In case you missed it, Dragon’s Crown is Vanillaware’s upcoming 2D brawler that pays homage to the developer’s previous work on Princess Crown and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. As a rich, side-scrolling beat’em up, the game heavily emphasizes cooperative play and of course trouncing every bad guy on-screen. Up and to recently, though, Vanillaware has been somewhat cryptic about Dragon’s Crown’s development, but with a rumored August 6 release date right around the corner, the studio is kicking it into high gear, showing off as much of the game as they can.

That’s what today’s trailer is after all: a two-minute demonstration on why this is shaping up to be a contender for game of the year.