The Beat Up #32 - Riot Zone (Super CD) intro & Hawk play-through - Normal
3Playing through Riot Zone as Hawk on a PC Engine Duo-R, at Normal difficulty.
First there's the semi-animated intro with full CD soundtrack : D (although it wouldn't have hurt if the story sequence had played out a bit faster). Gameplay starts around 3:07 .
The game has just one attack button, the other button being Jump. (I like Jump. : P) But even with just one attack button, it doesn't seem restricted as far as attacking goes, somehow--I suppose it helps that the basic combo and the jump kick are both really well executed.
One attack I didn't even use here is the typical arcade beat 'em up "mash the buttons to do a big super attack that hits everyone and hurts you a little" thing that you can do either by pressing Attack and Jump together, or by hitting I think it was the PCE's Run button. But it flashes the whole screen bright white a few times which my eyes are not cool with. : P
The game's difficulty curve, at least from what I saw in this play-through, is a bit wonky. Aside from maybe the first area's boss battle ( 11: 12 ), which actually evolves into a double boss battle in a pretty cool way, the game is way too easy, and the thugs you run into through the levels pose almost no threat, to the point where midway through I was almost falling asleep. Fortunately, things start to pick up, and the fifth stage ( 41:53 ), except that the final boss sequence ( 53:10 ) is way too easy, has a nice bit of challenge to it, with a constant mix of enemy types--it kind of feels like earlier in the game you were just getting separate, incomplete pieces, but in the final stage they do at least come together in a pretty satisfying way.
(The Japanese release of Riot Zone was named "Crest of Wolf"--which I also have; when I bought them in 2004, I didn't realize they were the same game! ; )
Recording: RetroFools RGB-modded PC Engine Duo-R, OSSC, Framemeister, Elgato HD60