Rushing Beat is a series of beat ’em up games released previously in North America on Super Nintendo as Rival Turf, Brawl Brothers, and The Peace Keepers. After over three decades, the series is back with Rushing Beat X: Return of Brawl Brothers. It was playable at City Connection and Clear River Games’ booth at PAX West 2025. We had the opportunity to speak with Kei Watanabe – the game’s director – about Rushing Beat X, what differentiates the series from other beat ’em ups, what features we can expect, and more. I also got to try out the game and played through some of the stages cooperatively.
I grew up playing Rushing Beat, which sparked my curiosity about the history of the new game.Â
I also like this type of game. So we looked through our library and thought, yeah, we would like to try to make a newer version of this game.Â
What about Rushing Beat is unique compared to other beat ’em ups?Â
So for this type of side scrolling beat ’em up game, you’re kind of limited by the types of environments and what types of moves you can do. What we wanted to do was that when you attack, there are all kinds of variations so that you’re not limited. I like fighting games as well. So we wanted to add that element where it’s not just beating up enemies in the same area with the same moves. We wanted to add a little complexity to the attacks. So you can do a bit more than what was available in the past.Â
Oh, interesting. I know some of the Rushing Beat games have a rage mechanic. Can we expect that to come back in this game, too?Â
So in previous iterations, the Rage Gauge was kind of a negative thing if you get hit. But for this game, you can use it strategically so that you can do more complex moves. So it’s a little more systematic.Â
The series is known for its cooperative play. Can we expect two-player to come back?
Of course.Â
The series has so many different characters, too. Did you try to include as many characters from previous games as possible?Â
Currently we’re at six. We can’t go into real detail, but there might be opportunities to add more characters.Â
I really like the visual style. Can you speak about the different influences on the new style for Rushing Beat X?Â
So when we originally worked on this concept, there were talks about this game being in 2D instead of 3D. But then, when we thought about doing 2D, we thought about the limitations of the enemies and what they can do. So we decided to go 3D. We basically wanted to have that sort of concept of 2D games, so we went with cel-shading, but it’s kind of a blend and that’s the design we came up with.Â
Yeah, it looks really cool.Â
Yeah, thank you so much.Â
In terms of stages, can we expect some surprises in terms of new areas? Or are there callbacks to older games’ levels?
So it’s not necessarily about clearing one stage and going to the next. Depending on how people play, you go into different areas. So there’s an element of exploration, and then you also have homages to previous titles. And this is a game with odes to Jaleco IP as well. So there’s a bunch of easter eggs. So there are certain moves – like if you throw an enemy deep, or if you throw them in a certain area, depending on the motion, you’re going to realize it was a move from a previous Jaleco game. So you’re going to have that type of easter egg for people who understand.Â
Do you have any favorite Jaleco titles in general, in terms of growing up with them?Â
So I liked Tuff-E-Nuff and 64th Street. There is a vast number of titles that I played in Jaleco’s library. It’s kind of hard to pinpoint. But that’s why I like Rushing Beat. There are obviously Jaleco titles that did not get localized, so I have a few of those, too.Â
I grew up a lot with Ninja JaJaMaru-kun, so yeah. It’s one of my favorites from the Famicom growing up.Â
Yeah, that’s why I just got the [JaJaMaru] doll going [at the booth].Â
Is there anything that you would like to say to people playing Rushing Beat? For newcomers to the series?
For people that don’t know the IP, we wanted to make sure that the barrier of entry is kind of low. So when you start playing it, you don’t die real easily. But you’re able to perform moves – that you’re able to figure out how the game goes. That’s what we wanted to work on originally. Then … you get better at it and you’re going to get the high level people, but we wanted the barrier of entry to be super low so that you’re able to play.Â
Out of curiosity, does the game feature branching paths?Â
Yes. So depending on which branch you pick, you get to different levels and it depends on how you play. It’s not a skill-based break-off, but it’s by choice.Â
Thank you so much for your time. I definitely appreciate it.Â
After the interview, I jumped right into the demo, which began with a recap of the prior games’ events and even included some grayscale SNES screenshots for context. It then cut to a gym in Neo Cisco where veteran Rick Norton trained the newcomer Kahlua before a zany villain taunted the cast and unleashed an onslaught of practically possessed foes. Â
This demo provided an entertaining beat ‘em up experience. I played a few levels primarily as the pro wrestler Douglas Bild (whom I often picked in Rival Turf) and a little bit as Rick. The game really leaned into its stylized, colorful presentation with exaggerated text and a comic-inspired interface. I also thought the characters’ dialogue quips provided some lighthearted fun. The characters had a wide variety of attacks based on directional inputs, which was fun to figure out on the fly. Mr. Homma showed us a special attack string consisting of back-to-back wrestling moves. Another feature is that the game even lets players combine ingredients between stages to form meals that could then be used mid-stage to restore health. All in all, the demo felt solid, and the game certainly seems like it will cater to beat ’em up enthusiasts and newcomers alike.Â
Rushing Beat X: Return Of Brawl Brothers is currently in development. It is slated for release on Steam with other platforms to be determined—many thanks to Taiki Homma for translating during the interview.
