God Hand is VISIONARY Action Game Design

[@wishonpleiades6288]

You mentioned that god hand lets you increase the difficulty by taunting but I find it interesting that the game also lets you lower the difficulty by groveling. I don't know, I think there's just something fascinating about a game that lets you modulate the difficulty with in-game actions instead of menu options.

[@ArchOfficial]

It feels more "intended" and less cheaty than just being reduced to turning an option down in the menu.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Lol the groveling is so funny, it's such a cheeky way to punish the player for lowering the difficulty. I think the God Hand rank system could use some work because yeah the grovel does cost you a special attack, but I think it should have more costs (maybe health). Like imagine if you grovel and it drained your health too. The reason why I don't think just in menu switches is a good idea is because you want the dynamic difficulty linked to in game actions and costs. So for example in Garegga (the best rank system possibly) you literally need to die to drop the rank intentionally, so you are giving up an extremely valuable resource for that difficulty drop, where in God Hand I do agree it's a bit too free. I like the idea of the grovel being an option, but I think it should like deplete some health and maybe meter too. But I think it's really important to distinguish just on the fly menu difficulty mode changes (which are a mess) from proper in built game rank. The difference is that built in rank should be actually tied to gameplay resources and performance and not just an abstract toggle in a menu, if that makes sense.

[@raxzen-1610]

​@@TheElectricUnderground the cost of meter and humiliation is perfect as it is. If a player is still struggling with combat and needs to make it easier to survive, making them lose health by using it defeats the purpose of the move. The humiliation and losing meter is enough to slowly motivate newer players into eventually using that meter to fight back instead.

[@chasepalumbo2929]

Lmaooo “God Hand is the Sekiro of 3d Beatem ups” ign never fails to amaze me

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah I feel like at this point the "it's like Dark Souls" meter ran out, so they had to switch to Sekiro lol.

[@KnightElSneed]

"Poke of God" is the best button prompt in any video game ever.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

This game's humor is next level, I love how playful it is.

[@t.b.6600]

"Urban Reign" came out a year before, also to mixed reviews, and brought much of the Tekken formula to a 3D beat em' up. I feel like it has to be discussed here for context!

[@suriyarn4013]

Urban reign masterpiece. People still play it and discover grabs and counters and tag moves 🔥

[@AcceleratingUniverse]

that game is fantastic

[@arisumego]

never heard of it but thank you for putting me pn

[@GELTONZ]

Urban Reign feels like a game that didn't know what it was. It tried to bill itself as a beat 'em up but it felt more like a free running fighter like Power Stone, Ehrgeiz, or ESPECIALLY Def Jam. Really it feels like Namco's answer to Def Jam...but they tried to bill it as a beat 'em up and I feel like that was a mistake.
Not that it mattered. It came out alongside Beatdown: Fists of Vengeance and Final Fight Streetwise and so it gets confused with the other two and lost in the mix.
I absolutely agree that it is a fantastic underrated gem of a game.

[@eliminator1492]

One of the best fighting games on the ps2 I still play it everyday it has great characters my personal favorites Brad, Jake, Glen, Park, Alex, Chris, Shun Ying, Ling Fong however most busted charcters like Golem, Napalm 99 Shinkai with his katana (equivalent of Brock Lesnar from here comes the pain) really test your skills. Hope we see a review on the channel.

[@metaldiceman]

That's why I like this guy. Even though IGN turns around and eats their words, he doesn't let them get away with it and pokes new holes in them. Love it.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah ha I think the game needs to be taken and discussed more seriously, and the funny thing is that all the things it does are still not design features that IGN likes, that's why their "In Defense of Article" doesn't make much sense. I would have had my mind blown if they defended the game's camera system and stuff, but they didn't. It was just kind of a general validation that the game is good ... for reasons ha.

[@retractingblinds]

God Hand was one of the key games that made me realize the importance of how we engage with games on a physical level. More energy spent = more fun to be had. God Hand mixes cancels, constantly creates new input windows and pushes you to do risky maneuvers that take tons of physical actions that make it feel like you're dancing all over a Dualshock 2. Giving both sticks major importance was essential to this, even the flurry of tapping forward to weave a demon's flurry of hands attack is one of the best feeling things in a game. Most games are a race toward efficiency, charge your shots, go for counters, parry and punish that they ignore how fun it can be to spank an enemy and finish off with a launcher that sends them flying away. Even better that each of this has a mechanical property that can interact with the gameplay sandbox, from hitting them into a wall to sending them into a crowd like an oversized palm-propulsion bowling ball.
Another game that delivered on this feeling of more energy spent = more fun is Cotton Boomerang for Sega Saturn. The fact you can punch/grab almost anything and you're rewarded for punching danmaku and juggling sealed enemies and even using it to lay down punishment on bosses makes that trade off of input yield a ton of fun. Especially because one missed jab can mean certain death.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes exactly blinds, I also love the way the game has a feel and rhythm to the controls, I think that's totally intentional and it is fun. It does feel satisfying to time the stick flicks and button presses, it is really kinetic like that.

[@magicjohnson3121]

A feature of this game that i like that may be controversial is the fact that enemies can break out of your combos. It stops them from being the DMC punching bag type.

[@Aripuni1]

Thats beat em up game design

[@twilight_mourner1865]

Same with Sekiro, ninja gaiden, and Nioh. Enemies start guarding and player has to change up their strategy. 👌🔥

[@realamericannegro977]

Makes it feel like a real fight. Reminds me of the Double Dragon 3 jokes from The Angry Nintendo nerd.

[@joe_mama__]

I'm not a fan of it. I would like it more if it worked more like fighting game combos.

[@Coreagrus]

I love DMC and I completely agree with you. Frosts are one of my favorite enemies, in part because they can break out of your combos and put up a fight.

[@AshleysBallistics]

I bought GodHand day 1. Loved it for it's humor, it's style & I stayed for its gameplay. The sheer level of gameplay density is non-stop. From beginning to end just a blood bath. I miss games like God Hand 😢

[@jurtheorc8117]

2023 had Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. Some similar gameplay with the customizable fighting style, though very much its own beast. Prequel to the Zeno Clash games which were 3D brawlers/beat-em-ups.
Can warmly recommend it.

[@samgomez8195]

Badass OG

[@TheElectricUnderground]

exactly Ashley. The game has that freshness to it where you can't play anything like it anywhere else really and there's basically no filler. It's always a really good sign when you get to a game's end and feel like, ok now it's time to play it again right away.

[@beetheimmortal]

​@@TheElectricUndergroundMikami used to be very good at this style of gameplay density. RE4 is basically the same way, as different to Godhand as it is otherwise.

[@Faffel]

@@TheElectricUnderground The only game in my life where I've just started a new run immediately after beating it. That's always one of the big impressions the game left on me, for some reason.

