2023’s DRAGON COP is, in the words of it’s creators, “A love letter to 80’s/90’s Hong Kong and U.S. martial arts movies”. And it succeeds in doing so.
I can’t tell you how good and refreshing it was to see this movie after months of enduring bad and worse made films on my Prime account.

Dragon Cop’s eye for cinematography surpasses and triumphs over other independently made action films. A really well lit and good looking movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and doesn’t handicap itself on puns and humor. Did I mention already that the action scenes are good too. Yes, there are actors in this film that can really execute choreography with precision. For being a short campy film, this is entertaining. Mixing elements of Martial Arts, Buddy-Cop films, Action films with straight to VHS levels of dialogue – It rocks. 

To summarize it in laymens terms, imagine your favorite Hong Kong Cynthia Rothrock film mixed with equal parts Lethal Weapon, Loaded Weapon 1, Replacement Killers, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Triple Impact (1992) and good splashes of Albert Pyun. 

The only negative I can take away from this film is that it is too short. Yes, Dragon Cop is actually the best possible trailer you could have for a full blown feature film/follow-up sequel. As you read this, the Mase Brothers are hard at work on Dragon Cop 2: Dragon’s Revenge. Absolutely something I am looking forward to seeing once it is completed.

I was blessed to be able to speak with the Mase Brothers about this project via social media and ask them a few questions.

I wanted a powerful theme for Dragon Cop like it was done in the movies of the 80s, and its title « Rise Of The Dragon » takes up all the codes of the genre! He really has an amazing voice. There is also talk of developing other songs in Dragon’s Revenge, the sequel to Dragon Cop, where the Colombian composer and longtime friend Meteor (already present on Cyborg Deadly Machine) will also be invited. I like being able to work with several artists from different countries, it’s really great and it would be impossible without the internet. In any case, I recommend that you go and discover its fabulous artists who are absolutely talented and quite unknown in the end.

Example: “I have to find that woman Jax mentioned named Sonya Blade.” 

My response: oh that person you were told to see by the stranger, that you didn’t know, who saved you from the ice guy you never seen before turning July snowfall in a hail storm. No address/nothing just a name and city. You just accept this with no doubt in your mind like “Okay”. You calmly have that conversation with your wife after you tuck your daughter to bed AFTER almost being assassinated by an ICE NINJA, a few scenes ago. Golden Arms just packs up leaves. Like Frosty the Super Ninja won’t find them there unprotected: no firearms, no security. Sitting ducks. 

So Golden tits goes off on his journey and just “boop” magically finds Sonya living in a trailer. What follows is Exposition, “yadda yadda, yadda”, intro Kano, more exposition, “blah,blah,blah, outworld, outworld, earthworld is fucked, Raidens temple, then they are attacked by Reptile, Kano steps in and Kano delivers his fatality- Cool. 

 The opening scene was good with well-shot cinematography; sucks the lovely cinematography ends there . The story……what? I laughed so hard at Jax’s T-Rex baby short circuit robot arms in every scene until they levelled up for I guess you can call it the climax, if that.

The musical score sucked. Joe Taslim was awesome as always. And that ending – “Fuck You🖕”.

Some parts I liked but, it all just felt very much like street fighter the movie. The humor was okay in parts. But it was all so rushed. I’m sick of Hollywood movies setting up cinematic franchise universes instead of “let’s make a complete movie n if it sells we’ll add to it.” No, nope, not here. I expected an MK movie not a prequel.

Another case of cinematic marketing expecting you to sign on for a series of installments to tell a story and world build rather than go for it out the gate.

 I’d prefer to watch the original film with all its cheese. Fuck it I’d rather watch RAID 2 or The Night Comes for Us on NETFLIX. Out of a 5 Mortal Kombat gets a 2.5. No cap

Btw if you like the new Mortal Kombat,. I’m Happy for you. I really am. Enjoy it. I can also recommend some muppet movies, ghibli films and superhero movies if you like… 

However,  I did not. As for those fight scenes 🤮🤢. It is 2021; you live in a wonderful era of fight choreography n in camera stunts. There is no way -after watching -John Wick movies and THE RAID movies that you can be impressed by choppy edited fight scenes that, in the words of Bruce Lee, “lack emotional content”. Shit I’d say rewatch the Story of Ricki-Oh. Deadass.

