Influential Beat-Em-Ups

My three favorite beat-em-ups of all time are Aliens Vs Predator by Capcom, Devil May Cry 4 by Capcom, and Bayonetta by Platinum Games. They all did a handful of wonderful things that I have every intention of piping into the Aztez experience.

Aliens Vs. Predator is a 1994 arcade game built on Capcom's seminal CPS2 hardware. It is a sidescrolling 2d game with movement on the z axis. It gave you four characters with distinct attacks and abilities: the two Predators had their signature shoulder cannons and spear-like weapons and the two human characters had guns and used their hands and feet to fight. AVP was really great because it enforced upon the player a really satisfying mix up. Naturally, you're going to spend a lot of your time mashing on the weapon attack buttons but you could very easily interrupt your close combat madness with ranged attacks and then jump right back into the melee.  It was all about crowd control. No one enemy was particularly powerful, and it was your responsibility to keep the masses away from you (and whatever friends you might be playing with) at all times. The best part of AVP were its secret techniques (secret in that they weren't exposed on the cabinet's instructional artwork and therefore you had to discover them on your own) that you could utilize if you so desired. None of them were especially difficult to perform, which made the skill ceiling deceptively low.

Devil May Cry 4 was made in 2008 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. My favorite of the three games on this list, DMC4 introduced the much-loathed character Nero (which I find utterly ridiculous...I'm fairly certain the negative response to the character is simply a manifestation of people's tendency to be conservative for conservative's sake). Nero's toolset is astounding. There are no positions in space in which he is not effective and there is no spatial configuration of enemies he cannot manage. He possesses different tiers of abilities which all explore different facets of the classic trademark - difficulty for power. Furthermore, there are two systems the game provides the player with that enhances the fundamental combat with extra bang, and amazingly the two systems stack! Doing this feels awesome and it looks fantastic to boot. Unfortunately, one of these systems is INCREDIBLY difficult to employ and only the most committed players will get to experience the magnificence of high level DMC4 combat. For completely understandable reasons, most players do not have access to the true greatness of the game.

Bayonetta was made in 2009 for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. As much as I love the aesthetics of the game experience, what's really remarkable about Bayonetta is just how smooth and amazing every single hit in every single combo feels. Attacks comes out fast, they hit hard, they look great, and every transition is masterfully animated and smoothly connects all combos together into a river of violent, hot, satisfying butter. The single best thing Bayonetta did is bring the power down into the hands of the lower level players by infusing all of the fundamental attacks with super exciting visual elements. While the skill ceiling is not quite as high as DMC4's, it's still pretty high up there (as of this writing the game has only been out for little over a month, and much of the combat is still undiscovered and unexploited). Yet despite this, most players are going to feel extremely powerful regardless of whether or not they actually experienced the higher level combat. The icing on the cake is the fact that the toolset in Bayonetta is the most robust of any beat-em-up to date. There are so many ways to express yourself across so many different weapons and so many different abilities that you can't possible see it all in a single play session. Creativity is the key here, but only if you choose; you can very easily get through the game mashing on one of the attack buttons with one single weapon, provided you know how to dodge.

What I want to do with the Aztez is put an amazing combat system into the hands of the players that distills the most impactful but also the most accessible attributes of these games' different combat systems:

• Very robust set of mechanics that provide a fun mix-up of melee and distance combat. No mechanic unlockables! It will all be available in its entirety from the start.
• Incredible sensation of power with concentrated visual charm. Will push the very limits of combat effects.
• Crowds of fun and simple enemies to control. Easy, free flowing mass destruction will provide a distinct sense of dominance.
• A high skill ceiling for those who are interested, but with very satisfying combat extant at the lower levels.
• Lots of fun quirks and weird mechanics to discover. Lots of strange loopholes to exploit and rules to break.
• Fun and accessible secondary systems in place to enhance the combat and expand the creative landscape.

I can tell you right now that the danger I am faced with is making it too inaccessible the way DMC4 is - simply by being the kind of gamer/designer I am; I'm just such a huge fan of high skill ceilings. But I realize it's a very solitary existence and I don't want to cultivate that kind of elitism.  I believe there is a very delicate relationship between advanced technique and overall mechanic-friendliness and I'm tasking myself with finding the middle ground so that EVERYONE can feel awesome playing our game.