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Imagine if you will, that the games industry is a giant settee. (!! Bear with me!!) In real life, stuff, usually money or midgets, slip down the side of the settee cushions, and get lost and forgotten about.
The same sort of thing happens in the games industry settee, but instead of coins or tiny people being lost, entire game genres have slipped down the side and are lost to the world.
One such genre sadly lost down the side of the games industry settee, and covered in fluff and crumbs, is the side scrolling beat ‘em up.
The side scrolling beat ‘em up is a long lost genre from the golden age of gaming, and many years ago when the world was a much more innocent place, gamers like myself revelled in the ability to take on gang after gang of street punk, without the risk of actual physical damage from the comfort of our own homes or the arcades. The concept was simple, and the execution was fun and addictive as you fought against the scum of society, turning the streets from a dangerous hostile place filled with criminals into a blood-soaked place littered with dead criminals.
The formula was pretty much always the same for every side scrolling beat ‘em up; control one of the characters, either: generic square-jawed beefcake hero, big muscular guy with moustache and wrestling moves, tall elegant karate expert/ninja type or the clichéd buxom female. You must then walk from one end of the level to the other, beat seven shades of crap out of hoards of henchmen, eat some roast chicken hidden in a barrel, and then face a big tough end of level boss. Repeat for about 10 levels and that’s about it.
Why do I love them? The side-scrollers were one of the greatest and most addicting genres in all of gaming. They had simple non-stop action packed gameplay requiring absolutely no cerebral input whatsoever, that and the ability to be a digital muscle man beating heads. Scrolling beat ‘em ups had no story, no depth and simple gameplay with wave after wave of enemy fodder to beat up, but they were fun and addictive no-brainers. You could turn on your console/go to the arcade, turn off your brain and have some mindless fun. Most only had very simple two button controls, with jumping and attacking, plus you could press both at the same time to unleash an unspectacular special attack.
Of all the genres in gaming, the side scrolling beat ‘em ups were the ones that caused the most sweaty palms, red faces and blistered fingers from all the frantic button pummelling (aside from the finger bleeding Daley Thompson’s Decathlon & Combat School on the Spectrum). They caused your fingers to hurt and your eyes to ache, but what the heck, they were so darn fun!
Also, I love co-op games, so one of the biggest plus points for me was that 99% of them were 2, 3 or even 4-player simultaneous, allowing friends and/or relatives to team up and be butt-kicking psychos together.
Renegade on the Spectrum was probably the first scrolling beat ‘em up I ever played, though it was hard to control it with the unresponsive old Speccy keyboard, it was great fun. But, when the sequel Target Renegade came along, it introduced my brother and I to the wonders of the simultaneous 2-player scrolling beat ‘em up. We’d already enjoyed 2-player co-op Space Invaders some years previous, but Target Renegade and later Double Dragon, Final Fight arcade, Turtles In Time, The Simpsons Arcade and countless others, probably strengthened our brotherly gaming bond, as for the first time we were fighting on a team in one of our favourite game genres.
In terms of the peak of the genre, many people talk about Streets of Rage, though I never had a Sega Master System/ Megadrive, it did look a great game that is also many peoples favourite. Similar to the Sonic & Mario debates of yesteryear as to which games were the best, in the realms of the 2D scrolling beat ‘em up; you’re either a Final Fight person or a Streets of Rage person. I’m definitely a Final Fight person.
Final Fight has always held a special place in my gaming affections; it was one of the first SNES games I saw, and I still remember ogling at the screenshots in Mean Machines, and then buying the (hugely overpriced) American version from a local video shop and finally getting to play it at home instead of in the arcades. Beating up the scum of the seemingly lawless Metro City was always a satisfying experience, combined with some great visuals, memorable tunes and a good variety of enemies. It was a tough game, but when you’d finally beaten the crossbow-bolt firing guy in the wheelchair by turning him into pavement pizza and completed it, it was one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming because you knew you had literally worked your fingers to the bone to finish it.
