In contention for Capcom's best beat 'em up? - Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara

[@matthewsmith9162]

These character designs where some of Kinu Nishimuras first Character design projects at capcom. She said in capcom design works that this was easy for her because she was a big fan of fantasy.

[@kenterminateddq5311]

I didn't like the Dungeons & Dragons beat em ups from CAPCOM but they were well designed.

[@GogglesVonAwesome]

Yeeeesssssssss, this game is part of what got me into fantasy stuff and Nishimura's designs were a BIG part of that. I like Nishimura's art in general, but these designs in particular are SO good.

[@brochebug]

I love how Thief's name was a dead ringer for the Simpson's THRILLHO gag

[@emperormegaman3856]

Making Simpsons references even when he doesn't set out to.

[@Podgemaster]

I love this and Tower of Doom on the Chronicles of Mystara twin game pack. It’s normally cheap on the Xbox store.

[@lokuzt]

also on Steam!

[@That_Lady_Charlie]

With an impressive amount of gameplay variety in character choices, and different routes. I personally say this is Capcom's best beat em up. and the best coin-op beat em up that's been made.

[@toiletwineconnoisseur6434]

this game is so fuckign righteous! I love my SoR and Final Fights but I really wish we had more fantasy side scrolling beat em ups

[@JonathanScratch]

Fun fact: these games were the break out for Gerorge Kamitani and led to his founding Vanillaware.

[@graemevaughey7432]

Half correct: he was only involved in the first game, then moved to Atlus in 1995 to make _Princess Crown._ You can certainly see the influence in his later Vanillaware games, though. _Dragon's Crown_ feels very much like an evolution of the D&D games.

[@JonathanScratch]

@graemevaughey7432 i always forget about Princess Crown. Which is weird considering how much I like Odinsphere

[@Levi_Skardsen]

The one you were missing is Knights of the Round.

[@tanjredshirt]

It was Deborah Ann Woll teaching Jon Bernthal D&D

[@DragonHeart613]

I absolutely love Capcom's D&D Hack n Slash games. Some of my favorite Arcade games that I used to play most back in the day. I have the Mystara games digitally on both PS3 & Steam but I'd love to see Capcom re-release those games physically for both PS5 & Switch. I really really wish that Capcom would go back to making Beat 'Em Up and Hack n Slash games again, especially given the recent success of both Streets of Rage 4 & TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. I so badly want Capcom to do D&D: Mystara 3 and Final Fight 4🤞🤞

[@esotericcorporation7058]

I got so used to Streets of Rage 4. I got up to level 160 on Survival using Skate. Then I played Shredders Revenge, and it's just not as fun. :( Have you tried playing Mother Russia Bleeds? River City Girls? The Takeover is AWESOME. And believe it or not the new Karate Kid beat' em up is pretty good! If you like beat'em ups, do you also like Boomer Shooters? I recently got into that genre. Beat' em ups, brawlers, and boomer shooters!!!!

[@Alexalicious]

I'm with you there, this game rules~!

[@MrOptikNERV]

There is a Japanese retail version of this collection on the PS3, where it has numerous differences. Such as Four players which you can be same class at once, edit main characters colour pallet. etc. Capcom internally develop it and not Iron Galaxy.

[@sukugaru5167]

This was my favourite arcade game ever. All the weapons you could use! All the characters! The sexy thief and elf! All the alternate and secret routes! Fortunately, it hung around in my local arcades for a good long time, so I could play it a lot in my misspent youth. I tended towards the Thief most of the time and while I tried a lot, I never quite managed a 1 credit clear. Something I noticed you could have done was the slide (Quarter Circle Forward + Jump) to both quickly move around, and the slide also picks up items. Very handy after you defeat a boss and they drop a bunch of stuff. Slide over the loot and you pick up most of it.

[@brochebug]

This and Guardian Heroes really elevated the genre back in the day

[@KakitaHiryu]

Changing color is something like pressing start to select your character instead of any other button. The second color of Magic User and Cleric actually have access to different spells. MU 1 has Conjure Elemental and Meteor Swarm, and MU 2 gets Cloudkill and Power Word: Kill. Cleric I don't remember off the top of my head, but I believe Sticks to Snakes is only available on one of the two.

