Blood Bros.

Blood Bros. is a 1990 arcade game developed and published by TAD Corporation in Japan and Europe as a spiritual sequel to Cabal, with almost identical mechanics.

The rather sparse plot takes place in the Wild West. Two blood brothers, a cowboy and a red Indian, are sent to defeat Big John, an evil outlaw wanted for pillaging the treasure of Dodge City.

Similar to Cabal, your characters are viewed from behind while you use a crosshair to target and shoot at enemies. Both characters have an unlimited ammo gun and limited number of grenades dynamite. A "Foe" gauge at the bottom of the screen depletes as enemies and enemy structures are destroyed, and the level is completed once the gauge is empty.

Unlike Cabal, there is a button for your character to do a dodge roll instead of a trackball. But don't be fooled, this game is still very hard.

Tropes used in Blood Bros. include:

"In life, brothers will encounter many hardships and battles. But there is nothing stronger than the force of the Blood Brothers."

  • Big Bad: Big Bad John. Hell, it's even in his name! Also taken literally: he's taller than a train!!!
  • Button Mashing: In order to fire your weapon faster, it's required. Unless you got the machine-gun pickup.
  • Cool Train: The first boss. You also fight one as the penultimate boss of the game.
  • Dolled-Up Installment: The game "Hard Times" is pretty much Blood Bros... with a mafia theme. Many of the levels, graphics and effects look very similar, and the enemies and bosses are just sprite replacements.
  • Dynamic Difficulty: Present in this game: if you manage to survive for long enough, the enemies will fire more regularly, and their shots and bombs will become a lot faster. Losing a life tones it down, but not by much.
  • Evil Laugh: Used by Big Bad John every single time he kills you, after he takes off his coat. It gets very annoying fast.
  • Explosive Breeder: The bird boss has a Desperation Attack where it lays loads of eggs that hatch into small birds, each of which can attack you with fireballs!
  • Expy: The second boss, a giant blimp that dropped loads of bombs, is one to the first boss of Cabal (a helicopter that dropped loads of bombs).
  • Flunky Boss: The first boss, a train that attacked you with many cowboy Mooks.
  • Giant Flyer: Third boss, a giant bird that attack you in the middle of the desert.
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: The third and fourth bosses. The third boss is a giant fire-breathing bird that attacks in the middle of the desert, while the fourth is a giant fire-breathing snake that attacks you in the middle of a volcanic cave, and both explode spectacularly. Huh.
  • Hand Cannon: Used by Big Bad John: he fires out cannonball-sized shots from his gun instead of the puny shots that regular enemies shoot at you!
  • Large and In Charge: Big Bad John. With the emphasis on "Big": when you beat his giant train, it explodes, revealing Big Bad John behind it. He's taller than the train itself!
  • Messy Pig: Well, only a tad messy for you at least. Pigs will periodically run across the screen. Shooting them makes them drop dynamite ammo, or even better, a good weapon (in case you were wondering, the pigs don't die, they run even faster, but you can still shoot them for more drops)!
  • One-Hit-Point Wonder: Your characters can only take one hit to die.
  • Recycled in Space: Blood Bros. is pretty much Cabal in the Wild West.
  • Rewarding Vandalism: Like Cabal, destroying the environment can net you powerups, points and dynamite. As well as lowering the enemy gauge faster!
  • Segmented Serpent: The fourth boss, a giant fire-breathing snake. You had to shoot it in the head to deplete its life bar.
  • Shotguns Are Just Better: One of the weapons is a shotgun, which increases your shot size and damage, allowing you to kill enemies more easily.
  • Spiritual Sequel: To Cabal.
  • Throw a Barrel At It: One of Big Bad John's moves.
  • Unnecessary Combat Roll: The combat roll makes you immune to damage and will save your ass.
  • Wild West: Uh...
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