Off the AppStore: Backstreet Warriors is a 100-person street-em-up

Welcome to Off The AppStore, a weekly feature with a twist. Namely, that while these - as with all the games we cover here - are games that you can play on your phone, they're ones that operate outside of the realms of the big two ways to play: The Google Play Store and the Apple AppStore.

That means that there might be a bit of work required in downloading alternative AppStores or APKs, or that the games can simply be played in your phone browser. We'll make sure to detail that for each game though. Anyway, read on to find a new game or experience to play Off The AppStore.

A few years back it used to be that you couldn't move without bumping into a street-brawler, beat-em-up, street-em-up or whatever you call a game where you're side-on, in a (normally murky) street and fighting your way through street punks. The fact that they've been fallen by the wayside for so long makes Backstreet Warriors feel quite refreshing.

Backstreet Warriors is simple and familiar. You're a brawler, out on the mean streets. There's circa 100 (lets be honest, it's 99 - it says it there on the screen) enemies out there who have set out to give you a beating for whatever reason, and you need to fight your way through them for... well, to not get beaten up. 

It all plays like a simple brawler, with a couple of different moves in there including a very cool combo that concludes with a lunging punch which extends reach if you manage to line a bunch of enemies up. There's also a very cool dive kick, and you can parry too. Although, who needs to parry when you can dive kick?

I love how Backstreet Warrriors feels when you're winning, and the low-resolution, pixelated artstyle feels pleasantly familiar even though I don't remember many brawlers from the era its channelling. There's a great variety of enemies too, even if most of them act the same way - and the music is great, although you'll have to manually turn that on as it appears to be off by default.

As with most of the games we highlight in this series, its a Pico8 engine game. This means you'll want to put it into full screen mode if you're playing in browser, however it also means that the handy Gameboy-esque digital controller will be there from the moment you hit go.

You can play Backstreet Warriors for free on its itch.io page.