Bad Street Brawler Reviews (NES)

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Bad Street Brawler has a bad reputation for a reason, but it's not entirely terrible. It has a lot of faults and wasn't tailored to use the Power Glove properly. Had it been tweaked, it may have actually been really enjoyable, but by my estimate that would have involved dumbing the challenge down significantly due to the slower reaction time of the glove. Could have worked out the programming freezing too. I bet they didn't even notice it because they probably only play tested the first two levels with the damn thing. Oh well, though certainly not a good game, it's not as bad as people think. That doesn't say much, though.

With moves like the Ear Pull, Roundhouse Kick, Bull Ram, Strangle and Head Butt, you must dispatch friends like the Skateboarder, Fat Man, Atilla the Honey and one real funky gorilla, just to name a few. Be alert. Some moves are better against certain enemies. The game also features a Power Glove option and a driving Rock 'n' Roll soundtrack that's the best we've ever heard from a Game Pak.

The main problem with Bad Street Brawler is the lack of variety and lack of a two-player simultaneous mode. Each stage is essentially the same with different backgrounds: run right, punch/kick strange humans/gorillas, call it a day. I understand that the focus is supposed to be on Duke Davis and not Duke and “friend,” but every brawler needs a simultaneous two-player mode; especially when they’re fighting on bad– nay, horrible streets such as these.

Bad Street Brawler is a poor game with little variety and not enough freedom in the attacks. It's a bad first showcase for the Power Glove and while you'll be forced to reach for a standard controller just to make it playable you still find yourself getting bored very quickly.

The game is garishly colored in hot neons that make little sense, but fighting gorillas, dogs, circus muscle men, and other oddities at least make it humorous for a short while. If you have a Power Glove handy, feel free to try the game with it, but it probably won’t help too much.

Bad Street Brawler is the sort of game that looks awesome until you actually begin playing the game. It's weaknesses become very apparent. Poor control, silly moves and awful outfit. Aside from being a Power Glove game, it's not too engaging.

Bad Street Brawler either had an ingenious, or clueless, marketing team. You see, Bad Street Brawler really is a bad street brawler. It's even more funny when they print it right on the box. Interestingly enough, it seems to be a rehash of a Beam Software game from 1987, that Mattel must have bought out to rework into the first "Power Glove Gaming Series" title. That makes it one of a handful of games programmed specifically to utilize the infamous Power Glove. Even if you had said glove, it likely wouldn't make the game any more enjoyable.

So, you’re given a choice here as a player: Either play the game with the odds stacked ridiculously against you and probably die at the hands of unbalanced enemies, or play the game with crippled controls in order to have a special attack at your disposal. Well, given that the Power Glove only sold around 100,000 units, and the fact that the two entries to the “Power Glove Gaming Series” line of games were both considered commercial flops as well, I guess the choice for most folk was not to play the game at all. Which is fair, since it’s a fairly forgettable and not entirely up-to-par beat ‘em up for the era. Don’t get me wrong: It’s nowhere near one of the “worst NES games of all time” as at least one popular internet reviewer has referred to it as, but it loses sight of its original premise to such a degree that it’s easy to understand why so many have dismissed and ridiculed it.