Given that the name of this site is SNK-Capcom.com, it makes sense to cover Sammy’s E3 line-up. No? Well, maybe not. But Dimps, a company started up by former members of SNK, is the developer of DemolishFist, and Dolphin Blue is a lot like Metal Slug, so this stuff is at least slightly relevant.

Running on Sammy’s Dreamcast-based Atomiswave arcade hardware, DemolishFist is a 3D side-scrolling beat ’em up featuring four selectable characters. It doesn’t take advantage of the 3D graphics by allowing players to go anywhere or attack in multiple directions, and instead plays a lot more like old-school beat ‘em ups Sengoku and Final Fight than newer ones such as Die Hard Arcade or EA’s Lord of the Rings series.

Also like many older beat ‘em ups, DemolishFist allows players to pick up many items to use for attacks. These give the game some variety, but don’t change the standard gameplay much since there is no strategy required to use them; they are mostly of the swing-this-object-to-hit-the-enemy variety.

For the most part, player reaction towards the E3 version of the game was very poor due to its recycled concept, average controls and bland level designs.

Click here to check out the move sticker.

Also on the Atomiswave hardware, Dolphin Blue sat adjacent to the DemolishFist cabinet in the Sammy booth. The 2D, horizontal-scrolling, character-based shooter often compared to Metal Slug was on display in a more complete form than in previous arcade trade show displays.

The controls allow for three types of play as you progress through the levels: swimming, walking, and, as the title acknowledges, riding on dolphins. Each type allows slightly different button functions; in the water sections, you can shoot your dolphin forward to attack, while on land you have a grenade-style attack instead.

The game’s high-resolution graphics feature a mix of 2D sprites overlaid on top of 3D backgrounds. This showcases the high level of detail in the characters and small objects in the foreground, but also gives the game a clean look in the backgrounds that contrasts with the heavy use of particles and explosions seen in the Metal Slug series.

Like Sammy’s Guilty Gear series, Dolphin Blue provides a high-resolution alternative to a popular 2D game type. But at E3, most players found the controls and graphical style a significant notch below the quality of the Guilty Gear series, so early impressions aren’t overly promising.

Sammy also showed a number of other console and arcade titles such as Seven Samurai 20XX, a fully 3D action game for the PlayStation 2 also developed by Dimps, and the Atomiswave version of Guilty Gear X.