The martial arts have played a mystifying role in pop culture ever since the great Bruce Lee graced the screen with sick moves so fast the camera could barely capture them. Perhaps even before that, the very idea of such fighting prowess, with or without a weapon, has been a vivid font for fantasy in the public mind. I remember being drawn to karate and tae kwon do as a youth by heroes such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I took classes for about a year, but at age 8, all I really did was pick my nose and wiggle my ass in the full-length mirrors lining the wall. I lacked focus and discipline. I revisited the endeavor later in life and made moderate headway, but at that point I had developed other interests that far outweighed my desire to become a fighting machine. I was also, as I am now, about as in-shape as a water balloon with several holes in it.

I loved the video games that featured martial arts, though. Herein, we’ll take a look at a few of the rarer kind of fighting game: the ones that treated it less like a cartoon and more like a sport… or at least made an attempt at pseudo-realism. We’re treating the Grab Bag more like a speed bag or heavy bag as we check out these “real” martial arts titles.

Best of the Best: Championship Karate

Loriciel, 1992

We’ll start off with one that was released across a ton of platforms in one incarnation or another. This game was first released as Andre Panza Kickboxing in Europe, but its release was limited and only included personal computers and the TG-16. Its better-known version was released in 1992 for the NES, Genesis, SNES, and both Amiga and DOS computer systems.

The cool part of Best of the Best is that it’s kind of a career simulator. You can’t just jump in and start collecting championship medals; you’ve got to train to get your stats up and pick your battles based on the tale of the tape. By sparring against a dummy opponent and doing various other exercises in a gym, your fighter builds his stamina, strength and speed to compete with an array of real-life kick boxers emulated within the game.

In the ring and in the gym. A true badass doesn’t waste time. Get at it.

One downfall for me was the control scheme, and I can’t even fault it completely. It’s wonderful how customizable it is, allowing you to go in and set certain moves for certain arrow/button combos, but it can become a bit harrowing to keep up with when you’re in the ring with a CPU opponent that knows what it’s doing by rote. I’d call it a labor of love to get polished with this control scheme, but it isn’t for me. The game itself is quite a commitment, between training and matches… but then, it’s realism we wanted, right?

Budokan: The Martial Spirit

Electronic Arts, 1989

This title saw a broad release across tons of computer and console formats, and received mixed reviews. An earnest attempt at depicting realistic martial arts combat, both armed and unarmed, Budokan puts the player in the shoes of an aspiring student preparing to enter a grand tournament. Matches are fought against a set of variably armed opponents, and during the tournament the player may select from four methods of fighting: the staff, nunchaku, kendo (a rattan sword meant to simulate a katana or similar weapon), or unarmed karate. The CPU opponents are not limited to these weapons, and the player may only choose each of his own methods four times before it is no longer available in the tournament.

This dude is, in fact, serious with this shit.

There are also areas for practicing the four methods of combat, though this game lacks the stat-leveling system present in Best of the Best. The practice is literal, meant to sharpen the actual player’s skill. This practice also helps build an understanding of how ki and stamina work in the game; ki is built up in defense against attacks and then released in your own offense, and stamina is a rough representation of how much punishment you can take. When a fighter’s stamina bottoms out, they’re done.

The controls, yet again, are a little unwieldy and take a bit to get used to. Once you do, however, the big challenge is timing as you learn to adapt to other combatants’ styles and patterns. It’s helpful to at least glance at the pre-fight screens that describe your opponents; each one hints at their style and how one might overcome it. It’s just as tricky to select a good weapon to match your foe’s, since like vs like is not always the ideal strategy. I enjoy the concept of this game overall, as it’s just as cerebral as it is “physical.” It’s not just whack-a-mole. As an aside, the Amiga version has fantastic music and may be the best overall version of the game.

