Next up in our series of incredible games you’ve probably never heard of is Violent Storm from Konami (1991). To see the game in action, check out this clip of Stage 1 and 2 on Youtube:

Konami and Capcom were kings of the beat ‘em ups in the 1980s and 1990s.  Capcom released Final Fight in Japan in 1989, the same year Konami released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  This launched a beat ‘em up rivalry in the arcades and home systems that would persist through the mid to late 90s for both developers.  Capcom would go onto develop Captain Commando and Dungeons and Dragons:  Shadows over Mystara (considered by most fans as the best beat ‘em up of all time), while Konami developed wildly popular beat ‘em up adaptations of other popular licenses such as The Simpsons and The X-Men (the only double cabinet arcade game that I am aware of).  In 1991, Konami also released a beat ‘em up based on their own intellectual property called Violent Storm.

As you can see from this screenshot, Violent Storm looks a lot like Final Fight, but that’s intentional.  This game is somewhat of an homage and a parody simultaneously.  It is meant to poke fun at the tropes of the genre (kidnapped girlfriends, enemies with goofy names, crazy wardrobes, weird music, bizarre foods eaten for health, ridiculous objects used as weapons, etc.), but it’s still packaged in a very good game.

It doesn’t take a long time to play through, but that’s intentional.  This was released as an arcade game, and arcade games are meant to be played in one sitting.  If that means a forty-five minute to an hour long diversion that costs about $5 but is intensely entertaining, that’s money well spent, in my opinion.  Plus, it is good business for the developer because it gets players to make a small investment, play for a short time, and make room for the next players.

This is also the reason why Violent Storm is very difficult at times.  Especially with two players, enemies are always coming at you.  You never run out of enemies to fight, and even though there are plenty of bad guys who are just “roundhouse fodder”, in terms Chuck Norris would understand, some put up quite a fight, and this game sucks plenty of quarters.  Luckily, there are plenty of weapons laying around, though not the variety I’d like.  You can use knives, lead pipes, giant flower pots (to crush the bad guys with), and iron barrels.  It’s all very cliche, but of course it’s supposed to be.

This is the woman you need to rescue.  As you can see, she is a woman worth fighting for…worth killing for.  I won’t tell you who she ends up with, but the final scene packs a pretty funny punch.  The fighters themselves from right to left are Kyle, a rip-off of Guy with a hilarious special move, Wade, an Aryan-looking fighter with blond hair and blue eyes the Fuhrer would’ve loved, and Boris, the token black guy who wears spiked suspenders.  You can play three players at a time, all of them using a basic attack, a jump, a jumping attack, or a special move that hits multiple enemies but drains a small amount of health.  Just a general tip for this game and other beat ‘em ups:  if you are surrounded, use your special move because it actually saves a lot of health in the long run by keeping you from getting beat up.  Some games even let you use your special move continuously if you are extremely low on health.  Unfortunately, this game isn’t one of them.

This game can only be played on MAME unless you are one of the lucky few who have this game in a local arcade.  Don’t let that stop you, but if you know where one of these machines exists, leave a comment.  Give Violent Storm a chance, especially if you are looking for game to help you get your beat ‘em up fix.