On hard mode I never made it past the first stage. The game just feels really really bad. And I am afraid to even give easy mode a chance.

Since combos in beat ‘em ups are “the default mechanic” so to speak, the reward would outweigh the difficulty if there weren’t enemies that could trump your combos. I agree it can be done with more elegance than in your examples, but if there’s anything I’ve come to understand it’s that finding the middleground between “perfectly disruptive” and “not cheap feeling” is super tricky.

I’d love to read a combat analysis of No More Heroes from you (also vewtiful joe)

Non related but i have a question about beat em ups.

Why is that in a fighting game when you hit an opponent they are locked in hit stun and if your fast enough you can execute a full combo on them yet beat em up enemies sortha randomly negate what ever combo your doing.

Like in God of war the snake ladies will just dash out of a combo your doing on them and in bayonetta you’d be combo-ing enemies and some of them randomly parry you out of it (especially on harder difficulties)
this thing has bothered me for a while and feels kinda cheep

The stagger idea is very frustrating to me personally because enemies with that behavior (not disrupted/interrupted by player attacks) really change the nature of the game. It’s fine when you have an occasional elite enemy but if that’s the way most enemies are on higher difficulties then sounds way less interesting. In my experience, beat ‘em ups that do this sort of transmogrify themselves into weird rhythm games where it’s no longer about metered but realized aggression and more about microscopic poke bursts while you’re finger clings desperately to whatever poor button fires your defense mechanic. Haha!

And I’m with you; it’s still enjoyable as a product because it has a lot of heart, and it does still have that engaging combat flow.

I understand that the combat mechanics are built around the idea of:
1) Pom-pom enemies to stun and “herd” them together, so that you can
2) Chainsaw the stunned group for crazy Sparkle bonuses

But as you said, it takes a stupid amount of time to stagger even one enemy, and by the time you’ve gone and staggered another two or three — much less maneuvered them near each other — the first one of getting back up.

As for the first attack being on the negative edge of the button press, I understand why. One of the unlockable attacks involves holding the initial pom-pom attack for a moment or two in order to charge a “butt bash.” If it was on the front of the press, that attack couldn’t be used.

And finally, there’s the subject of enemy stagger. Especially on higher difficulties — where this game suffers since it becomes more annoying than satisfying — even your strongest chainsaw attacks are shrugged off, and zombies easily swing through them to interrupt your combo, since apparently even a zombie sneeze trips Juliet up.

Now, yes, I’ve focused on the negative, but honestly? I love the game. Actually, I adore it. The combat does take a while to get used to, but in the end I do always leave the game with a smile on my face. I do wish the combat mechanics made a little more sense, though.