C64 to NES Beat-em-Up Port Throwdown - Weapons

Super Nintendo, NES & GameBoy tomfoolery;

And now, more Bad Street Brawler and Target: Renegade comparisons!

We've already seen some weird low-level enemies and a goofy assortment of bosses, but did you know that both of these games feature some truly bizarre weapon pick-ups?

Picking up weapons in Bad Street Brawler

Bad Street Brawler has a ~~stupid~~ unique beat-em-up design feature: while you never get to use any of your enemy's weaponry, you DO get to collect their dropped weapons for points:

These little strongmen show off their ball-and-chain attack, but when they're defeated...

their weapon -- or the angel-winged soul of their weapon?! -- ascends to the top of the screen.

Then at the end of each level, Duke Davis gets bonus points for cleaning up the streets -- each weapon that he's taken out of circulation is flung into a capacious dumpster.

This spiritual weapon-collection applies to virtually every enemy (though they pad it by having lots of fellows drop somewhat generic knives or guns). So be prepared to gather...

ghost bats,

spirits of the departed banana,

plus your standard angelic versions of knives,

knives,

more knives,

winged gun,

more winged guns, etc.

Well, that was weird.

Picking up weapons in Target: Renegade

For the most part, our targeted Renegade has to trust to his variety of punches and kicks. Once in a blue moon some of his enemies carry weapons he can commandeer:

(like bats)

or sometimes they just come in and fling a knife at you.

But more often than that (every leve or two), there's an unwieldly decoration sitting around which can be hefted and heaved:

whether that means flinging a fire extinguisher at some femme fatales,

using that silver thing (whatever it is) against Tim's Gym patrons,

or picking up an incredibly ~~light~~ dangerous wire trash can to pummel some punks in the park.

Whatever the weird cylander-flinging situation, Target: Renegade's prepared. In fact, his ability to turn furniture into weapons puts Bad Street Brawler's point-collecting to shame!