise for "replayability". I think my biggest complaint would be just how much recovery all the attacks have. I'd like less recovery at least so there would be more reasons to use your basic combo, otherwise it's so easy to get punched in the middle and lose your chain that you're better off sticking to single jabs. Also the Sky Train boss fight can go fuck itself, thank God that most of the main cast can loop Estelle before the Commissioners show up to ruin your day. A small correction : the 2 types of blitz moves was a thing ever since Streets of Rage 2.

I still think this's the tightest beat'em up I've ever played. #2, I think is Punisher Arcade...

Ps2 and genesis power rangers were my favorite as a kid, idk if those are good now but i played them so much as a kid

Damn, this game looks so solid. I too thought it'd be kinda bad when I heard about it, and didn't like the art style at first, but seeing it actually running it's freaking beautiful

13:29: Ah, Mario World 3, that's the one I played!

This game is really good. I have it through XBOX gamepass so I don't think we could play together sadly. Either way I've definitely enjoyed playing it and hoping to get a normal clear with a little bit of time. Beat em' ups, aka Belt Scroll Action! The gameplay is pretty good, while I think the latest Capcom titles like Alien Versus Predator and Armored Warriors may have a bit more depth I think the overall system in place is really good. Also unless your doing REALLY great modernized pixel art or have an old aesthetic you must adhere to then to hell with the lazy mass of pixel art trash littering steam. So much bad pixel art stuff that doesn't even look as good 16 bit or even 8 bit games in some regard. SOR4, first the the Digital Foundry bump, and now the Electric Underground bump! Not bad.

I only say that I'll go slightly softer and say that just people aiming to beat the game on normal in a non continue run is pretty legit and More than the average person goes for still. As for long shmups RAIDEN V Is over an hour but the story mode "content" ( Endless radio chatter) probably didn't help that one.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

I think that s totally legit as well. What I meant was that the extra difficulty modes should count as extra content. So these reviews can t claim to have beaten the games in 50 minutes or whatever. like expert mode in starfox for example. You haven t finished the content until you clear expert mode as well

@dingo535

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground yeah I agree, even though I don't think 95% of the reviewers aren't credit feeding themselves sadly. Though at least with recent games like SOR and Blazing Chrome (ZR to, but I tend to think of shmups as 1cc or bust for better or worse) they require you to clear a level or section on a set # of credits and don't allow for you to purely brute force your way through.

As good as this game is... Once the honeymoon phase wears off. You'll notice it's much more "annoying" than the first 3 games. The hit boxes are reduced and can frequently dissappear on enemies. The hit boxes are also very "thin" on the vertical axis meaning absolute precision is needed often. Hero movement speed on all characters is "handicapped" (especially with the main protagonist Axel) which cede all advantage away from the player. The weapon pickup mechanic is broken during large encounters and high stress fights. All these flaws and more will be more apparent as the newcomer plays over a month or more. And I currently hold top 20's scores on all modes on the N Switch version so before anyone says I'm a bad gamer or complaining, keep that in mind. The character Axel has always been "my man" in all the games. I'm 45 so I own and played every one when they were all originally released. A balance patch is coming up soon that is supposed to "un-handicap" Axel but if the weapon mechanic isn't fixed along with the fact that EVERY single enemy in this game, even galsia (Garcia) can outrun you. Even if you use blaze or cherry (unless she runs, which is the only character that gets to keep the run perk from sor3) any enemy in the game will out maneuver the player at will. If you don't believe me go watch ArcTheLadder and Anthopants. They have made many, many vids on sor4. This game is as great as it is flawed but the casual gamer WILL NOT be involved in the longevity of this game. It is much to irritating for the Casual Gamer if the game is set on hard, hardest or Mania. There have already been many speed Runners who have Rage Quit videos on the cheapness of the enemy tactics in this game. Ark the ladder has a great video recently on the flaws of the character controls and the enemy AI in this game and why it won't have longevity in the Casual game Space. This game will have a small group of hardcore masochistic fans that will love it forever but the development team thinking that this is accessible by the Casual Gamer is a pipe dream. Even on easy this game will pull cheapness out of nowhere and steal away a perfect score (no hit) at will.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

I appreciate the feedback my dude, I have been playing the game a lot on mania and am going for a mania clear. Yeah there is some cheapness to the game for sure, especially some of the enemies like the jumping kickboxer dudes or the taser cops. Here is to hoping a balance patch does fix many of these issues soon. Still though, for me I keep playing and the game still has enough it factor for me to keep playing and returning.

@nocs298

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground I mostly agree. But I've been playing this day one. Every day for hrs a day and you will see how the game isn't engineered to allow the player any advantage at all. You'll see this when your skills improve because besides the fact that multiple difficulty levels are able to be selected. The game will actually ramp up the cut throat aggressiveness as you start to pin down enemies. I recommend the reddit threads on this game. They go into much more details and even game coders weigh in and explain the arrogant dev teams mentality on how they created this game around "taking away" all advantage that the player has and even learns as the ruthlessness will increase with your skills. This actually kills longevity because no matter how well you advance your skills. The devs put in aggressive "fail safes" that will turn up the heat to the point of exhaustion. Keep playing, you'll see it. I don't think the balance fixes will take away the annoyance factor for casual gamers. My first week into the game I thought this was going to be one of my most favorite games in life. Up there with original Double Dragon and the Streets series but I'm highly doubting it now. The truth is the devs did WAY TO GOOD at the ai in this game. Just watch how the flanking and enemy team work changes up on you over the next week or so. Also go watch ArcTheLadder last vid. He lays it out pretty good and if you watch the vids of other ppl play and progress over a few weeks you'll see the enemies act different. And I mean different in a very over the top aggressiveness. Thanks for your reply. Am hoping for the best but I followed the development of this game and the dev team was very arrogant to a fault on these game mechanics. Which they even admit.

@mitu123Copper

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground How's that Mania clear going so far? I already did my Mania clear for Arcade at the end of June and I was glad to do so. The balance patch is going to change a lot of things about the game and I'm interested to see what will happen with it for the characters, enemies, bosses and stages themselves.

@chasepalumbo2929

Жыл бұрын

DUDE YOU WERE SO RIGHT. Honestly. After I cleared mania+ and hardest on 1cc it happened super fast. The skill ceiling to the game is EXTREMELY contrived, to the point where I think they put in wayy more effort and attention on the enemies and their precious ai than the actual characters.

Interesting review. I should probably try to get back into this game. As a hardcore beat em up/action game fan I was incredibly disappointed with the mechanics. Felt really slow and barebones, esp compared to SoR3. Maybe I'll give it another shot, but it was my biggest disappointment this year.

What stick is that?

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

It is a hori vx sa (ps3) with a crazy dongpal crown Korean lever :-)

@JustAnOldGuyGaming

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground I’m looking for one for the Switch or a great pad for shmups and sor4, any recommendations?

Elden ring is better.