It takes 7 years to realize that Mug Smasher uses OST of The Combatribes. So, I must review Technos’ The Combatribes (1992), the SNES version. Why SNES version? Because I like to pay tribute to Yoshihisa Kishimoto who passed away at 2 April 2026, quite recently. He is the producer of the SNES version.
Look at these muscular chaps! They’re ready to rumble. Correction: Only guy in blue suit that’s ready to fight. The other guy busy flexing their muscle. The posers. What is combatribes? I barely know about it other than it’s mix word of “combat” and “tribe”. Also, that’s what protagonists are referred to.
See? Even the story narration refers the protagonists as The Combatribes. They come to NY to fight organization called Ground Zero, who controls all of American street gangs. The story premise sounds promising. By the way, The Combatribes consist of Berzerker, Bulova, and Blitz. I assume the trio is the trinity of average, strong yet slow, and fast but weak character like in arcade version. If you want to look farther, the roster adapts the trio from Final Fight although their moveset is pretty similar.
Act 1. The Motorcycle Nuclear Warheads
I pick Bullova because in arcade version he’s slow yet strong character of the trio combatribes. Besides, he looks like bulkier version of Adam Hunter from Streets of Rage.
The control is d-pad to move your chosen combatribes around. Y and X buttons to punch. B and A buttons to kick. Double tapping the d-pad to run. Very simple.
Biker gang definitely truest form of street gang. Besides attack and running attack, The Combatribes have ability to perform big swing on downed enemy. Remember well this wrestling move because this is the most powerful move that The Combatribes have in their disposal. Not only you can deal big damage, but this move also can hit other enemies on process. Needless to say, this throw move is the best group control move in this game since desperation attack is non-existence here.
Meanwhile in arcade version, there are more enemies on the screen at a time. I happen to perform double head bang on enemies. This grapple maybe another good move for group control but the grab detection fairly finicky. But once you grab a man, your Combatribe will immediately grab another man if closed enough. That most likely happens because the AI is not that smart to know they shouldn’t approach a Combatribe that already grab their friend.
Once I beaten down enough of thug, the head of biker gangs appears. His weapon of choice is a piece of lumber which is very unusual weapon for urban combat. Maybe the lumber passed down to the generations of the head gang, as symbol of strength or whatnot. But as weapon, it’s too unwieldy.
Another difference that I notice with the SNES version compared to Arcade version is: enemies seem flinched more consistently when getting hit especially for boss fight. The boss still refuses to get knocked down but he gets knocked back fairly often. Once his health is lower than 50%, his lumber breaks into pieces and he resort to hit me with punch. But we know that The Combatribes are better at fist fight because they don’t use weapon from beginning. Only pure strength of muscles and masculinity.
What also difference is the interrogation cutscene done by your chosen Combatribes with the defeated boss. The boss just literally named fats which is fairly uncreative.
Act 2. The Demon Clowns
Another grab you can do to downed enemy, is repeated head bang to floor. It’s activated by approaching the enemy very close and pressing punch button repeatedly. Meanwhile, the big swing is activated by pressing punch on leg region of downed enemy.
What in tarnation is that puppet performance? It’s horrible. I know the puppets are diabolical mixture of animal puppet and Kunio from Kunio-kun series which also Technos’ beat em up game besides Double Dragon. If you’re not familiar with the series, that’s understandable because it mostly stays famous in Japan. The reason most likely, the protagonist Kunio is delinquent student beating up other gangs, which glorify delinquent life and that don’t go well in outside Japan. However, you probably know about River City Ransom on NES which is part of Kunio-kun series.
Meanwhile in arcade version, the puppets look normal and cute. They’re cat and dog dancing together. So cute. I also like to point out that the clow with juggling pins will slowly enter the fray with balloons. Very unique way to spawn enemies.
The leader of demon clown gang is: Salamander. He’s alternate version of Karnov but muscular and lead a criminal gang of clowns.
