I worked as a bouncer as a favor to a friend one time and was surprised at the amount of mechs and ninjas i had to deal with. Had it not been for this game i might have died that night.
A main villain lamenting the amount of humiliation they've been through then revealing they've been wearing denim overalls this entire time is quite frankly the best example of "show, don't tell" I can imagine.
Remember that time Sora from Kingdom Hearts teamed up with Zell from FFVIII and a tatted up Amon from Escaflowne, and they fought to rescue cyborg Cecillia from Wild Arms from the clutches of her brother, Sydney from Vagrant Story? And then they finally answered everyone's questions about where Rinoa was in Kingdom Hearts by turning her into a cat and killing her. Damn, that was nuts.
I’m so glad you mentioned the Sora / Sion relation. As a kid I was convinced that Kingdom Hearts and Bouncer were somehow either a prequel or a sequel based on the design of Sion.
Welcome to square design. Just about everything is either really lazy copy paste, or so absurdly new and different, its not fun, or the original anymore.
I just remember my cousin and I beating the game and unlocking all the characters to play the local brawl-style fighting multiplayer with. There was a level with a staircase and we would fight at the top floor just to throw each other down the stairs and crack up at the ragdoll effects haha
I actually thought I was the only one that did this lol. I remember I would always pick the main bad guy just so I can hear the announcers say really fast duragon Sean mercado!!!
One thing I remember best from the game is after you defeat Mugetsu the final time he gets killed by engine fire from the platform ship thing your characters were on. If you played Kou in that segment he'll comment, "Incineration, huh? Better get used to that for where you're going." I got to admit that I liked that line.
I remember my friends and I calling Volt's charge attack the "random act of violence" because of how he could sometimes completely change direction mid charge and belt someone else in the face unexpectedly. We had so much fun with this game, hearing Volt's EEEEYEH really takes me back
You're an absolute hero for tallying up the load time, cutscene time, and gameplay time. As a kid it was painfully obvious how little time you spend actually playing, but it's fun to see some actual numbers.
35:26 I'm in tears. This shouldn't be as funny as it is. The fact that absolutely nobody gave a shit while Dauragon kept typing on his keyboard makes it so much funnier.
@@gustavoaraujopenha8463 no, I was talking about the pile of slavjank that is Boiling Point/White Gold/The Precursors. Tehsnakerer did a video on them and they are something. But yes xenoblade is cringe fight me
It always surprises me how you'll truly go through so many different games and thoroughly. I see so many reviews and often think "Did they even play that game they're reviewing?" But whenever I see your videos I think "Holy crap he actually played it" You also don't get so immersed within company history and who did it why like others and just focus on the game. It always feels relevant and really focuses on the experience of the game. Keyword experience.
Honestly, when I played this game in 2000 as an 11 year old, I played it so many times over and over and over again to max the characters and had a tremendous time with it. At 33 though I don't know that I'd be able to play it now but I seriously remember this game fondly =)
I think I maxed everyone out but I just remember getting really pissed at this game so maybe I didn't? I traded this game in but I wish I hadn't in hindsight lol
Honestly I miss impractical but insane costume design of Nomura. Taking over world in overalls is such a power move that is hard to discredit. Considering KH there is only one letter difference between "plaid" and "plain".
in regards to your comment about the voice acting, it was exactly as you said! I actually got to meet steve blum briefly at an anime convention last year and something possessed me to ask him about this game. he told me that he literally went into the studio after working on another gig and was given little to no direction lol. it's funny to think about because the bouncer was one of my favorite games as a child and some small job he never gave a second thought about could still leave such a huge impact on people.
God, just hearing THE BOUNCER filled me with such nostalgia I now want nothing more than to slam Coke Vanilla and shove popcorn with WAAAAAY too much salt on it into my face hole. This game with that snack and beverage combo was how I lived when I first got my PS2.
The pressure sensitive buttons brought me back. Interestingly enough i have to correct my self when playing things like neir replicnt remake and automata and even dmc 5 with a ps 3 controller. becouse i keep trying to short hop with a light press of X. only to remember pressure sensitive buttons do not and have not exsited for 14 - 20 years.
@@SuperSaiyanSimba I can assure you he will never meet someone who has the same name, which is kinda awesome. Just look out for the signs that you might... go the way of typical anime parents XD
What's with americans and eating a sweet beverage + sweet food (sure, there was salt in the popcorn, it's still a sweet food) while gaming? It's just......no. Why even eat while gaming..........I mean, sure every now and then but.........sorry, no. Sugary stuffy on top of it all? Nah.
I laughed out loud when Dominique is stammering through how they can escape and Kou says "What are you talking about?" like he just wandered into a conversation mid way.
It's hard to state how AMAZING these graphics were back in the day. I mean seeing it on your TV was almost unbelievable. Also, ALL your criticism is 100% spot on. This game was clearly like 5 different games during its development. Then SquareSoft tacked on a beat em up. Also this game would have been about 80% better if they just let you block and parry and lock on. It's maddening that it doesn't have a lock on feature. You can tell it needs one when you throw your first two punch combo.
Yeah I never got to play this game but kinda similarly I remember playing mgs1 & ff7 on PS1 as a kid then getting a PS2 & freaking out during that first cgi cutscene on ffx & same with mgs2 lol it was such an unbelievable jump forward
At launch the Ps2 wasn't that amazing if you had a Dreamcast, albeit within a couple of years it was pumping out some impressive titles. Gran Turismo 3 and MGS 2 changed its perception
@@eponymous7910 I went from the genesis to the N64/PS1 so never had one but your right about the Dreamcast, after seeing a few games on it on YT now that I'm older that system would've blown my mind as a kid lol
Its at least refrenced in KH2 and 3 as a nod to gameing hystory its mentioned An npc in twilight town is wearing a t shirt that reads dogstreet in kh2 and in 3 he wears one saying dogstreet 3. You can find posters as well it seems to actualy BE a moive in universe.
This game feels like a relic akin to when we see old wooden toys and think “how was that fun?” …you need the context and imagination of childhood to get full value here
@@hafirenggayuda There was hype surrounding the game as it was promoted quite frequently before the PS2's release and it was Square's first next-gen title at the time when they were still very respected, the game was not just lacklustre but there were features in the trailers which were omitted from the final release such as breakable props.
The fact that everyone who gets knocked down ragdolls is complete magic😂😂😂. I wish they did that more ( or had it as a feature that you can add) in other games.
I loved this game in 2001/02. Hilarious years later. You never mentioned the Trinity attacks! (I think). Volt literally breaks a neck but it never kills lol.
I haven't thought about this game in decades. But upon seeing 5 seconds of this video, this feeling of nostalgia flooded over me. I remember the voice acting and music. And how much I loved this game back then. Thanks for bringing this game back to my mind. I'm gonna see if I can pick it up online.
That game was trying to recreate the absolute magic of denim coveralls that reached its zenith in the Dexys Midnight Runners video, Come on Eileen. Denim barons really ruled the world in the 1980s. *wistful sigh*
I swore me and my siblings were the only people who knew about this game. The multiplayer battle arena was so fun. We would beat the game until we unlocked everyone and their special alternate costumes and play for hours. Some of my best memories growing up was with the three of us picking our favorite characters and seeing who was the best. I would ask prior I knew growing up if they played this game and most never heard of it
@@gazinatory7488 you could beat it in around 30 minutes if you rushed it. It's a beat em up with many characters to unlock so the idea is that you play it over and over again.
