Undercover Cops (Arcade) Review
Irem’s First Foray into the Beat ’em Up Genre
~by tankMage (August 2026)
Score: 78/100 (Decent)
Undercover Cops is said to have been Irem’s first attempt at a Beat ’em Up. For the most part, it’s an OK game, which isn’t bad for a company known for Shmups. As a beat ’em up, it doesn’t have a lot to offer. Titles that predate Undercover Cops feel more fleshed out and meaningful, however, it’s still engaging enough to sit down and play for the thirty minutes or so it takes to go from start to finish.
Story
The teaser shows the mayor of an unknown city addressing a bunch of officials about a crime epidemic. We’re not told exactly what’s happening, but it’s bad enough that the mayor has to assemble a special task force consisting of a karate master who went to prison for an accidental homicide, a disgraced football player, and a female vigilante out to avenge the death of her partner/lover. The concept is pretty silly, but Undercover Cops does not take itself seriously, which is to its credit. It also bears mentioning that the year is 2043, which probably served an excuse to have a bunch of cyborgs in the game. Let me know if there are cyborgs yet if you happen to be reading this in 2043.
Things clear up a bit when the game begins and we see that the task force is after a gang. I forgot to mention, the trio of heroes are called “The Street Sweepers”. Anyone else find that name funny? Anyway, there’s not a lot of story progression after the intro aside from brief orders like “destroy the evil factory” at the start of each mission. Players who make it to the end will be treated to some more story development and fairly decent ending for an arcade title.
Something tells me the US translation of Undercover Cops differs greatly from the original Japanese version, because a lot of stuff happens at the end that isn’t really hinted at in the intro. I’m not sure why it’s so different, maybe they thought the story was too spicy for arcade goers, but this game is pretty risque as we’ll see later in this review.
I doubt anyone plays Beat ’em Ups from this era for their riveting plots, so I’ll give Undercover Cops a pass. The game world and setting are amusing enough to make it entertaining. Plus, arcades aren’t really conducive to complex story telling.
On a side note, I found out the villain is supposedly part of a recurring groups of bad guys in the Irem universe known as D.A.S. You may recognize this name if you have played In The Hunt. I’m not sure if this is true or not. If it is true, D.A.S. is probably mentioned in the Japanese version.
Graphics
You can pretty much tell this is an Irem game just by looking at it. The colors are kind of gritty and washed out, which seemed to be the company’s style in the early 1990s. They also created a lot of really nicely detailed sprites and tiles that make the action feel very grounded.
As nice as the game looks in terms of style, it does have a few problems. Animations are a little bit choppy and the enemy roster is extremely repetitive. You’ll go through this game fighting the same five or six guys the whole time.
Undercover Cops is also surprisingly bawdy. Flame, the female Street Sweeper, smacks enemies with her posterior. Observant players may also see the occasional nip slip when fighting certain female enemies. There’s also a smattering of blood here and there. None of these things really matter to me, but I think they are worth mentioning in a world where people often play games with their kids, since this one isn’t exactly family friendly. That said, it’s pretty tame for the most part.
Gameplay
Like all Beat ’em ups, Undercover Cops has players moving from left to right, punching and kicking their way through a small army of evil doers. At five missions, this game is pretty short, but that’s to be expected for its genre and medium.
The three playable characters are what you would expect. Flame the vigilante is quick and relatively weak. Bubba the football player is strong, but slow. And Claude the karate guy (get it, Claude as in Jean-Claude Van Damme) is the middle of the road character. They all have their own movesets and feel pretty good to play, though I will say Flame has an edge on the others thanks to her speed.
The enemies, even most bosses, are fairly easy Beat ’em Up fodder. The usual generic fist-fighter thugs assail the heroes with a few heavier or more nimble units thrown in for variety. This is also one of the things that really hurt the game. When I said there are like six regular enemy types, I meant it. Sometimes the devs would give them weapons to mix it up a bit, but fighting was still very repetitive. To be fair great games like Double Dragon had very limited enemy lineups, but Double Dragon was a bit smarter about how it used bad guys.
This leads to another issue, Undercover Cops pulls a lot of dirty Beat ’em Up tricks to get players to jam quarters into the machine. Some enemies and bosses really love to spam attacks, kamikaze guys who drop grenades everywhere get really common later on, and the final stage is filled with insta-death pits. Not to mention the final boss, who may have well been called the spam-master.
I also didn’t like the fact that they removed the heroes’ super attacks from the US version of this cabinet. Every hero has their own regular moves, plus a few special input moves, and a life draining super move in the Japanese version. Why they removed it from the US release is likely due to the game being too easy with it. But doing so also made the game feel like it was missing something, because it was.
Anyone who has played a Beat ’em Up will recognize all the tropes in this one. You’ll have to punch down doors, fight on elevators (who doesn’t love a good elevator brawl?) and even fight in a helicopter. Somehow the use of all these cliches make this brawler more endearing. Maybe it’s because Irem was nodding to great titles that came before it, maybe it’s just nostalgia for elevator fights, but it works either way.
I know I’ve said a lot of negative stuff about Undercover Cops, but it can be fun even if it’s bland. There’s nothing odious about this game even if it isn’t great at what it does. While the action dragged at times, I also found enjoyment in it. Trust me, I’ve reviewed games that are a chore to play and this one doesn’t suffer from that problem.
User Interface
I can’t say much about the UI. It works as advertised and that’s about it. The only thing I didn’t like much was the speed at which the continue timer counts down, but that’s not a big deal. Additionally, I wasn’t sure how to perform a lot of the moves. Maybe it was just a skill issue on my part, so I’m not going to hold it against Undercover Cops.
Music and Sound
The BGM is great if you like Japanese elevator music. Seriously, I’m not really sure what genre the soundtrack falls into, but it’s pretty standard for Irem in the 90s. In some ways it feels a little out of place, but it’s nice enough.
Beat ’em Ups need a good collection of sound effects to drive home the action. Luckily, Undercover Cops’ sound work is pretty good. Punches and kicks are accompanied by bone crunching sounds that let you know you hit the enemy. They aren’t the best, but they get the job done.
There is also some voice work, but it’s not great. The sound quality is lacking and it’s hard to make out what anyone is saying. That said, the voice acting is just enough to add a bit more atmosphere to the game and it doesn’t get in the way even if it’s low fidelity.
Final Thoughts
Undercover Cops is not exceptional in any way and no one really talks about it, but it’s a decent Beat ’em Up. Like many arcade games, it’s the sort of title you can play for a bit and enjoy during a short break. Playing with a friend can make it even more fun. From what I can tell, this game would have been a lot better if it had all of the moves that were added to the Japanese version. Even so, it’s still on the better end of mediocre. Finally, this may be a game that shines when played with a friend, so I may revisit later on with a buddy just to see if it’s more fun in co-op.
Thanks for reading my review of Undercover Cops the arcade game!
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