He said that he will fry me. He doesn’t lie. He blows a torch and a stream of fire appears before me. So, I have to walk sideway from him in order to not get fried as simple as that. Once his health drop to 50%, his torch is thrown away and he resorts to tornado kick that I can barely counter it. I don’t have any anti-air move. Only basic punch and kick.
The boss looks skinnier in interrogation scene. I don’t know why Bulova calling Salamander “Billiard head” which feels inaccurate to me. I don’t know much about billiard but I’m pretty certain that billiard ball doesn’t have red pony tail.
Act 3. The Slash Skate Screamers
Next opponent is roller skate gang in Lexington King disco. I don’t know much about Roller Disco other than what King Julien said in one episode of Penguin of Madagascar show, that roller disco is the mean to attract romance. Anyway, the enemies have complete skate hockey equipment from roller skate to helm. Because they use roller skate, they’re significantly faster than Bulova which mean it’s quite hard to hit them. But once I grab them and spin around, they sing: You spin me right around, baby, right round. Like a record, baby, right round, round, round.
The leader of roller skater gang named Trash and he doesn’t even wear roller skate. Very shameful! Good to know that between gang leaders there’s communication there. Or at least only between Trash and Salamander. They’re probably childhood friends or something.
Meanwhile in arcade version, the boss intro is lot more interesting. Before Trash actually shows up, he appears in Videotron with smug face. Worth to mention: the Videotron also show block out’s Block Master on occasion. This disco version feels better.
When Trash said he wants to destroy me, he didn’t lie. Thanks to his hammer that extend his attack range and power. Meanwhile The Combatribes have stubby punch and kick. To make things worse, Trash can do rapid hammer swing that destroy my health very bad. The only weapon that I can have is: his henchmen that I spin around and hit Trash himself hopefully.
Well said, Bullova. Despite all the beating he received, Trash doesn’t want to talk about Ground Zero. Instead, he leads us to Stadium Barbarians gang. If I still had control over Bullova, I would beat Trash with his hammer this instance.
Act 4. The Stadium Barbarians
This gang has punks armed with knife. If you try to grab them, they will stab you immediately. So, don’t grab them.
The boss of this stage is some Amerindian guy. I don’t know why is that. I barely know about American baseball and how it is related to Amerindian. The only extension of my knowledge about American baseball is Babe Ruth and maybe I know baseball athletes whose name is adapted to Ninja Baseball Batman’s protagonists and that’s about it. If I play Capcom’s Quiz and Dragons and I encounter trivia about baseball which is in numerous occasions, I have to browse for the answer otherwise my answer is always wrong.
As for how the boss fight goes, it’s pretty much similar to previous ones. Hammer and axe are both melee weapon with heavy top. Makes sense, no?
There’s some twist when the boss loses his axe. He has ability to do shoulder charge. I don’t think my punch or running clothesline can counter that.
Thankfully this gang leader is willing to talk about ground zero organization and he even tells us where their headquarter. Very helpful. Heavy_thanks01.wav
Act 5. The Demolition Troops
Stage 5 is *groan* boss rush along with their henchmen.
But between each boss rush wave, there’s elevator section which is quite enjoyable because this is the best opportunity to perform the double head bang. I forget to tell you about attack on downed enemy. It’s done by pressing kick button on downed enemy. If you do it while walking toward the target, the chosen combatribe will do mean jumping stomp. But if you press the button when standing near the target, the chosen combatribe will do low kick instead. You have to do with ground attack instead of trying to grab the bosses because they will deny your grab. Like in classic Double Dragon game, there’s no healing item which is big disappointment. But thankfully everytime you finish level, boss rush or elevator section, you will get free health refill.
Finally, I reach the top floor. I encounter enemies armed with gun. Not handgun because that’s more sensible and practical. But instead, it’s assault rifle M-16! What baffles me is, these troops can break free from my grab with buttstock strike. How does that work??? M-16 is way too long to be used like that while in grabbed situation. But the thing that baffle me the most is, these enemies don’t drop their gun even when they’re defeated. Look how hard their grip with the rifle even when I spin around them like crazy. Centrifugal force should force [Pun may intended] their gun flies away.