As you probably know, Final Fight was developed by Capcom, who in my book are the undoubted kings of the side scrolling beat ‘em up. Capcom have been responsible for an amazing amount of side scrollers in their time. Final Fight is obviously their most famed, but there are a number of other great ones (see the website links for more info/screenshots of the games):
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: set in the year 2513, this was 3-player co-op complete with the regular clichéd characters. As the name suggests, this side scroller had lots of Cadillacs and…er...Dinosaurs in it. You fought through the usual locales against the usual kind of scum, plus you could use a number of weapons such as handguns, shotguns and rocket launchers. Some sections saw you driving the aforementioned Cadillac, whilst in many levels there were big dinosaurs to fight.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=533
Aliens vs Predator: control a Predator Warrior, Predator Hunter, clichéd female or even Arnie complete with massive gun in a battle against the evil Aliens. Each level was the same sort of deal: use big weaponry to kill the hoards of Aliens, but it was real high-octane stuff. One of the things I remember about this game was the sheer amount of enemies on-screen at a time, leading to mundo chaos.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=136
Armoured Warriors: What do you get if you combine Capcom, anime characters, huge mechs, 3 player gameplay, big guns, and lots of destruction? You get Armoured Warriors! As an anime fan who loves the big mechs, I loved this game, as the sheer amount of robotic destruction was a delight. Each of the four robots had big guns and could kick some serious butt, plus, as you progressed, you could upgrade your mech and get new attacks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=205
Battle Circuit: highly odd beat ‘em up in which you could control a strange plant man, small girl on an emu suit, a jungle woman, and a couple of strange super hero blokes. There were lots of crazy moves, and you could collect coins in the levels and buy new crazier moves. There are some great screenshots here:
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade3/03/3.htm
Captain Commando: action packed beat ‘em up in which you had to…surprise surprise, save the world from the evil baddies. Control either a mummy man, a ninja, a baby in mech suit or the square-jawed Captain Commando himself (who also appears in Marvel Vs. Capcom).
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=554
Knights of the Round: I don’t actually remember much about this one, but it was Capcom’s attempt at putting Final Fight into Arthurian legend.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1611
Sega also produced some much loved side scrollers:
Streets of Rage & Golden Axe: Although I’m a big fan of side scrolling beat ‘em ups, I’ve never actually played these two, though the long lasting appeal is undeniable, as fans will no doubt tell me.
Moonwalker: the player(s) controlled Michael Jackson and had to rescue kidnapped children from the ingeniously named Mr. Big with the aid of his crazy moonwalking skills and good friend Bubbles The Chimp. To save the little brats, all Michael needed to do was *ahem*, touch them. He battled against hoards of gangster types and even some zombies in his quest, and he also had a special dance attack where all the enemies danced along with Michael…then died!
When you met Bubbles the Chimp, he turned Michael into a giant robot of mass destruction called Moonwalker, however the robot wasn’t exactly in Robocop’s league and didn’t look like it could kill a fly let alone a gang of baddies.
Not forgetting Konami:
The Simpsons Arcade: one of my favourite arcade games of all time was this one. Back in the good old days, when Simpsons games were good, and not the reviled piles of cash-in mediocrity they are today, this ruled in the arcades. Smithers and Mr. Burns kidnapped Maggie, so it was up to the all-American family to rescue her in level upon level of Springfield themed chaos. There were loads of recognisable characters and backgrounds from the TV show, and the 4-player gameplay was great.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=2828
X-Men: control some of everyone’s favourite mutants in this 6-player(!!) beat ‘em up. Each character had their own unique special moves, and there were plenty of baddie fodder to beat up.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=X&game_id=3774
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle in Time: Most people probably remember this one from the SNES days, and this was one heck of a scrolling beat ‘em up. There were a number of different time zones to battle through, loads of cool moves, plenty of speech and some great baddies and bosses from the TV show/comics to beat up.
Asterix: The biggest French export since those onion necklaces and berets, Asterix was a strange choice to be a scrolling beat ‘em up, but it worked pretty well, with Asterix and Obelix beating up the Romans. It looked faithful and had plenty of comical fighting moves to use.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=214
Others:
Rival Turf: A blatant Final Fight rip-off made by Jaleco. It was pretty much an inferior clone of Capcom’s finest, but it was still quite fun, even if it was rubbish. I remember the enemies made funny whimpering noises when they died
Knuckle Bash: unintentionally camp Final Fight rip-off, control one of three muscle men wrestlers and beat the hell out of wrestler baddies wearing tight lycra and knee length socks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1616
PuLiRuLa: made by Taito, this is a highly odd cartoony beat ‘em up in which you control boy and/or girl as they fight to recover some strange time key that will unfreeze their town. This is one of the weirdest, most surreal games ever, with strange enemies, backgrounds and special moves. It had some nice bright and bold graphics and was pretty fun, though I can imagine that was probably like playing through a bad acid trip.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade2/pulirula.html
They were one of the biggest most successful genres in all of gaming, so what did happen to the scrolling beat ‘em up?
In trying to milk the franchise, some weaker watered down Final Fight sequels appeared and weren’t as good or successful as the original, but Street Fighter 2 was probably the final nail in the coffin. It was so successful that games companies like Capcom focused their attentions on that style of beat ‘em up instead. Street Fighter style games are still some of the most successful genres in all of video games, with Tekken 4, Virtua Fighter 4, Dead or Alive 3, Capcom Vs SNK, Soul Calibur 2 etc, filling up the charts.
