Violent Storm (1993 Arcade Review)

I don’t want Indie Gamer Chick to end up as a mostly-brawling-review site, but I’ll be damned if it hasn’t become the dominant genre here. There’s a logical reason for this: whenever I play one brawler, I’ll get several recommendations for other brawlers from various people. It’s like Gremlins, only you don’t need water to multiply it. And brawlers, despite the sameness of them, lend themselves well to my review style. They go quick and it’s easy to figure out where they go right or wrong. Plus, a lot of them have fallen off the face of the Earth, and I’m big on the whole “rescue a game from obscurity” thing. So, here’s a fighter that turns 30 this month and hasn’t gotten a home release.. ever.

If I had been asked who developed this, I’d of guessed Capcom. Instead, this is a Konami game, and it feels like it’s a game with contempt for Final Fight. As in a direct clapback at Final Fight. It has a “shots fired” vibe to it.

Today’s review of a classic “lost” fisticuffs simulator isn’t even a licensed game. Violent Storm is one of Konami’s last tradition beat-em-ups and seems to be heavily inspired by the anime Fist of the North Star. And by “inspired” I mean “holy crap this IS just Fist of the North Star with the serial number filed off.” Both take place in a post-nuclear war apocalyptic wasteland that’s represented by everybody looking like a cross between a patrons of a meth lab and extras from Deliverance. It’s also a direct satire of Final Fight, and by that, I mean it is nearly beat-for-beat Final Fight. It even mimics the same set pieces.

In fact, it’s kind of shameless about it. One of the early bosses is fighting a wrestler in a ring, only there’s a cage around it this time. Other set-pieces are close, and even last level looks a LOT like the last level from Final Fight, only if a riot had taken place inside it before the characters show up. It’s a very direct satire of Capcom’s beat-em-ups. Only, it has a LOT more personality than Final Fight. Then again, chicken pox have more personality than Final Fight.

I’m not the biggest fan of Final Fight. I should be, logically. For a brawler, I cherish the violence feeling like it has real world weight and momentum to it. Final Fight nails that. Yet, I just find the whole thing boring to the point of exhaustion. I’m now 100% convinced this must have been a result of the lack of personality in Final Fight. Violent Storm has the same two-button combat, but here, it feels so much more fluid and fast-paced. Final Fight has a sloginess to it that isn’t present here. Violent Storm cuts a blistering pace, especially if you play co-op. It also loads the scenery down with sight gags and LOL moments. If you see a guy sleeping on a park bench, you can beat him up. See a guy standing on the edge of a dock? You can knock him in the water. A guy sitting on the edge of a door to a train? Throw his ass out. It’s all really comical and over-the-top, but it also made these generic levels a blast.

As a co-op experience, it took Angela and me 25 minutes to finish Violent Storm, and that 25 minutes INCLUDES the time it took for us to figure out how to get the dogs to stop fighting. You see, in the middle of us playing Violent Storm, Laika, my seizure response dog, and Fireball, Angela’s bestie and constant companion, hopped up onto the couch and started fighting. On us. “Look, I don’t like doing this anymore than you do, Fireball, but apparently, this is what the upright walkers are into.” “Agreed. We’ve been going at this all wrong. We’ve been sitting down and rolling over to get treats, when really, it appears they just really like violence.” “Well, old friend, whatever it takes for them to give us a treat. Where shall this fight take place?” “Let’s just get onto the couch with them and have a scuff-up. Why not? It’s not like it’ll completely interrupt what they’re doing.”

Now, in fairness, not all is well with Violent Storm. Some of the enemies have a tendency to linger outside the screen, and luring them to the center is annoying. It’s nowhere near as constant as Ninja Turtles on the Genesis, but when it happens in Violent Storm, it’s even more annoying because it completely halts the otherwise non-stop action. There’s also only three characters, much like Final Fight. While each of the characters feels unique compared to each-other, really? Three? That’s it? You couldn’t have programmed just one more? When we finished our co-op round, the non-gamer Angela, who just beat Alien vs. Predator with me a couple days ago, said “this feels low budget, even for the era.” She’s right. Violent Storm feels like a game thrown together REALLY quick to fill a release schedule out, where people gathered around work stations, cackling and saying “yea, put THAT in, too!”

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To the Violent Storm’s credit, each of the three fighters is fun to play and MOST of the enemies are fun to do battle with. Only the last boss, who spits puddles of acid that linger on the playfield, crossed the line into frustration. Your typical arcade “final quarter shakedown” last boss. The combat is also a little more thoughtful than Final Fight. For example: an enemy knocked down might start to kick at you if you get too close as they get up. To balance this out, you can also attack enemies while they’re down (this was the toughest move to pull off consistently). It makes it feel a little more authentically fight-like, you know? If someone kidnapped a person’s girlfriend and then sent hundreds of minions to stop them from getting her back, I can’t imagine the heroes would be so heroic that they wouldn’t cave someone’s head in with a stomp after taking them down to the ground. Heavier enemies are also harder to throw. They trigger button-mashing moments and will splatter you on the pavement for extra damage if you don’t do it right. While Violent Storm is always satirical, there’s also this underlying authenticity that makes it delightful. Meanwhile, the game is loaded with tons of visual gags and comical items to pick up. The first boss wears a pillow case over their head, and when you knock it off them, you can pick up the pillow case for points. Come on, that’s hilarious!

AAAAHHHHHH WHAT A RUSH!!

I’d probably feel different about Violent Storm if it wasn’t such a quick game. While the constant comedic bits in the background were delightful, there’s nothing in the actual gameplay that breaks up the monotony except the very rare environmental hazard. One level has smelting molds that will burn both you and enemies badly if you touch the molten steel. Another area has a hydraulic press that instakills enemies by flattening them into comical pancakes, a visual that looks like it was meant for a more shell-oriented game if you catch my drift. But, otherwise, what you see is what you get. At the same time, this really did stretch the combat potential of two-button beat-em-up design to the absolute limits, and gives you just enough moves with just enough gameplay to not get boring. Honestly, if I were to introduce a newcomer to this genre, I might pick this as the entry point game. It’s a cinch to learn all the moves and it’s a damn good time while it lasts. It’s the perfect arcade punch-em-up. Yea. No joke. Really. Good job.

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If Konami ever gets off their asses and puts out Violent Storm as part of an arcade compilation, it’s certainly good enough to be more than just a simple +1 to a collection. Hell, it could conceivably be a highlight to such a set. I still think AvP is the superior arcade brawler, but Violent Storm was good enough for me to have to think about it. Quite a lot, actually. I beat this three times in a row this morning. Twice solo, once co-op. And I never got bored! Three sessions in a row! What? That never happens with me. I figured, going off the name, this was going to be some kind of brutally violent take on the brawler, but actually, there’s no gore and the whole thing is so cartoonish that it can’t be taken seriously. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Violent Storm shouldn’t have gotten snubbed for a home release for three full decades now. How do we live in a world where Nintendo has re-released their 1983 Baseball on every platform since the Gamecube, but a game like Violent Storm can’t even get a slot on a classic collection even thirty years later? It doesn’t even have a license holding it back. A hurdle that didn’t stop them from re-releasing Ninja Turtles, come to think of it. Come on, Konami! Do you just not want our money?

Violent Storm is Chick-Approved.

Violent Storm was developed by Konami