[@NIMPAK1]

I find 3D combat design really interesting because I feel like you have to create a lot more workarounds that either lead to really creative solutions like God Hand or really lame compromises like too many games to list.
With 2D games with static screens or fixed scrolling, the position of your character in relation to where they are on the screen is an important element and usually you'll have to multitask of where you have to look on the screen when there are multiple threats active.
When games allow you to scroll manually, it created an inverse affect where now it's your character that's static and the screen has multi-directional movement. This adds the question of what an enemy should do when they're off screen, with the answer often being that they only load until they're on screen, so their actions are dependant to how close they are to your character.
With a 3D camera, there's the added question of how do you tell when an enemy is too close or too far. And different games often come up with really different solutions. You could tilt the camera at a 45 degree angle is it's closer to a 2D game. Having zoning options so distance is not as relevant. Have enemies always move towards you, somewhat mimicking manual scrolling. Or you could just press a button that makes it so you're automatically close to an enemy (guess which option is the worst).
Personally, I wish more devs would take more consideration to how different types of cameras create different types of player challenges instead of have a weird recency bias and think that every game needs to be 3D/free camera/16:9 because it's the most recent thing (which is especially obnoxious in remakes) and then having to create unnecessary workarounds to problems they themselves created.
Also yes, I would love to see a How to Play God Hand video.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Great comment Nim! Yes I think a topic video I need to make soon that's related to what your saying should be about camera systems and how camera systems ARE a gameplay mechanic, just like attacks and movement. Right now most gamers seem to be of the belief that camera systems should be universal and some kind of objective eye from god ha. And while that standardization is becoming really common now, I don't think players realize that a camera angle heavily dictates the feel of the game's mechanics overall. So with a standardized universal camera standard, games themselves will become much more uniform in how they play.

[@JarrylKhan]

Remember when games were mechanically different? Remember????

[@GroovyFlacko]

No bull man. Developers used to be bold and wanted to be different.
now i feel like if it isn’t a battle royal, overwatch clone, or a “dark souls like” they won’t even entertain the idea…

[@danny833]

@@GroovyFlacko Businessmen, especially American ones, are becoming increasingly risk-averse. Combined with retiring boomer talent + lower IQ's, and you get this mess lol. The declining gaming industry runs downstream from a stagnant culture.

[@vlinnstone6919]

They still are lol and if you think otherwise you are willfully being ignorant

[@wrathpsp]

"It's you! Murphy!!!"

[@knives6]

Its beyond me how these moronic developers dont just take notes from these great OG games and revamp them in todays time.

[@razielbarkrai5596]

After learning that Mikami got pissed at Final Fight Streetwise and wanted to do his own take on 3D Final Fight, it made me appreciate God Hand even more. Vanquish was another Mikami game I wish had a bigger influence on its genre. Edit: Saurian's IGN response video is still a classic

[@shenglongisback4688]

I own Vanquish it's awesome.
The 1st cut of 3D Final Fight is great but it wasn't edgier thus Streetwise was born 😂😂

[@ZorroVulpes]

God Hand desperately needs a remaster. The tiny bit of lag trying to play it on a modern TV makes it unplayable, and the emulation isn't perfect either. The awful reception it got showed that unfortunately the game industry was about to take a turn for the worse.

[@magicjohnson3121]

Won't because the game isn't suitable for "modern audience"

[@ZorroVulpes]

Yeah people complained about the game being problematic and inaccessible back then and that was before Twitter existed

[@jurtheorc8117]

Closest thing to God Hand in recent years that i've encountered is a 2023 prequel to Zeno Clash, that being Clash: Artifacts of Chaos.
Pretty good game. Not quite as in-depth or complex as God Hand but on its own it still offers fun stuff. Can warmly recommend it.

[@tiarabite]

I was interested in this game but I don't have a PS console and now reading this comment man that sucks. I know PS2 emulation is a difficult beast to tame, but do you think there is any good chance of them managing to make God Hand more playable in the future?

[@KnightElSneed]

@@tiarabite It's not the emulators fault that we stopped using CRT's. Still. the emulator itself does introduce some input lag but turning off VSYNC both on the emulator and your GPU's control panel helps. But you don't need to worry if you are going to play this casually as it does run well and is fully playable. The OP of this comment thread is probably an intermediate player who got used to the timings on OG hardware, so have no worries if you just want to check out the game.

[@magicjohnson3121]

The best Fist of the North Star game

[@notnoaintno5134]

nani?

[@realamericannegro977]

True

[@MansMan42069]

​@@notnoaintno5134 🤯💥💥💥💥

[@peterkozlowski4377]

Agreed, This game is a fotns game in everything but name.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yeah I def think it has that vibe. See wouldn't have been awesome if after God Hand we got an official North Star game in it's style, that would have been awesome.

[@GeneGideon]

Best action game ever. It's been on my Mt Rushmore(along with MGS2, MGS3, and RE4) ever since it launched. I didn't give two shits about the bad reviews at the time, I played GH for like 2 years straight.
It's so depressing how NO ONE looks at this game and tries to build on it. Instead we got two games in 2009(Demon's Souls and Arkham) that every dev decided to copy for the next 15+ years. Same with Zone of the Enders 2, Wonderful 101, Urban Reign, and other mechanically superb games.
Suck to target/move assist needs to die already.

[@Amra..]

Nobody is copying Arkham. It's all Sekiro now

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Exactly Gene, you get it. I like other action games series but God Hand should have been more influential on the genre, we would have gotten a much more interesting and varied landscape of design and gameplay mechanics. Whereas now all action games are sprinting to be exactly like each other. And the ones that remain more rooted to old school design, like Wanted: Dead and Gungrave Gore, are basically dismissed. It's a bummer.

[@pppp-by1bq]

Great insight.
You are the only person I have seen in the West who understands the transition of the action game so well.
In the 1990s, 2d beat`em up and fighting games evolved into 3d.
For example, anyone can sense the lineage from the 2d era by looking at Spikeout, Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers, Dynamite Cop/die hard arcade (1996), Soul Edge, zombie revenge, smash bros, etc.
Sega's CYBER TROOPERS VIRTUAL-ON (1995), capcom`s power stone (1999) are unique, but it carries on the fighting game lineage.
Shenmue (1999) is also often forgotten, but it utilizes the essence of 3d fighting games.
The turning point in the evolution of action game design, which has its roots in the arcades, was actually Ocarina of Time, which was heavily influenced by chambara.
This was an action adventure from the console, based on the idea of playing with a 64 controller.
In fact, in interviews with developers of Onimusha, dmc, Ninja Gaiden (reboot), jet set radio(2000) and many other games, they have stated that they were greatly influenced by the OOT.
also, influential pre-DMC action game, Koei's dynasty　Warriors 2 (2000), was probably influenced by OOT.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

What an awesome comment!!! Yeah most western youtubers don't take arcade game design very seriously at all, not realizing how foundational it all is to the ps2 era games we all know and love. All the great Japanese devs were raised and fed from the arcades (bless them) :-)

[@pppp-by1bq]

In other words, broadly speaking, most 3d action games since the 2000s, including God Hand, are based on a mix of beat'em up, fighting, and OOT.
Incidentally, ico and Shadow of the Colossus are adventure games with action elements rather than 3d action, while Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Eldenring incorporate western rpg game design into Japanese action games.
With the birth of dmc and others
a new generation of actions was born one after another.
For example,
Sega's shinobi (2002), kunoichi / Nightshade (2003), PROJECT ALTERED BEAST (2005)
Tecmo's Rygar (2002), Ninja Gaiden (2004)
Konami's Castlevania (2003), Nano Breaker (2005), and OZ (2005).
Konami's ZOE (2001) is similar to Bandai's Gundam VS series (2001 ~ ) and FromSoft's Armored Core in its approach to robot action rather than human characters.
Namco has Death by Degrees but I can't think of any others.
There are many other action games from different companies, games exclusive to Japan, and little-known unique action games, but the action before and after the OOT is completely different.
And we can see that Square Enix, which excels in rpg, a Western game design, does not stand out much in the action field.