[@Sabeythang]

Cleric 1 (Greldon) got Sticks to Snakes and Holy Word, and Cleric 2 (Miles) got Insect Plague and Earthquake. A pity the Elves didn't get any unique spells.

[@kalvinravn8431]

Had this for my Sega Saturn, It was a Japanese copy since not released for the Saturn in the States. Played it with my 4 year old son back then…. Had no friends to help me play this so judge me all you want because I couldn’t afford The Book on How To Raise a Kid and he turned out pretty good!

[@ericallen5677]

So begins Matt's return to Dragon's Crown Pro

[@SpaghettyLuvsU]

28:48 Aww, little dude thinks that's more than one displacer beast 🥰

[@Kpimpmaster]

It still shocks me that they managed to combine a side scrolling beat’um up with RPG elements

[@archer6979]

Would love if they added this to the switch eventually

[@juliorabello]

With a few tweaks this could be a goated game to have. Some arcade dynamics, like how rushed it is to make a decision, or how hard is to use the menus, really hurts the experience.

[@DanJackson1977]

I dont know how common they were but I played both of these at the Bangor Mall arcade in Maine circa 1996. So they got around to some obscure places.

[@reeds.9669]

I loved this game to this day, and bought a copy of it on Steam. I play it sometimes but mostly I bought it to make for all the times I played it on MAME in the early oughts. There are so many secret things about it, like how you can use the Cleric to turn the Cursed Sword into the Holy Avenger and how you can use a special multi-caster spell called "Final Strike" to beat the last boss. I think my go-to character is the fighter with the alternate costume selected, some of the coolest armor I've ever seen. Love the edgy gothlord Magic User too, but he's not much fun to play.

[@EmperorSeth]

I didn't see this one much, but the original Tower of Doom was around me when I was a kid. It was definitely at Enchanted Castle, but they had everything. But my local pizza place's arcade had it too. I was a pretty big D&D nerd, so I got most of the references. Speaking of which, hellhounds are intelligent and can talk, since they literally came from hell. I'm not sure if they spoke common in this edition, though.

[@prestonowens4594]

I always wish they’d make a game in this visual style, but 3rd person and featuring the cast of Street Figjter reimagined in medieval times.

[@InitialDL84]

Been playing this on my Steam Deck lately, every time I go back to it I get hooked and beat it like 4-5 times

[@Hyper_Drud]

48:31 is that a freaking Rathalos roar?!

[@simondaniel4028]

Cut-rate movie theater in the mid 2000s I went to had this. I later spent some cash to import it for my Hi-Saturn. This game fkin rocks. Anyone who gets the chance to play this with friends is going to have a blast.

[@thomasderosso5625]

I did a few solo Magic User runs, because I *love* the spell effects. Not easy, but a lot of fun.

[@ZForceFFC]

I used to see Tower of Doom at my arcades fairly regularly, but I never saw Shadow Over Mystara so I never played it until... alternative methods (and the Saturn collection)

[@cubansupreme]

(Sees title of video) Final Fight: "I thought what we had was SPECIAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!!"

[@bearded_snorlax]

(sad Mike Haggar noises)

[@cubansupreme]

@@bearded_snorlax (Mike Sadgar noises)

[@mariacyr6494]

I had the speedrun world record for this game specifically with the thief, but it got taken by a lot if time recently lol

[@douglasdoyle8944]

And so falls another forgotten hero

[@nickgarcia1292]

Take it back! You got this

[@johnoneil9188]

The ancient evil wsa defeated by the most arcane of magics: heavy high explosive ordinance.

[@TheRogueWolf]

I'm pretty sure I actually played this one in a pizzeria somewhere as a kid. I was vaguely familiar with D&D and thought it was absolutely bizarre that there'd be an arcade game of all things based on it. It was a long time afterwards that I found _Tower of Doom._

[@EmperorSeth]

I was wondering about that "Dark Warrior," pretty much the only monster in the game I didn't know from the tabletop game. So it turns out there was an interesting story. The Capcom designers wanted to make an enemy based on the Balrog from Lord of the Rings, which they couldn't use. Of course, TSR tried doing the same thing, and when they ran into legal disputes, they recreated the concept as the demon better known as a Balor these days. And arguably the devil called a Pit Fiend as well. Which begs the question of why Capcom didn't just use a Balor or Pit Fiend in the first place. Well, maybe they didn't know about it. But it's also likely that since this was made in the 90s, they couldn't because TSR was trying to avoid using demons or devils in those days. This was during the "Bothered About Dungeon and Dragons" Satanic Panic scare, which seems laughable now but was a big concern for the developers at the time. They even renamed them as Ba'atezu (devils) and Tanar'ri (demons) at the time. All of this explains why they had to make a generic brand monster instead. At least TSR apparently liked the design, possibly because Capcom found a loophole they couldn't use.