I get he feeling that Josh watched I Finished A Video Game's video on Parasite Eve published just two weeks ago, where this game is mentioned and talked briefly about.
The mechanics were really simple, but for 8-year old me who wasn't fond of beat-em-ups or shoot-em-ups, it was just perfect. The pretty character designs also drew me in! I thought Dominique looked so adorable, especially her bandanna, which made her look like she had dog ears.
Marvelous video, this was one of those "it's so bad that it's good" experiences for me. Practically everything you mentioned was spot on! Small correction at 18:23 about ranking not having any relevance, it actually does. Your character's rank directly affects the rank, and thus the stats, of every enemy in the game. I learned this the hard way personally by S Ranking with Sion first and then having an absolutely horrible time with my Volt playthrough since he was either not leveled or at most was C Rank if I recall correctly. All the enemies suddenly had an ungodly amout of HP and attack power and while it was a struggle I did manage to eventually persevere. At least you get a *lot more* EXP for defeating the harder buffed enemies. Beating the game with Kou was fine though since he has a lot of moves you could cheese with. =P
Man, it weird how similar how our experience was. My brother beat the game with Sion twice and therefore had a nightmare with volt. I play kou story in the same save but had a much easier time.becausw of "good" Kou move set was
I loved this game as a kid - I would have been in my early teens when I played this and I fucking loved Volt and Kou - 13 year old burgeoning metalhead me thought they were the coolest. I remember playing this game to death on my PS2, unlocked all the multiplayer characters, completed multiple times with all the characters levelled up to max rank. I never realised how short and terrible this game actually is until watching this video - still have massive nostalgia for it and would love to go back and replay it but objectively speaking it's a pretty awful game.
The volt play through eas the hardest for me as well. I remember his ending being considered "the best" by the gaming magazines at the time. What a let down.
So, enemy stats are dependent on the rank of the highest-ranked bouncer regardless of whether you're playing them or not? That seems like such an obvious oversight.
@@SuspiciousScout Yep, it absolutely is. I think the dev's expected the player to level up everyone evenly for a more balanced casual experience. Funny enough, the struggle I experienced was forever burned into my mind and is one of the reasons why I remember this game, and have fond memories of it. If I were to replay it from scratch attempting to S Rank with all the characters, I absolutely would do the same thing again. While the struggle is real, the insane amount of EXP for leveling is worth it in my opinion. Wouldn't recommend it to those that don't like to bash their head against the wall until the wall breaks instead of your head hahaha.
About that train section, I remember failing it and seeing that you always get the card on your third box opening and it changes what enemies you face in that particular level. You also don't have the defeat every enemy, particularly the robots, you could just run past (but then not get BP for). I don't remember the fight with Kou's boss when you beat the game as him. I think there are secret endings for each character after you clear it twice (so the third time is when you get these endings), like how Dominique visits Sion's grave in the far future because she's an android, not a cyborg. As for the character's ranks and skill unlocks, points and such, those DO change something! The character unlock data and progression on the memory card is used in the VS mode, which I remember playing a ton with my family, as I was the one who went in and unlocked most of everything. It has been YEARS since I played this game, but I remember these details you missed.
Started paying attention at 33:30 This review was great. I relent playing it once and wondering why I didn't buy the game. Now I remember hahaha. Keep up the good work brother
holy shit I remember playing this game as a kid at my friend's house, who's dad was a karate teacher and would always scold us for playing and make us do karate exercises instead. such a vivid memory tied to this game lmao
Hah, I bet it was a nice surprise seeing this game show up on the channel then. Nostalgia like this is great. I was just telling my coworker the other day while listening to old 90s No Doubt at work that listening to those albums bring back memories of playing old DOS games on our Windows 95 PC w/ my siblings. Her reaction was, "What a specific memory" lol. Listening to Metallica's King Nothing also reminds me of Hexen or Heretic (I get the two mixed up lol). Those were the days.
@@wanded Yea, he was our neighbor for a long time, and we even gave him two of our kittens when my cat had a litter of them. I think those kittens (fully grown by then) never went outside and never interacted with any other cats (even their mother), because their home always smelled like cat piss and karate sweat, so my memory of this game was tied to karate sweat and cat piss at my friend's house lmao
0:39 There were plenty of good titles in the PS2 launch lineup. Armored Core 2, DoA2, Midnight Club, Tekken Tag, and Unreal Tournament were definitely standouts. Even games like EverGrace (arguably one of the first Souls Like), Ridge Racer V, and SSX weren't bad by any means. The sports games though? Can probably ignore those
This was a blast from the past. My favorite memory of the game is the Trinity Rush attack. They're just so over the top with Kou and Volt literally snapping the opponent's neck as the finisher of their specific attacks. As a kid I was absolutely stunned when Dauragon would break out of/evade the combo attacks. Simpler time as a 12-year-old.
the keycard part isnt really a game over but it does make the corridor part more tricky as once enemies are dealt you then have to run before the blast doors close
Yeah, weren't the guys outrunning a flood of water and had to make it past the blast doors before they close? I specifically remember dying on that part at least once.
@@Takejiro24 Yes. Somehow I seem to remember quite clearly even after all these years that when you fail the key card sequence, you fail to uncouple the train cars filled with rocket fuel. As a result, the train crashing into the station causes a massive fire setting off the emergency system to contain the fire which consists of lowering fire doors and sending a massive flood wave down the corridors. In the subsequent corridor part you have to make it past the fire doors before they get lowered or you die in the incoming water.
19:17 I can't help but point out here what finding the keycard does. If you find the keycard it slows the train enough to keep seawater from flowing into the tunnels of the next section. You will see in the video when he reaches the next section, a giant steel door descends behind them. If you find the keycard in time, this level will not flood and the steel doors will not close, thus eliminating any need to rush between sections.
I worked in Electronics Boutique (Game) when this was released and I remember the box art work for this title vividly. Something was off and I never purchased it. Then I started seeing our pre-owned bin fill up with this title and old Fifa games and I knew not to even bother with it.
Watched this one again. I don’t know if Josh reads these comments but I have to say: thank you. This is the best game channel on YT. Excellent writing and voice work; no coverage of hype; no pandering; just thoughtful, intelligent takes on games with good humor. Your channels have a level of integrity that most of …. The internet, lacks. I’ll watch as long as you keep making them.
i remember this game! fighting game with sora before kingdom hearts was even a concept. me and my best friend rented this game upon release and kept it for like 3 weeks then bought it lmao literally hundreds of hours of fun! im stoked to see what josh strife says about it!
@@Mark-ll5lm Each character had slightly different cutscenes, and you got backstory on the current character in the loading screens. Playing through the whole game as each character revealed the full story.
Thank you so much for covering this! I only recently discovered you through your Adventure Quest video and I'm binge watching your retros and I was so happy to see this game covered. I have never met another person who has even heard of it, let alone played it. While it may not be a good game, it is certainly a memorable one.