[@mon11nom]

I'd be into a how to God Hand vid

[@lamegamertime]

Thought this said "I'd be IN a how to God Hand vid" (as in the example of what not to do ig). Like sheesh you can't be that bad at it

[@GoldenAugust-]

Started Godhand, kicks ass

[@yunggolem4687]

13:00 Some words that could be used to describe this: Discrete vs Continuous... Binary vs Systemic... Boolean vs Simulated. Fundamentally these are just Quicktime Events in a game like Stellar Blade... all nuance is removed. It's pure timing window. Either you hit the button in time or you didn't.
There's no physical simulation occurring of interacting hit/hurtboxes, therefore no variance by how early or late in the window your reaction was or how the positioning of your char or the enemy character and their respective hurt/hitboxes influence the timing & success/failure state of the attack & defense.
Nor is there any consideration of range sweetspots influencing damage, knockback, guardbreak, interrupt, etc. For instance a roundhouse kick made from the correct distance to maximize leverage and foot/shin speed ought to have more effect than a kick made from grappling range, where the leverages for a kick are all wrong to generate power.

[@BenSPR]

FYI, repeatedly mashing duck essentially turns off Gene’s upper hurtbox so there’s no precise timing required for ducking attacks. Ducking an enemy combo will raise the rank however.
Also, on Hard in God Hand and Professional in RE4, rank is locked to maximum and can’t change.
Also also, a side effect of RE4’s looking/aiming controls is the ability to do quarter turns. I wish God Hand had something like this but, we got a minimap instead, so it was likely an intentional choice to keep control scheme simpler.

[@jasmineallder987]

I bought God Hand for a friend recently as a birthday gift gift, neither of us had played it before but it instantly became one of our favourite games. It's combat just feels so good and there's a great sense of mastering the game when you go from just trying to beat every enemy to when you start maintaining Level 3 and Level Die. I absolutely agree with you that the in game ranking system is a great element and more games should experiment with those systems. I loved the game so much tha as soon as I finished I started trying to rig up similar movement and combat systems in Unity just because there's nothing else that plays quite like it.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That's such a cool birthday gift! Also that's really cool you are experimenting with the game's design in unity. I'd love to see some indie stuff come out that builds on its design more, because it's probably too radical for a AAA studio game to do at this point.

[@heyheythrowaway]

You should make a video aimed at game devs about what your ideal design principles, combat system and level design would look like.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah that's such a good idea. I've been workshopping a vid like that, an overall vid of what I think good action game design looks like. I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll come up with something like that, that's really good. So far I have a lot of specific topics coming to mind though, like a video on camera systems I think I'll do really soon and how camera's need to be taken much more seriously as gameplay mechanics, and not an automated function.

[@MisterMelvinheimer]

God Hand is a masterwork from a time game design forgot.
BTW this game totally does use tank controls, because Gene controls like a tank. The camera is fixed to your back just like re4, which also uses tank controls. Forward is always forward, backward is always backward, no strafing.
Great video regardless. Always loved this game.

[@ScileSc]

Love God Hand. Only discovered it like three years ago through Turbo Button, but I´ve finished it about 8 times already. The GH love is still going strong.
Im gonna disagree on the custom moves. There are multiple alternatives to the launching uppercut and multiple guard Break moves. The Problem with guard Break moves for me is that they are prescription moves If you dont have any super moves ready. And while the upgradable moves are a simple Numbers Game, it is a tangible Motivation to play well, get your Rank Up and get that paper to keep your moves Up to date even If youve already found a moveset that works for you. Also some of the Most fun Ive Had with the Game was Challenge Runs Like Kicks only, or boxing Rules only.

[@maskedbadass6802]

If I were an indie developer I would take the lessons of God Hand and make an even better spiritual successor game and call it Satan Leg.

[@Spit1990]

Devil Foot, maybe.

[@thelastgogeta]

Lucifer Calf!

[@shenglongisback4688]

Devil bum😂😂

[@jurtheorc8117]

To anybody who likes God hand, perhaps Clash: Artifacts of Chaos may be interesting. Zeno Clash prequel with findable and customizable fighting styles and individual moves. Not quite to the same extent/depth as God Hand, but it does what it does well!
No auto-attraction to enemies either. Also has some interesting mechanics in stuff like unique attacks from directional dodges, or when inputing a new individual attack the *moment* your previous attack hits an enemy, the animation gets canceled and that new attack comes out quicker.
All Styles you can find and switch between have fully unique animation movesets too and thus some dodges and attacks from directional dodges cover different amounts of ground, or returning you to your individual position.
Interesting thing too is that the Parry isn't an outright counterattack, but actually makes the enemy move a bit slower for a few seconds if you parry it. Works both ways.
In the case of projectiles, this would translate to grabbing the projectile to then throw it back. If you hold the parry button, for a second and a half or so, time moves slower so that you can properly aim the projectile back.
Very solid and good game. Zeno Clash as a whole is an interesting and unique combat-centric game series with an awesome art direction.
Also, if you're interested in more games like DMC, Darksiders, Bayonetta, Etc. then keep an eye on stuff like:
- Soulstice
- Genokids
- Enenra
- The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile
And i think i can add the likes of
-Yasuke: A Lost Descendant
and
- Gori: Cuddly Carnage
as well. To an extent.

[@rodneyabrett]

Clash from ACE is great. I love it.

[@HerbieChuckNorris]

Awesome to hear, I've had it installed for ages just haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Will make it my next thing.

[@jurtheorc8117]

@@HerbieChuckNorris Wish you a lot of fun on it whenever you may get to it! And also fun on the game you are playing in the meantime.

[@GELTONZ]

As someone who DOESN'T like God Hand, I'm glad someone finally explained WHY it's good! Usually I just get people saying "It's good" and "It's like a beat 'em up but in 3D" but I always felt it did poorly at that and of course good old "You just don't like it because it's too hard for you". I could see that dodging was a major element but as such it was kind of more like Punch-Out!! in an open arena than what I'm looking for in a beat 'em up. Those wall loops were enlightening though.
As for WHY I don't like it? Well the first one is that you can't have enough moves equipped at once and in an interview the guy behind the game said that was intentional because beat 'em ups have limited movesets and that's an element of the genre. I absolutely LOATHE that mindset. Sure you can talk about how restrictions can lead to greater challenge and creativity and you may even have a good point but to limit a player's moveset because "That's what a beat 'em up is" is abhorrent to me. I want beat 'em ups with big meaty movesets. I know. I'm weird. I love beat 'em ups but don't care for Final Fight.
But even if we WERE going with "That's just what beat 'em ups are", the lack of co-op and only one playable character feels like missing the point of the genre as co-op play is what put beat 'em ups on the map. I'd be much more accepting of this on its own but as an "evolution of beat 'em ups" I reject it full stop.
I know. I have very different priorities than most.
The other big issue was that I played a game called "One Must Fall: Battlegrounds", a widely hated sequel to the PC fighting classic "One Must Fall 2097". It was a bold attempt to move the series to 3D and it...well it played like God Hand but as a fighting game with no semi-auto combos. You had four attack buttons which could be strung together into combos and command input special moves (mostly forward-forward and back-forward) as well as Supers, air dashes, and all sorts of nonsense. It launched in a poor state and trying to run it in the modern day is a nightmare (it's POSSIBLE, I've DONE it, but you need a Old Windows emulator, a cracked copy of the game, patches, and to figure out how to turn off one of the lighting effects that glitches out and makes the screen pure white on modern hardware). So when I'm playing God Hand I can't help but think "Why doesn't this game have command inputs?!"
For the record, I preordered the game and bought it on launch day. I wanted to like it but I just couldn't get into it. Might have to give it a second chance and indeed, if it got a sequel I likely would have given it a chance too. Infact, in modern day I do indeed feel bad for the game as yeah...we were a LOT more experimental back then and I hate how homogenized things are these days. Even weird budget games like Oneechanbara dumb themselves down for modern audiences (MAN I hate Oneechanbara Origins and don't get me started on what happened to the Tales franchise). I respect that this game plays like almost nothing else.

