Compare that to the beatemup and you'll find today we have loads of options from original games like Godhand to the Dynasty Warriors franchise, and even modern action games like Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and so on. Pretty much all of the best games seem to fall under the Cave umbrella and those aren't the kinds of games that can be done in other genres. These days we see the same thing from the 2D shooter genre. Then again I guess in 1995 the genre was winding down and a number of the better games were exclusive to a handful of developers. While this is good in that more games are starting to show the appreciation for creativity and depth that is sorely lacking from the genre at the same time the arcade beatemup was pretty much dead when it finally arrived. In fact I'd say it was only until the advent of 3D beatemups that we saw anything close to the variety of Makai 2. This is especially strange since the developer of this game pretty much knocked it out of the park. It makes one wonder why beatemups of that time or especially in the future haven't tried anything nearly as ambitious. When it comes down to it Denjin Makai 2 in a lot of ways is just a mish-mash of every good idea ever had in a beatemup. In a way it's not really a bad thing since the bosses will go down quickly and that means more time spent on pounding regular guys and finding new ways to hurt them. Main thing to consider here is the evasive options as the bosses are more likely to use big projectile attacks with lots of telegraphing to warn the player of impending doom. The bosses are large and imposing but their patterns are exploitable and even the final boss and his three forms can be handled without too much trouble. In fact if this game tossed a couple more extra lives in the difficulty would be comparable to much easier console beatemups. Sure they have access to a variety of standing and jumping attacks but when it comes down to it they're more adept at making the player look good rather than trying to kill them. The enemies in this game are little more than combo fodder. It's not exactly original game design but that's quickly forgotten once the player explores all of the options available to them for any fight. A lot of the best ideas in this game's fighting system were pulled from a wealth of fighters and other beatemups. It's possible to hit the same enemy with this heel-stomp several times while climbing into the air and then the player can perform an air-throw to finish them off. It sort of works like Chun-Li's heel stomp and it can even be comboed if none on an enemy knocked into the air. She has a heel stomp that allows her to bounce off an enemy. The selection of characters and the focus on scoring provide a lot of incentive for players to experiment and become creative with the system. Pretty soon controlling the battlefield is more about getting multiple foes into your devastating combos over survival.Ĭause really if you just take it as is the game is pretty short and very easy. While these thugs can frequently attempt to surround and overwhelm the player most of the time they're simply no match for the moves they have access to. Moves can be combined and chained together to juggle practically any foe. I'd say 90% of this stuff is completely unnecessary but who cares? It's a ton of moves designed towards creating a very entertaining combo system that rewards style and making intergalatic disputes as fun as possible.Ĭause really a beatemup system is only as good as its mechanics and this is where Makai 2 really impresses. Every character has basic combo strings, multiple special moves, a host of grab moves(some even specialize in grabbing more than one enemy for double the beatings), a handful of desperation attacks, and even some super combos. Now let's consider the offensive options available. Starting with just defensive moves every character can block, perform evasive dodges or rolls, run, jump(and even doublejump in some cases), and yeah with this alone we already have more moves than 90% of all arcade beatemups. Each character has a large selection of moves to work with. This coloful cast is not content to be a bunch of vivid palette swaps either. The eight playable characters consist of a busty cyborg, a ninja, a robot, another busty woman who is apparently part-bird, a nearly naked man, a not remotely naked man, some karate master, and an alien. The story is a clustermuck of all of our favorite sci-fi and anime cliches. Whatever the reasoning I went with a beatemup that for 1995 was way ahead of its time and to this day is a classic in the genre. So maybe I'm half-asleep and not in the mood for something like ESP Galuda 2 or Futari. When a new arcade controller arrives at your door what's the first game you play to break it in? Well I chose one at random and came up with Denjin Makai 2.

Denjin makai 2 shiden