Me and my friends had so much fun playing the VS mode of this game. We only played the stairs level with the piano and played it like a king of the hill map, ragdolling people from the stairs.
@@Crusader3454 Hey man, you sound a little defensive over op just stating a fact. He wasn't telling anyone to think any way, he was just saying that people in the comments were super hyped to hear Josh talk about the game, but it turns out that Josh hated the game, which made it very funny. Form your own opinions.
You explaining the combo menu was the first time in like 22 years Ive heard how to play the game. Also.. After that conversation on the Lift I can't believe Sion didn't know Dominique was a cyborg.
33:30 - I was paying attention. And "hey it's good to have you back" was definitely the funniest thing you said this whole video. I literally laughed out loud.
God damn the craic we had playing this game as teenagers was top tier, my one friend playing dead in the corner we thought was ko'd and then popped last second to still lose 😂
Oh no. Josh didn't unlock all the characters. To unlock that last character, you need to do story as either Kou or Volt all the way through (must be the same but either of them works) then change to Sion for the final boss only. You then see an additional scene where Sion remembers his training with Master Wong. You do the fight and if you win, you unlock him. This also means that Josh missed one play through.
He also didn't get Sion's alt costume from Survival, where he wore a black jacket with the hood up. (I played the game way to much, spare me the multiplayer was REALLY fun if you had a multi tap)
Forget FF7 Remake. We NEED/WANT "The Bouncer" Remaster!! God I haven't thought about this game in FOREVER. Used to be my sister's favorite game to play, may she R.I.P. ❤️ Will always remind me of all the incredibly entertaining hours we played this game together 💕
I think I remember this one through rose tinted goggles. I was about 13, and it was one of the first ps2 games my mom got me. This, gta3, and Dynasty Warriors 3. All 3 of those games hold a special place in my heart, however all theee have also aged terribly on the same software that gave us games that still slap till this day lol. But the jump from ps1 to ps2 was a GIANT leap!!! You just had to be there for it man.
for as long as I can remember, I've really hated loading screens. I never thought about where that hatred truly originated. Your video on the Bouncer reminded me, this was the first PS2 game I ever played. It was a formative experience, the first "next gen title" I enjoyed in my middle school years. And it had so many loading screens.
Initially reading this i was like this sounds familiar, i looked it up and immediately in my head I thought “so this game wasnt a dream”. Thank you for reminding me if this gem from my childhood
These are always fun! Id love to see another beatem up called "State of Emergency" or another from my childhood that was fun was Fur Fighters Viggo's Revenge.
Playing this when I was a kid, gave me the same feeling of playing ff7 remake as an adult. Idk what that says about either, i just recall they both felt the same.
I DO remember a mechanic in this game that you didn't mention (and I think it wasn't really mentioned anywhere either) there IS a button you can press that seems to be like a taunt. I remember Sion throwing like two punches and saying "hey comon!" and Volt doing like a point thing going "you ready?" ...I THINK Kou whistled or something? (turning up a blank for him) and if you heard one of the other AI players say their little taunt and you did yours within a second or two. the 3 of you would team up in like this little cinematic takedown on one enemy you were facing, and they would all be different depending on which character you played. I THINK you could instigate it by doing the "taunt" yourself too. and then you'd need to hit it again to activate it.
In my experience you couldn't instigate it, but its possible I just never figured out how. I remember spamming it as a kid, but replaying as an adult I never even tried unless prompted
I vaguely remember getting this back in the day, and I kind of rmemebered it being fun. At the time I was looking for what I thought would be a 3D "Final Fight" kind of game and this sort of scratched the itch I guess. I remembered it being short but I didn't remember it was this short, and honestly I'm pretty sure I sold it to a Game Exchange place back in a day when I hoarded every game I ever owned, so that probably says something too.
I remember getting this game with my brother as kids thinking it was like final fantasy, playing it for a couple hours, and then declaring "we were scammed" and never played it again
Wow, I found this channel by pure coincidence. Really really good content! I watched this video and the God of War video. I have a cool history with this game. I live in Brazil, and in the early 2000s, the PS2 was a legend, something unbelievable. We read the gaming magazines, and we couldn't believe the graphics. In the only video game store in my city, this game was expected as the second comingo of the messiah, because everyone was a big fan of Square, due to the PSOne RPGs. At that point, when the PS2 finally arrived, something like 6-8 months after the US launch, The Bouncer was one of the games that the owner of the video store brought. You can't imagine the monumental disappointment when people finished the game the same day it arrived at the rental store, lol. Good times that never come back.
Yes! This is the only game I've ever gotten so mad at that I full on destroyed my controller in a fit of unbridled rage. It taught me a lot about myself, lol.
man oh man, I was on my daily video watching while working & stumbled across your vid. I have great memories of playing this game with my cousins who pmo with damn near all major RPGs while I was only into the fps, platformers, & sports titles. Thanks for the major hit of nostalgia
Whoo boy, I gotta say this was a trip to take. My older brother had a large booklet full of demo discs, mostly collected from before I started making memories. Page after page of discs packed to the brim with demos of every type of game you could imagine, it was like having a library of ancient literature at your pre-school fingertips, written in a language you clearly understood. One that always caught my eye was #44 because it had a few trailers for upcoming PS2 games as well as a bunch of really good PS1 game demos. I must have burnt a ring in that disc with how many times I would watch the trailer for The Bouncer. It was loud, action packed and something you just couldn't take your eyes off of. The flashing lights you warned of turned out to be the beginning seconds of that trailer and as soon as I saw it I had to finish the video! So thank you, Josh! I am thoroughly pleased to have seen all 3ish hours of available game time. Especially after, and I can say this with little to no hyperbole, having had watched that trailer so many times I probably surpassed the games length in total view time. So kudos! Thank you for a lovely video and I look forward to many more.
Was the bouncer good? Short answer - No Long Answer - This game is so cheesy, has a over the top story with a janky combat system but It so fun and I love it.
@@IamaPERSON It's bad, but in the way where some people (Like myself) keep playing it anyway, all the way through, even as I bitch about how horribly clunky it feels.
Great video and breakdown of The Bouncer! I had this game as a kid and enjoyed it a lot but yeah, it's so short. Not worth full price when it came out for sure. Something interesting that was not mentioned are the team up attacks you can do in the game with the other bouncers. You can see Kou call for one when Sion is being played when he whistles. If you get close to them and push some attack button I can't remember you do a massively damaging attack that is super cinematic and flashy.
josh thanks for doing this, i remember playing this when i was 10 renting it at blockbuster. it was the first time i was ever so mixed about a game, but still re-rented it a few times because something kept bringing me back.
I enjoyed this as a teen, but I'm interested in trying it emulated and seeing how it does.... especially given modern controllers don't have pressure sensitivity in the face buttons [a sad backstep as that renders features in games like this and MGS2 inaccessable.] At the time on PS2, I'm not sure I noticed the long loading screens cause we were used to long loading in CD games, for me the only thing that stuck out as bad was that in subsequent playthroughs the stats you upgraded for your allies applied to them as NPC's making it much easier for them to kill enemies than it was for you, robbing you of the xp you needed to level up, so you could end up very weak in places you needed the stats and had to rely on the poor AI of the team to win for you.