[@Cronalixz]

I absolutely agree with you on this one, and it's a problem I have with other (completely unrelated) games which do the same thing. I HATE being limited with what I do in terms of the moveset. If the dude has always been able to do a move, it doesn't make sense to me to restrict this. It's an immersion thing for me.

[@DragoonCenten]

Bro is yapping with this one. God Hand gives you plenty of breathing room, having a billion moves just to have them is pointless, it's bloat and looks intimidating to beginners. Just play hack and slash if you want huge ass movelists, beat em ups are for people that don't want to look at an encyclopedia before they start killing stuff. Also, Oneechanbara Origins is a great game, just a different flavor from Z2 Chaos. Only changes I'd make to Origin is adding more air options, making it easier to get enemies into the air, keeping them in the air, and buffing Saki because she's pure damage with no utility (and Lei does obscene amounts of damage, making Saki useless on top of having more utility).

[@arisumego]

20:16 love that you critique DMC enemy design here. my experience of playing DMC is basically "why do none of these enemies do anything? they do one long windup attack then hang back while i do stylish attacks that do little damage. this isn't fun lol"

[@atmatey]

That’s why I like DMC1 and Bayonetta 1, enemy design should be aggressive and interesting. Their behavior should force you to make interesting decisions especially when there are multiple enemy types at the same time that synergise with each other.

[@morkgin2459]

​@@atmateystill their enemies are not that aggressive.

[@arisumego]

@@atmatey i do prefer those games but none of them even come close to Ninja Gaiden 2. by far my favorite character action games because not only does it have excellent character action depth the enemies actually have not only aggression but depth as well

[@benskx]

To this day Lvl Die is one of the hardest difficulties I've ever played in a game, Hard Mode in God Hand is so insanely hard. Enemy attacks become like 30% faster and their AI ramps up the aggression, it's brutal. I've beaten God Hand so many times, but Lvl Die still gives me trouble, it's crazy hard.

[@JimmyMcG33]

I just finished God Hand a couple days ago, it's awesome. Great review, you ride that line between technical discussion and the concrete 'feel' of game mechanics really well. And using modern games as a counterpoint does a lot to illuminate why God Hand is so good.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Thank you very much Jimmy!! I really appreciate the kind comment and am glad you're connecting with my approach because I want to discuss the mechanical design of the games but I also want to explain how the mechanics translate to how the game feels and plays, so i m happy that is coming across well :-)

[@espicelmecanicodecombustio1632]

One thing I'll say about direct move upgrades, such as Guard Break 1->2->3 is that as shit as the concept may be, it does force the player to interact with the move shop and may lead to the player experimenting new things.
One incredibly big hurdle that game designers face incredibly often is forcing the player to somehow interact with the systems of the game, and not just abuse the first good tool they have. The implementation is lazy and honestly bad game feel, but if the default attacks remained as strong as they start out for the rest of the game, players would actually be discouraged from picking any new attacks, since they'd have to get used to the new moveset for what may not be any real payoff.
Also, the need for money incetivises better play, doing secret challenges, going to the arena... or at least that would be the idea in theory, but the casino is way faster and easier to make money in.

[@hotworlds]

Personally I love that you can throw away your guard break. I say let new players screw up and learn what they need by trial and error. The total flexibility deepens experimentation and gives you more ways to engage with the core mechanics. I liked to put one in the main combo and use the default button for other stuff. I hate how people put safety rails on everything these days to the detriment of experienced players. You only need to try to fight one guy who guards to figure it out anyway and that happens right away.

[@thelastgogeta]

Given that the game came with a manual and you can find the digital one with a PS3 purchase besides any other tips the game has within... I agree.
I just think customisation on that level comes with risks which is why most games which have a shop force you to go there early on and to purchase a key mechanic.
DMC is an exception and tons of people either bounced off or brute forced due to the shop not being obvious enough or the properties of attacks (DMC5 had try before you buy so it wasn't nearly as bad as other numbered games).

[@Kinos141]

Let's be real, if God Hand was made today, it would be the God Hand we know and love. 2006 was like a different era.

[@mcmcmify]

Great review as always Mark!
I know it's not really scoring, but one aspect of GH that i really like is that it gives you an average of your rank at the end of each stage and at the end of the game. So as an intermediate player, you can replay the game trying to achieve a higher average rank score.
Also, the Grovel move acts as a rank control method. So you trade off higher rank average for likely fewer deaths in the stage.
So even if scoreplay is broken, playing for survival is fun because of rank average and death counter.

[@superpowerman4354]

Some games are just too far ahead of their time.
However, you have opened my eyes and revitalized my faith( only a bit) for the upcoming 3D Streets of Rage and Golden Axe, I really hope Sega does their homework and studies games like this.
That being said, I have only played MadWorld from this dev, still need to play GodHand.
Great work Mark!

[@jack_crawford]

i don’t think rank is the best way to modulate difficulty on the fly. my experience as a new player in God Hand was the game constantly fluctuating between all the difficulty levels. i think any single difficulty level as a static setting would have been better, more learnable as a beginner.
i really like “consensual dynamic difficulty”, where the player constantly makes choices to determine the difficulty (usually incentivized by score). e.g. Devil Daggers farming, and obviously all kinds of shmup scoring decisions. i don’t really see why rank is better than this approach

[@censoredterminalautism4073]

I like how your reviews all go into the specifics of what makes good games good. Very useful for people to actually learn about games, which is pretty rare. Makes things easy for me too, I can basically just say "just watch this guy, he's legit, and play good games and you'll get it".

[@MikeyJ1572]

I think that an issue that doesn't get talked about enough is how realistic and high quality animations and environmental interactions sell games, but also seem to correlate inversely with the type of finely honed gameplay systems that this channel specialises in analysing and promoting.
If you show a shmup to a 60 year old, they are probably going to think it looks like ass, unless it's something like Ikaruga, where the bullets make really beautiful and dazzling geometrical patterns. But you show them Red Dead Redemption 2, and they'll be able to connect with the extremely realistic looking cowboys.
Creating polished visuals that are appealing to mainstream tastes (something like TLOU or RDR) while also cultivating and maintaining the level of mechanical depth seen in the games promoted on this channel seems like an absolute nightmare problem space for technical animators. But, the future games that are both successful enough to recoup development costs and that will be heralded as milestones of innovation will probably have to do serious research and development into this problem domain.
The animation tech in TLOU pt 2 is very exciting because it allows for extremely responsive yet still fluid and realistic animations. All a game like that needs is some game designers on board who care about arcade design. It already has probably the most cinematic gameplay that has ever been created, imagine if it was equally as cerebral as it was cinematic? It would appeal to both the hardcore and casual fanbases alike.
Some of the most special games are those that find a balance between eastern and western design philosophies. Metal gear and resident evil have done a great job at this in the past. Maybe the remake of the remake of the resident evil 4 remake will finally manage to nail that balance.

