The best fighting action - Beat em up game. I have ever had in my life. Matrix, Lord of the rings and the other, I consider rubbish!
Game title – Spikeout Final Edition (1998), Sega AM4
Platform: Arcade
Rating: 9.6 out of 10 when it released in 1998
Value: I’m not sure how much did I spend on the arcade, since it release. I only know I spend $80 for the Xbox version, and it disappointed me when it compare with Arcade
Age: 1998 (Arcade), 2005 (Xbox)
Review: Spikeout is AM2’s newest multi-player fighting game from Sega. It
features a Model 3 Step 2 game featuring a maximum of 4 players at once
using the parallel connection method so popular with the Sega Astro
unit. Sega seem to have gone out of their way to make this the king of
beat-em-ups and I don’t think they’ve failed.
* A 3D Beat-em-up?
Well as you’d expect from SEGA, basically anything they do nowadays is
in 3D so why not make a beat-em-up? Why indeed seeing as they’re
usually not the most popular genre and prone to groans from the crowd at
an announcements from CAPCOM. However, after playing SPIKEOUT you soon
realise that SEGA has done something right.
* What’s so special?
Well it’s in 3D. Another is that because the game is limited to one
player per machine there is no restriction of movement as there are in
most of this genre. Restriction as in both having to be in the same
screen simultaneously. It plays more like Virtua Fighter than Final
Fight, the ability to only beat one guy up at a time for one thing.
SEGA have gone out of their way to make the characters look as good as
possible and the enemies don’t look half bad too.
* Yeah, but it’s STILL a beat-em-up
Okay sure it is but you have the ability to link up 4 machines and have
4 players fighting at once, just two is pretty mind blowing by itself.
Even if you hate the genre you’ll probably like this.
Of course it’s got all the traits of a beat-em-up. A whole host of
lame-ass names and next to no story. Well there IS no story as a matter
of fact.
Let me answer why controller or joystick works great on action games.
Such complicated movement, you only need to use buttons to start
Controls
========
( ) (B) (C) (J)
| (S)
|
8 ways Joystick (360 degree movement)
(S) “Shift” Pressing this will enable you to ‘circle’ opponents while
always facing them, think of it as a ‘strafe’.
(B) “Hit” Duh. Pressing more than twice will start your punching
combo. You will not finish your combo if you stop hitting punch after
the first 3 and 6 hits. You cannot interrupt your combo once started.
(C) “Charge/Kick”. Press three times in succession for the kick
combo. Holding down will start your charge. You have 4 charge points:
(1) Normal punch (2) Knockdown punch (3) ‘Dizzy’ punch (sends
opponents into state of confusion (4) All-out smash. Your opponents
fly across the screen, can cause a ‘domino effect’ if they fly into
others.
(J) “Jump”. The height of your jump is determined by how long you
hold the button for.
DASH : Tap joystick twice in any direction
(B) + (C) : ‘Knockdown hit’ (called ‘Low Kick’ in Japanese) - Will
effectively knock down any opponents (ex. most bosses). Press again for
2 hit combo. Able to hit more than one opponent at once so can be used
to ‘sweep’ away enemies. + DASH: A slightly stronger hit, the enemy
moves further.
(C) + (J) : ‘Jumping Knockdown hit’ - The move is the same as (B) + (C)
although you cannot press it twice. It is slightly more powerful and
is always performed airborne. + DASH: Generally a jump kick. Not very
strong though sends them packing.
(B) + (J) : ‘Overhead’. Slams their head into the ground.
(B) + (C) + (J) : Super Move. Clears out all enemies within 360 radius
but uses up one of your ‘Special Attack’ items. During this time you
are invincible. Also note that you can cancel a bosses throw if you
press this during the preparation time (ie when he hoists you up or
something a rather).
‘Tsukamu’ - Grappling: Walk up to an enemy, if you’re close enough
you’ll grab him/her.
While Grappling -
(B) : Uppercut/Knee. Able to press once more. A third will be a head
butt/strong knee and terminate the grab. + DIRECTION: Throw.
(C): Rotate around the opponent ie holding them from behind. +
DIRECTION: Throw. + (J): Jump with your pal. While airborne it is
advisable to throw, otherwise you’ll end up looking quite the fool
(Note: Sometimes you’ll push the lever/button too late or in a
direction impossible (like directly behind you, these too will result in
a ‘no throw’). The direction you push is the direction you’ll throw.
(B) + (C) + (J): A ‘special attack’ throw, generally you spin around
with your opponent several times, knocking down anyone close enough.
Ends with the enemy in a spinning mess several meters away.
(B) + (C) + (J) when holding the enemy from behind: Essentially the
same but the starting animation is slightly different.
(B) + (C) + (J) when holding your partner. You both swing around and
make a nice mess of things.
Also note, for the four characters the moves differ slightly but the
outcome is for the most part the same. In the character section I’ll go
through in a bit more depth of how they differ.
The explanation at the beginning of the game is MORE than ample and
explains most of this anyway.
Combo’ing
==========
The SPIKEOUT fighting engine is flexible. It’s a lot like Virtua
Fighter 3tb in where you can pound your enemy with so many hits before
they return to earth. It is not impossible to score 20-30 hits on one
enemy (with two people that is) even after they’re dead which is fairly
pointless but fun all the same.
*Christian view: This game is a fighting action game like Double Dragon and Final Fighter series in 3D. Can violence solve the problem??
*Hours: I have been playing Arcade version since 1998.
I don’t just play the game but play outside the square
What I mean bugs? Come to see the video files in here.
http://super.fureai.or.jp/%7Esecilia/imo/mov/spmv_2.wmv
http://teamspikers0465.hp.infoseek.co.jp/3m_v9.wmv
Poster and screen shot in here
http://www.amusementvision.com/products/spikeout/images/spfe_04.jpg
http://www.arcadebase.de/spike.htm
Get the latest Sydney stories, Culture and Indepth on your mobile device. Visit sydang.mobi
