The retro “Beat ‘Em Up” genre has been having a real resurgence lately, thanks to games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Scott Pilgrim EX — with modern depth melding well with throwback gameplay mechanics and vivid settings. The latest entry in the genre, RUSHING BEAT X: Return of Brawl Brothers, seeks to carry on that tradition by connecting to the history of the action-sub genre.
Jaleco’s Rushing Beat trilogy of games for the Super Nintendo was a great cult classic of that era, landing with a satisfying crunch and just enough weird touches to stand out. 23 years after the last game in the series, Rushing Beat X: Return Of Brawl Brothers, brings the characters kicking and screaming into the modern day. The result is a game that feels like just the right amount of cheesy action and mechanical depth. While the slower pace and uneven difficulty curve cause a few stumbles, Rushing Beat X benefits from a solid retro charm.
Review Score: 3/5
Are You A Bad Enough Dude To Save Neo-Cisco?
For new fans and retro ones alike, RUSHING BEAT X: Return of Brawl Brothers is a solid return for a cult classic series. Quickly running players through the broad strokes of the previous storylines, players are reintroduced to Rick Norton and Douglas Bild, a pair of former cops who have brought down the gangs that once threatened the city of Neo-Cisco and once again find themselves dealing with hordes of enemies. The game brings back those heroes, along with introducing some new faces, like Kahlua. While the brawlers of this era always had an odd touch, there’s an embrace of the absurdity that gives Brawl Brothers a bit of extra spirit. Players are just as likely to confront gangsters as they are to run into commandos, zombies, and mind-controlled fighters.
Quickly running players through the broad strokes of the previous storylines, players are quickly reintroduced to Rick Norton and Douglas Bild, a pair of former cops who have brought down the gangs that once threatened the city of Neo-Cisco and once again find themselves dealing with hordes of enemies. The game brings back those heroes along with introducing some new faces, like Kahlua. While the brawlers of this era always had an odd touch, there’s an embrace of the absurdity that gives Brawl Brothers a bit of extra spirit. Players are just as likely to confront gangsters as they are to run into commandos, robots, zombies, and mind-controlled fighters. It’s all played with a blunt but playful tone that is just self-aware enough to be funny without veering too far into the comedy.
Take the Zeekus Festival level, where the characters are set to confront their foes — only to see one of the recurring bosses holding a Thriller-inspired dance routine with her zombie soldiers and decide not to interrupt. It’s that same kind of brightly colored but emotionally authentic absurdity that elevates Capcom and SNK fighters like Street Fighter and Fatal Fury, and the modern graphics do a great job of bringing the characters into the present day. While the static nature of the visuals can be a bit hard to fully lighten up and the graphics can feel like they stutter at times, the world is quickly engaging in a classic beat ’em up style.
Deep Combat Suffers From An Approach That Stumbles
The combat in Rushing Beat X is a throwback to that older era, with multiple characters adding minor flourishes and touches to a single underlying combat style. Two players at a time can roam Neo-Cisco and deploy a series of punches, kicks, and counters to any of the enemies they encounter. The combat system has a solid amount of depth, with different approaches to combos providing players with plenty of ways to bring a little bit of their own style to the combat. Items strewn around the map (or available to purchase from food trucks) are useful wildcards, with stuff like a machine gun adding a bit of wild chance to the battles. The combat does have a few problems, though.
The overall pacing of the game is fairly slow compared to other modern beat ’em ups, which will leave players more accustomed to that style frustrated. Similarly, the very specific hit boxes can be difficult to compensate for with the stages where players can approach from multiple angles, creating some frustrating turns. These all factor into the game’s inconsistent difficulty curve, where straightforward and simple levels can give way to deceptively tricky boss battles or overwhelming hordes. The internal combat system is rewarding enough that landing a flawless combo, throwing an enemy over the side of the stage, or decimating a horde with a well-placed piledriver feels naturally rewarding. However, there are enough minor stumbles along the way to be distracting.
Rushing Beat Has Enough Charm To Make Up For Some Internal Flaws
One of the things that has elevated recent beat ’em up games like Scott Pilgrim EX has been a blend of retro gameplay with modern depth, all elevated by crisp visuals and engaging worldbuilding. Rushing Beat X looks to update the old series with that modern touch, and for the most part, it works. The game is overflowing with personality, feeling familiar to the most famous entries in the genre while retaining enough odd touches to feel entirely unique.
The underlying combo-heavy combat has enough of a crunch to give it all weight, even as the pacing and mechanics sometimes can’t live up to the potential. While the story mode is a fairly tight action game with a short run time, the various playable characters available provide enough extra edges to make replays fun. While lacking the pace of more successful modern beat ’em ups, Rushing Beat X has more than enough internal depth and external charm to be great for fans of the 90s era — and side-scrolling action games in general.
A PS5 code for Rushing Beat X: Return Of Brawl Brothers was provided to Comicbook.com for the purposes of this review
