The Combatribes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Berserker in the middle, with Blitz (left) and Bullova in the background.
"CYBORGS AIN'T LADIES!"
—From the print advertisement for the SNES version.

Originally released for the arcades in 1990, The Combatribes was Technos Japan Corp.'s attempt to create another popular Beat'Em Up franchise following the success of their Kunio-kun (Renegade, River City Ransom) and Double Dragon games. It was developed by most of the same staff members who worked on the arcade version of the first Double Dragon and while it did not have the same widespread popularity as its predecessors, it did inspired a console port for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in 1992. The player chooses from one of the titular "Combatribes", a group of three former military men with superhuman strength who have come to New York City to rid the city of its various street gangs and criminal mobs.

The most distinguishing feature of Combatribes is the unique variety of moves available for each character. In addition to the standard repertoire of punches, kicks and running attacks, our heroes can also push away enemies, pick up and throw them, kick or jump over a fallen foe, bash their heads to the ground, or even swing one around by his feet. The player can even pick up two enemies from opposite directions and bash their heads together. There are also large objects the player can pick up and toss, such as parked motorcycles and go-karts, as well as pinball machines. Because of the lack health items and special moves, the game is also notoriously difficulty compared to other beat-'em-ups, as health recovery is only offered between stages.

The SNES version is a relatively faithful conversion, missing a few enemy characters, the throwable objects and a few areas. However, it does add cut-scenes between stages and boss fights that fleshes out the almost non-existent plot of the arcade version, as an optional versus mode that allows player to control any character from the main game.

Tropes used in The Combatribes include:
  • Boss Rush: The final stage in the arcade version has the player fighting the previous gangs and leaders before the final boss fight. This is moved to the penultimate stage (just before the Slaughter Troops) in the SNES version.
  • Bowdlerize: In the Super Famicom version, the defeated bosses are shown with bruised and bloodied faces at the end of each stage. In the SNES version, the blood were recolored to resemble sweat and tears.
  • The Cameo: The dancing cats in the second stage have Kunio's face in the SNES port.
  • Clean Dub Name:
    • Swastika, the cyborg leader of the Slaughter Troops, was renamed M. Blaster in the SNES port. His lackeys, the Executioners, became the Enforcers.
    • The main gang itself was changed from "Ground Zero" to "Guilty Zero" in the Virtual Console re-release (having an organization with such a name taking over New York City would've been considered insensitive in a post-9/11 world).
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: The arcade version allowed up to three players, but the SNES port is limited to only two.
  • Color-Coded Multiplayer/Competitive Balance: In the 2-Player mode, each player chooses his character at the start of the game, whereas the 3-Player mode has the characters assigned to each player in the following order.
  • Covers Always Lie: The promotional art for the arcade version has the colors of Bullova and Blitz switched.
  • Dual Boss: In the arcade version, Splatterhead will create duplicates of herself to match the number of people playing if there's more than one player.
  • Dummied Out: The arcade version has sprites for an unused baseball player boss, presumably a planned sprite swap for the Native American "Windwalker" boss in case they needed a more politically correct design.
  • Head Swap: The three player characters. In the arcade version, there are also head-swapped variants of the Little Fish and Enforcer enemies who were cut out from the SNES port.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Gring Terror (one of the mooks in the second stage) resembles The Joker.
  • Letter Motif: The three main guys all had names that start with the letter "B".
  • Meaningful Name: Little Fish, the biker mook from the first stage, whose name is a literal translation of zako (the Japanese word for "mook").
  • Mirror Match: The Vs. Mode in the SNES version allows two players to use the same character.
  • Mooks: The arcade version featured a pair of generic unarmed mooks that appear in almost every stage (one in a t-shirt and another type in a tank top), as well as armed grunts that are stage-specific. The generic mooks were removed from the SNES port, which uses the Hate Squads (the wrench-wielding skinhead members of the Stadium Barbarians) as generic enemies instead.
  • Nintendo Hard: Try beating the arcade version in one credit (especially with the health recovery turned off).
  • Non-Action Big Bad: The man in suit in the arcade version.
  • Portmantitle: "Combat" and "Tribes".
  • Reformulated Game: While the SNES port is a bit stripped down from the arcade version, it does add cut-scenes between stages and boss fights that provide a reason for all the carnage the heroes are causing.
  • Shout-Out: Martha Splatterhead, the name of the final boss, comes from the zombie mascot of a punk band The Accused.
  • Theme Naming:
    • Berserker: Named after a tribe of Nordic warriors.
    • Bullova: Named after a Native American battle axe.
    • Blitz: Short for "blitzkrieg".
  • Token Minority: Bullova is the only black guy out of the trio.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: Berserker was renamed Berzerker in the SNES port.
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