[@micheljavert5923]

When that Capcom D&D release came out ages ago, I said: “Wait, they made a sequel?” Come to find out it’s apparently the more beloved of the two games. I’d never even heard of it. My local arcade (which managed to scoop up some fairly obscure machines) and every one I ever went to only had the first game.

[@HazzardousEco]

7:54 Reverb Farts always crack me up XD

[@SpencerStillman]

Welcome, FARTLO

[@zachmocquot9685]

This was hands down my favorite best em up series I wish they would rerelease them for current gen systems there's just such a purity of the gameplay

[@MarginalSC]

A lot of the bosses you were wondering about the back stories to were cameos from the first game.

[@DrRESHES]

I caught myself thinking why do I love Classic BEU games, and the reason is the art of Food and Jewels/Coins. Why do I love old platforms, is because I want to see Distant Building Lights coming from the windows and imagine what people can be out there.

[@JohnD131]

Really like this one. I'd also like to see this on Switch, or even better (imo) Dragons Crown, but I'd love either.

[@gregmaestas2069]

We had Tower of Doom across from the mid school. So many quarters

[@HazzardousEco]

King of Crowns was my favorite of the Capcom Beat'em Ups, so I'd be down with you playing it....Hoooooooe!!

[@MikeMeeple]

She Hulk knows what it’s like to ride a Juggernaut…

[@akaimizu1]

I so wish them to bring these games back. I still think it is Capcom’s best Beat em up, by far. One of those rare aspects that the last time they did bring this back, was back when the Wii U was still in its main lifecycle. And before that, the Sega Saturn. Maybe, it’ll come out of the vault again, for newer systems, eventually. Maybe a physical? Physical home releases of it are extremely rare and expensive. They did it twice. Once on SEGA Saturn, another on PS3. Import only. Both are rather expensive purchases, today, with the PS3 being especially expensive.

[@michaelmooney4024]

Shadow elves... I see you are a man of culture as well.

[@Alexalicious]

I'm with you Matt, Night Elves, Shadow Elves and Drow are something special~!

[@someonenow1]

It just occurred to me that Fartlo is Bo Rai Cho's finest student.

[@krazievnkid]

Fartlo is giving heavy Thrillho vibes

[@VampireClown420]

Yes Matt! That was thing with Deborah Anne Woll like made me fall in love with her. Simply owned Bernthal attention. I wish I could explain any of my hype fixations that well.

[@B.-T.]

Dammit McMuscles, I thought I'd moved on from D&D but watching you play this makes me want to run a game set in Mystara. Just... not with any existing edition of D&D. So now I gotta find a good heroic fantasy system that isn't drowning in overly magic option that'd be fun to run Mystara in.

[@EddiePena-zs2in]

Got this on wii u before the wii u eshop close

[@Ice-Climber]

Now I just have this image of you and huge posters of the Thief and RCG Marian...

[@zivosthrintolimgren3513]

Would love to see the Mystara set released on current consoles!

[@flophouseplays]

I mean, it's still readily available on Xbox and PS4/PS5 I believe? As well as Steam, just not available on Switch.

[@pockystyx4087]

Man; I would love it for a throwback beat 'em up of this kinda game. Dragon Crown was aight, but it was lacking that CAPCOM arcade flair. Plus the Elf wasn't a cool spellsword, and it had no playable thief, HUGE downgrade imho. Screw it, do it in Pathfinder if Wizards of the Coast won't let it happen lol

[@nickgarcia1292]

I was happy to see you dropped x for bluesky. The fires burning under America sure are getting hot lately;)

[@angrytheclown801]

Until Bluesky dies because its been tried before

[@nickgarcia1292]

@angrytheclown801 never underestimate elons incompetence

[@angrytheclown801]

@@nickgarcia1292 It wasn't Elon's incompetence that ended the last pretenders to the throne.

[@mattotterpop]

Yo, gimme a sequel to this Capcom, gimme Ogre MasterBros!

