 loyalty for the franchise and that's dry! Hey, thanks to Jason for requesting this video on my Patreon page. Today, let's take a look at the two Super Nintendo Sonic Blast man games not to be confused with Sonic Blast for Sega Game Gear or the Sonic blast milkshake that's totally not a ripoff of the Deri Queen Blizzard. No, these two games are traditional beat'em ups. You go to the right, you kick and throw and punch everything that moves all that good stuff. So what makes the Sonic Blast man games stand out and are they worth playing today? Well, in the case of the first game, the answer is not much. Sure all the fundamental stuff is fine, the sprites are big in detail, the hit detection is fine, the music is decent, and there's the usual special moves here like this spinning attack that renders Sonic Last Man vulnerable for a second because he made himself too dizzy. There's also dynamite punches, you activate them by pressing L, you press attack and it functions as a clear all attack, you can also cancel for whatever reason by pressing R. One thing I'll give this game credit for in terms of something different is the default punch sequence. You hit an enemy a few times and then you automatically grab them at which point you hit the attack button plus a direction on the d-pad to either do a huge uppercut complete with a comic book style smash, a rapid fire punch, or even this hilarious looking one-arm throw, so that's pretty cool. But yeah, the basic beat em up stuff is all here and it's all good enough. But if I've learned anything over the years, what it is that people want from a beat em up, it's usually two things. It needs to be fast paced and it needs to be two player co-op. Sonic Last Man is neither of these things. It's single player only and the five stages you play through drag on and on. The enemies here are as generic as it gets and the bosses aren't all that interesting either. First of all though, this game is just slow. You walk slowly and enemies get up slowly. A run feature here would have gone a long way to make this game a little more palatable. Also there's no battery saver, even any passwords here. This is a game you gotta beat in one sitting. There is however a stage select code you can look up on game facts, so at least there's that. One notable thing worth mentioning is that this is an arcade port, except the original arcade game is this first person boxing kind of a thing where you fight enemies and destroy buildings. That stuff is also in the SNES version but in the form of minigames between levels. Yeah, it's kinda limited but it's still a nice break from the tedium of the beat em up stuff. So yeah, I can't say I'd recommend Sonic Last Man. I like the change to the typical punch sequence and I like the special moves and I will say the game does get a little more interesting after you crawl through the first two levels, but it's single player only and it's just too much of a slog to play through. You can find better elsewhere. And by elsewhere I mean Sonic Blast Man 2, which came two years later. On the surface you might think, well what incentive do I have to play the sequel of a mediocre at best game, especially a beat em up? Surprise, surprise, Sonic Blast Man 2 is a hundred times better than its predecessor. It plays much faster and it has two player co-op featuring three playable characters and fighting for freedom. What did he say? What the hell was that? Anyway, in addition to Sonic Blast Man you can also play as Captain Shoyer, whoever that is, and Sonya, who is one of my all-time favorite playable beat em up characters ever. She's so fast and makes this game so much fun. Seriously, compare the speed here and here. I know that's kind of an unfair comparison because it's two different characters but I just wanted to show how much more fun it is to play as someone like Sonya. The controls are essentially the same but feature two new additions, a rolling button that allows you to dodge enemy attacks. That adds a tiny bit of nuance to the gameplay which is always a good thing. The role in particular makes boss fights much less of a war of attrition since it's easier to dodge. And there's also a dash feature when you press forward twice. That's a welcome addition to any beat em up. But yeah, the special attack button is back and the special punch power up is back as well. And there's two variants. One is just a stronger attack that can take out several enemies standing in a group. The other is a pretty cool looking screen clearing attack. The settings and bosses are a little more interesting too. Like here you're fighting outside of an airplane until you make your way in and you fight this boss who looks like something out of a Mega Man X game. You're out on the docks with this dude who's evidently fishing for tires before you meet this crazy looking boss. Sonic Blast Man 2 is just more interesting in just about every facet. Even the enemy design has stepped it up a notch and gives off kind of a Captain Commando sort of a vibe. Like the first game, this is another one you have to beat in one sitting. No passwords or battery saves here. But there are some rather forgiving checkpoints if you do have to use a continue. One flaw is that this game is short. You and a friend would probably be able to finish this one in less than 40 minutes or so. But like I've said a couple times before, that's not a bad thing because the game moves by quickly and it's not like there's that many people out there clamoring to sink hours and hours into a beat em up. So yeah, are the Sonic Blast Man games worth playing today? The first one I'd say no. Again it's single player and it's just too slow. The second game, definitely. It takes many good qualities from the first game and adds a ton, making it a fast-paced multiplayer beat em up. I know the cartridge for Sonic Blast Man 2 is pretty pricey, but if you're looking for a good multiplayer game that holds up great today, that's the one to play, whichever way you can.