This could have been a dozen different games. Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Turtles in Time, The Simpsons, X-Men, River City Ransom, you name it. No genre is as same-y as beat-em-ups. They're all going to play pretty much the same and they're all infinitely more fun when played with friends.
TMNT: The Arcade Game is probably the best multiplayer beat-em-up of its era. It was mega fun in the arcades and it's super duper nostalgic. I can quote the voice samples despite not playing for however long. (help meeeeeeeeeee) (do not resist us) Hitting enemies has an excellent feel to it. I used to love dropping a few bucks into TMNT and just playing along with whoever would walk up and join me. This entry is obviously nostalgia heavy, but at the same time it's held up better than most beat-em-ups. Certainly better than Golden Axe. Good god.
50. Contra 4 49. Uniracers 48. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow 47. Ninja Gaiden 46. Outland 45. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 44. World of Goo 43. Mortal Kombat 2 42. Tecmo Bowl 41. Lode Runner: The Legend Returns 40. Crystalis 39. Warioware, Inc. 38. N+ 37. Mega Man 9 36. Final Fantasy VI 35. NBA Jam 34. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game
I'm curious to hear what games you guys think are top 10 worthy.
I think Ultima III Exodus is the more important game, but Avatar is the more polished and certainly does a good job with consequences and altered gameplay based on player input/actions. This was ~1985, too. Exodus might be why people bothered to make Dragon Quest/FF but Avatar is a bit more enjoyable and it's a series that was already doing new and cool things... before other series were even twinkles in their dev's eyes.
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Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter? Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.
Lunar EBC Dragon Warrior/Quest (favorite game) Braid Super Metroid SMWorld Oddworld I'm gonna go with Life Force, just because I have fond memories of that game from my youth, but really any scrolling space shooter would work LttP FFIV (my favorite FF) Baldur's Gate (Not sure if it really counts though.)
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My name isn't slick, it's Zoidberg. JOHN F***ING ZOIDBERG! http://img.imgcake.com/SgtSphynx/ZoidbergAngryys.jpg
do you guys really think NG2 is that much better than NG1? clones and wall climbing are good and all, but they're fundamentally the same exact game. I like NG2 a little bit more too but NG1 had much more of an impact, I think, due to coming first.
Bionic Commando is a platforming game where you don't jump. Crazy! This deliberate design decision works thanks to a really interesting grappling hook mechanic. Shooting enemies was secondary to swinging everywhere with the hook. The hook feels really good and is a ton of fun to manipulate.
Rearmed is a remake of the original BC that makes everything better. Gameplay is better thanks to tons of tweaks and additions. New weapons and abilities are appreciated. Bosses are much improved. Music is awesome thanks to some great audio work by Simon Viklund. Challenge Rooms were added with leaderboards. They even added a deathmatch mode that has to be the best 2d shooter deathmatch I've ever played. Granted, I've never played any other 2d shooter deathmatch before, but it was an awesome mode. It's too bad it isn't online multi because other people would get into it.
I always thought BC was notable as one of the first games to go all-in on a unique mechanic. Mega Man, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Ninja Gaiden -- all of these games have the same jump and shoot concept. BC threw it all away and let enemies shoot at you without you being able to jump out of the way. The fact that they executed on the concept so brilliantly is a testament to good game design.
NBA Jam was popular but I'm not sure it's important at all. It strikes me the same way as Sega CD games do - reasonably okay at the time but looking back we can see it went in the wrong direction and no games really copied it. I've had a few friends play it over the last couple years and they all didn't like it. I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone for any reason except nostalgia.
NFL Blitz is pretty much NBA Jam with a football and people liked that. I agree that it's kind of an obsolete model but I still think it's a very notable game.
Platform: GBA Release Date: 2004 Video: (sorry, I couldn't resist)
Super Metroid is the better, more notable game, but damn if this game doesn't have it beat from a pure control perspective. Zero Mission controls so well that it's flat-out easy. Wall jumping, bomb jumping, advanced techniques -- all can be done pretty effortlessly, and it all feels really good to do.
It also has some pretty intelligent design. There's a ton of built in alternate paths that make replaying this game a real treat. Maybe it's not as thrilling as Super Metroid sequence breaking but it's still good. There's a stealth segment that is very unusual for a 2d action game and is pretty darn cool. You can turn this game inside out thanks to all the alternate ways you can go - beat it with 100% or beat it with 9%.
Zero Mission may not break any ground but damn if it isn't the pinnacle of 2d action game control and mechanics. I actually want to put this a good bit higher but am trying to fight my natural bias towards this game. This game is now 7 years old and they have yet to make another 2d Metroid. That's shameful.