Arcade beat-em-ups and skill: just add quarters

[YoshiM]

When helping out at a local arcade in my teen years, the owner caved in to public demand and got the arcade game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with 4 players. Like any game, the more you play it the better (one hopes) you'd get at it and I was pretty good shreddin' with Michaelangelo. However, no matter how good I was and no matter if I used my money or when the owner and I played on free play, I always spent $2.50 to beat the game. The reason? The game used cheap attacks that were near unavoidable to totally unavoidable. Flying manhole covers, death rays, hails of machine gun fire, this game was tough but it took more credits to get through. In the city arcades X-Men landed on the scene and it too had its share of cheap moments.

Personally, I disliked it and still do. It makes me wonder if such things were intentional to make the game harder for difficulty's sake or for profit's sake. So what are your experiences with such beat-em ups?

[Oobgarm]

I have a similar story, but it doesn't involve beat-em-ups.

Remember NBA Jam? Remember how easy it was to destroy the opponent until the last minute of the game, when they turned the tables and pwned you until you lost? Remember how aggravating it was since you got a free game if you won?

I can't speak on NBA Hangtime or Showtime, but I can say that NBA Ballers (PS2 & Xbox) does the same thing. Frustrating as all hell.

Ironic that both games I mentioned are by Midway(and the same design team, to boot)? I think not.

[hydr0x]

yeah, NBA JAM is :angry:

you are clearly superior to your opponent and then, whoa, suddenly they turn the game around in seconds x_x

[Ed Oscuro]

Golden Axe was probably one of the more fair beat-em-ups out there, and I remember The Punisher being pretty straightforward and while very tough it was fair...mostly. Insanely difficult fight with Kingpin, though.

Riot City (eh, Sega?) is one of the unfairly difficult brawlers out there. Nobody seems to like that one terribly much, though, so perhaps we shouldn't dwell on it.

Back to Golden Axe...after that game came Alien Storm, which in terms of presentation is one of Sega's greatest arcade games, ever, but the play control is pretty clunky and the moves are rather hard to pull off and/or unspectacular. I'd still love to own a cabinet, though.

Bad Dudes Versus Dragonninja - does this count? It's always felt more Shinobi-esque to me, though I remember all the attacks being hand-to-hand. Anyhow, I still don't really have any idea how to beat the last boss...just add quarters!

[JaredCenter]

However, no matter how good I was and no matter if I used my money or when the owner and I played on free play, I always spent $2.50 to beat the game. The reason? The game used cheap attacks that were near unavoidable to totally unavoidable. Flying manhole covers, death rays, hails of machine gun fire, this game was tough but it took more credits to get through. In the city arcades X-Men landed on the scene and it too had its share of cheap moments.

Personally, I disliked it and still do. It makes me wonder if such things were intentional to make the game harder for difficulty's sake or for profit's sake.

A lot of later beat-em-up games back then were made to suck your quarters from your pocket. If you look back to that era, you will see why Street Fighter II became so insanely popular. Instead of spending quarters to complete the beat-em-up game, knowing the game was designed to make you not live long on one quarter, Street Fighter II gave you a chance to complete the game on one quarter -- if you could do it. Simultaneously, arcade owners would make a huge profit from players competing against one another. And for all who played SF2, all the moves were awesome and cheap moves were non-existant (except for "throwing," which was later fixed).

[goatdan]

I don't know about TMNT being full of too many cheap hits. For a while, after playing it constantly, I could get through the first two levels without losing a life.

Most of the cheap hits are avoidable if you learn patterns. Personally, my favorite moments in those games are hitting the sewer lids back at the Foot Clan!

[junglehunter]

In TMNT it gets rediculously easy. I can make it near the end of the game with maybe spending $0.75. You just have to know when that type of stuff is gonna fly at you. If you've played the game a few times you should know the drill which makes it really easy.

[Arcade Antics]

TMNT is a cakewalk compared to Crime Fighters (another Konami pocket emptier). Crime Fighters is actually somewhat fair until you reach each end-level boss. At that point, the game goes right into ludicrous mode. You can't avoid getting hit by any of the bosses after the first two or three. Mandatory computer hits = unfair. :)

[16-bit]

The key to TMNT is memorization and going very slow to allow for the fewest number of enemies on screen at one time. Joystick positiion is key to beating the tougher bosses--especially the Rockman in the later levels.

