Trying to determine my favorite Capcom beat em up game is about as hard as picking a favorite style of beer; I love them all so how do I determine what quantitative qualities equal "the best".
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs has to many amazing qualities; absolutely perfect beat em up gameplay, graphics and sound that marry perfectly to the overall vibe, an awesome soundtrack that you could listen to and enjoy outside of the game...and just an absolutely absurd story. I mean you are beating up gang members AND dinosaurs with weapons and your fists/feet....while getting the opportunity to drive vintage Cadillac vehicles to run over opponents and have boss fights in. You can't say that about many other games! (except the absolutely terrible Sega CD sequel...but that doesn't even deserve a mention except to say "dont play it")
Even though Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is THAT good, you still have to weigh them against Alien Vs Predator, Final Fight, Battle Circuit, Knights of the Round, Armored Warriors...the list goes on! Capcom's roster of awesome games in this genre is stacked! So is it the best beat em up Capcom ever made? I don't know lol...maybe it is this week? But what do you guys and girls think?
It's so unfortunate something like Cadillacs and Dinosaurs never gets ported though...same with AvP outside of the Capcom arcade stick. I teach entertainment business / law (among other film production classes) and we spend a large chunk of the class discussing licensing; the in's and outs and how not to make a mistake that you will regret later....like obtaining licenses that expire too soon / at all.
Licensing is the number 1 reason we don't get a lot of these awesome old arcade games. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs was based off an existing property and clearly Capcom didn't get a license in perpetuity to the contents of the game. This seems very common in the gaming industry but rare outside of it. When I have to license music rights / general rights for film the licenses are almost always "in perpetuity"....or "forever" in the non-legal terms.
These arcade games based on existing properties? Not so much. Capcom and Sega seem to be the number 1 companies that have these licensing issues where they may own the game but they DON'T have the rights after a certain set period of time to continue to re-release them. Which is a huge loss for gaming in general. I mean I get it...in perpetuity licenses just cost more...but still I find it odd that's the MO of game developers.
Anyway...that's my Sunday law lesson lolol
Curious what others think of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs? Or what your fav beat em up is?
