| Crime Fighters (arcade) | |
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Company:
Konami Genre: Beat 'em up Released: USA: 1989 |
from the arcade introMission , released in 1989 many months before the wildly popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, Crime Fighters set the template for Konami's unique brand of beat 'em up, both in mechanics and tone. In a December 2023 interview with Time Extension, Masaaki Kukino said: : Yes, though it is not a licensed game, of course. I wanted to create a fun "beat 'em up" that four people could play together, with realistic battles that emphasized enemy characters' unique characteristics (like kicking defeated enemies, or finishing them off with a gun, etc.). It eventually became the basis for TMNT, X-Men, and The Simpsons that came after it.BTW: that whole Time Extension interview is a great read, especially if you're looking for info about Konami's arcdade heyday. Instead of slavishly copying Technos' smash hit Double Dragon to start their arcade beat 'em up formula, the game's creators crafted what could be called a more "context-based" fighting engine where the timing of certain control presses and combinations determines how the player attacks and not control presses alone. This game also features the unique sense of humor seen in Konami's later four-player side-scrollers, making them feel like something out of a Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes short. Sometimes you'll see an advertisement in a printed background move by itself, characters are crushed and temporarily shortened by falling objects or flattened by opening doors. This game has some nice movie tributes scattered through its bosses. The second boss wears a hockey mask and carrys an axe, the fourth boss is a lumbering wild-haired masked maniac with a chainsaw and the fifth boss is a creepy guy with a red sweater and a glove with claws on it. The military brawler boss from stage 7 drops to his knees and strikes the then-famous death pose from the movie Platoon.  This game is filled with interesting advertisements, including a few animated ones, but it's easy to overlook what might be one of the most important in the whole game. This sign is in the stage 1 subways and seems to be an advertisement featuring the game's final boss. Check out the "Mission" screenshot in the gallery to see another closeup that matches this ad and the boss' sprites. This seems to be a newspaper or magazine ad that labels him as Mr. Lee. This hints towards the idea that he isn't really known as a criminal to the world at large. It's possible that he uses his legitimate businesses as a front for his illegal operations, much like Marvel's Kingpin (a.k.a. "The humble seller of spices.").The street sign in stage three shows that the entire stage takes place on Trois street. | |
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Sprites - Sprites Custom Sprites - Crime Fighters gallery Logos - Logo Mini Logos - Crime Fighters mini-logo in Konami section |
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