I really like Streets of Fury EX and I'd say that takes on the same training mode status.

"You mash and hope you don't get hit,"

Yes, and clearly there is no other way to interact with this game. A dev team got together to make a game that's an entirely random and arbitrary experience, but they didn't make you invincible so you roll the dice and quarter feed until you win. Definitely.

Arcade genres in general get the anti-intellectual debuff from most people who refuse to engage with the mechanical demand of them, but at least with shmups and other stuff, the games are so hard that people just disengage entirely, they get a "Oh I don't play those games I'm not good at them."

Beat em ups though hit that level of easy to control and forgiving on mistakes enough that people will give them a chance, but then they play like total dog shit, mash buttons and game over, then say "No actually, this is the intended gameplay experience and this genre is bad and has no depth."

I have played and really enjoyed Ninja Saviours/Ninja Warriors Once Again but I have not played the origina. That final boss did feel funky when I played it though.

Dragon's Crown is top 3. I gotta get my hands on this damn game, it seems so good and everyone I talk to seems to confirm that. Also, your opinions haven't led me astray yet, I adore SoP and am enjoying Ichi so far.

I'd be interested to see that list of you can ever get around to it lol