Bushido Blade

Light Weight/Square, 1997

It’s time to dip into some fifth-gen shit. I figured this was a great title to start with. You know how in so many fighting games, everyone has a life bar and every brutal injury takes only a fraction of it? Well, not in Bushido Blade. When you step onto this low-poly battlefield, things get real.

There is a story mode in the game that varies slightly for each character, and not only involves fighting various other figures in the plot but also series of ninjas and other challenges. While the single-player game is wonderful and challenging, it’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m focusing on the VS. Mode.

You and a CPU opponent or another player face off with a choice of weapons in a fight to the death. When I say “to the death,” I don’t mean until some abstract yellow bar is empty. I mean, you fight until someone is on the ground gushing blood. And that doesn’t take as much contact as you think.

Striking and blocking at different angles and heights can be achieved with fairly simple button/arrow combos, and there’s even a little acrobatic work you can do to present a harder target to your opponent. A lazy or hasty strike can leave you open for a counter-attack, and a good hit to a limb will render it useless. Many matches will end swiftly, however, as a blow to the head or torso creates a catastrophic blood-spurt and a sudden defeat. Some of the selectable characters are better-trained with one or another type of weapon, and this is worth reading up on or figuring out. For instance, Kannuki is great with the big power weapons. Give him that broadsword or hammer and watch him smash through an opponent’s defenses.

The graphics are as good as any other early PS1 release, and the sound is killer also. Most fights have no background music, which seems oddly appropriate. The only sounds are those of desperate one-on-one combat.

WEIGHING IN

Best of the Best: 5/10 (It’s really cool, but the controls are occasionally baffling. Visually smooth though.)

Budokan: 6/10 (Great for its time, I think the Amiga version wins out presentation-wise.)

Bushido Blade: 8/10 (One of my favorite PS1 games, hands down.)

The beat ’em up was (and to some extent, still is) an extremely popular game format. The concept may sound repetitive on its nose – that is to say, you mostly just walk forward and beat the shit out of people – but it’s been done in so many ways, with so many embellishments and extra touches, that it hardly gets old if you’re a fan. Like a lot of us, I was primarily exposed to this genre through either arcade ports or original titles for the Mega Drive/Genesis. Now, as I’ve discussed in some previous articles, we definitely didn’t get the bulk of Japan’s weird stuff then, but we did get some gnarly-ass console games… one of them being Mystical Fighter.

This weird but fantastic entry into the Genesis beat ’em up library was called Demon King Renjishi in Japan, hitting shelves in October of ’91. Very soon after, it was released for American audiences as Mystical Fighter. Its developer, KID Corporation (defunct as of 2006), is also known for developing Burai Fighter and Low G Man. Taito published the game, lending its name to the wide distribution and classy packaging.

Aforementioned classy packaging. JP (left) and USA (Right). Click to enlarge.

The plot of Mystical Fighter is based loosely on Japanese myth, and I do mean loosely. An evil “Lord Kabuki” is all set to conquer the kingdom after kicking the asses of White Lion (not the band) and Red Lion (I also promise this has nothing to do with Voltron). A mystical seal on Mt. Fuji is broken, setting the two warriors loose again to take a second shot at stopping Lord Kabuki… and the players control one or both of them as they try. The US manual’s translated version of the plot is below:

The first thing one notices as the game kicks off is that, while a little stereotyped-sounding, the music is awesome. It’s got a serious beat, and it’s not just some innocuous background loop. The ol’ YM1612 is put to beautiful use, something which this Segaphile will finally admit does not always happen. The graphics are also very fitting for the theme, evoking the dark and ephemeral world you’re supposed to be traveling through to stop the evil lord. The contrast your two characters – who look pretty damn kabuki themselves – also plays a well-conceived role in establishing the tone. It’s suitably heroic, even if understated. Normally I save an appraisal of these elements for closer to the end of a game article, but I wanted to put them right out front because I find them particularly impressive in Mystical Fighter.

