Beat 'em Ups

[santiO]

Remember Double Dragon? Final Fight? Beats of Rage? Captain Commando? Of course you do. It's a rethorical question. No need to answer.

A long, long time ago, in a country far, far away called the Argentine Republic, there was this little 16 years old boy named Santiago Mayaud, who was going through a (pretty pathetic) crisis. The world seemed like a scary place to live, no one was my friend, nobody loved me, bla bla, more darkie/gothic bullcrap. So I spent half a day in my local arcades, playing all kind of games, particularly pinballs (Flippers) and stuff like that. And one day, I placed a coin into a small machine named "Final Fight" and sat on the awkward chair in front of the monitor, without knowing what this evil contraption would do to me.

About an hour and a half ago, I returned home and told my brother "I just kicked seventy-eight plus asses, and at least half of them were twice as big as me. I just took on the world, and I feel like doing it again tomorrow!"

Beat 'em ups and AC/DC and Judas Priest music helped me regain the self esteem I had lost to stupidity a long time ago. I spent a little less time on arcades, but it was all dedicated to Final Fight. Then Streets of Rage, then Captain Commando, and so on. And the more I played (And won) more and more games like these, the more awesome I felt.

About a week ago I discovered Beats of Rage, a Streets of Rage mod made with KoF characters. I now have downloaded more than 10 different mods made with the same engine. The awesomeness keeps coming.

So tell me: Do you still play these great games? Do you still remember how to make Captain Commando throw fire from his gauntlet? And what color were Haggar's pants?

[ROMate]

I remember Ninja Turtles and Battletoads. I still go back and play those every now and then, especially Battletoads. I swear to God I'll beat that game someday.

[Cashino]

Ah...the good ol' days...

Yeah, I remember these. Must've wasted at least $500 total in quarters just to spam the living crap out of 3 buttons and pummal hundreds of wusses into pulpy water. I swear...I should have carpel tunnel or something...

Btw the newest Beat 'em Up that I've seen is God Hand (3-D with same concept as the tradition, except a lot of way over the top attacks, like slugging a baddy with a baseball bat through the stratosphere).

Ahhh...the good old days...so many games unappreciated by today's youngsters who care more about 3-D graphics than awesome gameplay...kinda sad...

[Ellendesu]

Beat em Ups are my second favourite style of Arcade games (The first being top down shooters ALA Raiden, Gunbirds, Batsugun, 1942/99/XX etc., etc. etc.)

One of my favourites was Dungeons and Dragons : Tower of Doom. It was GREAT, and added many elements of gameplay to the genre. Capcom was king of Beat Em Ups, the rest of the companies tended to put out Sub Par at best material, with the exception of games like Streets of Rage, etc.

Anywho. Thats my 2 cents

[JG]

River City Ransom deserves some credit here.  Honorable mention to Golden Axe (remake due out in a few months)

[santiO]

Golden Axe is getting a remake? Awesome! Years before those great Lord of the Ring games (Although 90% of them just HAD TO HAVE a lot of crappy "Defend that wooden door at all costs!") there was... GOLDEN AXE!

Now, these young generations care too much about those things like "Story", and "Graphics", and all that crap n_n But hey, Beat 'em ups had nothing like that. You didn't get fancy special effects, deep storylines or character development. They're like the first Die Hard movie. They had no redeeming features but the raw action, but it is so good that you forget about everything else.

Taking a phrase from DC Comics' Lobo, "When it comes to violence, the only thing I need and want is MORE!!"

They remind me of a Bruce Lee flick. You have a bad guy who does something wrong to the good guy (Stealing girlfriend, killing family, etc.) and the good guy has to beat the living crap out of thousands of guys at the same time in the most spectacular fashion possible to get to the bad guy, then beat the living crap out of him in order to make things right again... 'till the next game. Bruce Lee had little to none special effects, but you loved his movies the same. And that's what happens with Beat 'Em Ups.

Before writing this, I was beating up three Yashiro clones with Vanessa in this Beats of Rage game while listening to AC/DC's TNT. The awesomeness doesn't stop.

[VelcroStraps]

While I really liked Beat-em-ups back in the day, they're not really a genre I care much for anymore. Going back and playing some of the older games on emulators and collections, they seem awfully repetetive and unengaging, often coming down to repeating the same strategies/moves over and over to win.
Still, maybe if I keep trying them, I'll find I still really like one or two of them. There's a few of Capcom's ones that I haven't tried that might please me. Not Final Fight though, I played through it a few times, and I really don't care for it.

[Spaceworlder]

Beat 'em ups are still alive. (See: the action/RPG genre, X-Men Legends, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Dark Alliance, Shining Force NEO/EXA)

[ROMate]

X-Men Legends, Ultimate Alliance, and Dark Alliance all have RPG elements though. They're not straight beat-em-ups like the games of our youths.

[elevator_kart]

If you want some really good Beat 'em Ups  try to check these arcade ones (Playable on MAME)

Undercover Cops (Irem 1992)

Beat 'em Ups

Metamorphic Force (Konami 1993)

Beat 'em Ups

Night Slashers (Data East Corpration 1994)

Beat 'em Ups

Gaia Crusaders (Noise Factory 1999)

Beat 'em Ups

Sengoku 3 (SNK 2001)

Beat 'em Ups

[JG]

Golden Axe is getting a remake? Awesome!

March 1st for Xbox 360s.  March 30th for the sit-on-the-shelf-and-go-unpurchased Playstation 3s.

[LordRyunson]

If you want some really good Beat 'em Ups  try to check these arcade ones (Playable on MAME)

Wow, I never played those before! Well, I did play Sengoku 3 on an emulator, but if you want my opinion on the Sengoku games, here they are.

SENGOKU: The game that started it all, and a source of inspiration for Samurai Kyonyuu, with Ronin Warriors being another. This game alone ate my quarters in the arcade, and after a few years passed, beaten it on an emulator. It was an okay game, a little tedious, but where else can you fight old school samurai demons in a Neo Geo Game other than...

SENGOKU 2: In my opinon, the best of the series. They fixed all the problems the first game had, and the main villain in there, is a source of inspiration for Samurai Kyonyuu's big bad guy, Shogun Zeron.

SENGOKU 3: Although this game had nothing to do with the first two games, this little gem is okay in it's own right. At first, I was disappointed to fight a really bodacious ninja girl in the Italy stage, but when I played further and chopped up her 'Partner' in a later level, I was able to play as both bosses! Guess who I picked?
The last boss of that game learned from the mistakes of his predicesors and beleive me, HE DOES NOT KID AROUND.

Well that's my take. Hopefully they'll make a Sengoku 4 where it will correct the mistakes of the past, and create a perfect game. All in all, Sengoku inspired me to create such fics like Samurai Kyonyuu, and will do amazing things with fanfiction!

Now, as soon as I can get some free time, I'll play the games Elevator Kart posted, and fuel my addiction for old school beatem ups!

[rygax]

I was always partial towards Streets of Rage on the Genesis. I bonded with my stepfather on that game, despite the fact I'd accidentally hit his character from time to time.