Game:

64th Street: A Detective Story (1991)

Duration: 2:15:12

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00:00 Starting Soon ("Noir" by Aaron Hodges-Boyle)
04:02 Beginning
07:00 64th Street: A Detective Story (1991; Arcade; Jaleco)
1:05:10 Ashita no Joe Densetsu (1991; Arcade; Wave Corp.)
1:26:30 Blade Master (1991; Arcade; Irem)

The only 1990 beat 'em ups we haven't played now are handheld games, and we're planning a dedicated episode for those, so it's on to 1991 with more arcade beat 'em ups!

Jaleco has surprised us twice with games that have much more personality than their well-known trilogy of dull SNES beat 'em ups, but this week is their biggest surprise yet: apparently *64th Street: A Detective Story* is a prelude to that trilogy, and yet it's by far their best game yet! The fighting is simple but effective, the music is terrific, and the whole production is lively from start to finish. This is around when I started questioning the wisdom of our three-tier classification system, because this would be 2nd-tier in a five-tier system, but Greg sells me on the top rank. Verdict: BOSS Tier!

Then, we check out another NeoGeo game, this time developed by Wave Corp. *Ashita no Joe Densetsu* is based on an iconic boxing manga, and it turns out that the game has a lot more in common with boxing video games than beat 'em ups, even in the short segments where Joe walks down streets and alleys delivering knockout blows to entire gangs of opponents. This is a neat game that I'd like to play more of, but it doesn't quite fit the bill for our understanding of the genre. Verdict: NOT A BEAT 'EM UP!

Finally, it's time for the first Irem entry into the genre that they helped inspire with *Kung Fu Master*: *Blade Master*! This game, like Tecmo's *Wild Fang/Tecmo Knight* before it, is an unabashed *Golden Axe* ripoff, and like *Wild Fang/Tecmo Knight*, it pours all of its energy into cool enemy designs and copious gore, with almost no attention paid to giving any depth to the gameplay. At one point, I refill my drink with one hand while continuing to just mash the single attack button, with no noticeable effect on my performance! Another case where five tiers would be helpful: the spectacle saves this from the Goon tier, but it's at the very, very bottom of the pack we assigned it to. Verdict: MID TIER.

Next week, we're still in the arcades with *Cycle Warriors* (Tatsumi Electronics) and *D.D. Crew* (Sega)!

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Greg and James Beat 'Em Up is our ongoing exploration of the beat 'em up genre! Broadcast on any Tuesday evening where schedules and Greg's health allow at https://twitch.tv/58DreamStreet

In Phase One, we played 40 "notable or notable-adjacent" beat 'em ups released through the year 1993!

Now, in Phase Two, we're playing the NINETY-EIGHT other beat 'em ups released through the year 1993!

Intro Song: "Noir" by Aaron Hodges-Boyle. Aaron's got a wide catalog of "video game music to study or fall asleep to" over on his Bandcamp page: https://aaronhodges-boyle.bandcamp.com!

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