This one adds some extra content over the arcade version, kinda like Golden Axe which was from I think at least some of the same team. I do love how at the start of the arcade version our protagonists are moonlighting as hot dog vendors with a food truck.
Great stuff. While it makes sense, I actually didn't know this was an arcade game and always assumed it was a Genesis exclusive like the Streets of Rage games. I recall a friend renting it and thinking it was pretty fun, but still felt outshone by Final Fight on SNES and then Streets of Rage 2. Don't think I ever saw the arcade version in the wild, unlike Golden Axe, which was ubiquitous for a time.
It feels like sometime around 1991-1992, the industry decided that home consoles are the primary destination for beat-em-ups. Before that, they were primarily aimed at arcades, with the home ports usually an inferior afterthought. I guess we really knew the terrain had changed when Capcom didn't bother with an arcade version of Final Fight 2, even after Final Fight 1 was a huge hit in the arcades.
You're right, Alien Storm doesn't quite compare to Final Fight or Streets of Rage, but it's a nice sci-fi spin on the otherwise stale brawler genre. Shame we never got a dinosaur beat-em-up in the wake of Jurassic Park!
Several of my all-time favorite games are brawlers that fit into the mold of "Tough guys/girls (who may or may not be mutant animal hybrids) fight their way through the mean streets of Crime City USA." Maybe you can call it "stale", but if the gameplay is good and a friend or loved one is at my side, I'm prepared to keep playing games like this until I die.
But I'm also all for taking risks with deviations from this formula!
"Stale" sounds harsh, since I too love a good beat-em-up. Perhaps what I meant was formulaic. The genre definitely has its high points, but it never really got beyond "the streets" so to speak; at least not in the 16-bit days/ And while that's not terrible, a little variety could have propelled the genre forward.
This one adds some extra content over the arcade version, kinda like Golden Axe which was from I think at least some of the same team. I do love how at the start of the arcade version our protagonists are moonlighting as hot dog vendors with a food truck.
I'm sure we've talked about this in some other post, but I do pine for the days when games didn't take themselves so seriously.
Great stuff. While it makes sense, I actually didn't know this was an arcade game and always assumed it was a Genesis exclusive like the Streets of Rage games. I recall a friend renting it and thinking it was pretty fun, but still felt outshone by Final Fight on SNES and then Streets of Rage 2. Don't think I ever saw the arcade version in the wild, unlike Golden Axe, which was ubiquitous for a time.
It feels like sometime around 1991-1992, the industry decided that home consoles are the primary destination for beat-em-ups. Before that, they were primarily aimed at arcades, with the home ports usually an inferior afterthought. I guess we really knew the terrain had changed when Capcom didn't bother with an arcade version of Final Fight 2, even after Final Fight 1 was a huge hit in the arcades.
You're right, Alien Storm doesn't quite compare to Final Fight or Streets of Rage, but it's a nice sci-fi spin on the otherwise stale brawler genre. Shame we never got a dinosaur beat-em-up in the wake of Jurassic Park!
Yes.
Several of my all-time favorite games are brawlers that fit into the mold of "Tough guys/girls (who may or may not be mutant animal hybrids) fight their way through the mean streets of Crime City USA." Maybe you can call it "stale", but if the gameplay is good and a friend or loved one is at my side, I'm prepared to keep playing games like this until I die.
But I'm also all for taking risks with deviations from this formula!
"Stale" sounds harsh, since I too love a good beat-em-up. Perhaps what I meant was formulaic. The genre definitely has its high points, but it never really got beyond "the streets" so to speak; at least not in the 16-bit days/ And while that's not terrible, a little variety could have propelled the genre forward.