This isn’t to say that the action is lacking. This game has every bit of the jaw-breaking, shit-kicking intensity that Streets of Rage or Golden Axe have. I’m sure there are folks who would disagree with me, but just look at the moves you can do! I’m not knocking Streets of Rage, but Axel cannot grab someone by their lapels and full-on hurl them entirely across the screen in a horizontal line. Mystical Fighter is its own animal, and it’s one with a mean temper. The sound effects that go along with your crazy leaps and attacks only add to the feeling of overall mayhem.

One guy goes flying in a laser-straight line toward the edge of the screen while another prepares to taste my creepy white foot. Once you get used to the controls, it’s like playing as a brutal circus acrobat or blood-crazy gymnast. 

There is a mechanic similar to that in Golden Axe, however, where you pick up scrolls (as opposed to potions) to save up for devastating magical spells. The more you pack up, the better the effect. You get to use those moves on an army of sumo guys, ogres, undead samurai, ninjas, and some bosses that are literally out of this world. The enemies may look like fat guys in bathrobes and clones of E. Honda, but don’t be fooled… everyone and everything you encounter is dangerous enough to take seriously.

I did find that some of the boss fights are pretty easy though, once you figure out the fairly predictable patterns. The big dog (lion? I don’t know) thing at the end of one of the first levels stands out as a good example of this. Just punch it in the face and get out of the way. Keep doing that and you’re golden.

He looks way scarier than he is, which isn’t very.

My attention span is admittedly horrid, so I haven’t beaten this game, but I do plan to revisit it. I give Mystical Fighter 8/10; it’s better (in my opinion) than other reviewers give it credit for, it’s got its own incredible flavor to it, and it promises high-flying fun.

Thanks, folks! See you again in mid-June! Stay Retro!

You asked for it, you got it!

We’ve talked about a few beat em up games so far; some of them have been true-to-form classics, like Double Dragon or Golden Axe. Some of them have been departures from the norm, like River City Ransom. Readers keep asking me from time to time: “Dude, when are you gonna write about Streets of Rage already?”

Well, RetroManiacs, I guess I‘ll go ahead and do it. After all, it’s well worth talking about.

Gaming History 101… Back in the early 90s, the Fourth Generation war was on. That is to say, Sega still produced consoles, and they’d produced a real gem in the form of the Genesis/Mega Drive. It was competing well with the Super NES, and part of that was because Sega had the oomph to spit out home-developed games just like Nintendo did. In 1991, when the war was at its hottest, Sega released Streets of Rage. It ended up being a home run; the title had two sequels and was also ported to Sega’s whole line (then) of platforms.  While it is well-known that the Mega Drive/Genesis did not fare well domestically, Streets of Rage helped their console do well in the US market by being everything a beat em up should be: brutal, colorful, and exciting.

No name is given in the manual for the city Streets of Rage is set in, but it is a corrupt and benighted city.  The diabolical crime lord Mr. X has bought off or intimidated everyone, even the police. Well, except for three:  Adam, Axel, and Blaze. The three cops do everything they can to fight within the system, but corrupt or terrified superiors block their way. The trio (who are also experts in their respective martial arts) end up quitting the force… but that doesn’t mean they’re done cleaning up the city. They’re going to put an end to Mr. X’s plague of crime, or die trying.

In case you’re curious, the “B” means they’re bad at it. Really, you can beat the game with any or all of them, but my favorite is Adam. Once he gets there, he gets the job done quick.

Players choose from among the three protagonists, and 2 players cannot choose the same one. Adam is a skilled and powerful boxer, but moves more slowly than the others. Blaze is agile and quick, but her strikes do less damage on average. Axel is the balanced one, and is usually a popular choice for new players. Gameplay resembles that of the game’s predecessor, Golden Axe, but only at the core level. Each character has a move routine, some up-close variants (throws, etc) and a jump attack. In addition, you can pick up knives, pipes, and other weapons your less scrupulous opponents drop as you pound your way across the streets. Each player also gets a token-based special attack. This token can be replenished by beating a level or gaining a life. What is the special attack, you ask?

Serve and protect. 

