However, if you do a special move with a lower power gauge, you’ll get an “Overcharge” warning, which refills the gauge at the expense of one life bar. The special attacks still have their own power gauge, with replenishes automatically. It’s also one of the few games of its types to have an on-screen combo counter, though the enemy health bars, outside of the bosses, have been removed. While many beat-em-ups have dashing attacks, the characters in Guardians walk forward automatically with combos, which makes attacking multiple enemies much easier.

There are still weapons to find, in the form of swords, bars and bombs, but your characters already have a huge arsenal that they seem redundant. This special button is used in conjunction with the standard attack and jump buttons to pull off the desperation moves. While the original Denjin Makai only used two buttons, Guardians uses three, with one solely devoted to a major powerful attack, which is usually some kind of projectile. Each has four slightly different combo strings, depending on what direction you’re holding the joystick, and each still has a number of special moves, which are helpfully indicated on the character select screen. There are eight playable characters now, which may in fact be some kind of record.

It takes all of the elements of its predecessor, speeds up the gameplay, enhances the graphics, and kicks everything up to extraordinary levels. The name change probably occurred since Makai is no longer a playable character. Though the title screen indicates the name Guardians, various logos in the game feature the subtitle Denjin Makai II.

Denjin makai series