9 Monkeys of Shaolin Reviews

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is an enjoyable time for any side-scrolling beat ‘em up fan who’s eager for some engaging and varied combat, but don’t expect to be enthralled by Wei Chang’s story.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is so close to being a really good side-scrolling brawler that it physically hurts. Hurts worse than a rolling cartwheel kick to the soft and delicates. There's a truly brilliant, satisfying, fun and deep combat system here, but whether you can see it beneath the shadows, silhouettes, staircases and stupid Green Tea meters is another thing entirely.

Beat ‘em up titles are dime a dozen these days, with many different variations on the tried and true formula. So does 9 Monkeys of Shaolin provide a good old brawler experience, or are you better off taking your fight elsewhere?

An illustrious tale of a Chinese fisherman seeking revenge quickly escalates to something not entirely of this world. Travel across China with a band of monks, fight pirates with old school beat 'em up action, and even play local or online co-op!

The only auditory weakness might be the music. It’s not the music itself, which is honestly very good, it’s just very… muted, for what is supposed to be an action game. The music is all appropriate for the setting – typical China-y type of composition – and there is some change in tone as the action comes and goes. But I usually expect music in a beat-’em-up to be more high-energy, something to really get you in the mood to smash some bad guys, and what we get instead tends to be ...

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is a great beat-em-up with excellent combat and a strong presentation. It won't take you very long but it's a blast while it lasts.

I pity any side-scrolling beat ’em up that releases in the same year as Streets of Rage 4, as it really is the pinnacle of the genre. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin is still worth a look for those who want more side-scrolling shenanigans though; it’s just not likely to wow them in any way. Everything about it is decent but nothing more, resulting in a romp that’s enjoyable enough in short sittings but tiresome in the long run. It tries its best, but it simply fails to excite like it should.

Unfortunately, even getting through the game once can be a struggle, as 9 Monkeys of Shaolin is plagued by technical issues - at least when it comes to the Nintendo Switch version. The game crashed on numerous occasions during our time with it, and there was one stage in particular where enemies kept glitching off the screen and we were forced to restart to the level repeatedly.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is a nostalgic look back at old-school beat em' up games that is improved by charming visuals and light RPG mechanics.

This has been a fantastic year for beat ’em ups so far. Between the release of Streets of Rage 4 and The TakeOver, as well as the fact that the brand new Battletoads game ended up not sucking, players have been spoiled with a wide variety of arcade brawlers to choose from. One thing that all these titles have in common, however, is that they’re set in a somewhat modern world. Sobaka’s brand new entry in the genre, 9 Monkeys of Shaolin, is here to offer something a bit different. What ab...