The biggest take away that you can probably get from Spike Out is that it feels like Proto-Yakuza combat, and probably helped shape Yakuza / Like A Dragon series combat system. Aside from that though? You're really not going to get much out of this 3D arcade brawler aside from some wonky polygons, a bunch of munched quarters, and a mildly too long arcade run.

If you're a fan of beat'em ups, I think you will have a good time with Spike Out as it is an absolute delight to see in Infinite Wealth, but paying money for the actual game nowadays would probably be more painful both due to how it looks and how unfair it can be. Good for a run, but really not much more than that.

If I were reductive, I would say that Spike Out is a somehow more shallow version of the Tekken Force mode they throw in random Tekken games. If I'm not reductive, Spike Out is a relatively crunchy beat 'em up with great sound design, trying its best to figure out how to be a 3D beat 'em up in 1998. When you get the timing down to properly air juggle someone, it does feel pretty nice, and the fact that Spike carries a child on his back the entire time that Mega Kangaskhan's himself off of you to help with fighting is really quite fun. However, as the game lacks any sort of defensive utility, and the game's solution to difficulty is "throw a bunch of dudes at you in a 3D space where you can only effectively counter in one direction", the game boils down to less of any sort of skill and more a war of attrition. There is some delightful ham to be had here, and the part where I beat all of The Undertaker's acolytes, only for a giant heaven stage to open up and a fancy heaven man with a rapier said "welcome to Hell" despite clearly being in heaven was cool, but the title is ultimately coasting on its crunchy arcade feel more than anything. It lacks the nuance of something like Streets of Rage 2 or Final Fight wherein skill with positioning or defensive options open up a world of optimization, but it's a neat enough relic if you just like mashing out a satisfying-feeling six string that combos into a double hit launcher.

When I start a new Yakuza game, seeing what's available at the arcade is always a top priority, and this game is easily the best surprise I've found in one.

Spike Out is a great feeling 3d brawler, and was directed and produced by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the general director of RGG and one of the main directors of the Kiryu era Yakuza games. There are three attack buttons, and every string variation and button combination leads to a unique move or set of moves. (In the Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth version, some trigger buttons are mapped to the button combinations, so you can trigger one of those moves without having to input the combination, which itself is somewhat novel.) On top of that, holding one of the buttons during a combo sequence will let off a special move that often stuns enemies, and there are four different special moves depending on how long the charge is held. Finally there are special moves which can be triggered with a button combination, but you can only fire it off if you've picked up a special power up, which you can hold up to four of at once, and I don't think anymore drop from enemies once you're holding four. Enemies also drop health, but it doesn't give much back and they're also rare. There are four playable characters, and each one has an individual and unique moveset, though some are more different than others. The combat genuinely feels great, and I found myself rushing to the next encounter to try out different combos, which suited the clock ticking down rhythm of an arcade brawler very well.

The main character, Spike, spawns with his child holding onto his back, who flies off when you get hit or use one of your special moves. When the child is on the ground, he mimics your moves in a child like manner, which is a really charming touch. The mechanic of the kid flying off reminded me of the "kick me sign" in God Hand--in that game, the main character gets a "kick me sign" slapped on his back in an early stage, and it will fly off when you activate that character's special mode or use one of the special moves, but you can play through the entire game without using those moves, and if you do you're rewarded with music tracks you can play at an in-game jukebox.

While playing Spike Out, I thought, there could surely be a similar challenge run where you never lose the kid on your back, but that seems impossible. Despite the huge variety of combat moves you can use, there are zero defensive moves. You can't block and you can't dodge--you will just get your ass caught in enemy combos and grapples and there's nothing you can do about it. This is where the games arcade origins feels the worst--after the first two stages, enemies do so much damage and come in such quantity that you're doomed to credit feed your way through the game. The game is also absurdly long for an arcade game, about an hour and a half to see every stage. It might be a lot more tolerable in co op, which is the intended experience--the original arcade cabinets could link up so four players could play at individual machines. I got bored and frustrated at the start of the third stage and tapped out, and probably won't ever complete the game. Still, it's a great feeling brawler when the odds aren't completely turned against the player, and absolutely worth piloting Ichiban over to a GIGO to check out.

