Rolling With The Punches
Developer ‘INTENSE’ have come out with a collection of ‘Technos’ classic games. Most famously pioneering side scrolling beat ‘em ups with giants like the ‘River City’ and ‘Double Dragon’ franchises. The collection sets out to give gamers a nostalgia trip with games from the ‘River City’ series as well as some harder to find titles from their back catalogue.
Now a lot of these titles featured in the collection are a bit before my time. I also don’t have a massive knowledge or grasp on the emulation scene. So reviewing this title I feel a tad lost. I don’t have a lot of experience or knowledge of the games on display here. I cant also give technical breakdowns of how these games perform compared to the original hardware or the quality of the emulation. So I’ve decided to give top line thoughts of the games included as a huge retro gaming fan rather than a knowledge fuelled enthusiast.
River City Renegade: I was the most familiar with this title going in. Great side scrolling beat ‘em up adventure with light RPG mechanics. The SNES graphics have really held up over time. Well worth your time even today. Certainly one of the stronger entries in this collection.
Kunio’s Dodgeball Time, C’mon Guys!: Sport team building RPG that I really wanted to like. Sadly the limitations of the hardware this game was built for really hinder the experience. Slow, clunky and not very enjoyable. Without nostalgia for the title it really doesn’t hold up.
Downtown River City Baseball Story: Going in I was low-key dreading this considering I didn’t think that highly of the 8-bit dodgeball title. Something about those old sport games don’t do much for me. This title I was more fond of. With the game only rendering the scenes of action it kind of feels like a slew of incredibly quick mini games that result in a old school sports sim.
Kunio’s Oden: Falling matching block game with a River City paint job. Not much really more to it than that. Personally I’m not usually a fan of these types of games but fun can be found, just don’t expect anything genre changing to be brought to the table.
The Combatribes (Arcade): Another title I wasn’t formally aware of. I was met by a snappy arcade arena fighter. Simple yet fun and surprisingly satisfying when pulling off a grapple or a throw. Graphically its one of the prettier games in the collection with very detailed pixel art that I was a big fan of.
The Combatribes: Surprisingly after the previous game I was now aware of ‘The Combatribes’. The console port is quite a faithful port on less powerful hardware. Some elements of levels have been cut down and the pixel art less detailed. However for the time it was released I’m sure it impressed fans of the original arcade game with its added story elements. My only question was why add this as a separate title in this collection, because with the choice of both versions I would bet most people would prefer to play the superior arcade version.
SugoroQuest++ -Dicenics-: This game looked like something I was going to love. A 16-bit board/rpg with interesting designs. The graphics gave me a huge nostalgia kick. Sadly I didn’t know what was happening due to the game not being localised in English.
DunQuest: Like the previous entry DunQuest hasn’t been localised so it was a struggle. Trying to play though a dungeon crawler that I couldn’t comprehend wasn’t a challenge I fancied at all. Unlike Sugoro, DunQuest didn’t have anything that piqued my interest so I wasn’t that bothered by this skip.
Super Dodgeball: River City Dodgeball enters the 16-bit arcade era. My god did I enjoy this title. Fast, fluid and action packed. The character and super move design is on point and adds a considerable amount. Although I could never quite work out how I did super moves, I didn’t mind. I would recommend this game to any retro game enthusiast.
Xain’d Sleena: A side scrolling shooter that instantly brought up nostalgia of ‘Contra’. Very similar vibe shoot stuff on screen get occasional power-ups but the setting is in space. Each level is split into two parts of an on the ground mission and a spaceship part. It was fun but pales in comparison to other games of the genre from this era.
China Gate: Short and sweet arcade arena based beat ‘em up. I had great fun and enjoyed my run through this game. The bosses are a little bit annoying and unfair. I imagine this hoovered up money from 80’s arcade goers trying to beat the last boss.
Shadow Force: Standout title in this collection for me despite its middling reception at the time. I had never personally heard of this game before and boy am I glad I know about it now. One of the finest arcade beat ‘em up I’ve had the joy of running through. It’s difficulty in parts would run you dry of cash in an arcade. However the fluid animation and sprite work with the incredibly tight controls will surely leave any fan of the genre a happy bunny.
This review is featured on OpenCritic.