That’s right. I’ll spare you the socio-political commentary.

The foes you face in Streets of Rage are trend setters. That is to say, every time this formula has been copied (and believe me, it has), the aesthetic of the enemy types has been loosely copied as well. The theme that ties them together could be described as “colorful.” Mr. X has really worked hard to make his gang of miscreants a diverse one. Most of the low-level baddies are easy to dispatch, but there are a few who know their stuff. You’ll want to use team tactics on them or just catch them quick; next to the bosses, the high-flying thugs are your worst threat.

Plenty going on in Streets of Rage. Above, left to right: two of the Freddy ripoff bosses; the boomerang guy just before he gets crazy; giving a low-down punk a broken bottle in the gut; waiting to hit a line-drive at the wharf.

Oh, the bosses, though. Every stage except stage 7 has one. They are all hilarious. Some of them become recurring baddies later on, albeit in slightly weaker forms (to compensate for their greater numbers). It is worth noting that the bosses are all also HUGE. When I say HUGE, I mean easily twice the size of your character. Again, as with the trickier hoodlums, these guys usually take team tactics or quick pattern recognition to defeat. It helps to have another player, but it also helps to have a rough idea of how far a boss’s attacks will reach.

The bosses. Immediate in-joke references can be seen, the most immediate being Freddy Krueger and the Ultimate Warrior (RIP). And yes, you eventually fight clones of yourselves.

All of this mayhem eventually culminates in a face-to-face with Mr. X himself. The game offers multiple endings, because no matter which character you play, Mr. X offers you a job. You know what’s even cooler? If there are 2 of you playing and one of you refuses, you have to fight to the death. If you do the right thing and unanimously refuse, it’s on. Mr. X doesn’t screw around with kung fu or boxing… he just pulls out a Tommy gun and starts spraying his own mansion with bullets in an attempt to do you in. All the while, more of his cronies file in to make mince meat of you. If you win this colossal battle, the good ending plays: the city is restored to order and peace.

The graphics are splendid, even for the Genesis. Just look at the game’s intro: a sweeping background shot as the story scrolls down, and then our pugilistic protagonists phase into view. All is color and light in this game; it is very late 80s/early 90s, complete with neon everywhere. The soundtrack fits nicely with this aesthetic too, written by the gifted Yuzo Koshiro. It features out-and-out dance music, complete with drums that were purposefully made to sound like the popular TR line of rhythm machines made by Roland. The soundtrack was modeled closely after then-contemporary hip-hop and R&B music, which was enjoying a surge of popularity in the early 90s. The OST of all three games in the series has been released in CD format; these printings are rare and considered valuable by collectors.

Streets of Rage gave way to two sequels, both of which introduce new characters and new threats to the streets of the city. There is still a huge fan community even today in 2015, with Streets of Rage Online carrying the banner far into the Information Age. Streets of Rage is one of those franchises that never became a Sonic or a Mario, but nonetheless left a lasting impression on a generation of gamers. I give it 8 stars out of 10. It is an action-packed, exciting, and memorable title that stands as one of the Genesis system’s icons.

Until next time… keep your dukes up!!!

If just seeing that logo didn’t fire off a powerful twinge of nostalgia for you, then we probably grew up in very different places. You probably grew up on the Moon or in Narnia. I’m not sure where you were, and I’m not going to focus on it. It’s a downer if you didn’t have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in your life. As they might say, a “bummer.”

The Ninja Turtles were our generation’s Pokémon. I can recall that from 1989 to about 1996, you couldn’t turn your head 90 degrees without seeing either a Batman logo or (more likely) that one up above. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, created originally as a (rather mature) comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, became wildly successful in the late 80s and early 90s. Though the comic strip had been around since 1984, TMNT became a franchise when it branched out and was marketed to kids. Part of that huge marketing empire was a little NES game made in 1989.

Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. 

