Insector X hit the arcades in 1989. The game is a standard horizontally scrolling shooter featuring an all insect theme. It features all the standard weapon and speed power-ups to be collected from defeated enemies. You play through each level until you fight a boss. The all insect theme is quite cool. The arcade version features large and detailed enemies with an overall cartoonish and cute design. The game was ported to the SEGA Genesis by Sage's Creation where it received somewhat of a graphic reworking. The player and enemy sprites were altered to feature a more serious and less cartoonish quality. I owned the Genesis game never having played the arcade original and was more than a little surprised to find the cute graphic style.
The final game for the year 1989 is Violence Fight. The game is a one-on-one fighter. You're able to move in eight directions in that it controls more like Final Fight than Street Fighter. You have a button for jump, punch, and kick. Combinations of buttons will result in special moves. You have to win two of three rounds to advance to the next fighter. You'll find a bonus round after every few fighters. You're able to select from four different fighters with different ratings and special moves. The game is simplistic with some sluggish control. The game also features some of the worst translations ever seen in the industry, as if you couldn't tell from the title of the game itself. I will now transcribe the opening to Violence Fight in its entirety. "In the early part of the 1950s in the USA, a game called Violence Fight was in vogue among Mafia, reckless drivers, and businessmen. The Violence Fight was the game to struggle for No. 1 Quarreler with fighters who were gathered from all parts of the USA speaking boastingly of their strength. And of course a lot of winning money and as well as the honor were given to the winner. Here in a downtown, in L. A., a young fighter named Bat and his manager Blinks seek for the winning money eagerly. As a matter of fact, can Bad take the No. 1 spot of the USA?" ... wow. And yes, the character's name changes in the intro.
Into 1990 we go for Growl. Growl isa sidescrolling brawler along the lines of Streets of Rage. Growl is a pretty substandard brawler. The graphics and music are standard for the era. The controls are okay enough. The problem with Growl is its lousy hit detection and its rather broken mechanics of flooding the screen with enemies and allowing them to juggle you around and never let you get a hit in. But the game is actually well worth playing through just because of the goofy theme. You're playing as one of four very Indiana Jones like characters who are out to stop a gang of animal poachers. Half of the gang of poachers seem to be hot chicks in short skirts for some reason. You play through the levels beating the crap out of everyone and you'll come across a scene where the gang will be torturing animals. You'll beat them all to death and free the animals who will in turn help you against the poachers. There is nothing like fighting alongside a rampaging elephant. It's just so cheesy and goofy. This game was clearly inspired by the opening to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the train sequence specifically.
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