Not!Sora's chain around his neck is ridiculous. I know where i'm grabbing in a fight with him - and that's assuming that this heavy piece of metal doesn't remove one of his eyes first.
I remember playing this game when I was wee tike. Occasionally the fact that it exists manages to pop up in some small part of my brain every once in a while but I never truly remember anything about it. It’s weird seeing it broken down and analyzed and the history and pedigree makes it so odd to see how awful it actually was. Alot of us were kids, though, when this came out and we didn’t know what good games were.
This is a historical moment for Josh has actually answered the video's title. Honestly, if anything tells you what Josh really thinks about the game, more than the video itself, is that.
Dude I remember this game so fondly. Back in the day we didn’t have as much money to choose as we do now so you played like 1 game between Christmas and birthday. This game was awesome and fresh for the time
Remember, these guys did Tobal No.1, Tobal 2, and Ehrgeiz. Each one of these had a Quest mode which handled a bit like a 3D brawler, and each one offered more than the last. I know some of those moves were lifted directly from Tobal No.1, so why didn't they steal more from the other games?
This game has a fond memory in me and I end up always thinking about it from time to time. My favorite character was that one guy who just spun around on the floor (mugetsu?) and would destroy anyone.
I replayed it as an adult recently and loved it, tbh. The cheesy dialog, the ragdoll physics, the surprisingly fluid combat which is fun to experiment with, even if it's easy to cheese. I still love it, haha
After playing this game a long time ago I found myself (recently) trying to remember what it was called. I remember thinking it was "ok", but now looking at the gameplay I'm realizing that I am remembering it differently. Regardless, thanks for letting me relive the memory without having to actually play the game :D
Definitely had fond memories of playing this with my neighbor as a kid. It's a shame it isn't as good of a game but at least I got those memories :) For some reason this video also conjured up memories of Seven Samurai 20XX and I have no idea why.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I worked as a bouncer as a favor to a friend one time and was surprised at the amount of mechs and ninjas i had to deal with. Had it not been for this game i might have died that night.
This man tells no lies 💪🏽😉 I believe you bro
Thank you for your service 🙏
Don't mess with me, i know "The Bouncer"
Managed a gentleman's club for over two years...can confirm everything OP is claiming.
truth !
A main villain lamenting the amount of humiliation they've been through then revealing they've been wearing denim overalls this entire time is quite frankly the best example of "show, don't tell" I can imagine.
😂😂 every fabric of clothing he took off raised his abilities to absurd levels
it's only topped by him getting beat up for 30 seconds and deciding he doesn't care about his tragic backstory anymore
The reveal made us truly understand the humiliation
than he rips off the denim top to reveal a wimpy looking dragon tattoo 😂😂
Remember that time Sora from Kingdom Hearts teamed up with Zell from FFVIII and a tatted up Amon from Escaflowne, and they fought to rescue cyborg Cecillia from Wild Arms from the clutches of her brother, Sydney from Vagrant Story? And then they finally answered everyone's questions about where Rinoa was in Kingdom Hearts by turning her into a cat and killing her. Damn, that was nuts.
Lmao finally I see this comment. Glad I wasn't the only one who thought this about these characters.
thank you for this comment xD
no i dont
When you lay it out like that this game really does feel like someone's officially published fanfiction.
@@AmaryInkawult perfect description to this sh*t show of a game lol
Seeing the badass heros get slightly nudged and immediately faceplate onto the ground will never get old. Ragdoll physics are a blessing.
Oh yeah it's great, not annoying at all
I’m so glad you mentioned the Sora / Sion relation. As a kid I was convinced that Kingdom Hearts and Bouncer were somehow either a prequel or a sequel based on the design of Sion.
I mean, who could blame you? The KH side material is extensive and bizarre, I wouldn't be surprised if this game was retconned into it somehow. 🤣
Not only that but Volt looks like Zell from FF8 and Dauragon looks like Siefer also from FF8
There's actually no good reason these guys haven't shown up in KH like Cloud, Zack and the others
I never made the connection. When it released we all thought it was Squall.
Welcome to square design. Just about everything is either really lazy copy paste, or so absurdly new and different, its not fun, or the original anymore.
I used to work as a bouncer. This is exactly how it was. /sigh Brings back memories.
Did you ever have to fight guys in overalls with faux british accents?
@@ericrhodes5174 No, none of those. There were a lot of ninja for Cardiff high street though.
@@starktheripper7924 mooortal kombaat
Thank you for putting your life on the line fighting ninjas and falling in love with robot blonde girls who are also bombs.
@@JimboCruntz it's all part of the service, sir. Plus bimbo bomb bots are hot.
I just remember my cousin and I beating the game and unlocking all the characters to play the local brawl-style fighting multiplayer with. There was a level with a staircase and we would fight at the top floor just to throw each other down the stairs and crack up at the ragdoll effects haha
Did exactly the same!
The only problem I had was that endgame challenge to unlock hooded Sion, don't think I ever managed to do it back in the day
I actually thought I was the only one that did this lol. I remember I would always pick the main bad guy just so I can hear the announcers say really fast duragon Sean mercado!!!
YES! I would play masked Mugetsu and tackle people down the stairs
apparently this is just a thing that everyone did
cause i did this exact thing as well
I even got the 4 Player extension for even more fun
Bro some of my favorite past times as a kid. I seriously thought a lot of people didn’t even know about this game
I never knew how difficult being a bouncer truly was, this game has opened my eyes
I respect bouncers now
I would also regularly get attacked by ninjas and cougars on the job while trying to protect my robot girlfriend. Very relatable.
I unironically love the UI in The Bouncer. Definitely its most distinctive aspect. Love that hi-tech but minimalist computer aesthetic
I actually feel the same way. The silent menus with the echo sound effects felt oddly atmospheric at the time.
One thing I remember best from the game is after you defeat Mugetsu the final time he gets killed by engine fire from the platform ship thing your characters were on. If you played Kou in that segment he'll comment, "Incineration, huh? Better get used to that for where you're going." I got to admit that I liked that line.
Ok, I have to admit thats not a bad line. Did he deliver it well though?
@@tenyokensekia8088 He delivered it just fine.
I remember my friends and I calling Volt's charge attack the "random act of violence" because of how he could sometimes completely change direction mid charge and belt someone else in the face unexpectedly. We had so much fun with this game, hearing Volt's EEEEYEH really takes me back
My boy Shiloh used to Main Volt and use his Stage Dive a LOT lol
You're an absolute hero for tallying up the load time, cutscene time, and gameplay time. As a kid it was painfully obvious how little time you spend actually playing, but it's fun to see some actual numbers.
35:26 I'm in tears. This shouldn't be as funny as it is. The fact that absolutely nobody gave a shit while Dauragon kept typing on his keyboard makes it so much funnier.
I was just listening at that point and even without seeing the scene it was freakin hilarious.
The delivery sounds like something from the xenus trilogy
@@BoisegangGaming even xenoblade has better dialogue/delivery/plot than this. Everything that Tetsuya Nomura touchs is just pure,
unadulterated cringe
@@gustavoaraujopenha8463 no, I was talking about the pile of slavjank that is Boiling Point/White Gold/The Precursors. Tehsnakerer did a video on them and they are something.