[@mdd4296]

The inverse effect came about not due to the fidelity quality itself but the cost of them. When you already sunk millions into properiarty tech, the suits would want you to make a billion in turn. And so no matter what kind of game designer you are or the kind of game you want to make, you have to make do with mass common denominator.
TLOU2 had an arcadey rogue lite mode though. Which did wonder for its gameplay but really diminished the narrative polish (enemies keep calling each other names, sometimes on repeat between runs. Admitedly, this could be easily fixed by tweaking their lines or which one they choose)

[@ship05u]

I agree w/ your take on GH being more of a 3D beat em up w/ clear roots to the 2D or 2.5D beatemups along w/ 2D & 3D FGs that came before it but your implication that the OG DMC was anything of a 'safe bet' or 'bankable' for a company like capcom (who themselves tried their best to make sure that DMC wouldn't exist as a new and separate IP back then) is not only misleading but also some revisionism shit. OG DMC at the time was ground breaking in the way it handled the 3D action genre which at the time was not taken seriously at all as most of the industry was in the process of figuring out how to do it good enough so that they'd at least be on par w/ their 2D arcade action game counterparts but even then those games blew those proto 3D action games out in terms of everything until OG DMC dropped & showed the world that not only 3D action games can measure up to their 2D counterparts but also have the potential to go even beyond. A safe bet for capcom at the time would've been just another fixed camera Style RE game which they even tried w/ Dino Crisis, RE:CV, RE0 and RE1make only to find that both the devs & people already were burned out on that formula and that those games weren't selling as well as they used to (doesn't mean they all flopped but in eyes of capcom they may as well be). Hell even Onimusha was more of a safe bet than whatever the hell OG DMC was doing as that was more familiar to the RE crowd at the time. Also comparing shipping of copies b/w OG DMC as for 2018 vs GH for 2006 (a 12 years of difference at least) is also misleading considering OG DMC did get a few re releases over the years compared to GH which is just forgotten and abandoned, at best collecting dust on PSN for PS3 only and at worst sold at ridiculous prices for a single physical copy. If it wasn't for the progress of the emulation scene over the years then there would even be less of a conversation surrounding GH.
Your comment about hitbox & hurtbox interactions which leads to these single player action games having their own version of neutral or well footsies (pretentious fucking term by the SF crowd) towards modern action games like the Arkham series or Sifu is not only just weird but does not track either. If you're saying that GH has amazing, "realistic", reasonable and most importantly fair hitboxes and hurtboxes then that's not entirely the case either cause if that was even remotely true then the devs wouldn't have put varying degrees of I-Frames on all the dodge moves for Gene in the first place and just dodging via movement alone aka evasion would've been enough. The reality is that is indeed a lot of work even for the old school action game devs so they cautiously and carefully handed out I-frames to moves to not mess w/ their idea of balance for the game. Enemies in GH also have ridiculous hitboxes and tracking on their attacks if you decide to use other types of dodge moves and didn't I-frame through em, then you're eating em. The range, frequency and tracking on their grabs alone are insane dude and then you have Gene who has even more ridiculous hitboxes and hurtboxes (his hurtbox during drunken moves or HandPlant Kick or Crescent Kick etc. are just busted). This idea of neutral in GH is mostly something that while works but it's not even close to being as precise as compared to the FG counterparts which is fine as it is not even trying to be a PvP game where those kind of hitboxes could be an issue (or not if you play FGs beyond the big 3 i.e. SF, MK & Tekken).
Furthermore you're mixing up attack range magnetism w/ those concepts. Not only does GH have that type of magnetism but also soft lock magnetism as well but it's just that it's very subtle & not super noticeable (a good example for that is Fist of Justice and also roulette moves). Gene's button prompt sequences for Pummel, Suplex and SSSpanking for few examples literally magnets his ass to the stunned target for em. There's nothing wrong w/ it and if the modern action devs decide to take it to more extreme to avoid having a player whiff then that's simply a creative decision they've taken that alters the neutral that would fit better for those games they're working on. Example - Does Batman look silly and ridiculous when he flies across the battlefield just to punch that one dude in the distance then zooms back into the fight? yes but his games also want the player to not whiff as that would mean losing out on the combo score system which holds a few mechanics behind it along w/ some moves. Plus it's optional, you don't have to do that at all and can choose to take that distant foe down in multiple other ways. Also even then it's possible to whiff in his games if you decide to strike in a direction where there's either no enemy, they just died (I mean collapsed from over-exhaustion.. Bat doesn't kill ever at all no sir) , if they're out of reach (unlikely but can happen) or out of sight. Even then from Asylum alone, there's enemy design that discourage that kind of behaviour from the player (knifebros and electric rodbros) and City onwards takes it further. You're ignoring crucial context like that and instead of asking why would that game do that in the first place, you're seemingly just going w/ "well modern action game devs just don't get it and are bad at whatever they do" then call it at that which is not only profoundly fuckin LAZY but also harmful as the unfamiliar audience would simply take that and run w/ it leading to spread of misinformation.
All in all I want to say that I love God Hand and it's one of my top 3 favourite action games and so while I was happy to see someone attempting to dissect and analyze this game along w/ it's intricacies n' nuances, even then it's difficult for me to make it past the first 10 mins of this video. I'd probably give it another shot at some another time though. Even then I'd still thank you for putting a spotlight on this amazing amazing game and seeing the length of the video alone tells me that you must have worked on it for quite a while so I definitely appreciate that amount of effort as well. I just think that you need to be more open minded and more knowledgeable towards the action game genre esp. the niche fast paced Style focused ones before making those kind of statements that ya did or maybe reach out and consult w/ the high level community for that niche sub genre prior cause I really don't wanna see more misinformation being spread out.

[@TyGreenGoblin]

I really wish Mark did consultation work with action game developers.

[@YudaHnK]

He either has or will, his name is out there - they will contact him

[@cartoonvideos5]

You fanbois are so gay for this dude 😂

[@otaviobasso2507]

Now it’s time for Viewtiful Joe: The Greatest Action Game Ever Released

[@bast01]

Fuck yeah, my favorite game

[@JMDurden]

Nobody can do a better job than Matthewmatosis did.

[@otaviobasso2507]

@@JMDurden true. That I consider the greatest youtube video game analysis ever. Hope he also does Bayonetta 1.

[@realamericannegro977]

Viewtiful Joe is genius.

[@jngo172]

Ah yes, the legendary Viewtiful Joe, the peak of action gaming 🤤

[@connormccarthy2745]

As far as an answer to your question: YES, please, a tutorial would be great. Building square attack chains is very daunting, I could absolutely use some help with that. I feel like it's the main part of God Hand I still haven't wrapped my head around and the TH-cam content that exists currently is... Rough.
That said, you're going to hate this, but I genuinely think Sifu is the best God Hand successor we've gotten (that's a very low bar, to be fair), specifically when played in the fixed camera arenas with the "unlimited enemy threats" modifier turned on, which allows multiple enemies to attack at once and makes the defensive game much deeper. Don't get me wrong, you're right about the spacing game being massively simplified in Sifu, but as somebody who likes the game quite a bit more than you and has over 150 hours in it I can assure you that the God Hand comparisons are many and meaningful. With just a few changes (disabling the soft lock and target suck altogether for the player and enemies, removing focus attacks entirely, and fixing the camera to the character) it could be considered a worthy follow up. I don't even think you'd need to adjust the enemy behavior aside from the unlimited threat modifier I mentioned earlier, the game honestly feels like it was built with that in mind. Maybe that's something that a talented modder could pull off.

