Best 2 button combat system?

What are some games that use the 2 button combat system well? I'm talking about games that have both a weak & powerful attack button and use the two to perform combos, possibly with other buttons doing magic or whatever.

I can't think of too many that I've played off the top of my head, but the ones I can think of were kind of button-mashy and not the best combat. The Lord of the Rings movie tie-in games, the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith tie-in game, some other movie tie-in game that I'm probably forgetting... It's probably just my own fault for only playing bad tie-in games instead of something like Devil May Cry or the updated Ninja Gaiden series, and as you can see, I don't even know if those are 2 button combat games. Castle Crashers was okay in this regard, but it didn't feel technical or smooth. More like old side-scrolling arcade games, which is probably what they were going for.

Oh, and before anyone mentions it, this question popped in my head while watching the Dust: An Elysian Tail QL. I've already set aside the points and am looking forward to seeing what that game is about, regardless of how the combat plays.

Does the original Darksiders count? It was a bit more than that, but I really enjoyed the combat in that game. The weapons needed some balance, but I loved how deliberate and controlled you could be. It's something I don't much like about the Darksiders 2 combat (whcih is still plenty fun and engaging and deep) is that it just isn't as deliberate and is more prone to being mashy, which is a bit of a bummer.

I just loved how smoothly moves would interact in the first Darksiders. You could do a dash sword attack that'd knock a guy away, then pounce on him with the gauntlet dash, and from there depending on if he's launched up or away you could either charge up the hold back and Y to do a big hit with e gauntlet that'd send em flying, or you could do the same with the sword for the big upper cut, juggle in the air a bit, and then do the spin move to bring them down, and so on. It felt dynamic and had a good weight to it and because of the slower nature of the moveset, it was a lot easier to always be very deliberate with your moves rather than just mixing in some combos into your mashing or vis versa.

And that doesn't even really get into all of the gadgets and how they could be used for combat like the chain or what have you.

If God of War qualifies, my vote goes to that.

River City Ransom with Double Dragon coming in a close second

I really loved TMNT for the Arcade, we had the NES version and I played the shit out of it, might not be good but I remember it being responsive for the day...I was also 5 so what the hell did I know

Remember Bayonetta? That had an amazing 2-button combat system!

@Rumour said:

Remember Bayonetta? That had an amazing 2-button combat system!

This, it probably has my favorite melee combat system of all time. Ninja Gaiden ain't bad either.

@SomeDeliCook said:

River City Ransom

Oh, the nostalgia! Loved that game when I was a kid.

First game that came to my mind was Smash Brothers.

I still maintain that DMC3 had the most interesting and varied mix of 2 button hack n slashery by mixing ranged and melee together with a massive amount of options.

Bayonetta.

Turns out it's also one of the best games. Period. Funny how that works out.

@adam1808 said:

I still maintain that DMC3 had the most interesting and varied mix of 2 button hack n slashery by mixing ranged and melee together with a massive amount of options.

Bayonetta had most of that, plus hard attack and dodge buttons, a counter system and even more weapons. In a way, it's top-to-bottom the game that DMC4 should've been.

@Elazul said:

@adam1808 said:

I still maintain that DMC3 had the most interesting and varied mix of 2 button hack n slashery by mixing ranged and melee together with a massive amount of options.

Bayonetta had most of that, plus hard attack and dodge buttons, a counter system and even more weapons. In a way, it's top-to-bottom the game that DMC4 should've been.

Granted, but though Bayonetta was tough it wasn't as insanely demanding as the original version of DMC3. Though I'm no masochist, the fact that there was no option to play DMC3 other than to get good or get worked over made me appreciate all the possibilites more.

Maybe it's just the fact that you're right. Bayonetta was what DMC4 should have been, but it reminded me of why DMC3 was so awesome.

@adam1808 said:

@Elazul said:

@adam1808 said:

I still maintain that DMC3 had the most interesting and varied mix of 2 button hack n slashery by mixing ranged and melee together with a massive amount of options.

Bayonetta had most of that, plus hard attack and dodge buttons, a counter system and even more weapons. In a way, it's top-to-bottom the game that DMC4 should've been.

Granted, but though Bayonetta was tough it wasn't as insanely demanding as the original version of DMC3. Though I'm no masochist, the fact that there was no option to play DMC3 other than to get good or get worked over made me appreciate all the possibilites more.

Maybe it's just the fact that you're right. Bayonetta was what DMC4 should have been, but it reminded me of why DMC3 was so awesome.

I'll totally give you that. Bayonetta was kind of easy, especially compared to the DMC3 difficulty curve. Locking away Hard mode until you beat the game on Normal was just flat out a bad idea.

@Elazul said:

@adam1808 said:

@Elazul said:

@adam1808 said:

I still maintain that DMC3 had the most interesting and varied mix of 2 button hack n slashery by mixing ranged and melee together with a massive amount of options.

Bayonetta had most of that, plus hard attack and dodge buttons, a counter system and even more weapons. In a way, it's top-to-bottom the game that DMC4 should've been.

Granted, but though Bayonetta was tough it wasn't as insanely demanding as the original version of DMC3. Though I'm no masochist, the fact that there was no option to play DMC3 other than to get good or get worked over made me appreciate all the possibilites more.

Maybe it's just the fact that you're right. Bayonetta was what DMC4 should have been, but it reminded me of why DMC3 was so awesome.

I'll totally give you that. Bayonetta was kind of easy, especially compared to the DMC3 difficulty curve. Locking away Hard mode until you beat the game on Normal was just flat out a bad idea.

I remember Bayonetta being comparable to most games on normal. Granted DMC3 was probably the most grueling action game I've ever beaten. But getting good at DMC3 meant you were indisputably awesome at videogames and even Ninja Gaiden has lost that part of why hack n slash games are great.

If Arkham City counts as a two button combat game then it gets my vote. If you want to get the medals in the harder combat challenges you have to know exactly when to use what move. I still play those and it's awesome everytime when the combo counter goes over 100.