64th Street: A Detective Story

Overview

64th Street: A Detective Story is a Beat 'Em Up that was developed by C.P. Brain and published by Jaleco for the arcades in 1991 in both the US and Japan. The game was ported to the iPhone platform and released on March 09, 2011 by DotEmu.

Story

This game concerns Rick Anderson and Allen Tombs, employees of Rick’s Detective Agency, who skilfully compare the daily newspaper to a ransom note to find their client’s daughter in the Case of the Rich Man’s Kidnapped Daughter. Despite the fact that nearly all the enemies sport apparel clearly reminiscent of 80’s/early 90's fashion, the game is set specifically on October 3, 1939.

Gameplay

64^th Street is a beat-em-up a la Final Fight, however slightly more mechanically simple. There is simply a punch (combo) and jump button, but by using these buttons in varying combinations they are also able to jump attack, attack backwards and attack both ways simultaneously with a special “crowd control” move (damaging everybody around you at the cost of a fraction of your own health). The level of nuance falls short of Final Fight’s, but what separates 64^th Street apart positively is the ability to throw enemies into the background, causing a degree of environmental destruction – a feature unheard of at the time.