Comix Zone™

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era


The beat 'em up genre flourished in the nineties, with Capcom and Konami leading the way on the SNES and on the SEGA Genesis, as well as with a huge amount of great arcade games that never got a home console port.


We've selected some of the most amazing titles from this wonderful era, the ones that had the most detailed graphics and most impressive animations.



Aliens vs. Predator (Capcom)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




The Punisher (Capcom)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (Konami)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Final Fight 3 (Capcom)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Street of Rage 3 (SEGA)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety (Acclaim)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (Gazelle)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Legend (Arcade Zone)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Knights of the Round (Capcom)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Comix Zone (SEGA)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




The King of Dragons (Capcom)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara (Capcom)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Battletoads (Rare)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




X-Men Arcade (Konami)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Denjin Makai 2 (Winky Soft)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era




Batman Returns (Banpresto)

The Best Looking Beat 'em Up Games From The 16-Bit Era


Dozens of other beat 'em ups came out in addition to those ones. Show us your picks in the comments below!


sources: Arcade History, Capcom Wiki, Videogamesblogger, HardcoreGaming101, FamicomFreak, cubex55, Sydlexia, Vincanni's LP, arronmunroe's LP


BioShock™

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games


A video game's opening stage or starter zone has an extremely important role: it sets the tone for the rest of the game. Getting it right is essential. Below, we've collected some of the best-looking and most iconic starting zones, first stages and opening missions.



Green Hill Zone in Sonic

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Central Highway in Mega Man X

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Welcome to Rapture in BioShock

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Contra III Stage 1

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Metal Slug Mission 1

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




City 17 in Half-Life 2

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Make Eggs, Throw Eggs in Yoshi's Island

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Comix Zone Chapter 1

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games




Ikaruga Stage 1

The Most Beautiful Opening Stages In Video Games


Post your picks for the most intense, best made and most beautiful first levels below with visual support.


sources: SEGA Wiki, ThePressStartProject, BioShock Wiki, Primeevi's LP, Gustavo Costa's LP, SectorW, Ericthestickman, VideoGamerParadox, kirgeez


Golden Axe™

Raise your hands if you spent a whoooole lot of time playing Golden Axe on your Sega Genesis. I sure did and never in my wildest dreams did I think it could be finished in under ten minutes.


That's exactly what Jason 'honorableJay' Feeney does in this speedrun video hosted at Speed Demos Archive. Feeney offers up insights from his time with the classic brawler on the video's homepage. Here, he brings up my most hated part of Golden Axe:


Bonus Stages
The first 4 stages give you a chance to fill up on your magic/health after the completing the stage. The problem with these stages is the fact that the thief patterns are random. There is nothing I can do but pray I don't get a bad pattern. This is the only spot in the game with random elements, making them the most frustrating at times.


Man, I hated those thieves! I'm saving the entire realm, assholes. You should be giving me stuff! Jerks.


Golden Axe [Speed Demos Archive]


Altered Beast™

Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon LadiesYou've got concept art with a pinch of news this morning, as Superannuation points out the portfolio of Kiwi artist Christian MacNevin, which contains images from a pitch for an Altered Beast remake that Sega never picked up.


They're...interesting, to say the least, but I'm just as interested in MacNevin's other fantastic pieces for projects as diverse as PlayStation Home and panda robots.


You can see more of Christian's art at his personal site.


To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".


Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!

Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies Unreleased Altered Beast Games, Guns And Crazy Naked Dragon Ladies
Golden Axe™

This week on the season finale of Retro Game Master the Kacho takes on Golden Axe.


Released in 1989 by Sega for the arcade, this high fantasy side-scroller beat 'em up later made its way to a number of different consoles. In the game players take on the role of a dwarf, a barbarian or an amazon as they journey through the world on a quest to kill Death Adder.


This first official U.S. airing of the show, known as Game Center CX in Japan, uses dubbing for the announcer's voice and English subtitling for Arino's.


Retro Game Master airs weekly on Kotaku at 8 p.m. eastern on Thursdays. The show and Kotaku reruns will remain on the site for viewing at your leisure throughout the season. Licensing prevents the show from being seen outside of North America.


Don't forget to expand the video above to watch it full screen!



