There are dozens of bizarro beat ’em ups exterior of the mainstays, from Ninja Baseball Bat Man to Night time Slashers. After which there’s Gourmand Warriors. Launched on Tremendous Famicom in 1995 as Gourmand Sentai Barayaro, the brawler lastly arrived in English in 2018 due to Piko Interactive. Now it’s sharing the love with extra platforms as a part of writer QUByte Interactive’s Classics lineup.

Following a launch on Steam and a bodily SNES cartridge, the subsequent cease is PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Change. Gourmand Warriors brings the beatdown to these platforms on August 31. 

Warmth ’em up

What places the Gourmand in Gourmand Warriors, anyway? The characters won’t be bipedal Meals Fighters, however there’s a rudimentary “cooking system” in place. Whereas there are not any conventional therapeutic objects, enemies drop elements that can be utilized to whip up meals between ranges. I by no means thought I’d evaluate it to Zelda, however right here we go. Like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the best concoction can replenish extra well being. The three playable characters — Bonjour, Mademoiselle, and Trés Bien — have their very own favorites, so that you’ll wish to preserve that in thoughts when cooking. 

The story hits all of the mid-90s notes. The yr 20XX, World Battle III, a setting known as Zeus Heaven Magic Metropolis? The overexcited Vince McMahon meme intensifies with every sprinkle of narrative spice. In an alternate timeline, we’d completely be speaking about “that superior Gourmand Warriors anime that ran for 87 episodes and two movies.”

Gourmand Warriors involves us from developer Winds and director Satoshi Fujishima, who labored on video games like 1994’s X-Kaliber 2097. It has its roots within the campy buff motion of the side-scrolling shoot ’em up collection Cho Aniki. A few of the character fashions right here might have already tipped you off on that one. The forgettable soundtrack is your first reminder of the place this one rests within the halls of beat ’em up historical past, however style completionists and oddball aficionados have to expertise it no less than as soon as. 

Joseph Luster

Joseph has been writing about video games, anime, and films for over 20 years and loves excited about instruction manuals, discovering obscure platformers, and dreaming up a world the place he truly has house (and time) for a retro sport assortment.

Extra Tales by Joseph Luster