But yes xenoblade is cringe fight me
DUr A GaN.
It always surprises me how you'll truly go through so many different games and thoroughly. I see so many reviews and often think "Did they even play that game they're reviewing?" But whenever I see your videos I think "Holy crap he actually played it" You also don't get so immersed within company history and who did it why like others and just focus on the game. It always feels relevant and really focuses on the experience of the game. Keyword experience.
Honestly, when I played this game in 2000 as an 11 year old, I played it so many times over and over and over again to max the characters and had a tremendous time with it. At 33 though I don't know that I'd be able to play it now but I seriously remember this game fondly =)
I think I maxed everyone out but I just remember getting really pissed at this game so maybe I didn't? I traded this game in but I wish I hadn't in hindsight lol
36:00 "You could never understand the humiliation I have gone through!"
*Takes off jacket to reveal overalls*
I freaking cried laughing lmao.
🤣He was plotting world domination while wearing overalls!! Even as a kid this baffled me.
That thing is actually relatable
44:50 is great too
Honestly I miss impractical but insane costume design of Nomura. Taking over world in overalls is such a power move that is hard to discredit.
Considering KH there is only one letter difference between "plaid" and "plain".
Don't underestimate strap suspenders or overalls. They don't squish your guts like a belt and when you let them hang down they look cool
in regards to your comment about the voice acting, it was exactly as you said! I actually got to meet steve blum briefly at an anime convention last year and something possessed me to ask him about this game. he told me that he literally went into the studio after working on another gig and was given little to no direction lol.
it's funny to think about because the bouncer was one of my favorite games as a child and some small job he never gave a second thought about could still leave such a huge impact on people.
God, just hearing THE BOUNCER filled me with such nostalgia I now want nothing more than to slam Coke Vanilla and shove popcorn with WAAAAAY too much salt on it into my face hole. This game with that snack and beverage combo was how I lived when I first got my PS2.
The pressure sensitive buttons brought me back. Interestingly enough i have to correct my self when playing things like neir replicnt remake and automata and even dmc 5 with a ps 3 controller. becouse i keep trying to short hop with a light press of X. only to remember pressure sensitive buttons do not and have not exsited for 14 - 20 years.
The missus and I are both nerds lol we named our newest baby boy Sion Leonhart(The Bouncer, Final Fantasy). They all have Anime/video game names lol.
@@SuperSaiyanSimba I can assure you he will never meet someone who has the same name, which is kinda awesome.
Just look out for the signs that you might... go the way of typical anime parents XD
this and auto modellista
What's with americans and eating a sweet beverage + sweet food (sure, there was salt in the popcorn, it's still a sweet food) while gaming? It's just......no. Why even eat while gaming..........I mean, sure every now and then but.........sorry, no. Sugary stuffy on top of it all? Nah.
I laughed out loud when Dominique is stammering through how they can escape and Kou says "What are you talking about?" like he just wandered into a conversation mid way.
A fun bit of trivia is that Pence from the Kingdom Hearts series has a Dog Street shirt as a reference to this game.
It's hard to state how AMAZING these graphics were back in the day. I mean seeing it on your TV was almost unbelievable.
Also, ALL your criticism is 100% spot on. This game was clearly like 5 different games during its development. Then SquareSoft tacked on a beat em up. Also this game would have been about 80% better if they just let you block and parry and lock on. It's maddening that it doesn't have a lock on feature. You can tell it needs one when you throw your first two punch combo.
Yeah I never got to play this game but kinda similarly I remember playing mgs1 & ff7 on PS1 as a kid then getting a PS2 & freaking out during that first cgi cutscene on ffx & same with mgs2 lol it was such an unbelievable jump forward
At launch the Ps2 wasn't that amazing if you had a Dreamcast, albeit within a couple of years it was pumping out some impressive titles.
Gran Turismo 3 and MGS 2 changed its perception
The graphics were meh. FFX came out a year later.
@@eponymous7910 I went from the genesis to the N64/PS1 so never had one but your right about the Dreamcast, after seeing a few games on it on YT now that I'm older that system would've blown my mind as a kid lol
Its at least refrenced in KH2 and 3 as a nod to gameing hystory its mentioned An npc in twilight town is wearing a t shirt that reads dogstreet in kh2 and in 3 he wears one saying dogstreet 3. You can find posters as well it seems to actualy BE a moive in universe.
This game feels like a relic akin to when we see old wooden toys and think “how was that fun?” …you need the context and imagination of childhood to get full value here
I got this game the day it came out, and even then it was lackluster and easily forgettable for better titles.
I could see myself playing the hell out of this as a kid.
I just saw this today but can easily take myself mentally back to that time and I’d love it. The ninja pose names and the absurdity of it also 10/10
It was the early, one of the first title of ps2, rough and very low potential. I feel the game mostly experimental
@@hafirenggayuda There was hype surrounding the game as it was promoted quite frequently before the PS2's release and it was Square's first next-gen title at the time when they were still very respected, the game was not just lacklustre but there were features in the trailers which were omitted from the final release such as breakable props.
The fact that everyone who gets knocked down ragdolls is complete magic😂😂😂. I wish they did that more ( or had it as a feature that you can add) in other games.
This and the Minority Report game were hilarious to play for the ragdolls :)
@@stevenhay7147 was that based on the movie?
Spiderman 2 had the same thing where everyone just bounces around uncontrollably at the slightest touch
I loved this game in 2001/02. Hilarious years later. You never mentioned the Trinity attacks! (I think). Volt literally breaks a neck but it never kills lol.
That's because he never read the manual and never figured out that R2 actually does something.
I haven't thought about this game in decades. But upon seeing 5 seconds of this video, this feeling of nostalgia flooded over me. I remember the voice acting and music. And how much I loved this game back then. Thanks for bringing this game back to my mind. I'm gonna see if I can pick it up online.
Hell yea, I replayed it recently and loved it, tbh
i started laughing so hard when final boss guy pulled his jacket off and revealed his cute little overalls. he looked so adorable! great video!
Yes the overalls are the most reverse-intimidating item I’ve ever seen.
When the final boss is actually a K Pop star.
That game was trying to recreate the absolute magic of denim coveralls that reached its zenith in the Dexys Midnight Runners video, Come on Eileen. Denim barons really ruled the world in the 1980s. *wistful sigh*
It did, however, do wonders for character development. I was 100% sure the villain was a psychopath once I saw the overalls
@@brendonford3838 Do you think he also eats cereal dry with a glass of milk on the side? I wouldn't be surprised, I'm just saying.
I swore me and my siblings were the only people who knew about this game. The multiplayer battle arena was so fun. We would beat the game until we unlocked everyone and their special alternate costumes and play for hours. Some of my best memories growing up was with the three of us picking our favorite characters and seeing who was the best. I would ask prior I knew growing up if they played this game and most never heard of it
congrats, because I think you're the only one to ever play this.
Nahhh I’m right there with you brother. Unlocked everyone and loved mugestu’s spin move in the arena
finally someone else remembers this game
Omg I remember rinsing this game when I first had my ps2, it was epic for the time but like 3 hours long if I remember rightly?
@@gazinatory7488 you could beat it in around 30 minutes if you rushed it. It's a beat em up with many characters to unlock so the idea is that you play it over and over again.