Retro Game Master Episode 12: Golden Axe


Retro Game Master Episode 10: 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō

This week on Retro Game Master the Kacho takes on 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō.
Released in 1986, Kantarō no Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi is based on a famous set of ukiyo-e wood prints. More »



Retro Game Master Episode 12: Golden Axe


Retro Game Master Episode 9: Battle Golfer Yui

This week on Retro Game Master the Kacho takes on Battle Golfer Yui, a golf game that it is more than it seems.
Launched in 1991 in Japan, Battle Golfer Yui follows the exploits of two normal high school girls who are drafted into a tournament thanks to their exemplary golf skills. More »



Retro Game Master Episode 12: Golden Axe


Retro Game Master Episode 8: S.O.S.

In this eighth episode of Retro Game Master, our game-testing everyman, Shinya Arino, faces off against S.O.S.
S.O.S. was developed by Human Entertainment for the Super NES in 1994. More »



Golden Axe™

This season's Retro Game Master ends with a bang as the Kacho takes on... Golden Axe.


Released in 1989 by Sega for the arcade, this high fantasy side-scroller beat 'em up later made its way to a number of different consoles. In the game players take on the role of a dwarf, a barbarian or an amazon as they journey through the world on a quest to kill Death Adder.


The show goes live only on Kotaku at 8 p.m. eastern this Thursday, followed by more weekly episodes "airing" on Kotaku at the same time and day through September. And unlike with television, these episodes will stick around on our site so you can watch them at your own leisure.


Game Center CX produced 15 seasons of gaming content in Japan, with Shinya Arino playing through dozens of Famicom, Super Famicom, PC Engine and Mega Drive games. These first U.S. airings of the episodes includes English captions for Arino and English dubbing for his off-camera announcer.


Golden Axe™

Due to some technical difficulties we were unable to "air" the last episode of this season's Retro Game Master last week. Sorry about that. Fortunately, the show is all ready to run this Thursday. This week: Golden Axe


Golden Axe™

The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro KaufmanWe've got another Massive Black artist for you today, which is always a treat. Coro Kaufman is one of the studio's co-founders, and also serves as its art director. Needless to say, his stuff is great.


In this gallery you'll see examples from many of the games he's worked on over the past few years, including Red Faction, Army of Two, Lost Planet 2, Silent Hill and even Golden Axe.


In addition to his video game work, Kaufman has also whipped up concepts for commercials, toys, TV, movies, clothes and even album covers. He's also putting the finishing touches on a graphic novel called Transient Man, which is about a hobo who may or may not be "an inter-dimensional savior of humanity, on a mission to save the universe".


You can check out the comic here, and if you like what you see, hit up the Kickstarter page and help get it printed!



You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman
The Destructive Video Game Art of Coro Kaufman


Golden Axe™

Meat Bun Dresses You In Wizards And WarriorsThe sorcerers at Meat Bun have summoned forth a magical set of t-shirts for their summer 2010 line, "Wizards 'n Warriors," celebrating the 8-bit fantasy fighters and casters who made the early days of gaming so magical.


The six new t-shirts in the "Wizards 'n Warriors" line continue Meat Bun's proud tradition of creating wearable art that embodies classic video games without tossing it in your face. There's something for everyone here, whether you love blood-soaked warriors, subtle ninja, tiny Viking dwarves, or eggplants. Hell, there's double eggplant love in this batch.


As much as I admire the subtlety of some of the designs, it's the least subtle of the group that's caught my eye. You shall be mine, Thunderhead. Oh yes, you shall be mine.


It's time to bug the living hell out of Meat Bun's own Michael McWhertor.


Meat Bun Online Store [Meat Bun]


Ecco the Dolphin™

Sega Genesis Classics Now Available On Steam The first batch of downloadable Sega Genesis games for the PC has hit Steam, giving gamers a new way to spend $2.99 apiece on games like Ecco the Dolphin, Vectorman, and Sonic 3D Blast.


Why worry about the ambiguous moral and legal issues surrounding emulation when you can just buy Sega Genesis titles for your PC? The first batch of Sega Genesis Classics is now available on Steam, with $2.99 scoring players legitimate copies of a number of games previously available only through the dozens of game compilations Sega has released over the past decade.


For those who prefer those compilations, Steam is also offering up the Sega Classics pack, featuring Comix Zone, Crack Down, Ecco the Dolphin, Gain Ground, Golden Axe, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Sonic 3D Blast, Space Harrier II, Vectorman, Altered Beast, and Shadow Dancer, all for $34.99.


I'm very interested to see how these things sell. Can Sega get players to pay for these? Will you pay for these?


Thanks to Jim for reminding us these were coming.


...

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