Despite boasting some awesome ideas, fickle enemy behavior and an overly sensitive dash mechanic keep Denjin Makai from being as fun to master as it is to fool around in.

As I'm currently working on finishing Final Fight, I've come to discover the innate desire all humans have to throw dudes into other dudes. It's a simple pleasure, and one that beatemups have a unique opportunity to capitalize on. Denjin Makai, like Final Fight before it, largely succeeds in giving the player a grapple/throw that feels far-reaching and powerful.

Where DM stands out from Final Fight clones is its huge pool of moves to enjoy. By holding attack while inputting directions or pressing atk+jump in certain contexts, you can access a stupidly huge amount of special moves. It's worth checking out Denjin Makai if you just want to see all the crazy moves, but I don't know if I'd recommend mastering the game with limited credits.

The issue here is that DM has an extremely sensitive dash mechanic. This might just be my worn-out D-pad, but even after testing dashes on other games, I found that I frequently initiated a dash in DM when I didn't want to. I think the game registers a dash anytime you alternate directions 3 times, which doesn't feel intuitive at all. Pair this control issue with huge hordes of enemies that feel a little too unpredictable in their behaviors, and the game just ended up wearing on me once I got to Stage 5 with the 6 credits I limited myself to.

Still, I've got to give credit where it's due. Denjin Makai provided a decently fun arcade beatemup with tons of spectacular enemies, attacks, and backgrounds to gawk at before I groaned at another failed attempt to see it to the end.

Golden Axe may seem a bit clunky at first, but learning its quirks will reveal a fun and breezy beatemup with an engaging, exceptionally gritty atmosphere.

Despite its status as a landmark Sega title, I really think that Golden Axe will turn off a majority of players who pick it up for the first time in 2024. There's just a little too much friction here between the archaic mechanics and the sensibilities of modern game design. GA's color palette is washed out, hit detection can feel awkward, and the game often rewards spammy attacks and the exploitation of dumb AI.

Yet, it's these awkward features that sort of make GA stand out to me. The muted colors add a sense of grittiness to the world, complimented by the agonizing screams and the way corpses just lay there after they've been dealt with. The lack of crowd-control mechanics, while a negative in any other game, adds a genuine feeling of helplessness in GA. This leads to an interesting meta where you often have to awkwardly walk past enemies to avoid them, rather than simply shoving them away. Even more interesting is the mechanic where enemies will bum-rush you if you push them too far away. This is a rare beatemup where distancing yourself from enemies too well is a bad idea.

Despite being quite easy to beat with just 2 credits, the eccentricities of GA make every battle feel like an awkward, brutal struggle against enemies that are as flimsy as you are. This isn't a game that makes you feel like a badass...it's a game that takes you on a journey through an uncaring, Conan-like world where your best tactic is to stay cautious and fight dirty. Open yourself up to the clumsiness of Golden Axe, and you may just be rewarded with an arcade experience that's equal parts delightful and dangerous. My only complaint is that there isn't enough depth to keep me coming back, even though what's here is fantastic.