[@boghogSTG]

For square just put the fastest attacks in and finish off on multihits. The square combo is mostly for poking enemies until they guard & building dizzy. When learning I'd say just keep the default moveset & buy linear upgrades/moves that are really close to what you already have. You'll get an understanding of the different niches moves occupy better.
Other than that, step back kick (good for counter hits & you can cancel it to backdash quicker), drunken twist (avoids highs while attacking enemies) and forearm smash ("charged" attack that instantly launches enemies) are good. Use the triangle moves a lot (charged punch is great and versatile, triangle + up near a knocked down enemy to launch, triangle up near a juggled enemy to kick them forward, triangle down near a juggled enemy to do a DP style move).
Sifu & God Hand are only similar on a skin deep level. One of the great things about God Hand is that it might have that Sifu esque divide & conquer neutral, but it also has a much more interesting and fun crowd control game where you can play bowling with enemies and start chains and shit. Nobody has really bothered capturing that element, or even trying to.

[@jurtheorc8117]

What other God Hand successors are you aware of, if i may ask? I know of Absolver and my personal favourite Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, and perhaps that recent sci-fi stealth/fighting hybrid game may count.
Clash has a different structure, tone and (really cool) art style and direction to God Hand, but also has a customizable fighting setup, to a lighter but still solid degree. Base moveset consists of Combo String, four Directional Dodges and a different attack from each Directional Dodge, a Jump Attack, a Run Attack and a Charge Attack. On top of this is the Parry and the Super Meter which puts you in a first-person perspective.
The thing is that you can find and "equip" up two two different Stances to swap between and three different Special Attacks to other buttons. All Stances have completely different animations to them.
Love that game.

[@connormccarthy2745]

@@jurtheorc8117 not many at all, that's exactly why I said the bar is low

[@connormccarthy2745]

@@boghogSTG thanks for all of that, super solid advice!
I think you're absolutely right that nobody has captured those elements of God Hand and that the Sifu comparison doesn't go too deep; I'd say it's a bit more than "skin deep", some of the more advanced and traditional aspects of Sifu feel like they were highly inspired by GH before being tempered by modern sensibilities, but I definitely get what you're saying.
As far as trying to emulate the more advanced elements of crowd control found in God Hand, I do have one weird example: Resident Evil 6's mercenaries mode allows for some really fun enemy bowling when you're playing as Jake. I don't think they even came close to reaching the heights of what God Hand achieved, but I do think there's an interesting comparison to be made. Some of the throws and crowd control moves you can pull off with Jake's unarmed moveset are pretty interesting and allow for some fun snowbally moments.

[@boghogSTG]

@@connormccarthy2745 Well a lot of the similarities in Sifu & God Hand are really just things that are inherent to 3D beat em ups in general (low high distinctions & roulette moves aside). If you play Spikeout, it has a similar kinda crowd control where you space yourself right and use enemy bodies to block off other enemies and that sorta stuff, along with getting them near walls
And yeah Resident Evil 4-6 mercs have hints of that, not even just the melee either actually but the grenade group kills and that type of shit. Getting a group coup de grace exploit in RE6 mercs
😩👌

[@el_dogetaco812]

Can't believe people are still making videos about one of my favourite PS2 video games. I love this game.
I remember getting the disc when I traded a bunch of games with a friend. I didn't play it for a while, then one Friday, I sat down and beat the game in one 7+ hour sitting, with no memory card.
Hands down the best experience I've ever had.
Haven't found anything as punchy and as fun and tongue in cheek since.

[@Wulfpack1]

Can we also admit the Rockabilly Surf Punk Rock soundtrack is God Tier. "My Arm, My Arm, My Arm, My Arm, will summon up the power of the God Hand!". Sad thing is I have 2 physical copies of God Hand and they both do not work. One has scratches like crazy and the other seems to have some kind of disk rot.

[@thefebo8987]

You should have put the reaction about the "suck to target feature" from the boghog stream in here 😂

[@diamondhamster4320]

Fighting multiple opponents in beat`em ups and character action games is same feeling as those over-the-top martial arts movies when one master fights countless goons and easily manages to win.

[@ahmadkhairul337]

Sifu is the epitome of your comment

[@diamondhamster4320]

@@ahmadkhairul337 True, true. Absolver and Sifu are basically playable Honk-Kong-style martial arts movies.

[@cikame]

God Hand is the Dark Souls of brawlers.
Here's another one, Winback is the Dark Souls of cover shooters :D.

[@somegrumpyalien]

the most technical review for a game that deserves it.
thank you

[@GojiGuy]

Great video. I've always respected that God Hand kept combat grounded. DMC, NG, and Bayo are all lightning fast and really reward juggling enemies and doing aerial combos and while that's cool, when you're doing an aerial combo you are completely safe and that kinda kills tension and makes launching enemies a FOO strategy.
God Hand wants you to always be considering enemies and spacing and that's really fun and engaging. In fact, in that way it's actually like RE4 lol.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Perhaps Clash: Artifacts of Chaos and the Zeno Clash games may be interesting for you. Pretty absurd and weird setting full of freaks, monsters and maniacs, but combat is generally quite grounded.
Clash: AoC from 2023 (prequel game for Zeno Clash) has an interesting thing regarding that "safety" in the Guard Meter. It depletes with every hit you make and take and every time you run, yet replenishes on its own. But it's no Stamina. Instead, you only receive 50% damage and less stun of an enemy attack as long as there's even a *little* bit of Meter left. You can still perform any move when the guard meter is depleted.
And not unlike God Hand, Clash: AoC has customizable movesets, where you can find and assign two Stances to switch between with their own unique animation and utilities, as well as three Special Attacks.
Claw Stance keeps a lower profile and hits wider, though not super strong; Boxing is an all-rounder; spear is slow but has good damage and the furthest distance of any stance, and there's more to be found such as Corwid Stance (the weirdo drunken madman), Lightning stance (kinda like Muay Thai), Mammoth Stance (highest power of any stance) and some others.
Can warmly recommend it.

[@GojiGuy]

@@jurtheorc8117 interesting. I've never touched those games so I'll give them a look!

[@chunkymilk]

surprised you haven’t made a video on this gem already, glad to see it.

[@Galaxy40k]

One of my all-time favorite games. I'm glad that it FINALLY got the sort of deep dive analysis into the mechanics on TH-cam that it deserves. I know it'll never happen, but I do hope that one day theres a remaster of this game so I can play it on consoles without digging my PS2 out of the closet haha

[@andoo_11]

A tutorial video would be awesome. Incredible action game!

[@Agus-wp2cc]

Honestly I could hear you talk about game design or games in general for hours. Amazing content!

[@analgesicproductions]

God Hand is so cool... I started playing a week ago or so and I do wish there were more 3rd person action games that cared about wall geometry and stuff more but didn't have such slow/boring combat like your souls or whatnot. lots of opportunities to make all sorts of visual settings shine

[@jurtheorc8117]

The game Clash: Artifacts of Chaos from 2023 seems to mix some stuff on that front. World layout and presence of a healing flask, as well as bonfire checkpoints are like a Souls game (or other games where such elements are present, but people mostly know it for the Souls series by now), yet the combat is more like a 3D fighter/brawler not unlike God Hand and it can be quite fast. Finding different individual attacks and fighting styles to your character, and a mechanic where if you input a new non-prescribed-combo string attack the *moment* your previous hit lands on the enemy, then the animation is canceled and that new hit comes out faster.
All Stances you can collect have wholly unique animation movesets too. And there's a short optional minigame that's central to the game's lore, called the Ritual, of which the winner gets to determine an extra condition on the upcoming battle.
Stuff like the enemy having to drink poison that slowly takes away health or periodically staggers them, a fence/ring where the first to get knocked out has to take a free high-damage hit, summoning some sort of pterodactyl crocodile, or even tying an opponent to a Summon artifact so that you can have that enemy as an ally in a later battle.
Like i said, it's wholly optional if you so choose. Game's a solid and fine beat-em-up adventure in its own right.