Him and Projared lol!!
My best bud wanted to keep playing this game over and over and over ughhh
I get he feeling that Josh watched I Finished A Video Game's video on Parasite Eve published just two weeks ago, where this game is mentioned and talked briefly about.
The mechanics were really simple, but for 8-year old me who wasn't fond of beat-em-ups or shoot-em-ups, it was just perfect. The pretty character designs also drew me in! I thought Dominique looked so adorable, especially her bandanna, which made her look like she had dog ears.
Josh knows us so well. I was playing this in the background until 33:33.
Ah, the days when SquareSoft characters looked like they were made of clay and melted plastic. Ff7. Racing lagoon. And the bouncer.
35:25 Oh man, when he said, "Stop it, Dauragon," I thought he was gonna stop.
BUT HE DIDN'T STOP
Marvelous video, this was one of those "it's so bad that it's good" experiences for me. Practically everything you mentioned was spot on!
Small correction at 18:23 about ranking not having any relevance, it actually does. Your character's rank directly affects the rank, and thus the stats, of every enemy in the game. I learned this the hard way personally by S Ranking with Sion first and then having an absolutely horrible time with my Volt playthrough since he was either not leveled or at most was C Rank if I recall correctly. All the enemies suddenly had an ungodly amout of HP and attack power and while it was a struggle I did manage to eventually persevere.
At least you get a *lot more* EXP for defeating the harder buffed enemies. Beating the game with Kou was fine though since he has a lot of moves you could cheese with.
=P
Man, it weird how similar how our experience was. My brother beat the game with Sion twice and therefore had a nightmare with volt. I play kou story in the same save but had a much easier time.becausw of "good" Kou move set was
I loved this game as a kid - I would have been in my early teens when I played this and I fucking loved Volt and Kou - 13 year old burgeoning metalhead me thought they were the coolest. I remember playing this game to death on my PS2, unlocked all the multiplayer characters, completed multiple times with all the characters levelled up to max rank. I never realised how short and terrible this game actually is until watching this video - still have massive nostalgia for it and would love to go back and replay it but objectively speaking it's a pretty awful game.
The volt play through eas the hardest for me as well. I remember his ending being considered "the best" by the gaming magazines at the time. What a let down.
So, enemy stats are dependent on the rank of the highest-ranked bouncer regardless of whether you're playing them or not? That seems like such an obvious oversight.
@@SuspiciousScout
Yep, it absolutely is. I think the dev's expected the player to level up everyone evenly for a more balanced casual experience. Funny enough, the struggle I experienced was forever burned into my mind and is one of the reasons why I remember this game, and have fond memories of it. If I were to replay it from scratch attempting to S Rank with all the characters, I absolutely would do the same thing again. While the struggle is real, the insane amount of EXP for leveling is worth it in my opinion. Wouldn't recommend it to those that don't like to bash their head against the wall until the wall breaks instead of your head hahaha.
About that train section, I remember failing it and seeing that you always get the card on your third box opening and it changes what enemies you face in that particular level. You also don't have the defeat every enemy, particularly the robots, you could just run past (but then not get BP for). I don't remember the fight with Kou's boss when you beat the game as him. I think there are secret endings for each character after you clear it twice (so the third time is when you get these endings), like how Dominique visits Sion's grave in the far future because she's an android, not a cyborg. As for the character's ranks and skill unlocks, points and such, those DO change something! The character unlock data and progression on the memory card is used in the VS mode, which I remember playing a ton with my family, as I was the one who went in and unlocked most of everything. It has been YEARS since I played this game, but I remember these details you missed.
Started paying attention at 33:30
This review was great. I relent playing it once and wondering why I didn't buy the game. Now I remember hahaha.
Keep up the good work brother
This was hilarious to watch. That ninja mimic section is probably the funniest thing I’ve seen in a game.
I vote we add this to many other games.
Ninja mime!
It was annoying af to do tho.
Playing as kou was the only way you could play that scene.
“Which means everyone who wasn’t paying attention to the video, now is. It’s nice to have you back” hahahaha that was a good one Josh!! 😂
Yeah, I immediatley checked if that was the "most replayed part" and I wasn't disappointed :P
holy shit I remember playing this game as a kid at my friend's house, who's dad was a karate teacher and would always scold us for playing and make us do karate exercises instead. such a vivid memory tied to this game lmao
That sounds like something you'd dream hahah
sounds like some anime
Hah, I bet it was a nice surprise seeing this game show up on the channel then. Nostalgia like this is great. I was just telling my coworker the other day while listening to old 90s No Doubt at work that listening to those albums bring back memories of playing old DOS games on our Windows 95 PC w/ my siblings. Her reaction was, "What a specific memory" lol. Listening to Metallica's King Nothing also reminds me of Hexen or Heretic (I get the two mixed up lol). Those were the days.
@@wanded Yea, he was our neighbor for a long time, and we even gave him two of our kittens when my cat had a litter of them. I think those kittens (fully grown by then) never went outside and never interacted with any other cats (even their mother), because their home always smelled like cat piss and karate sweat, so my memory of this game was tied to karate sweat and cat piss at my friend's house lmao
@@ToyokaX how did the mom allow that constant smell lol
0:39 There were plenty of good titles in the PS2 launch lineup. Armored Core 2, DoA2, Midnight Club, Tekken Tag, and Unreal Tournament were definitely standouts. Even games like EverGrace (arguably one of the first Souls Like), Ridge Racer V, and SSX weren't bad by any means. The sports games though? Can probably ignore those
This was a blast from the past. My favorite memory of the game is the Trinity Rush attack. They're just so over the top with Kou and Volt literally snapping the opponent's neck as the finisher of their specific attacks. As a kid I was absolutely stunned when Dauragon would break out of/evade the combo attacks. Simpler time as a 12-year-old.
Think I'm gonna have "Stop it, Dauragon!" pop into my head at least once every 2 weeks for the next year, thank you
i played this with my brother and we thought it was the best thing ever. thanks for unlocking a forgotten memory josh!
In both the train keycard sequence and the Box maze sequence there actually IS a timer that will game over you if you're too slow
the keycard part isnt really a game over but it does make the corridor part more tricky as once enemies are dealt you then have to run before the blast doors close
Still doesn't make this a good game.
Yeah, weren't the guys outrunning a flood of water and had to make it past the blast doors before they close? I specifically remember dying on that part at least once.
@@Takejiro24 Yes. Somehow I seem to remember quite clearly even after all these years that when you fail the key card sequence, you fail to uncouple the train cars filled with rocket fuel. As a result, the train crashing into the station causes a massive fire setting off the emergency system to contain the fire which consists of lowering fire doors and sending a massive flood wave down the corridors. In the subsequent corridor part you have to make it past the fire doors before they get lowered or you die in the incoming water.
@@ericrhodes5174 no it's the rest of it that makes it a good game.
19:17 I can't help but point out here what finding the keycard does. If you find the keycard it slows the train enough to keep seawater from flowing into the tunnels of the next section. You will see in the video when he reaches the next section, a giant steel door descends behind them. If you find the keycard in time, this level will not flood and the steel doors will not close, thus eliminating any need to rush between sections.
