OK, so a few posts back I managed to combine my two favourite genres into a short list. Martial Arts horror movies. Now I’ve managed to combine my 3 favourite things. Martial arts horror games. So here are 5 awesome Martial Arts horror games that are definitely worth a play if you like, martial art-horror and ehhh, games.
Dark Stalkers – All formats
Maybe not quite as popular as the Street Fighter or Tekken series and since we never got a Street Fighter crossover with Dark stalkers, there was a comic though and some of the more popular characters did make some appearances in other games. It seems to have disappeared off the scene but was immensely popular in its heyday and rightly so. Basically, a street fighter type beat-em-up but gothic horror themed with most of your favourite universal monsters as playable characters. So, you can have a 5000-year-old Egyptian Mummy facing off against a Succubus or a Werewolf against a Yeti/Bigfoot with crazy special moves to match. Still a great game.
Onimusha – PS2
Another game that way past due for a sequel or remake. Onimusha was basically The Way of the Samurai if you ever played that meets Resident Evil. Developed by survival horror masters Capcom naturally it features puzzle solving combined with 3rd person combat in ancient Japan where you battle supernatural enemies such as demons and monsters. Each game had a different protagonist but each was a skilled samurai. If you liked Resident Evil you’ll like this.
Night Slashers – Arcade
Well what can I say about Night Slashers, it’s basically your classic coin-op beat-em-up with zombies and other monsters so basically Final Fight with monsters. If you’ve never heard of it you’re not alone, not many people have. It’s a criminally underrated gem, one of the best arcades beat-em-ups I’ve played and deserve to feature in any top ten list. Can be fairly graphic with limbless zombies coming at you that dissolve into a mess when defeated all in glorious sprite animation much like Splatter House. Can be easily Googled and downloaded for Mame. Do it.
Altered Beast PS2
Not majorly a martial arts game as such since you spend most of your times as a monster but when your human you have some pretty cool moves. It’s basically a remake of the original with a new story and setting. The short cutscene movies of when you transform are really awesome. Not everyone loved this game and it received some hate but hey it features a martial arts guy that turns into a Werewolf and tears enemies to shreds so I’m in.
Zombie Revenge Arcade and Dreamcast
One of my favourite Dreamcast games. It was kind of a spin-off from The House of the Dead but transformed into Die Hard Arcade. It features 3 playable characters each with different moves all task with ridding the city of zombies. Originally titled Blood Bullet: The House of the Dead Side Story, the game was later renamed Zombies Nightmare before Sega decided on the name Zombie Revenge.
I mean have you ever just wanted to punch a zombie in the head or do a wrestling move on one? well, this is your game for that. Obviously, like House of the dead, it has stupidly sized bosses. Anyone thats played Die Hard Arcade or Dynamite Cop knows what to expect just with undead coming at you instead. Definitely worth a play if you have a Dreamcast of a reasonable PC that can emulate one.