[@SuperfluousMoniker]

One of the best games ever made! I agree that it's a real shame it sold so poorly and was ignored as a blueprint for gaming, I want to live in the alternate reality where God Hand sold a million copies and spawned a subgenre like Devil May Cry did.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes I'd love to see that too. I think the potential was completely there, Mikami, one of the most successful devs at the time (created hit after hit at Capcom) was certainly the man for the job and is still clearly passionate about the game and genre. Alas the public was not ready. This sounds cheesy, but I do think Mikami was an artist ahead of his time when he and Clover made God Hand.

[@Odisseo_]

Oh man, god hand is such a gem. Every 1/2 years i replay the game, it never gets boring to kick azel ass 😂

[@cloverfan7486]

Great video although HSK spam is a little painful to watch when it's overdone. That said it's not bereft of depth as keeping the combo going keeps you in danger and requires a level of technical skill, reaction time and consistency that doesn't make it mindless. I love that wall splatting does splash damage around the enemy which can damage and stagger adjacent ones. Drunken Twist spam is broken and should've been addressed by the devs ideally. One of the biggest faults are some truly bad boss fights like Dr. Ion and the demon form devas where all the interesting interactions go straight out the window. Disagree somewhat on the move customization. Straight upgrades are indeed lame, especially when they're used for near staples like charged punch and guard breaker. Those two are without a doubt top tier even without damage upgrades because of speed, and the fact that gene leans into the enemy with guard breaker whereas he can whiff with other breakers like the backtwist. Enemies get increased health as the game progresses which I am indifferent on. Playing with all the different moves is still too fun imo.
There are a few other quirks with controls, the triangle move (default right roundhouse) has a flaw in that you can't use it following an up-dodge, because gene will sweep instead. Sweep is still really good so this to me is still an interesting thing to consider when planning your moveset. Stomping is pretty much useless outside of lvl 1 difficulty and is a noob trap since enemies get knocked over like leaves on lvl 1.
There are so many cool things this game did. You can influence enemies into performing certain actions like ducking and countering with guard breakers. The whole counterhit system where moves gain enhanced properties like juggle height and knockback when timed correctly. Enemies on their last bits of life are susceptible to enhanced knockback weakness (though not juggle height unfortunately). Dead enemies can still be messed as long as they don't complete their death animation so they can be used as tools for crowd control (eg, if you right roundhouse them, adjacent enemies will be staggered. If you juggle them you can still shoryuken and air launch them which can of course hit other enemies). Air launching can be aimed. You can react to a juggled enemy's backflip with a shoryuken, air launcher, or running attack if you're quick enough and dash forward. Environmental props like scaffolding and furniture can stagger enemies when broken, though they unfortunately feature most on stage 1. The game even played with wall properties with those boxing ring challenges. Enemies knocked into them will bounce off and can be kept in some funny combos
I could go on but yeah this game is incredible. A sequel that properly implemented scoring among many things would've been incredible too.

[@jacobo_fungus_farmer]

Great video Mark. I tried God Hand because you and Bog talk about it all the time. Amazing game and was not disappointed.

[@westonstaufenberg7278]

Mark, now you need to play and review Vanquish to finish the Shinji Mikami 3D action game trinity. Crazy that he directed 3 of the best 3d action games over the span of 5 years and of those, 2 of em are the most unique and innovative third person shooters ever.

[@jshwt]

Yes, please make an in-depth tutorial for God Hand.

[@jamesjohnston8454]

Without a doubt, I would love a master course on God, hand mechanics, and how to play

[@victaa]

love ur fighting game content, the stuff you highlight translates beautifully to actual fighting sports that i wish games got right more often

[@salsamancer]

The rank system is good. Imagine if DMCV had something like this. Series veterans wouldn't have to suffer through an entire easy playthrough just to get to the designed difficulty.

[@islandofmelanat]

Great video! I particularly love the emphasis on the fundamentals of its design at the beginning of the review, I'm definitely going to show that bit to people when I explain why I dislike things like the excessive attack tracking in games like Elden Ring.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and I'm casting my vote for a tutorial vid! I started playing God Hand recently and would love that type of video!

[@colonelsandwich641]

I think if there's anything to be learned from God Hand, designing simple systems that overlap in mechanically meaningful and interesting ways often makes for incredibly engaging and rewarding action game design. Hone in on a strong idea, figure out what you want out of it, and do everything in your power to build a solid foundation around that (and communicate that vision to the player as much as you can!)
also more beat em ups should have prompts to spank your enemies hee hee

[@jurtheorc8117]

Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is a good one. That doesn't have prompts for spanking, but it does have special finisher attacks that are generally unique to enemies. From strangling a giant turkey chicken to goomba-stomping a theater actor to swinging onto the giant horns of a deer goat creature and using the momentum to swing into an axe-kick onto its head.

[@daserfomalhaut9809]

This game was so fucking funny.

[@masterchief1172]

Thank Yooooou for making such an Awesome review of God Hand

[@LLKoolJosh]

I would watch a godhand tutorial

[@markmillar4910]

Great video as always man. Really broke down why Godhand feels so much better to play vs so many other action games. And yes, you should do a how to play for this game but only on hard mode and above. Easy is like warrior mode on Ninja Gaiden 2. Anyone can muscle their way through with a basic understanding of the game

[@ryanjamesblanchard]

This is the best channel for analysis of game design.

[@auroranamex5886]

Mark is the GOAT when it comes to game mechanics analysis!

[@fidvs1009]

I really love this game and I appreciate that you dedicated a video to its great gameplay in depth. Although Moike Kobe has dedicated his channel to god hand I would like to see a tutorial of this game coming from somewhere else (from you haha). Nice video dude

[@atrocity3010]

God Hand is one of those games that I love and appreciate the design of, but at the same time I'm never going to get the full enjoyment out of. I have dexterity issues and really, really struggle at dash inputs on stick (especially a PS2 thumbstick), and if you can't quickly do those dash inputs on reaction this game becomes very difficult. I played through it on Easy over a decade ago and was somehow able to barely scrape through a second playthrough on Normal (after a shit ton of groveling) while really only being able to do the occasional run and backdash. No high side kick cancel and pretty much no duck dodging in general.
Stuff like this makes its cousin RE4 much easier to come back to - it doesn't have that execution barrier.

[@danlowe]

Your channel is a goldmine of games I missed

[@vadicanik]

I got this game complete at a goodwill for less than 2 dollars 5 or 6 years ago. I for one would really like a tutorial, its a lot to wrap your head around.

[@djdedan]

Speaking of tekken force Namcos Urban Reign is another 3D beat em up that’s pretty darn fun.

[@rickthaslickgamer]

God Hand tutorial would be a fun video to watch. Also I'm subbing to the patreon!!! You have been doing some great work.

[@squirrelsyrup1921]

Severance Blade of Darkness may scratch the itch for people wanting more God Hand style combat

[@jurtheorc8117]

And perhaps Clash: Artifacts of Chaos too.