Remember in the Contra article when I said that Konami made so many games for the NES that they had to use a shell company to get around Nintendo’s licensing rules? TMNT was one of those games, produced (at least on paper) by Ultra Games. Most of us didn’t pay attention to much of that as kids; the box could’ve said anything. It could’ve said Chef Boyardee as long as the cartridge fit in our NES slot and played a Ninja Turtles game. That said, many of us may also not have noticed the small ways in which TMNT was pretty gnarly for a 1989 NES title. While it’s above average at best in technical terms, the game was innovative for its time, in however small ways.

The plot of the game involves rescuing April, then rescuing Splinter, and then finally defeating the evil Shredder. Both overhead and side-scrolling views are used, although the focus is pretty heavily on side-scrolling. In top-down view, you sometimes have access to the Turtles’ van, which can run over Foot soldiers and shoot missiles at other baddies. By going down into sewers or into buildings, you enter side-view. This is where the real action happens. You control any of the four turtles, and are even able to switch between them at a moment’s notice. This can be used as part of a strategy; most players like to use Michelangelo and Raphael (whose weapons are shorter-reaching) to slog through parts where there’s lots of danger, saving long-reaching Leo and Don for bosses or other important bits. Pizza can be found to replenish the active turtle’s health bar, and while it is usually in out-of-the-way places, you may need it. You can also pick up boomerangs, throwing stars, ropes to climb across gaps, missiles for the van… it’s like a shopping trip down there in the sewer. A gross, dangerous shopping trip.

The reason you will need the pizza to replenish health? Oh, that’s simple. Shredder has apparently recruited an entire city full of monstrosities to murder you. Remember all the chainsaw maniacs and guys on fire that were in the cartoon? Me neither, but here they are, trying to send the mean, green machines to an early grave. There are anime space men who throw their own heads at you, flying Star Wars-style robots, and even circus balloons with incendiaries dangling from them. It’s like a lot of franchise platformers; they run out of legit sources for enemy fodder and have to fill in the blanks. As you progress from streets to sewer to warehouses to evil base, some enemies stick around and some change. All the main bosses tend to be TMNT regulars; you get to fight Bebop and Rocksteady, smash up the Technodrome, and eventually meet Shredder himself in combat. The difficulty of the bosses is considerable but never overwhelming. Really, nothing compares (in terms of difficulty) to the underwater level…

I won’t post a whole carousel of images here, because this is a pretty good idea of what you’ll be looking at. This, and your turtles dying.

Let’s talk about the underwater level for a minute, because if you’ve played TMNT, you’re waiting for me to talk about it. You have two minutes and twenty seconds to disarm eight (8) bombs in an underwater maze full of electrical seaweed, insta-death tentacles, and intermittent shock-traps. First off, who even set those bombs? Who had the balls? Secondly, who fills their freshwater dam with such awful things? Don’t people have to go down there for maintenance? Thirdly, would you like to see a video of someone just hot-dogging the damned thing? It exists, just to compound the madness of it all. Now that we’ve talked about the underwater level, f*ck the underwater level. Just thinking about it makes my blood pressure spike.

The graphics for TMNT were actually pretty sweet, especially since the turtles and their main enemies were usually easy recognizable. There are only a few cinematics, but they are decent. The soundtrack sticks out in my mind, both from repetition as a child and from it being a pretty good soundtrack. The sound effects included a lot of digitization, and it didn’t sound like crap, either. Remember that this game was actually produced by Konami, who didn’t screw around in terms of production quality.

Yeah, I’ll be there in a while. I still have to beat the underwater level.

Not everyone loved this game, but nearly everyone with an NES had a copy, because 1) it was TMNT 2) a lot of copies were produced. I’ve seen them a lot at pawn shops, swap meets, and flea markets. Almost all of them look well-played. I will speak on the level: TMNT was honestly a fair-to-middling NES game, but as a small part of one of the biggest franchises of an era, I felt that it very much deserved our attention. Later games would come; arcade ports, fighting games, and several other sequels dot the Turtle Timeline. The franchise is even enjoying a gentle breath of air as we speak, but it can probably never achieve the dizzying heights it did. Cowabunga, RetroFans!

Next month, we’ll look at Golden Axe, Dragon Warrior, and more!