I have a Japanese Gamest strategy video for Final Fight arcade. It clears the entire game on one credit using Hagar--unbelieveable!

[Azazel]

I don't think TMNT was that bad. I could generally get to the last boss on one credit adn beat the game with 2 or 3 credits from what I remember. I could also beat the NES version pretty easily as well not to mention they added those 2 new levels. Those Stone Warriors were pretty easy. There was a really easy stretegy with using your jumpkick that I used that I could easily beat them without getting hit once. The other part I had problems with was the last boss. Most people back than didn't know about the things with knocking his helmet which is why people wasted so many quuarterse on the final boss fight.

I'd like to see that Final Fight video and how he fights Sodom as I always die a few times in that fight.

Personally throwing in Street Fighter 2 was never cheap. It did a fair amount of damage and like any other kind of stretegy you just have to know how to deal with it.

Is that Riot City the same as the PC Engine Riot Zone/Crest of WOlf or I'm I thinking of something else as I know there was an arcade version of it?

[Ed Oscuro]

Is that Riot City the same as the PC Engine Riot Zone/Crest of WOlf or I'm I thinking of something else as I know there was an arcade version of it?
Well, if that game had you fighting through some hallways adorned with satanic stuff later on, it could be the same. The names you mention sound about right for the game.

[gamergary]

I can beat the simpsons arcade with another person on $5. (Both people using the same roll of quarters). So that is like $2.50 for each person.

[ManekiNeko]

The key to TMNT is memorization and going very slow to allow for the fewest number of enemies on screen at one time. Joystick positiion is key to beating the tougher bosses--especially the Rockman in the later levels.

I have a Japanese Gamest strategy video for Final Fight arcade. It clears the entire game on one credit using Hagar--unbelieveable!

There's even a special ending if you can win the game with one credit. You'll find it at the Video Game Museum... it's mostly just really weird portraits of all the designers responsible for the game.

Someone at EGM claimed that they had won the Simpsons with one credit, or were at least working on doing it. I can't even begin to imagine all the practice that would take.

JR

[Azazel]

Sometime if you watch other people play and learn from there mistakes you can get much better without having to spend any quarters.

[YoshiM]

Gee, I guess I should have mentioned I didn't play it THAT regularly, unlike some of the heroes-in-the-halfshell we have here :D . How often did you guys play this game?

To be honest I haven't played the game in years and just recently fired it up on MAME. While I may be rusty some of the cheap issues I remember came back into play. I didn't intend for people to think the whole game was one big cheap-fest but it had its moments.

[kainemaxwell]

Wow, if you can beat Bebop that easily in TMNT then you are good!

[VACRMH]

I have a Japanese Gamest strategy video for Final Fight arcade. It clears the entire game on one credit using Hagar--unbelieveable!

Now that I would like to see *nudge* :)

[Azazel]

Wow, if you can beat Bebop that easily in TMNT then you are good!

Actually I remember him being the second easiest boss in the game.

[ubersaurus]

However, no matter how good I was and no matter if I used my money or when the owner and I played on free play, I always spent $2.50 to beat the game. The reason? The game used cheap attacks that were near unavoidable to totally unavoidable. Flying manhole covers, death rays, hails of machine gun fire, this game was tough but it took more credits to get through. In the city arcades X-Men landed on the scene and it too had its share of cheap moments.

Personally, I disliked it and still do. It makes me wonder if such things were intentional to make the game harder for difficulty's sake or for profit's sake.

A lot of later beat-em-up games back then were made to suck your quarters from your pocket. If you look back to that era, you will see why Street Fighter II became so insanely popular. Instead of spending quarters to complete the beat-em-up game, knowing the game was designed to make you not live long on one quarter, Street Fighter II gave you a chance to complete the game on one quarter -- if you could do it. Simultaneously, arcade owners would make a huge profit from players competing against one another. And for all who played SF2, all the moves were awesome and cheap moves were non-existant (except for "throwing," which was later fixed).

Um, throws were never cheap...they were an important aspect of the game, and when you consider that a single simple combo in that game did pretty much the same damage, if not more, then throws aren't bad at all. If anything, they helped deter people from getting too close after say, a knockdown, since you could throw their asses.