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[Vieo]

I picked it up for PS2 this week (I was trying to get silent hill 2, but I can't find it new or used anywhere. have to order it online then. no biggie.). It's really amazing, though, it does sorta remind me of Pocket Fighter (I think that's the name. street fighter characters with big heads beating the heck outta each other).

Now, let's sit back and watch Capcom fak up VJ2 like they did DMC2.

 

[shuri]

I have no idea how you can even to compare VJ and DD. For this utter lack of respect for the venerable data east classic, you shall be punished by being force to spend the next two days playing Silent Assault NES

 

[Wario64]

Eh, he's not comparing the two...just saying there hasn't been a better beat em up game between Double Dragon's release and VJ's.

And Viewtiful Joe does rock! And I don't think they'll screw up VJ2...I don't believe it. I have faith in Clover

 

[TheGreenGiant]

I'd say its better. Way more visceral.

 

[Anyanka]

Both are overrated. Neither are classic beat em ups. Just about any Capcom made in the 90s is better.

 

[FoneBone]

Both are overrated. Neither are classic beat em ups. Just about any Capcom made in the 90s is better.

IAWTP (well, about DD, not about VJ)

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Double Dragon just seems dated to me. Perhaps notable for being somewhat playable today.

River City Ransom +1

 

[sarusama]

I find Viewtiful Joes controls overloaded. Somehow I can't really play it right... did anyone else have problems with the learning curve?

Even so, while playing VJ I just feel like something is wrong or I'm missing out on something. I guess when I first read about how your moves just "become viewtiful" when you play I had the impression that there is a nicer system behind it: simple the manipulate but viewtiful in the execution.

As for Double Dragon. Parts 1 and 2 rock. Part 3 was kinda lame though... WTF happened to all the moves??!?! I'd enjoy playing DD1 or DD2 over VJ for some reason.

 

[DCharlie]

Aliens vs Predator
Ninja baseball bat man
Spikeout

spring to mind, with very little thought

 

[Teknopathetic]

Uh, you'd think with a Guardian Heroes pseudo-sequel being recently released people would know the answer. HELLO, GUARDIAN HEROES. Viewtiful Joe doesn't have shit on it.

 

[btrboyev]

-1 for saying DD was from data east and yeah guardian heroes is the best beat em up, followed closer by D&D shadows over mystaria.

 

[DCharlie]

"D&D shadows over mystaria."

*slap*

 

[btrboyev]

oops Shadow Over Mystara, was thinking of mystaria on saturn.

anyways not a fan??

 

[jett]

VJ isn't as hot as some people make it out to be. I like Super Double Dragon more.

 

[aoi tsuki]

Streets of Rage anyone? Maybe i need to go back to VJ, but in terms of moves and combos, it's limited. In terms of the creativity and style you can inject into your play style, it's easily one of the best.

 

[CB3]

Uh, you'd think with a Guardian Heroes pseudo-sequel being recently released people would know the answer. HELLO, GUARDIAN HEROES. Viewtiful Joe doesn't have shit on it.

THANK YOU! someone finally said guardian heroes. AMAZING game. although i found the gba version to be "meh". astro boy is a pretty good beat em up also.

 

[DCharlie]

"anyways not a fan??"

i thought the D&D games were very over-rated to be honest. I didn't think they were bad games, just not as good as people made out.

 

[drohne]

an incomplete list of beat-em-ups since double dragon that are considerably better than viewtiful joe:

river city ransom
final fight
tenchi wo kurau 2
aliens vs. predator
d&d tower of doom
d&d shadow over mystara
tmnt arcade
turtles in time
the simpsons
metamorphic force
streets of rage 2
streets of rage 3
guardian heroes
astro boy
advance guardian heroes
ninja warriors
ninja warriors again

that's off the top of my head. and i really like viewtiful joe.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I think Viewtiful Joe is a future classic. But maybe that is just me talking.

But Streets of Rage had a bigger impact on me when it came out.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

I agree with drohne.

I'll give DD it's props, because without it, the genre wouldn't have been the same.

Best ones, IMO, are SoR2 and Aliens VS Predator.

 

[Hero]

Viewtiful Joe rocks. He is the evolution of the 2D beat em up genre.

 

[Bauer Action Hour]

From the ones I've played, VJ and DD not included, Streets of Rage 2 is tops.

 

[Oni Link 666]

Where would you guys draw the line between action platformer and beat 'em up? I have a hard time comparing something like VJ to DD just like I would comparing the old console X-Men games to the X-Men arcade or TMNT on NES to the arcade games.