[@morkgin2459]

More soulslike

[@mishkomensch3019]

I would like to see a combat analysis video on Judgement/Lost Judgement

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That s a cool idea!

[@AsamiyaMouchou]

I spent so many hours on this game, maybe a quarter of them in the casino, abusing saves/reload and i still don't regret any inch of it. Thx for the vidéo!

[@whambulance8607]

39:05 on RE4 professional difficulty the difficulty remains the highest from the start to the end. I beat RE4 50 times so the game is really easy for me now. That's where challenge runs come in to make the game more difficult again.

[@whambulance8607]

Nevermind you addressed this concept 1 minute later 😂

[@osakanone]

An example I've seen of suck to target actually done well is Armored Core For Answer (2008), where the duration of the suck is down to how long you hold the attack button, so you MUST release it with the proper timing or you whiff, meaning you get absurdly high speed fighting BUT it isn't braindead. The result is if you don't read your opponent, you will miss. The blades in this game will kill you in two to three hits, for context. The blading matches remain very popular, but need a bit more depth imo (though they do have frame-data, which are listed as blade warmup, guidance, blade-length, and recovery time) and could be their own entirely new game.
The offline game is a bit simple and too tutorializy for my tastes, but the online game is absoloutely outstanding and incredibly high level and people are still playing it today.
A later game, Armored Core: 5, and its standalone addon-esque sequel Verdict Day (which is an entire campaign and new parts) have zero suck to target, and as a result due to the game's speed the close combat borders on unplayable barring some very extreme punishes following a stun from a firearm. I think STT has its place, but it shouldn't be a guaranteed hit based in interpolation of Current to Target Goal location, and should instead be based in real movement with real movement limits and the ability to miss if you time its beginning or end incorrectly.
I'm not fond of Armored Core 6 for fairly obvious reasons. Its too streamlined and dumbed down.

[@kainannicotari941]

That thing you said around 36:00 about rank and differentiating a first time player to an expert in the same level is thee entire design philosophy of Hideki Kamiya.

[@anmoldalal16]

I am amazed at this commentary. The transition to better suited 3D fighting mechanics was created to counter problems with games like God Hand. The problems with this brilliant game: It suffered from major enemy targeting flaw and promoted repeat fight mechanics. The game got monotonous as it progressed. These are issues which plague most PS2 era fighting / action games. The execution of the brilliant idea of God Hand was seriously flawed.

[@GroovyFlacko]

the humor, the vast amount of combo customization, early capcom tank controls, and all the camp
I truly love everything about this game. it’s not perfect, but it’s a fun ass time

[@Tellin08]

Amazing video. I never knew about how Modern 3D third person combat works at all.

[@wrongthinker843]

Honestly God Hand is one of the games most deserving of a successor/remake... a proper one of course.

[@lord461]

Thanks for covering this. Such a bummer they didn't remake or make a sequel. It was a good game.

[@MachoMadnesss]

So glad this video exists. Excellent and thorough work.

[@laxminarayananks1520]

Randomly discovered you on TH-cam and oh god, dude you're top notch game critic man. Dunno why you have less subs :)

[@k3nshi704]

Sometimes every few months i try to find a video about God Hand
Today i am blessed.

[@quattrobajeena8954]

I consider this video *the* summary of God Hand in terms of game mechanics... Thank you so much!

[@theconsolekiller7113]

Checking this out now. This game is still one of my all time favorites. There wasnt really any games like it then, and there hasnt been since. My top 3 choices for a sequel would be God Hand, Twisted Metal and Vanquish. I would say Ninja Gaiden, but they started fucking those up after the second game.
God Hand and Sekiro are about as far apart as you can get from eachother, as far as 3D combat games go. Good shit, ha ha.
Makes sense. An FPS without that limited POV is basically a twinstick shooter. Very different type of game. God Hand always reminded me of an evolved Streets Of Rage. I havent really seen another 3D beat em up that carries over and evolves the style of 2D Beat Em ups. Not to the level of quality in God Hand.
That wall loop is interesting. When I beat Hard Mode my biggest overall Boss Killer was chain yanker with Yes Maam Kablam, to extract god hand, rinse and repeat.
Right, compared to Capcom's other game RE4, the backgrounds and areas were very generic in God Hand. It becomes part of the game's charm, but it definately made the game feel like a budget game, at a glance. God Hand was actually one of the first games I played on my launch PS3. I found the game for 20 bucks, never heard of it, but saw Capcom on the label so picked it up with the console. Was very pleasantly surprised.
Would definately check out a tutorial on the game and be very interested. I created one myself for Hard Mode, so its cool to see things I missed. I was just going for the KILL so I never got real deep with the mechanics. Mainly played for efficiency.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Closest thing to God Hand that i can think of on a gameplay front would be Absolver and Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. Can warmly recommend that last one.

[@deamonghod]

This game, was so so superb and the voice acting was top notch. It's not even close to Sekiro. Must have been people that never played the game. "whip it whip it!!" 😂😂😂😂 when it came out, I wasnt even able to get an American version in Europe. So I played it in Japanese, had no. Idea what I was doing.. Till I did and the game just had me especially the end boss fight 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾😎😍😍😍. Game was funny, innovative and so ahead of it's time and honestly, I have never seen a game like it... Ever! Great vid and Break down. Subbed!

[@ArcChristelle]

Will you do a follow up with Mad World and Anarchy Reigns?

[@EdgardR.]

Suck to Target or as God Matthewmatosis coined Move Assist, worst bs to ever happen to videogames

[@sibel9272]

Dude, 90% of action games have move assist in some way, some more so than others.

[@salmonconnections]

I am so glad GDC talks exist for devs to unintentionally clown themselves.

[@hewdyer332]

They are just talking about how they made the game. Unfortunately its lame gameplay like that makes games more assessable.

[@vlinnstone6919]

​@@hewdyer332there's nothing lame about it lol, God of War has exceptional combat... Anyone saying otherwise is just extremely uneducated

[@argosbrave6415]

@@vlinnstone6919what I’ve gathered today are 2 things. God Hand is a good game. And the people who like it enough to care in 2024 are literally a cult

[@fenimore-2854]

So refreshing to see someone appreciate this games design instead of discourse surrounding it

[@kitestar]

If hideki kamiya had peak, this came just before

[@yoanmontavon7700]

I believe that Mad World is intended to be the spiritual sequel to God Hand given that Platinum Games probably included the guys from Clover who worked on this game. Great OST by the way, but much less technical unfortunately

[@samgomez8195]

God Hand most DEFINITELY uses tank controls. RE4 is tank controls and God Hand is just RE4 except you punch instead of shoot. It's even by the same director.
The key distinction between control schemes is that with tank controls, you cannot strafe you have to turn the character and can only move forwards or backwards. The camera being attached does not mean it’s not tank controls, see Tomb Raider. In all FPSes, you can strafe in any direction so to say it’s more like an FPS is just inaccurate.

[@thelastgogeta]

Right, I think Mark got lost in the sauce by focusing on where the camera is rather than how the character behaves in response to inputs.
It is wonderful that it works how it does, since it is a commercial product from big names that proves that it can work.
If it didn't exist, the case for tank controls would be significantly weaker in discourse as only select PS1 horror games and successors got recognised for it.

[@MerlinTheCommenter]

Regardless if I agree or not, why did TH-cam decide to make this divisive comment the first one? _Especially_ when there are so many other comments with 5x the likes? TH-cam likes having fights. 💀