What’s in the name of a genre? There’s something unwieldy about the ‘beat ’em-up’, that most 80s of terms, that’s never sat quite right with me. Maybe that’s because there’s no cute contraction as there is with the shoot ’em-up, the beat ’em-up’s close cousin where you fight off hordes with bullets rather than your fists, which is now more commonly called the shmup. Maybe it’s because of the confusion that remains between beat ’em-ups and their even closer cousin the fighting game.
The Ninja Saviors reviewDeveloper: NatsumePublisher: Taito/Arc System WorksAvailability: Out August 30th on PS4 and Switch
It’s only now, all these years after they were a thing, that a more fitting label has come to my attention, via the Japanese release of the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle that’s lovingly known as the Capcom Belt Action Collection. It’s absolutely perfect, describing the succession of enemies there to be biffed through like it’s some ultra-violent spin on the final round of The Generation Game. Punk! Bouncer! Some dude with claws that looks like 20th Century Fox will come knocking anytime soon given his uncanny likeness to The Predator!
The Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle – sorry, – is a fine thing, with offbeat treats like Battle Circuit and Armored Warriors (even if it’s a shame that the mercurial Alien versus Predator isn’t there – maybe because 20th Century Fox got so tired of their property turning up in every other beat ’em-up of the era), but the pinnacle of the genre arrived on Switch and PS4 last month in Japan, and is getting its EU release this week. The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors (or Ninja Warriors Once Again, as it’s known in Japan) is a remake of the 1994 SNES game Ninja Warriors, itself an incredible take on the beat ’em-up, full of 80s sass and muscle and with action that stands head and shoulders over its peers.
The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors – Release Trailer Watch on YouTube
It’s a game with an odd genesis, mind. The original Ninja Warriors was one of Taito’s three-screen wonders back in 1987, coming out soon after the original Darius and also boasting an amazing Zuntata soundtrack (check out this storming live rendition from 1990 if you want a taste of brilliance). And, in truth, it wasn’t all that great – though it did boast an aesthetic that endures, with cyborg ninjas strutting through smashed-up streets and abandoned factories while scything through swarms of enemies and screen-filling bosses.