On the arcade version, these troops along with their friend armed with military-grade survival knife become the mainstay in this same level and not boss rush. Though, the boss rush exists in next level after this.
The boss of this level is this git with cybernetic power. Meh! Might az well az hummie from Imperal Gard.
Sorry for not showing the boss fight because I forget to take screenshot of it. So, I must make do with my description here: the Maj. Blaster has knife arm when I grab him, and gun come out from his chest. Then I batter him a lot with clothesline and his subordinates.
Anyway, it’s revealed that Maj. Blaster and Martha Splatterhead want revenge because Army’s Biotech Lab made them cyborg for secret weapon, I assume. So, who’s this Martha?
Act 6. Final Battle
Martha Splatterhead is the leader Ground Zero organization and we fight him at the rooftop. Thus, the final battle ensues.
As befitting to final boss, Martha is very tough. She hits hard with the slap, crouching high kick, and dive kick. There’s electrical effect around her and her hair raise like Super Saiyan so you know you’re in hell of a fight.
The game allows me to change character when using a continue. Might as well as showing of other Combtribe. Blitz has proper jumping as running attack.
While Berzerker has jumping knee attack which has less horizontal range than Blitz’s jumping kick but has more vertical range. Besides different running attack, each Combatribe has different health size. Bullova has the most and Blitz has the least. Besides that, I notice that Bullova can swing the enemy with the greatest number of round while Blitz has the least. Besides proper jump kick, I don’t see why I want to pick Blitz.
Meanwhile in Arcade version, the rooftop is where I fight the Maj. Blaster and it has proper helipad zone. Whereas in SNES version, the helipad is badly edited so the rooftop has longer area to fight. By the way, Maj. Blaster has jetpack to get up faster from downed state.
I know speedrunner or 1CC elitist will pick the speedy character: Blitz. But I feel like Bullova is the right choice for me. His running attack is clothesline which has the least recovery time so I can bulldozer my way with repeated clothesline though you have to time it right. The strategy work for all bosses including the final boss: Martha Splatterhead.
In the end Martha is killed as she hopes for. Her choice is stay alive for vengeance or die peacefully? Isn’t there no middle ground solution? Is there no way to stay alive peacefully? She could surrender to Combatribes and live peacefully together in tropical island but no.
Then Martha is carried by Berzerker. Maybe she’s still alive. Then The Combatribes leave and no word on what Combatribes doing next. Come to think of it what’s Combatribe’s motive on fighting? I assume they fight for pure justice and machismo like Mike “Metro City Major” Haggar does, minus rescue his daughter. What about the Army biotech lab? Do they still make shenanigans on same level with Umbrella corporation? Sadly, we won’t know as there’s no sequel to The Combatribes.
Meanwhile in arcade version, The Combatribes just leave dead Martha behind. They have to leave the scene before cops arrive. They don’t want to go to jail with charge of murder. Vigilant act may be righteous but nonetheless illegal. Unless you’re a mayor on his quest to rescue his kidnapped daughter.
Then credit rolls. There his name, on the credit! The man, the legend: Yoshihisa Kishimoto. I think my job is done.
But one last thing before calls it a day. After finishing level, I’m given password. Strangely, it’s not for continue the game. Instead, it’s for unlocking roster in versus mode! You get to play as any enemy you beat so far, except Martha herself because there’s no password when I finish the final boss. There are some enemy’s names that mystifying. L. Fish is the biker gang member with bandana and shades but what his name stands for? Or is it pun of Elvis (Presley)? My best guess H. Squad stands for heavy squad who’s the generic bald guy. K. Clown is most likely to be Killer Clown. Not from outer space but still dangerous nonetheless. What G. Terror means anyway? Giggle terror?
After I select my character (which is Bullova, again) and CPU character, I choose the stage. The stage on top is factory on fire. It looks very dangerous place to fight so I pass. The stage on bottom is sewer. Gross! So, I choose level on the middle which is misty cliff.
