Spikeout: SEGA’s Incredible 3D Brawler
Arcades were where the Beat-‘Em-Up was born, and fittingly, it’s where they were buried.
Riding on the back of pioneer hits like 1986’s Renegade, developers the world over were soon jockeying for position with their own brawlers. Some, like Technos Japan (Double Dragon) and Capcom (Final Fight), were top earners in the genre. Others, however, couldn’t separate themselves from the surplus of games coming each year. By the 1990s, very few new companies were breaking into Arcade Beat-‘Em-Ups, stagnation born and bred from saturation.
It’s only fitting then, in an industry with such high stakes and thin margins, that arcades took a mortal wound early in the late 80s. Plummeting revenues brought on by home console sales closed most venues in the West, leaving only the largest arcades on both American Coasts to last through the release of Street Fighter II.
While game centers still survived in mainland Japan and parts of Asia, you didn’t have to be a genius to smell blood in the water. The largest players in the industry like SEGA and Taito could take a hit- But smaller shops weren’t as lucky. By 2005, the arcade as many knew it was dead.
Spikeout is ambition. It’s a capstone to twelve years of brawler innovation and a scream of defiance to the times. In an era where arcade titles were frequently marketed as amusement rides, Spikeout is 100% game. No gimmicks or tricks; Just a highly responsive brawler developed on bleeding edge hardware and tuned for enthusiasts.
Toshihiro Nagoshi, the lead developer on Spikeout, (Who would go on to gain fame for the Monkey Ball and Yakuza series) worked with SEGA AM2 to create a 3D Beat-‘Em-Up that skilled players could play for as long as possible. While games of the day tended to up their throughput with shorter sessions per coin, a full clear of Spikeout takes two hours- And it’s certainly doable with 100 Yen. While this might’ve put arcade operators ill at ease, it didn’t matter. The game was a gargantuan hit for SEGA. According to Japanese Magazine “Game Machine,” it was the third most successful arcade game of that year, only beaten by one non-SEGA title.
Knowing the Japanese Amusement Landscape at the time and with the benefit of hindsight, we can safely say the deck was stacked against Spikeout from the very beginning. You needn’t look further than Game Machine’s ranking list itself to get a feel for where arcades were headed. The list separates software like Spikeout from dedicated machines like Konami’s Beatmania and Pop’n Music. Old Guard Capcom still made the top five with Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Zero 3 in Japan), but was flanked by Bishi Bashi, Daytona USA 2, and multiple rail shooters. The spectacle of large, dedicated cabinets was quickly catching up to humble software releases, poised to overtake it.
At last, we come to the game itself. The most common revision of Spikeout you’ll find in a Japanese Game Center today is the 1999 release: Final Edition. Beyond bugfixes, additional voices, and an updated title screen, anecdotal evidence from the game’s community claims this version is slightly easier. Believe me, easy doesn’t even begin to describe the Spike series. This game is crushing.
In Spikeout, you’ll be doing battle with members of the evil INFERNO GANG across multiple branching stages with up to three other players. In its heyday, Spikeout Arcade Machines were often linked together to allow for cooperative play, but the game works just as well as a solo mission. Like most games of the era, it all starts when somebody kicks down your bedroom door with murderous intent. The jump to immediate action isn’t uncommon for arcade games, but the first area is still quite unique: Spikeout starts all four playable characters in their home, known as the “Spiker’s Camp.”
Within a minute, you’ll meet up with your co-op partners (If Any), beat the first few INFERNO GANG mooks, and defeat the game’s first boss- A total pushover wielding a flamethrower. This trial by fire sets the tone for the rest of the game: You won’t be seeing any friendly faces from here on out. Adding to the tension and speed is a timer that sits below the HUD, which will kill you promptly if you dally in a specific area. Much like its implementation in Metal Slug, however, you won’t incur the timer’s wrath if you play the game properly. You’ll even receive big score bonuses for getting through each area as fast as possible. Spikeout is most enjoyed aggressively and stylishly. Best practices include mastering its complex combo system and learning to counter every boss’s unique moves.
Most of the depth in Spikeout is found in the controls themselves. The game is played with four buttons and an eight-way joystick- Two buttons are dedicated to movement (Strafe and Jump), while the other two attack (Beat and Charge). Simultaneous button presses add even more complexity to each character’s attacks. You can dash, too!
But above all, the big cheese of Spikeout’s combat is the Charge button. This mechanic is so important to the game’s design that it gets its own paragraph, and returns in every subsequent entry in the series.
The Charge Button creates the skill gap in Spikeout. Many players starting out will use Charge purely for crowd control. They’ll hold the button down for a few seconds, fill the meter beneath the timer, and unleash a powerful attack to a group of enemies before the charge expires. As a player gets better, however, Spikeout’s Charge Button slowly reveals all its advanced techniques. Each character has three levels to Charge: Launchers allow for follow ups and guaranteed damage, stun attacks take dangerous enemies out of the fight temporarily or sets them up for throws, and the knockdown blow is good damage as a whiff punish.
Spikeout experts build up charge during combos and unleash them as enders for big damage. The lower-level charge moves can hit opponents on the ground too, allowing for follow ups and even more damage. The longest combos in Spikeout use the environment and multiple OTGs (On-The-Ground Hits), making quick work of even the toughest foes. Fulfilling its vision, Spikeout lets enthusiasts play its systems for style… And it all feels great when you get it right.
Spikeout’s design is one of a kind. However long you play it, it’s a rewarding title built from the ground up to defy conventions and encourage mastery. Playing it today not only cements its legacy as a cult hit, but reminds us of something we perhaps lost with some games released after the new millennium: Spectacle born from skill, and skill alone.
Special thanks to icuk7 for his input on this piece. As one of the few remaining English Spikeout players, he was instrumental in revealing some of the game’s lesser known mechanics. Check out his channel for hundreds of hours of footage from the game, most of which is him grinding routes on the hardest difficulty.
For a typical playthrough on the game’s default settings, check this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xYQE6NZVPg
