Just sweaty men, slapping meat! - Knuckle Bash

[@TCMcBiscuits]

I was in a street gang in the 90s, and it was exactly like this. Just me and a bunch of never-nudes hanging out by the Buddhist temple on Dragon Street, trying to figure out where we left the Orangutan that we dyed green and stuffed into lycra bike shorts.

[@flophouseplays]

Lol

[@brandroidanimal]

same here, brother.... the streets be real...

[@Mechazaurus]

Man, you can keep your Gone Homes and What Remains of Edith Finches and Disco Elysiums. THIS RIGHT HERE is the epitome of artistic gaming.

[@jonpower9728]

The amount of oil being displayed on these bodies makes this a slick game to play.

[@cavehermit5992]

Toaplan was mostly known for making really good shoot em ups. If I recall correctly, their upper management was pressuring the dev team to make something to capitalize on the popularity of fighting games/beat em ups, and by the team’s own admission they didn’t really know the first thing about designing a good beat em up.

[@Boonehams]

And yet they kicked it out of the damn park. This unhinged madness should be studied.

[@HazzardousEco]

23:33 I love Matt's wheezing laughs lol XD

[@AKImeru]

WHAT A KNUCKLE BASH IT WAS!

[@Boonehams]

That was right up there with "Only through the elimination of violence can we achieve world peace."

[@SuddenCruelty01]

The bit where Matt tries to read lore that's going at Mach speed never gets old 😂

[@TVs_Brent]

i'd understand 90s nostalgia if the 90s looked like this

[@flophouseplays]

it absolutely did

[@blanketmobbypants]

They was all it was

[@MagmaMKII]

The characters are called El Plancha (the luchador), Michael Sobut (Elvis dude) and Jack Blow (blonde dude).

[@battlion507]

Jack Blow? JACK. BLOW.

[@joeyjoejoe1394]

El Plancha, the ironing board?

[@JoaoLucasK]

Also, Mr. Hayate (ninja guy) and Captain (footballer)

[@Stonezorz]

Hawk Blow

[@redwolflancer3051]

That ape in the ship level, I think it was supposed to be like the thing in the crate in creepshow, it even looked like it on the closeup shot, and it came out of a crate

[@346436]

Yes the most prestigious of hotels, the Hotel Rats

[@angusmacfrankenstein7227]

I’m a fan of Luchadore movies, and to see (legally) some El Santo and Blue Demon villain-whooping action in Bermuda, I made a request via inter-library loan. I was excited when I got the notification for the arrival of that DVD at my local library, but the librarian behind the desk wasn’t! She saw that photo of Blue Demon, clad in wrestling trunks, mask, and cape, and I think the poor woman drew the wrong conclusions: she handed me the DVD across her desk with the tips of her fingers, afraid to touch the cover! 😹😹😹😹😹

[@Nergalsama01]

16:53 Inspector Gadget is watching this fight very carefully. For future reference, I suppose. ;)

[@canderson5098]

You mentioned making a list of favorite beat em up protagonists. My dream team would be: 1. Mike Haggar 2. Donatello 3. Nightcrawler 4. Gillius Thunderhead 5. Michael Jackson

[@kami_in_the_skye]

Best Boy Stable.

[@Boonehams]

Seeing you finally play Knuckle Bash has been a dream come true. And don't fret too much about the fate of Toaplan, Matt. Many of the people that worked on Knuckle Bash went on to make Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon.

[@Ice-Climber]

I can't tell if this an American team trying to appeal to Japan, or a Japanese team trying to appeal to America.

[@opaljk4835]

Toaplan is Japanese for sure

[@Seiryu64]

The answer is yes

[@clauro6153]

Is too American to be made in the USA

[@RawrX32009]

​@@opaljk4835They are, also FUN FACT: CAVE was formed by former TOAplan employees

[@opaljk4835]

@@RawrX32009 as well as Raizing/Eighting and some other well known subsequent shmup entities.

[@pipebhart4272]

@11:46 That is straight up NINJAK ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninjak ) ! Or at least the inspiration that lead to the creation of this badass Brit shinobi!

[@keironhiggspoet]

the last boss is like john tenta, bam bam bigelow and Bebop combined into one. really like the thumping OST of this game too

[@emilysong2000]

It seems as if having some text scroll much too fast for Matt to keep up with has become a rather amusing running gag as of late!

[@warbossgegguz679]

Ah yes, the one Toaplan game nobody ever talks about. Note: Toaplan is known for basically inventing danmaku games, and post bankruptcy the former staff formed CAVE, Eighting, and Tamsoft. So naturally most people only really focus on the Shmups they made (most famously Zero Wing and Batsugun) but they made a few other weird games, including this and some "raunchier" ones... which I guess is on-brand for CAVE and Tamsoft too.

[@crispin5741]

That end text crawl is Matt's nightly prayer in the Mattitude Era.

[@haetron]

Someone needs to buy the rights to this and deliver a remaster ASAP.

[@GameJames-Arkveveen]

Look at them boys! Truly, this is the Matt McMuscles experience in a nutshell. XD

[@BunnySuicida]

Of course Toaplan folded after making this. They'd basically completed videogames, how do you improve upon perfection?

