Fans of side-scrolling beat-’em-ups eyed Guardian Heroes with wary desire when it hit the streets in 1996. Plentiful combination attacks blended brawling and sorcery, branching paths led to different stages and story twists, and your kills earned valuable customization points. Problem was, you had to buy the doomed Sega Saturn to play the damn thing.

Playing this revamped Live Arcade version, you realize time hasn’t been entirely kind to this collector’s item. Instead of moving freely from fore to aft as easily as left and right, combatants must shuffle between rigid foreground, middle-ground, and background planes. While this was certainly odd enough to pass for innovation way back when, now it just feels needlessly clumsy.

Don’t let this weirdness keep you away, though — and not just because the newly remastered graphics are so much smoother around the edges. Each of the five campaign characters has their own engaging peculiarities, from Han’s huge sword and limited fire magic to Ginjirou’s speedy fists and devastating electrical spells. Stringing attacks demands dexterity, but practice pays off with a slew of deadly fireworks. Keeping track of your champion in the resulting maelstrom is sometimes virtually impossible, but it’s always fun to watch.

These warriors aren’t done training, either. As you dispatch the likes of soldiers, skeletons, robots, and wizards, you’ll earn skill points to spend on six vital stats. Want to cause more physical damage, move faster, unleash magic more frequently, or absorb greater punishment? Your approach to survival will evolve as you develop your favorite attack sequences, come to grips with the wild variety of enemies, and face a bunch of different bosses. There’s no shortage of replayability, even if you choose not to partner with a pal.

And holy cow, if it’s sheer bat-guano crazy you’re after, you’ll love Versus mode. Pick from 45 (!) unlockable characters and square off against 11 other nutjobs (humans or bots) in completely ridiculous battle royales over Live. We’d happily pay 10 bucks just to listen to the chaos in each wild melee.

Publisher: Sega • Developer: Treasure • ESRB: Teen • Multiplayer: 2 local or on Xbox Live (co-op); 4 local (Versus); 12 on Xbox Live (Versus) • Achievements: Most involve bosses • Cost: 800 Microsoft Points ($10)

On Xbox Live Arcade

+ Five upgradable heroes with lots of moves to master and branching paths to explore.

+ Drop-in/drop-out co-op; smooth (and optional) new graphics; personality aplenty; replayability.

– Awkward movement between planes; easy to lose track of your character in the commotion.

? Where’d Randy’s rabbit learn kung fu?

8.0