Gourmet Warriors from QUBYte Interactive is a surrealistic beat ‘em up originally launched way back in 1995. Learn more about it in our Gourmet Warriors review!

 

Gourmet Warriors from QUBYte Interactive is a surrealistic beat ‘em up originally launched way back in 1995. This remained as a Japan-exclusive on the Super Famicom – that would be the counterpart of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System – until it was brought to life on a North American Super Nintendo Entertainment System physical cartridge by Piko Interactive. It’s now 2023, and we get a chance to enjoy the game on PlayStation 4.

As for the game’s premise, it’s the year 20XX, and Zeus Haven City has managed to recover after the total destruction suffered during World War III. To be able to survive in this new era, people need to ingest a special protein, or else they’ll be done for! On top of that, an organization known as Bath is wreaking havoc in the city, which forces Zeus’ leaders to work on a secret project to unleash special soldiers with the strongest body armor ever.

 

This is how three soldiers make it through the program’s training to take on the evil Bath organization: Mademoiselle, Très Bien, and Bonjour. Each of the characters will have different attacks and special throws for you to consider, as well as being better at moving, attacking, or defending from incoming attacks. There are also many secret characters for you to play as by inputting special codes, but I’ll let you find those out on your own!

You’ll control your character of choice by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad as you jump with the X button, attack and combo your way to victory with the Square button, and jump attack by pressing the Square button when your character is up in the air. You can double-tap left or right to make your character run and then press the Square button to execute a running attack.

 

As you attack enemies, you’ll notice they’ll become stunned. When this happens, approach them to grab them before they manage to get out of the stunned status. Your options then are if you want to throw an enemy with a regular attack or if you want to get fancy and perform a special throw. This is done by pressing the L and R buttons in a specific sequence – L, R, and L – to execute a special throw. Depending on the stun status of an opponent, your character of choice will perform one of two special throws.

Defeat all enemies on your path, and you’ll be able to collect different ingredients that can be used to cook delicious – and not-so-delicious – meals between stages. Grab some eggs, collect some clams, obtain a huge bag of rice, some veggies, and get your hands on some juicy pork, and you might be able to cook a great dish! Once you complete a level, you’ll select ingredients from the list of available options and throw everything into the mix to see what you’ll end up cooking! Eating this meal will allow you to gain some extra health… or lose some if you cook something that is terrible.

 

Gourmet Warriors has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to work on. The list includes 13 Bronze trophies, 7 Silver trophies, and 7 Gold trophies. There are trophies for beating each of the bosses, for doing so while playing in the highest difficulty setting, and for beating bosses as fast as possible so there are at least 85 seconds remaining on the clock. Other trophies will pop for defeating 25, 75, 250, and 750 enemies. Oh, and if you cook some great meals and gain at least 30 health points and 60 health points, you’ll knock two more trophies out of the way. Cook a bad meal, and along with losing some health, you’ll at least get another trophy!

Gourmet Warriors is a classic-style beat ‘em up that has finally gotten a North American release on modern consoles. It launched in Japan on the Super Famicom way back in 1995, and while it certainly shows its age, it’s still a fun game to play in a genre that I do enjoy a lot. Add a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, as well as some quality-of-life improvements here and there – such as state saves – and you have a game that is easy to recommend. Gourmet Warriors is out on PlayStation 4 with a $9.99 price tag.

Disclaimer
This Gourmet Warriors review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by QUBYte Interactive.