I worked in Electronics Boutique (Game) when this was released and I remember the box art work for this title vividly. Something was off and I never purchased it. Then I started seeing our pre-owned bin fill up with this title and old Fifa games and I knew not to even bother with it.
I loved this game so much. I can’t even recall how many hours I spent playing it.
Sake. I've revisted it later. "Kou Leifou Super Spy!"
Probably a dozen?
@@stolensentience lol at least!
Watched this one again. I don’t know if Josh reads these comments but I have to say: thank you. This is the best game channel on YT. Excellent writing and voice work; no coverage of hype; no pandering; just thoughtful, intelligent takes on games with good humor.
Your channels have a level of integrity that most of …. The internet, lacks. I’ll watch as long as you keep making them.
Couldn’t agree more. Only matthewmatosis vids are on the same level. This channel is a godsend.
This is the first time he actually answered the question... "Was it any good?"
i remember this game! fighting game with sora before kingdom hearts was even a concept. me and my best friend rented this game upon release and kept it for like 3 weeks then bought it lmao literally hundreds of hours of fun! im stoked to see what josh strife says about it!
Whoa, it IS Sora! Wtf😂🤯
I would say he is the love child between Squall from FF8 and Sora. He even looks like FF8 pre-rendered cutscenes.
Funniest thing about this game was the more you replayed it, the more story you unlocked, and it’s wild as hell lol
Please elaborate, im curious
@@Mark-ll5lm Each character had slightly different cutscenes, and you got backstory on the current character in the loading screens. Playing through the whole game as each character revealed the full story.
Thank you so much for covering this! I only recently discovered you through your Adventure Quest video and I'm binge watching your retros and I was so happy to see this game covered. I have never met another person who has even heard of it, let alone played it. While it may not be a good game, it is certainly a memorable one.
Me and my friends had so much fun playing the VS mode of this game. We only played the stairs level with the piano and played it like a king of the hill map, ragdolling people from the stairs.
Funniest part about this video was the number of people that were hyped in the comments hoping for josh to like it and then he rips it apart 😂
Hey man, u right, but i still love the game, form your own opinions
@@Crusader3454 Hey man, you sound a little defensive over op just stating a fact. He wasn't telling anyone to think any way, he was just saying that people in the comments were super hyped to hear Josh talk about the game, but it turns out that Josh hated the game, which made it very funny. Form your own opinions.
I'm really not surprised he hated the game. Josh's standards are quite high.
This guy shows there’s a four player mode and then plays it three times in a row on single player
This game was bad, but it had many redeeming qualities. It was a good concept just bad execution.
You explaining the combo menu was the first time in like 22 years Ive heard how to play the game. Also.. After that conversation on the Lift I can't believe Sion didn't know Dominique was a cyborg.
This game had HUGE POTENTIAL!
33:30 - I was paying attention. And "hey it's good to have you back" was definitely the funniest thing you said this whole video. I literally laughed out loud.
As a kid, Dauragon changing clothes/phases was the coolest thing.
Combat is nostalgic but I loved the team attacks.
WE FOUGHT HIM FOUR TIMES I'm like STAY DOWN😂
"You ready?"
@@PureCoKayne *whistles*
God damn the craic we had playing this game as teenagers was top tier, my one friend playing dead in the corner we thought was ko'd and then popped last second to still lose 😂
Oh no. Josh didn't unlock all the characters.
To unlock that last character, you need to do story as either Kou or Volt all the way through (must be the same but either of them works) then change to Sion for the final boss only. You then see an additional scene where Sion remembers his training with Master Wong. You do the fight and if you win, you unlock him.
This also means that Josh missed one play through.
We need to cancel him :(
Why do I hear him screaming from here? :)
Too late game is in a landfill
He also didn't get Sion's alt costume from Survival, where he wore a black jacket with the hood up. (I played the game way to much, spare me the multiplayer was REALLY fun if you had a multi tap)
@@Velkern That wasn't additional story though so I can forgive him for missing that.
The fact his game gives you bonus 4th fight if all your characters s rank is my favorite hidden thing about this game
Forget FF7 Remake. We NEED/WANT "The Bouncer" Remaster!!
God I haven't thought about this game in FOREVER. Used to be my sister's favorite game to play, may she R.I.P. ❤️ Will always remind me of all the incredibly entertaining hours we played this game together 💕
At some point when they're misbehaving, you should tell chat over on your stream to "Stop it, Dauragon!" just to see who the true superfans are.
I would have loved it if Cloud and friends showed up to Sephiroth in the crater and were like "Hey, cut that out. Knock that off, mister."
This has unlocked a forgotten memory for me. Thanks Josh
I think I remember this one through rose tinted goggles. I was about 13, and it was one of the first ps2 games my mom got me. This, gta3, and Dynasty Warriors 3. All 3 of those games hold a special place in my heart, however all theee have also aged terribly on the same software that gave us games that still slap till this day lol. But the jump from ps1 to ps2 was a GIANT leap!!! You just had to be there for it man.
Dynasty warriors 3... man. Hundreds of hours during the summers with that one and blitz:the league. DW3 still slaps can confirm
for as long as I can remember, I've really hated loading screens. I never thought about where that hatred truly originated. Your video on the Bouncer reminded me, this was the first PS2 game I ever played. It was a formative experience, the first "next gen title" I enjoyed in my middle school years. And it had so many loading screens.
Eagerly awaiting a "Was It Good?" for Vagrant Story. Really hope Josh gives that one a try sometime.
I was thinking the same thing! I remember I played The Legend of Dragoon right after Vagrant Story 👍
Yeah it was a great ol' game, would make for a good watch.
Arguably the best looking psx game that one. Looked incredible
Initially reading this i was like this sounds familiar, i looked it up and immediately in my head I thought “so this game wasnt a dream”. Thank you for reminding me if this gem from my childhood
@@eponymous7910 totally. amazing character models that still hold up today IMO
It seems someone at some point had a decent idea, threw a quick demo together and was flabergasted when he saw his demo sitting on storeshelves
These are always fun! Id love to see another beatem up called "State of Emergency" or another from my childhood that was fun was Fur Fighters Viggo's Revenge.
When you said jiggle I looked up at the TV just as Ace Rimmer was whipping his hair back.
What a guy...
This game has potential. If a remaster is ever released it could be good.
Playing this when I was a kid, gave me the same feeling of playing ff7 remake as an adult. Idk what that says about either, i just recall they both felt the same.
I DO remember a mechanic in this game that you didn't mention (and I think it wasn't really mentioned anywhere either)
there IS a button you can press that seems to be like a taunt. I remember Sion throwing like two punches and saying "hey comon!" and Volt doing like a point thing going "you ready?"
...I THINK Kou whistled or something? (turning up a blank for him)
and if you heard one of the other AI players say their little taunt and you did yours within a second or two. the 3 of you would team up in like this little cinematic takedown on one enemy you were facing, and they would all be different depending on which character you played.
I THINK you could instigate it by doing the "taunt" yourself too. and then you'd need to hit it again to activate it.
That was one of the best parts of the game.
In my experience you couldn't instigate it, but its possible I just never figured out how. I remember spamming it as a kid, but replaying as an adult I never even tried unless prompted
Yup... It was kinda like a "toasty" from MK lol.