[@fangjokerLS]

The final boss is basically Big Van Bam Bam Bigelow, which is just. . .perfect

[@kcatarino]

Im disturbed by the fact he seems to have Carl from Aqua teen hunger forces head with a pig face sewn over only his facial features

[@RyleeStrange]

That last boss almost looks like a repurposed Raiden/Big Bear sprite with a stitched up pig's mask.

[@lavernebennet7395]

i noticed that they didn't want to program in a super meter so they just had the powerful attacks drain your health

[@MagmaMKII]

Press both buttons while grappling an enemy, that's basically your crowd control move.

[@MashieMutt]

The sprite art and animations in this game are sick as hell!

[@Toaster81]

John Tenta: Earthquake, The Shark, Avalanche, Golga was part of multiple factions. In WWF he was part of the natural disasters, the oddities in WCW he was part of dungeon of doom. And was a legit sumo wrestler. The characters in this game were based on famous people & the Elvis impersonator was based on the Honky-tonk Man. This game always reminded me of Final Fight meets Combat Tribes. I liked playing it as it wasn't a traditional beat em up & was quirky but fun

[@kintaroahnra4110]

I played this game one time in a pizza place when I was a kid, and all I've ever been able to remember about it was that football player. Glad to finally have a name for it after all these years.

[@Danimal4114]

When you dropped the Blue Meanie at 07:16, it was like you channeled my thoughts, cuz I was thinking the same thing! So many wrestling homages crammed into one game and oh, so very ninetees....

[@CtrlAltFinito]

I can't believe I'd see this game again. The amount of coins I spent playing this game at the arcade drove my granny kray kray back in the day.

[@DeaDGoD_XIV]

The Oddities, Mr McMuscles, was the freak group

[@DeaDGoD_XIV]

And of course you remember it right after I made this comment, should have waited a little longer into the video

[@krock90]

Some of the wrestlers not mentioned: @0:35 Owen "Blue Blazer" Hart and Honky Tonk Man @04:40 Lex Luger? @05:00 Rick "The Model" Martel @10:15 The Undertaker @13:12 Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer @15:40 William "The Fridge" Perry? @16:40 The Original Sheik (Sabu's uncle) @21:15 Earthquake/Bam Bam/Vader

[@chloeirnes]

I love that even the noodle seller woman is flexing! 09:30 ish ! These streets are insane! I love it!

[@WaldoBagelTopper]

I remember this. I had to be like in 3rd grade when this came out. This was at the local arcade. I remember playing as the Elvis guy.

[@Rakiarmas]

That has to be the manliest bonus stage ever. Two guys boost their muscles until they turn red. Then they punch each other's faces as hard as they can and see which one still stand. 💪🤜😵

[@Thatdeal79]

Character sprites have like 3 different graphic styles.

[@apostlenik809]

The only beat-em-up Toaplan ever made and the only one they ever needed to make

[@MrColonsay]

this was absolutely glorious

[@VBrancoPT]

Toaplan? As in, Truxton's Toaplan? This is new to me. I'm more familiar with their shoot'em up games, had no idea they made a beat'em up. 0:45 - 1:00 "Becoming a professional wrestler has always been my dream. I'll fight to the end to save the sport from the corrupt Mad Bulls. Wrestling heros unite! In a Chicago hotel, a secret meeting has been arranged. The heros decide to obtain the services of a powerful master of NINPOW. His name is ´HAYATE´ ninja warrior. He resides in Hong Kong and is known to be a skillful and cunning fighter. The Mad Bulls want him too and will stop at nothing. The heros can't let this happen. Even if it means..."

[@lordsagat2503]

The monster boss looked like the creature in Big Trouble in Little China!

[@thenextsteveblackman]

That waiter at 2:35 is a mood.

[@alanduran-gonzalez8060]

That waiter was serving it. He was feeling his oats yallz jejeje 🤪 He was werkin itz jejeje 🤣💅💅💅💅

[@Endocrom]

Some real Battletoads energy here, not with hardness, but (heh heh, hardness butt) with the cartoony transformations,

[@blanketmobbypants]

17:11 Inspector Gadget starring as Inspection Gadget lol

[@Alexalicious]

Thank you as always Matt for delivering the wildest games! I always love seeing games I've never heard of, and this one was special.

[@CaptNRetro]

I picked up a working Knuckle Bash arcade machine in a tempest cabinet last week… some human said “you know what this tempest machine needs… Knuckle Bash”.. the mind reels

[@naytcrow]

play this at the arcades as a kid,. that elvis bring back memories

[@OrochiPops]

This is a beat em up, wrestling and fighting game all in one

[@animeator]

I feel someone at Toaplan had Issues™ to work through when someone called his favorite wrestling federation 🏳️‍🌈. I love it.

[@aethonz]

Whoa! This game is a masked Brutus the Barber Beefcake, Honky Tonk Man, and Lance Storm cleaning up the mean streets of the WWF

[@bargaintuesday812]

Meat forever! Clap clap clapclapclap

[@Akuma813]

Now that is how you name a video. 💪

[@gswanson]

That one enemy on Dragon Street looks kind of like Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder.