 

[disabledHeliocentric]

How can somebody insinuate Final Fight is better than VJ with a straight face?

 

[Vlad]

Where would you guys draw the line between action platformer and beat 'em up? I have a hard time comparing something like VJ to DD just like I would comparing the old console X-Men games to the X-Men arcade or TMNT on NES to the arcade games.

I was thinking the same thing, myself. I never really considered VJ to be a beat-em-up, at least not in the same vein as a Final Fight, Double Dragon, or Streets of Rage. It's really more of a side-scrolling platformer in which you defeat enemies by beating them up. It just doesn't have the same feel as a typical beat-em-up title, mainly because there's more of a puzzle element to the fighting.

 

[pestul]

Traded in VJ for Beach Spikers.. BS was horrible. Thanks GAF. At least I ended up trading that for Wario Ware Inc.

 

[Kiriku]

Eh, Double Dragon has been surpassed many times over. Never understood what people saw in that game anyway. My genre favorite would be Streets of Rage 2.

 

[Deku Tree]

Now, let's sit back and watch Capcom fak up VJ2 like they did DMC2.

No. I DO NOT BELIEVE.

 

[PanopticBlue]

Aliens vs Predator and Guardian Heroes are the best beat 'em ups ever. Viewtiful ain't got shit on these.

metamorphic force

Ahh what is this? I'm really hoping it's a game I've never seen or played, I LOVE when I discover an old classic and it's like getting a new game from years past or something or other. Please do tell, arcade/console, what?

 

[drohne]

like this: final fight is better than viewtiful joe. and you should see my face when i say that. i mean the arcade version rather than the shoddy snes port, of course. it's maybe the classic of the genre: not the best beat-em-up, but the one that authored what would become its clichés.

and yeah, i consider joe more of an action-platformer than a beat-em-up. but the topic posed a specific question. if you want me to list action-platformers that are better than joe, i bet i could get into triple digits.

and if i seem to be slandering joe, then it's because i wasn't nearly as impressed with the game as some people were. it's very stylish and ironic and endearing. but the stage designs lack any sense of momentum -- it just feels like a bunch of discrete, static gang fights. and the vfx eventually become wearing rather than exhilarating. it's a good example of an arcade-ish game that doesn't really play like a good arcade game. and i think it's telling that so many of its vocal fans are people who don't generally like or play arcade games.

panopticblue - metamorphic force is a konami arcade game, and it's amazing. i'm pretty sure it's emulated.

 

[jarrod]

Astro Boy OF > Viewtiful Joe

Capcom should get Treasure to handle the DS VJ.

 

[DarienA]

Viewtiful Joe the best beat em' up since Double Dragon?

VJ is one player...

<<Buzzer>>

Game Over.

 

[belgurdo]

D&D smokes both Double Dragon and VJ

 

[Ristamar]

Meh. I don't give a damn if VJ is or isn't the best beat-em up/ action platformer/whatever the fuck since blah blah blah. It's one of the best games this gen, it stands well enough on its own, and the multiplayer sequel is going to fucking rock.

 

[DarienA]

Meh. I don't give a damn if VJ is or isn't the best beat-em up/ action platformer/whatever the fuck since blah blah blah. It's one of the best games this gen, it stands well enough on its own, and the multiplayer sequel is going to fucking rock.

VJ2 is going to be 2 player? I hadn't heard that....

 

[Ristamar]

Yes, sir.

From the IGN E3 preview:

New to the sequel is Silvia as a fully playable character from the start. She now uses a gun and can link combos with the projectile. Indeed, on more than one occasion in our play test with the title we used her gun to stun an enemy and then really pounded into the foe with a well-choreographed punch-and-kick combination for many, many Viewtifuls. "They fight Viewtifully together," exclaimed Capcom of Joe and Silvia, who can battle side-by-side in a newly included two-player cooperative mode. Judging from the teaser video shown and the play test, it appears that in two-player mode both players are affected by the special moves that one gamer or the other activates. So, if Silvia goes into slow mode, so will Joe. And if Joe speeds up, so shall Silvia. It should make for some very interesting and unique teamwork.

 

[DarienA]

That sounds sweeeeeet.

 

[CajoleJuice]

Holy shit multiplayer in VJ2 is going to kick ass. VJ was one of the most difficult, entertaining, and rewarding experiences I had this gen, along with F-Zero GX.

And Streets of Rage was the shit back in the day. My friend and I used to play that and Road Rash all the time. Made us feel so badass.

 

[Phoenix]

Streets of Rage was one of the best games of its type to EVER come out. Many games just pale in comparrison. Even playing SoR on an emulator allows the game to show how good it was... even today.