You had to react and hit your taunt when you heard theirs
I vaguely remember getting this back in the day, and I kind of rmemebered it being fun. At the time I was looking for what I thought would be a 3D "Final Fight" kind of game and this sort of scratched the itch I guess. I remembered it being short but I didn't remember it was this short, and honestly I'm pretty sure I sold it to a Game Exchange place back in a day when I hoarded every game I ever owned, so that probably says something too.
I remember getting this game with my brother as kids thinking it was like final fantasy, playing it for a couple hours, and then declaring "we were scammed" and never played it again
Wow, I found this channel by pure coincidence. Really really good content! I watched this video and the God of War video.
I have a cool history with this game. I live in Brazil, and in the early 2000s, the PS2 was a legend, something unbelievable. We read the gaming magazines, and we couldn't believe the graphics. In the only video game store in my city, this game was expected as the second comingo of the messiah, because everyone was a big fan of Square, due to the PSOne RPGs. At that point, when the PS2 finally arrived, something like 6-8 months after the US launch, The Bouncer was one of the games that the owner of the video store brought. You can't imagine the monumental disappointment when people finished the game the same day it arrived at the rental store, lol. Good times that never come back.
0:04 no, you make a living putting people in a line
Man I'm glad someone remembers this game! I remember my friends and I playing this game all night back in the day.
Yes! This is the only game I've ever gotten so mad at that I full on destroyed my controller in a fit of unbridled rage. It taught me a lot about myself, lol.
I have a blast watching Streamers bit by bit clear those dam Robots it's not a beat em up it's a light puzzle
man oh man, I was on my daily video watching while working & stumbled across your vid. I have great memories of playing this game with my cousins who pmo with damn near all major RPGs while I was only into the fps, platformers, & sports titles. Thanks for the major hit of nostalgia
Whoo boy, I gotta say this was a trip to take. My older brother had a large booklet full of demo discs, mostly collected from before I started making memories. Page after page of discs packed to the brim with demos of every type of game you could imagine, it was like having a library of ancient literature at your pre-school fingertips, written in a language you clearly understood. One that always caught my eye was #44 because it had a few trailers for upcoming PS2 games as well as a bunch of really good PS1 game demos. I must have burnt a ring in that disc with how many times I would watch the trailer for The Bouncer. It was loud, action packed and something you just couldn't take your eyes off of. The flashing lights you warned of turned out to be the beginning seconds of that trailer and as soon as I saw it I had to finish the video!
So thank you, Josh! I am thoroughly pleased to have seen all 3ish hours of available game time. Especially after, and I can say this with little to no hyperbole, having had watched that trailer so many times I probably surpassed the games length in total view time. So kudos! Thank you for a lovely video and I look forward to many more.
Wow, the bouncer. You should also cover 'summoner'. One of the first RPGs on the PS2.
Yes please.😊
Oh my god yes. Loved summoner 1 and 2
It's not the bouncer. It's "THE BOUNCER"
I want to cast magic missiles.
Based
one of my favorite childhood games, despite knowing it wasn't actually all that good hahaha.
thanks for the content josh!
Same over 300 hours playing knowing very well it was clunky
Was the bouncer good?
Short answer - No
Long Answer - This game is so cheesy, has a over the top story with a janky combat system but It so fun and I love it.
So it’s one of those, “So bad, it’s good” games?
@@IamaPERSON Pretty much
@@IamaPERSON It's bad, but in the way where some people (Like myself) keep playing it anyway, all the way through, even as I bitch about how horribly clunky it feels.
@@calemr lol, I get that. It’s like this one game I played called Road Rage.
Is it a beat em up?
Great video and breakdown of The Bouncer! I had this game as a kid and enjoyed it a lot but yeah, it's so short. Not worth full price when it came out for sure.
Something interesting that was not mentioned are the team up attacks you can do in the game with the other bouncers. You can see Kou call for one when Sion is being played when he whistles. If you get close to them and push some attack button I can't remember you do a massively damaging attack that is super cinematic and flashy.
I've never heard of this, and now I can't unsee it.
Thanks Josh, this meme game should never be forgotten.
josh thanks for doing this, i remember playing this when i was 10 renting it at blockbuster. it was the first time i was ever so mixed about a game, but still re-rented it a few times because something kept bringing me back.
I like how they added a fighting mini game to that fever dream anime episode.
I enjoyed this as a teen, but I'm interested in trying it emulated and seeing how it does.... especially given modern controllers don't have pressure sensitivity in the face buttons [a sad backstep as that renders features in games like this and MGS2 inaccessable.]
At the time on PS2, I'm not sure I noticed the long loading screens cause we were used to long loading in CD games, for me the only thing that stuck out as bad was that in subsequent playthroughs the stats you upgraded for your allies applied to them as NPC's making it much easier for them to kill enemies than it was for you, robbing you of the xp you needed to level up, so you could end up very weak in places you needed the stats and had to rely on the poor AI of the team to win for you.
18:55 you can actually fail this. It created a flood water that changed how the rest of the mission played by escaping the water
Not!Sora's chain around his neck is ridiculous. I know where i'm grabbing in a fight with him - and that's assuming that this heavy piece of metal doesn't remove one of his eyes first.
I remember playing this game when I was wee tike. Occasionally the fact that it exists manages to pop up in some small part of my brain every once in a while but I never truly remember anything about it. It’s weird seeing it broken down and analyzed and the history and pedigree makes it so odd to see how awful it actually was. Alot of us were kids, though, when this came out and we didn’t know what good games were.
This is a historical moment for Josh has actually answered the video's title. Honestly, if anything tells you what Josh really thinks about the game, more than the video itself, is that.
he's been excessively thorough in his answer every time I feel like 😆
"Duragon C MIKADO!" is all i remember from this game
Dude I remember this game so fondly. Back in the day we didn’t have as much money to choose as we do now so you played like 1 game between Christmas and birthday. This game was awesome and fresh for the time
Remember, these guys did Tobal No.1, Tobal 2, and Ehrgeiz. Each one of these had a Quest mode which handled a bit like a 3D brawler, and each one offered more than the last.
I know some of those moves were lifted directly from Tobal No.1, so why didn't they steal more from the other games?
This game has a fond memory in me and I end up always thinking about it from time to time. My favorite character was that one guy who just spun around on the floor (mugetsu?) and would destroy anyone.
Yea that was mugetsu! Very few characters had a non-blockable attack that aren't throws. That spin was such a meme for me lol
I replayed it as an adult recently and loved it, tbh. The cheesy dialog, the ragdoll physics, the surprisingly fluid combat which is fun to experiment with, even if it's easy to cheese.
I still love it, haha
Played this when I was younger, this video brought back best forgotten memories like a fever dream.
After playing this game a long time ago I found myself (recently) trying to remember what it was called. I remember thinking it was "ok", but now looking at the gameplay I'm realizing that I am remembering it differently. Regardless, thanks for letting me relive the memory without having to actually play the game :D
Definitely had fond memories of playing this with my neighbor as a kid. It's a shame it isn't as good of a game but at least I got those memories :)
For some reason this video also conjured up memories of Seven Samurai 20XX and I have no idea why.