[@kcatarino]

Bridan Danielban is an excellent Fire Pro name 😂

[@klawstecno2083]

For me, the blond character is Sting from the NWA Crockett Promotions era.

[@markuyehara7880]

Love the idea of a list of top beat 'um up protags and enemies/bosses.

[@aquamarine7599]

This game is honestly underrated bizarre gold

[@chameleonhrt]

Matthew was thinking of Golga from the Oddities when he references those bosses looking like Earthquake.

[@kammhia397gaming9]

Mr. McMahon's favorite beat em up of all time PS The group is called The Oddities

[@mcbaby]

This was my favorite game to play on MAME back in the day

[@VeronikaGama]

My husband bought me a shirt that said “moose knuckle” I didn’t think much of it until everyone at my nephews daycare started laughing

[@phoenixlich]

Games like this are why i'm Heteroflexible!

[@williamadams2601]

My funny bone was knuckle bashed by this video! The end of stage 2 was the ending of Speed 2 Cruise Control!

[@WellIHopeYoureProudofYourShelf]

Honky Tonk Man kicking ass!

[@robertcanady5028]

I nominate Boris from Violence Fight for your list, Matt

[@deathsceane]

I knew this was a good fit for this show. Now look for beat'em ups based on cartoons that are not TMNT.

[@juanf5391]

Yo! I remember this game at a Walmart arcade back in the late 90s. I never saw it anywhere else.

[@kissthistwice5]

That looks like so much fun!

[@MrOptikNERV]

Ninja baseball batman!!!!! Should be on his hit list of games to play... And yes I searched and I searched.

[@SuperRetroGuru]

Beat em up tier list lets go

[@johnoneil9188]

The most Florida of beat em ups

[@THENAMEISQUICKMAN]

LordBBH's favourite game ever, didn't you know. WHAT A KNUCKLE BASH IT IS.

[@claudijatzandrapova3347]

the blonde guy with the dragon pants may be based on WCW/ TNA Champion Sting but obviously licensing 😋

[@eltornadoAfm]

I remember playing this game. What I don't remember is why I played as fake Elvis every single time

[@ThrashAD720]

The boss in the Barbwire ring is clearly base off Tiger Jeet Singh.

[@No13ROXASV3]

Yo this game is GOATed, when you playing D.D. Crew matt?

[@xyanide1986]

Did you ever do Violent Storm? You should really check out Violent Storm.

[@mwilson7908]

The last thing I seen with this much man mass was the first Predator movie.

[@psirensongs]

That second character is just Surfer Sting.

[@Jothampers]

What is the name of the song at the very beginning of the video before the title sequence happens?

[@reignfire85]

For a second, I thought the title was a hilarious joke, but no, the game has all the machismo they could cram into it. If someone adapted this into a live-action comedy-action parody, I'd die of laughter.

[@zubizuva]

The ninja’s name is Combat Mortal.

[@SpaghettyLuvsU]

It's like the _Cho Aniki_ of beatemups

[@alexhobbs1208]

Don't worry Matt, golga, also wanted to forget about the oddities

[@BigK13372]

I don’t know. The blond guy is clearly Surfer Sting minus the face paint.

[@89blacksoldier]

FM DUB! FM DUB! FM DUB!

[@redpyramid6843]

What's up with the dancing waiter at 2:41

[@manx2121]

The blonde guy is based on surfer era Sting, surely?

[@PRSense]

So Rey Mysterio, Sting and The Honky Tonk Man take on the street level nWo members 😅

[@PRSense]

And then Glacier joins them!

[@ooferrell]

Not only did u fight not Blanka, u also fought him on not kens fighting stage😂😂

[@thebigoilkanlarry]

Definitely the Original Shiek

[@jimmya486]

Best video title....EVER! LOL

[@billcook4768]

Need to overlay Kenny Loggins singing Playing with the Boys.

[@toryficarola]

Knuckle Bash!?! More like 'Knuckle Drag.' Uh huurr derrpp...

[@claybfx]

Aww man, you missed a great chance for a Shannon Moore reference lol

[@TheJesterGuy_]

Just wait until he checks out Black Touch '96, a bootleg Arcade game which ripped off not only sprites but also the story of Capcom's Final Fight. It has bad controls, bad graphics, bad hit detection, bad sound, bad everything. The only "saving grace" of this game is the picture that appears at the end of the stage you cleared, and because of said images he won't be able to post this game here but on his Patreon. Yeah, they're that naughty.

[@shadowmookie88]

**DSP Enters the Chat**

[@lostapostle76]

4:00 is Surfer Sting no Makeup. 8:24 is Honky Tonk Man. 9:20 is Grizzly Smith. 13:20 is Super Invader (Hercules). 15:45 is supposed to be Mr Perfect. 15:45 is Iron Sheik. 20:00 Giant Baba. 21:10 Nasty Boys.

[@goukidraven]

Don't forget The Undertaker with his natural hair color @ 10:11.