This versus fighting mode is
kind of lame. I can only have punch, kick, and running attack. No grab allowed
which is big irony because it’s the main feature of the game. I also not
allowed to attack opponent while on the ground. I was so confused with this big
restriction that CPU enemy won a round. So, the fight boils down to: let enemy
come after me from side which gives me slight advantage to punch him earlier.
Then I sidestep a bit so enemy have to approach me from side. Rinse and repeat.
I manage to punch him off to the statue that breathes fire which gives me some
entertainment value but not by much.
There’s a funny moment where enemy knocked away out of field. THIS IS THE COMBATRIBES!
The winner gets their mug picture shown as winner. So boring. At least put “congratulation” word and confetti or firework effect. If you do that, you were on to something, Technos. But no. You are settled with this boring winning screen.
I think this is the latest password. I let you know it, because I’m generous. Consider it…a gift.
Technos’ The Combatribes (1992) felts undercooked to me. Look. The arcade version has 2 attack buttons, is tolerable. But SNES controller has 4 face buttons and 2 shoulder buttons, why the game still implements 2 attack function? The arcade version came out in 1990. So, there’s 2 years span to develop the SNES version and there’s barely any improvement. In fact, there are only drawback. The only improvement is in story narration and maybe conversion to SNES console. That count as something, right? But don’t get me wrong. I played SNES version of Final Fight and Captain Commando. They’re worse to play than The Combatribes. There’s the versus mode but it’s not good.
Comparing it with arcade version. This game doesn’t have throwable object such as go-kart, motorbike, or pinball machine. There are 2 types of throw: the lame collar push throw, activated with kick button on grab and scoop throw, activated with punch button on grab. On the arcade version the input is opposite. But never mind that! The former executed fast but Killer clown will tech hit that. I mean he will land safely if you use the collar push throw. He will get throw damage if you use the scoop throw because you make him upside down first, thus he has no chance to land on the ground safely. Make sense, right? But in SNES version you can hurt the killer clown with any throw. So, what’s the point of having 2 throw types? I prefer the collar push throw replaced with quick knee strike or grabbed uppercut so the enemy will get damage anyway regardless they can land safely or not. Killer clown that can land safely when thrown is quite bad but then later enemies can break free from grab including bosses. I think that’s the thing with Technos, they like to implement anti-fun feature, for example in Double Dragon enemies can occasionally crouch under your jump kick. I have said before that there’s no healing item, only free health refill after finishing stage or boss rush. In arcade version, you can boost health by putting more credit. Meanwhile in SNES version, you’re stuck with limited credit.
As for general problem with the game in both versions, The Combatribes have small moveset. They have 2 buttons to attack but no jump or other utility function. I can’t mix punch and kick buttons to activate special attack or combo. Speaking of combo. It seems inconsistent on how the combo formed. It’s just 3 to 5 regular strike and then combo finisher come out. Or the combo finisher strike never come out at all. SNES version has more consistency even just a bit. On the bright side, the game is relatively short and not overstay its welcome. There are 5 levels (or 6 levels in arcade version) with relatively short-size levels. Then the giant swing grab is good. There’s not much beat em up game that implements it. For example: The Punisher (arcade version), Guardians/Denjin Makai II, Crisis Beat, and D.D. Crew. The same thing goes to the double head bang. Other than this game, only Guardians/Denjin Makai II, Streets of Rage 4, and Double Dragon Neon. The sound effect is fairly standard. The music is decent but the real banger goes to arcade version.
Although it sticks to the original arcade version mostly, The Combatribes (1992) ends up not getting my recommendation. I prefer Super Double Dragon made by same company at same year because SDD has bigger moveset and weapon to use. SDD implements all buttons in SNES controller while The Combatribes don’t. I recommend SDD, instead. Both SDD and TC are about sleeveless guy beating up dozens of bad guys and made by same company. So, don’t feel bad to choose SDD over this game.
