The Combatribes / ザ・コンバットライブス Za Konbattoraibusu

The Combatribes is a 1990 beat 'em-up game released for the arcades by Technos Japan Corp (the developers of Renegade and Double Dragon). A home version for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was also released in 1992. The game centers on three vigilantes (identified as cyborgs in the SNES port) who must fight against numerous street gangs in futuristic New York City. The SNES version was released for the Wii Virtual Console in North America on November 30, 2009.

Arcade version
The trio of heroes boast a variety of unique techniques in addition to the standard punch and kick combos such as stomping on an opponent, swinging them by their ankles, kicking them on the ground, slamming their faces into the pavement and even the ability to slam the heads of two opponents together.

The game can be set up so that it can be played by up to two or three players simultaneously. In the two-player version of the game, the players are asked to select their characters at the character select screen, whereas the three-player version has each player already assigned with a corresponding character.

These three heroic strongmen that are playable are identified as the titular Combatribes, here are their profiles:

Berserker (who takes his name from postal Old Norse Vikings), the first vigilante with a blonde, spiky mullet-hairdo, and a blue outfit; he is endowed with the balance of an all-around fighter with both speed and strength.
Bullova (who takes his name from an Indian battle axe), the second vigilante with a black, short flattop-hairdo, and a yellow outfit; he is the strongest of the trio, but also has a lack of speed.
Blitz (short for "blitzkrieg"), the third vigilante with a brown, long ponytail-hairdo, and a red outfit; he has the most agile attacks, but lacks the strength of the other two characters.
The game is composed of six different stages (or "Acts" as they're referred within the game) set in unique locations, each featuring a themed gang. The majority of the stages are composed of a single playing field where the player must take on a set number of underlings before facing the gang's leader, similar to Renegade. Some stages break away from this formula by having more than one level. The gangs the player faces are in order: a biker gang in Times Square, circus performers in Coney Island, roller skaters in a dance club, a punk gang in a baseball stadium and a militia in a high-rise building.

The final stage is a boss rush against all the previous gangs while chasing a big crime boss in the harbor. After the gangs are defeated once again, the crime boss is killed by a female cyborg, Martha Splatterhead. Martha then engages the player in a final battle. If two or three players are present by the start of the final battle, an additional clone or two of Martha will appear to match the number of players.

Home version
The Super NES version of The Combatribes makes a few changes to the game. The game now features story sequences before and after boss battles, as well as an opening intro explaining the plot and a different ending. The gameplay remains the same, with the character's health now represented by a life bar instead of numeric values. There are no weapons to be picked up and thrown in the SNES version, the stages are simpler and some of the enemy characters are missing. The bikers who carried broken bottles in Act One no longer drop their weapons after being sufficiently damaged. The flame-eating boss of Act Two ("Salamander") normally loses range on his torch attack the more damage he takes, while the SNES version keeps him at full strength until he drops it.

Two player moves are also missing: the ability to pick up and carry enemies around, and the ability to repeatedly kick downed opponents. The fifth stage is composed of a boss rush against all the previous gangs before facing the Slaughter Troops. The sixth and final stage is simply the final battle against Martha Splatterhead set atop the rooftop of a high-rise building.

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Developer(s) Technos Japan Corp.
Publisher(s) American Technos Inc.
Director(s) Atsushi Tanimoto, Noriyuki Tomiyama (arcade)
Yoshihisa Kishimoto (SNES)
Producer(s) Noriyuki Tomiyama
Programmer(s) Naritaka Nishimura, Takayuki Saito, Isamu Kanakubo, Kenji Nishikawa (arcade)
Michiya Hirasawa, S. Minayoshi (SNES)
Artist(s) Koji Ogata, H. Shibata, Tsutomu Andō, Toshiyuki Ōsumi, Shinichi Saitō, Masamichi Katagiri, Takehisa Izumiyama, H. Sakamoto (arcade)
A. Hirasawa, Hidetoshi Fujioka, Yasuo Wakatsuki, S. Inoue, Takashige Shichijyo, Tsutomu Andō (SNES)
Writer(s) Atsushi Tanimoto (SNES)
Composer(s) Kazunaka Yamane
Platform(s) Arcade, Super NES, Wii Virtual Console
Release May 1990
Genre(s) Beat 'em up
Mode(s) Single-player, co-op

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