Spikeout is not only the rare early 3D beat em up that actually feels good to control, but it also has a very innovative combo system where you can build up a combo with different moves instead of relying in two predetermined kick and punch combo strings. The game also shows off Sega's technical mastery over the model 3 hardware, being a really good looking game with support for up to 4 players in connected cabinets.
I do think it's way too fucking long though, no arcade beat em up should be over an hour and a half long.

Oque e dark souls perto de spike out né cara, pensa em um jogo dificil pra um caralho e essa poha foi feita de proposito eu tenho certeza ja que era jogo de arcade entao ja viu, bem tirando esse fator vamos falar do jogo em si, bem os graficos sao bem bonitos ao meu ver, pra epoca de 1998 isso ja era um avanço muito top, as musicas do jogo sao boas e voce ate fica animado em certas partes usando ela como motivação pra elevar seu astral e ficar ainda mais focado em espancar os cabra veia que vem te matar, os desing de cenarios eu achei todos muito lindos principalmente a do shopping que foi meu cenario favorito, o foda e que nao dava pra ver muita coisa dos cenarios sem se esforçar ja que a camera ela e meio que fixa e se ajeita conforme sua posição, agora vamos falar da gameplay que e ate que rasoavel porque ao mesmo tempo que voce se diverte voce fica puto, e um monte de caras vindo te descer o cacete e voce nao pode esquivar e nem bloquear o jogo e literalmente matar ou dar dinheiro (ja que e jogo de arcade) e tipo assim se os inimigos ja são chatos imagine os chefes que por sinal os chefes desse jogo na minha opnião sao muito ams muito bons serio, eles sao muito dificeis mais pra mim cada um e unico e muito bem feito, por fim vamos falar dos personagens jogaveis que são 4 ao todo e a grande maioria nao muda muita a gameplay no maximo o tempo de socos que voce vai dar no inimigo, eu joguei de linda e pra mim ela foi a melhor e a que mais se saiu bem durante todo o jogo

Nota: 8

Just raw arcade beat em’ up combat with punches and kicks, in a way that a PS5 controller can just barely do justice to. Cool ideas and passion can go a long way, even if devoid of depth. A game can be fun enough that it compensates its shallowness, and that is why even though I just stumbled upon this while running an errand in Infinite Wealth I couldn’t stop until I rolled credits.

And yeah, I beat this through a Yakuza game. Through another game. As Kiryu. Videogames sure have come a long way, huh

Playing this directly after spending an hour on homework after I got back home from watching a 3 hour and 26 minute movie (and also drank 74 grams of sugars worth of soda) was NOT fun dude.

I LOVE the character designs in this and the graphics are really charming. I love the models and whatever but this has to be one of the most frustrating arcade games I've ever played... it's just not fun. My favorite thing about this game though is when you lose full health as Spike, his son? or brother? detaches from Spike's back and hops off and starts mimicking his punches and stuff-- it's just so cute. The OST honestly is pretty mid in this except for the first stage in the Opera thingy or whatever. I literally couldn't take it anymore after the 4th level I just couldn't put up with the boring beat em up move sets and fighting the ten trillionth boss that would kick my ass 3 rounds in a row. Maybe I'm just bad at this game who knows...

Classic example of an arcade game that's designed to drain your money. Your moveset is actually pretty fun to use and has some stuff going for it. Plenty of combos, juggling, special attacks, charge attacks, grabs, multiple characters that play differently ... That part is great. However there aren't really any defensive options to speak off.

There is no real dodge move and you can't block attacks, so when an enemy spontaneously decides to become invicible in the middle of your combo you can't really do much about it. Add hordes of enemies in the middle of tough boss fights and you got a combat system you're bound to die a lot in.

Infinite continues make this pretty much a non-issue, but it's still not really fun to get your ass beaten and just occasionally get a few hits in or spamming your special attacks.

Also the walking animation of the female character is just ridiculous.