Arcade Game #15: SpikeOut
スパイクアウト (Including Final Edition, SlashOut, and Spikers Battle)
Today, we talk about SpikeOut (and other games in the series, which include Digital Battle Online, Final Edition, SlashOut, and Spikers Battle), a 3D beat ’em up video game series all directed and developed by Toshihiro Nagoshi (pictured below), who went on to create the Super Monkey Ball and the Ryu Ga Gotoku/Like A Dragon (“Yakuza” in the west) series before exiting Sega. The SpikeOut games bear a resemblance to Sega’s earlier Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage series.
None of the SpikeOut games have never been ported to home consoles (except for Battle Street on the original Xbox). SpikeOut is notable for being the first arcade beat ’em up whose cabinets could be linked, resulting in a maximum of four players competing on the same level with different screens. SpikeOut was released in late 1998 (early 1999 for the Final Edition), SlashOut was released in the summer of 2000, and Spikers Battle was released in the summer of 2001.
The game’s characters are as follows:
Team Spike (also playable in Final Edition and Spikers Battle)
- Spike (v.b. Eiichiro Suzuki): 27 years old/male/American. The leader of Team Spike who is a former heavyweight boxer whose fighting style focuses on powerful punches. He is usually extremely silent and expressionless, but his expression changes only in battle.
- White (v.b. Mitsuo Yokoi a.k.a. Tessho Genda): 25 years old/male/American. A cheerful white man who is a former member of the U.S. Army. He is a mood maker for Team Spike who loves to laugh and be laughed at. He is basically a good person, but his voice is loud and noisy.
- Linda (v.b. Yuki Inoue a.k.a. Satsuki Yukino): 23 years old/female/American. The only female member of Team Spike. She is a young lady from a good family, intelligent, and always calm. However, she hates being treated like a young lady. Her fighting style is sharp kicks delivered from her long legs. Many of her skills are unique, making her a character for advanced players. Linda is somewhat similar to Blaze Fielding from the Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage series.
- Tenshin (v.b. Joji Nakata): 29 years old/male/Japanese. The tallest Japanese man on the team. His distinctive feature is the Hannya mask tattooed all over his back. He has a sharp eye, usually doesn’t talk much, has a calm personality, and doesn’t get angry unless it’s something serious. He uses a unique martial arts technique that often uses spinning orbital attacks such as back fists and roundhouse kicks delivered from his long limbs.
SlashOut
Slashout (スラッシュアウト) is the third installment to the Spikeout series, released for Sega NAOMI hardware in 2000. Unlike other games in the series, Slashout has a completely different setting, based in a fantasy world with different characters — gameplay remains similar, however. The characters are:
- Slash (v.b. Eric Kelso)
- Axel/Axle (v.b. Matt Lagan)
- Luna (v.b. Bianca Allen)
- Kamui (v.b. Chris Mancini)
Note: Luna, one of the playable characters in this game, somewhat resembles Shantae (except that Shantae’s hair is tied in a ponytail and a half-genie, while Luna’s hair is tied in twin tails, but isn’t a genie).
Spikers Battle
Spikers Battle (スパイカーズバトル) is the fourth installment to the Spikeout series. Putting an arena-styled competitive twist to the formula, Spikers Battle retains its 3D beat ’em up gameplay but takes a more traditional versus fighting game approach. The characters are:
- Alberto (v.b. Hiroaki Ichinowatari): 18 years old/male/Italian. Leader of Team Alberto. Cheerful Italian. A super striker who even received offers from a certain clubhouse. The kick from his foot was powerful. His quick kick attacks have the longest reach of all characters. He has solid performance in other respects as well. He is a recommended character when playing Spikers Battle for the first time.
- Fengli (v.b. Koichi Tohchika): 17 years old/male/Chinese. Master of Chinese martial arts. However, he is usually an intelligent student with excellent grades. All of his tricky attacks are backed by his fighting theory. His quick kick attack has the longest reach out of all the characters, making him a very easy-to-use character. He has stable performance in other respects, so he is a recommended character when playing Spikers Battle for the first time.
- Hikaru (v.b. Junko Takeuchi, who is Naruto Uzumaki’s seiyuu, as this isn’t the first time that Takeuchi voiced a character that is not a ninja): 16 years old/female/Japanese. A karate high school girl with outstanding athletic ability. Her continuous attacks have little power, but she can land many hits. Her Hikaru’s special feature is her quick beat attack. However, due to her short stature and the short reach of her attacks, she is somewhat difficult to hit, making her a difficult character to master. However, due to her small height, she also has the characteristic of being able to easily exchange attacks with her opponent. Her main attacks include a jump attack, which is the only one that has three consecutive attacks, and a running attack with a long reach.
- Gorn (v.b. Hiromi Sugino): 18 years old/male/American. Native American power fighter. His powerful attacks that take advantage of his large physique can keep anyone at bay. Gorn is known for his powerful and long-reaching attacks that are unleashed from his huge body. Leg attacks such as swinging both arms around have a wide attack range, so they can easily hit opponents who are trying to evade the attack, giving even those new to Spikers Battle a chance to win. Due to its large size, its disadvantage is that it has a large gap after attacking, but its powerful attacks can more than compensate for this disadvantage.
Hidenori Shoji handled the music for all the games except for Battle Street (which we’re not reviewing because it’s an Xbox game). After Amusement Vision was shuttered/transformed into Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (New Entertainment R&D Dept. before 2011), no more SpikeOut games were released.
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