Play Power of the Hired Online

Power of the Hired came out for the Super Nintendo in 1994, developed by KSS. It was one of those side-scrolling beat 'em ups that felt a little different from the usual Final Fight clones of the era, with a mechanic that let you build a crew on the fly instead of just plowing through waves of enemies solo.

You control a lone fighter who can recruit defeated enemies by punching them until they agree to join. Your main goal is to clear each stage, fighting through groups of thugs and occasionally dealing with larger boss characters. The real hook is managing your growing team of hired fighters; they follow you and attack automatically, but they can also get in your way or turn on you if you hit them by mistake. The game moves at a brisk pace, and the screen gets crowded quickly, making it easy to lose track of your character in the mess. It feels chaotic and unpredictable, like you're barely holding together a street brawl that could fall apart any second.