Bad Street Brawler

"Comical Combat..."

I’ve played some interesting side scrolling fighters in my time and I have to say that Bad Street Brawler is one of the strangest ones that I’ve played. While I can’t really relate this game to any other than Streets of Rage, there are some interesting game play elements that you just can’t miss. With several stages of side scrolling action to kick the crap out of various enemies, there is something for everyone here and you’ll find it to be fun as well. Featuring comical fighting movies and just enough action to keep you busy, Bad Street Brawler is a game that you have to try at least once to see just what it has to offer.

The story behind Bad Street Brawler is something out of a vigilante movie in which a man goes out to clean up the streets from all the nasty thugs running around. Your man will encounter several different obstacles that range from dogs and bald chain wielding circus freaks to the occasional escaped gorilla from the local zoo. As bizarre as this all sounds, the truth of the matter is that you do face all of these things and from time to time you will encounter a trench coat wearing flasher that will throw things to you. Sounds a little strange, but this title has an inexplicable draw to it that keeps me coming back for more and most likely will do the same to anyone who plays enough of it.

Bad Street Brawler isn’t like your conventional side scrolling game in which you find an enemy and kick the crap out of them with flashy moves. The first thing that you’re going to notice about this game is that each stage only has three moves attached to it that you can use while you’re battling against your enemies. The move set that you encounter will change from stage to stage, but an interesting feature allows you to practice these moves before you begin the stage to see which one you will abuse. Although there isn’t anything else to the actual fighting that you have to know, most times a single move is enough to get you from one end of the stage to the next.

As you progress through the stage, you’ll find that there is a mysterious stranger that will either help you or hinder you depending on how well you’re doing. From time to time this masked man will throw you either a health item to bring you back to full strength or he will throw a bomb and hurt you severely. The extra points that you happen to gather to help your score are tallied on whether or not you captured the weapons of your fallen enemies. This is not a required mission or objective, it is still fun to watch your man throw the weapons into a huge garbage can while pulling them from someplace within his outfit, grinning the entire way doing it.

The difficulty of the game is set at such a low level that you really won’t find anything too difficult that you can’t handle. Something that does make the game play harder is when you’re surrounded by enemies and have to hit back and forth to get them all. If there was something that I could change about the way that the game played, it would be this simply based on the fact that it makes it a little annoying. Two lives is enough to get you through most of the game if not all the way to the end, so this is a title that is for the experts and beginners alike.

There isn’t much else to the game play aside from that and watching the timer on the screen above your health meter. Control is limited to a couple of moves such as a punch and kick as well as a combination press of both buttons to do a power move. These moves are pretty basic and seem to be something more of a comic afterthought rather than something that you take seriously. Something that you might want to watch out for is taking on enemies on either side of you because too many enemies on either side will spell instant doom for you if you’re not careful.

Visually, Bad Street Brawler isn’t a bad looking game and is fairly polished considering the age of the cart itself. You’ll find that the enemies are well thought out and drawn simply on the screen with nothing too flashy to distract you from your task at hand. All of the animations that you find here are done with enough action to them that it doesn’t feel overly forced in terms of weapons that are used and the reactions when you start pounding them. Some of the most hilarious points of the game come with some of the fighting moves which take some cues from the good old Three Stooges. Aside from that, it’s all very simple and linear with a straight line across the stage and no movement other than side to side.

The music of Bad Street Brawler is too light to really be taken seriously and you might find that your eyebrows raise just enough to be comical. Your man is fighting to something that could be considered Super Mario music and even that is enough to get a grin. Most of the sound effects that you’ll encounter are light thuds and crunches as you’re beating people down, but it’s pretty sparse in this aspect. All in all, the audio doesn’t do much but compliment the silliness that the game has to offer you and it does this in spades with the lighthearted music and the sparse effects tied into the comical combat system.

Bad Street Brawler is actually a pretty funny game if you can get into the silly attitude that it attempts to throw at you with the comical combat and the silly music selection. While I can’t find much wrong with this title on the surface, there are some things here that are missing such as depth in the overall fighting when going up against your enemies. Though this isn’t a bad game, it rates just above the average level based on the fact that you switch up the combat between stages for something new every time. Worth a look, collect it if you can and play through for an hour or two before putting it away for something a little more serious.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/03