[@joshhowell6145]

You forgot Knights of the Round lol

[@robertcanady5028]

Debra Ann Woll is the actress you are thinking of.

[@flophouseplays]

Thank you! I just wanted to call her Karen Page.

[@ceciliorubens]

When D&D was D&D.

[@Atrahasis7]

I love this art style as well, Its a shame Dragons Dogma 2 now bombed cause it was very loosely the last tie to this era, I dislike most art in D&D today, I guess it depends on the artist but much of it is marveliefied.

[@bookerplayer01]

About the Displacer Beast - Tentacles make EVERYTHING better.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

Also two because that is the Displacer's gimmick, the one you see not being real and instead a projection the real one is putting off to make itself harder to hit and confuse prey.

[@kammhia397gaming9]

Okay, so am I the only one who was bothered by how The Thife held her sword like a dagger, or is it just me?

[@kagemusha77]

Agreed, also looks too long to be a short sword. 😅

[@RichRetr0]

We need a new beat em up in the D&D series but starring Drizzt Do'Urden and his companions. Every game that has featured Drizzt has been god awful (except the og Baldurs Gate), he needs a game that will do him justice.

[@joshhowell6145]

I used to have it on Saturn. I’ve got it on Xbox One

[@SDallas777]

Is it available on psn?

[@ghostdog3566]

Knights of the Round (the one you missed)

[@jaredbordeaux721]

Oohhh maybe we'll get some King of Dragons action unless I've missed that vid

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

It's a shame that this game never made it to the Capcom Beat-'Em Up Bundle because of licensing.

[@shinpathome]

Anyway i can get this on PS4? I missed out when they dropped on PS3😢

[@That_Lady_Charlie]

nope. but it's still on Steam and Xbox.

[@tomroeser5828]

Thief looks like she plays like Strider

[@dragonchaserkev]

sold!

[@Dojonpachi]

My most prized... PS3 game. Yes, it's the best version available and there's a physical copy that came out in Japan. The Saturn port is a bit of a loading screen mess unfortunately.

[@similaritiesendhere]

Easily in the top 5. If you think that newer games are better, this series can get "revived" too.

[@Sabeythang]

Hell yeah, Deathwing can get it. He's a total gigachad, just like Flamewing before him in Tower of Doom. And I have to say, I always found it oddly nice of Capcom to warn you about approaching their lairs -- you'd expect an arcade game to be happy to just devour your quarters, and they're still like, "Ehhhhh, you might not want to waste your pocket change on this fight, kids."

[@lokuzt]

Top 1 for me, I must've spent over 300 usd in coins on this and Tower of Doom over the years

[@clarencegutsy7309]

IMO, the best beat 'em up in the arcades.

[@yakumoyomi5765]

I would love it if you played through King of Dragons. ...but only if you play the Mage.

[@bonelessdonutz]

Lich bro Lich not lick, come on man. you can't mess up the first 10 seconds of the video

[@bonelessdonutz]

I'm still going to watch the whole thing, one of my favorite games ever

[@ogtrunx]

Absolutely play king of dragons!

[@xiaolinstyle]

Ok at this point it feels like you're just trolling by not playing Ganryu 2.

[@CoolCisco]

Super ogre bros

[@alexanderrichards239]

Yeah, why "magic user"? I don't see others being called "sword user" or "bow user" etc.

[@EmperorSeth]

Can't blame the game for that. That was all Gygax. I don't think they got changed to "wizard" until 3rd edition. "Fighters" were originally called "Fighting Men," back in the original edition, if I recall. It was the wild west back then.

[@danhectic5629]

that thief design almost tricked me into thinking DnD was cool dangit.

[@failightbringer9845]

I LOVE this games and I agree, they should make them accessible on modern consoles. A friend and I (Cleric+Fighter duo) used to beat this game a LOT in arcades, our main goal: collect all legendary Swords... Ah, those were the times 🥹

[@Richterdgf]

Shadow Over Mystara is, hands down, Capcom's best beat 'em up. The combat surpasses AvP, and the multiple paths and different gear and item options just give you more to do.

[@hectorortizm.8434]

If I'm mistaken, dark elves in d&d value beauty more than anything. They're also lecherous, decedent, & hedonistic soooooooo.... Yeah, sign me up. 🫡