Undiscovered beat 'em ups? Racketboy review

[kazekirifx]

Would have loved to see it on the video wall.

C'mon though, "Growl is a pretty shitty game," and "...it wasn't actually good." Really?
I don't see how anyone could not love a game that is this silly, and yet takes itself so seriously, and is gratuitously violent, while still fun to play... and allows up to 4 players. So it's not finely tuned like Final Fight? Who cares? It's the only game that has the guts to put this many enemies, weapons, and friendly animals on screen without a care for how much it taxes the game engine. Guess I like my beat-em-ups the same way I like my quesadillas. And besides, anything that can provide me with this much entertainment over the years has to be good.

This and Taito's other 4-player beat-em-up, Arabian Magic, are my meat and potatoes. Arabian magic is not much like Growl, as it feels much more polished and is longer, but it is also a fun and unique beat-em-up. Wish Taito had made some more 4-player gems like these. I'm sure they all would have been great.

[Emerald Rocker]

I miss the old-time arcades, when they actually had stuff like video walls, tons of patrons, and arcade games made by companies other than Namco and Sega.

[kazekirifx]

Cheers to that, bro.

[nodtveidt]

Just tried Growl... and have to agree with Emerald Rocker. This is one I won't be playing again anytime soon... there are way better brawlers out there.

[8bitForLife]

Since i went to tahoe alot and frequented the arcades in tahoe carson city and reno I have seen alot of these games. They are all awesome. I saw dnd at the mgm grand as a kid and sat there the whole time playing it till i beat it then had to go home. Tmnt 1 and tmnt4 in the arcades was also a blast. One he kind of mentioned but only the second was one Crime fighters. It was just an awesome game. Each of the end boss's had some get up that made them look like one of the bad guys from a slasher film as one looked like freddy, jason, leatherface, and etc.

[bartre]

y'know, that jackie chan game was pretty awesome, now that i think about it.

i used to work at a game/music/movie store and someone asked about it, so we tested it out.
they weren't interested and left, so i spent the rest of my shift playing it

[Nando]

I own quite a few of those arcade boards - basically all the 4-player ones. I have a thing for collecting 4-player beat-em-ups

Can I come over and play?

That's really cool. I'd love to have a collection of beat 'em up boards.

[majors]

One he kind of mentioned but only the second was one Crime fighters. It was just an awesome game.

I have a soft spot for CF. Always liked it's gritty-ness aside from the 4 player charactors all have bright colored pants. I LOVE the fact that the gun item is instant, no slow moving bullets.

Lot of games on that list!

[csgx1]

Interesting list.  A lot of game I've never played on that list.

Never played the arcade version of Growl but the Sega Genesis port is not a very good game.  The graphics are terrible for the Genesis, sprite are small and it's only a one player game.  Though there are a lot of enemies on the screen. 

[kazekirifx]

Just tried Growl... and have to agree with Emerald Rocker. This is one I won't be playing again anytime soon... there are way better brawlers out there.

Seems some people just don't get it. Come to my next 4-player bash and you will have a much harder time not enjoying it I guarantee.

I HATE those folks who steal the arcade ROMs, fire it up with MAME, and then make a judgment about an older game. Those people are doing nothing short of RAPING our old games as far as I'm concerned. MAME pirates in general get no respect from me.

[Emerald Rocker]

It's unfortunate that the PS2 version is only two players.  When it comes to 4P action, I can only speculate -- the game's probably a blast if you have 6 or 7 rum-drenched gamers, swapping out seats when one player dies.

I'd love to try out some 4P Dungeon Magic, too.

[RegalSin]

Kalleria baby, anytime, every time.

MAME

Dude seriously..........Kalleria No really dude, it is only way to play these games again, unless you have the room and the money.
No seriously dude, some of the original cabinets are damaged, 
and nobody has an original copy aside a developer that probably forgot about it.

Seriously dude the rule with arcades, is that you can either build your own god forsaken cabby, buy a pre-built cab, or use MAME.

Seriously, I purpose a NEC Computer section and your calling retro.
Dude, seriously.

If you buy a game on the redring360, Weed, or Phony, and your not getting to full anything. Did you know they removed characters from many of the games ported? Seriously dude.

[roflmao]

Dude.

[kazekirifx]

It's unfortunate that the PS2 version is only two players.  When it comes to 4P action, I can only speculate -- the game's probably a blast if you have 6 or 7 rum-drenched gamers, swapping out seats when one player dies.

I'd love to try out some 4P Dungeon Magic, too.

Yeah. I bought the PS2 one and was flabbergasted to find 4P was taken out. They did the same with Arabian Magic and Cadash. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have gone out and bought an Arabian Magic board, or be looking to buy a Cadash board now.

[Necromancer]

Dude.

Seriously.