As time went on, and the games industry evolved, gamers wanted either something a bit more cerebral or fast paced fighting like SF2, meaning that the rather monotonous scrolling beat ‘em up was confined to the pages of gaming history. The genre couldn’t really be taken much further and seemed to disappear overnight. Games like Fighting Force, Dynamite Cop, Zombie Revenge, Gekido and The Bouncer tried to resurrect the genre in recent times, but they failed to capture the ‘old skool’ essence of the scrolling beat ‘em ups of old and were disappointing.
It was great when Final Fight was re-released on the GBA letting older gamers play it again, or younger players play it for the first time, and hopefully we’ll see a few more classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups re-released on the handheld in the future. I saw some screenshots of a GBA version of Gekido coming one day, which might please fans, but it would be great if the genre could have a few more new and decent games in the future on next-gen systems, rather than the average ones we’ve seen in recent times. It would be great to see some classic side scrolling beat ‘em up compilations available from Capcom, with all their best ones on a single disc, giving nostalgic old fogies like me the chance to play some of them again.
For the moment, the world of classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups lives on in the form of emulators, old consoles, or memories.
Will they make a comeback? Only time will tell...
Thanks for reading :)
The same sort of thing happens in the games industry settee, but instead of coins or tiny people being lost, entire game genres have slipped down the side and are lost to the world.
One such genre sadly lost down the side of the games industry settee, and covered in fluff and crumbs, is the side scrolling beat ‘em up.
The side scrolling beat ‘em up is a long lost genre from the golden age of gaming, and many years ago when the world was a much more innocent place, gamers like myself revelled in the ability to take on gang after gang of street punk, without the risk of actual physical damage from the comfort of our own homes or the arcades. The concept was simple, and the execution was fun and addictive as you fought against the scum of society, turning the streets from a dangerous hostile place filled with criminals into a blood-soaked place littered with dead criminals.
The formula was pretty much always the same for every side scrolling beat ‘em up; control one of the characters, either: generic square-jawed beefcake hero, big muscular guy with moustache and wrestling moves, tall elegant karate expert/ninja type or the clichéd buxom female. You must then walk from one end of the level to the other, beat seven shades of crap out of hoards of henchmen, eat some roast chicken hidden in a barrel, and then face a big tough end of level boss. Repeat for about 10 levels and that’s about it.
Why do I love them? The side-scrollers were one of the greatest and most addicting genres in all of gaming. They had simple non-stop action packed gameplay requiring absolutely no cerebral input whatsoever, that and the ability to be a digital muscle man beating heads. Scrolling beat ‘em ups had no story, no depth and simple gameplay with wave after wave of enemy fodder to beat up, but they were fun and addictive no-brainers. You could turn on your console/go to the arcade, turn off your brain and have some mindless fun. Most only had very simple two button controls, with jumping and attacking, plus you could press both at the same time to unleash an unspectacular special attack.
Of all the genres in gaming, the side scrolling beat ‘em ups were the ones that caused the most sweaty palms, red faces and blistered fingers from all the frantic button pummelling (aside from the finger bleeding Daley Thompson’s Decathlon & Combat School on the Spectrum). They caused your fingers to hurt and your eyes to ache, but what the heck, they were so darn fun!
Also, I love co-op games, so one of the biggest plus points for me was that 99% of them were 2, 3 or even 4-player simultaneous, allowing friends and/or relatives to team up and be butt-kicking psychos together.
Renegade on the Spectrum was probably the first scrolling beat ‘em up I ever played, though it was hard to control it with the unresponsive old Speccy keyboard, it was great fun. But, when the sequel Target Renegade came along, it introduced my brother and I to the wonders of the simultaneous 2-player scrolling beat ‘em up. We’d already enjoyed 2-player co-op Space Invaders some years previous, but Target Renegade and later Double Dragon, Final Fight arcade, Turtles In Time, The Simpsons Arcade and countless others, probably strengthened our brotherly gaming bond, as for the first time we were fighting on a team in one of our favourite game genres.
In terms of the peak of the genre, many people talk about Streets of Rage, though I never had a Sega Master System/ Megadrive, it did look a great game that is also many peoples favourite. Similar to the Sonic & Mario debates of yesteryear as to which games were the best, in the realms of the 2D scrolling beat ‘em up; you’re either a Final Fight person or a Streets of Rage person. I’m definitely a Final Fight person.
Final Fight has always held a special place in my gaming affections; it was one of the first SNES games I saw, and I still remember ogling at the screenshots in Mean Machines, and then buying the (hugely overpriced) American version from a local video shop and finally getting to play it at home instead of in the arcades. Beating up the scum of the seemingly lawless Metro City was always a satisfying experience, combined with some great visuals, memorable tunes and a good variety of enemies. It was a tough game, but when you’d finally beaten the crossbow-bolt firing guy in the wheelchair by turning him into pavement pizza and completed it, it was one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming because you knew you had literally worked your fingers to the bone to finish it.
As you probably know, Final Fight was developed by Capcom, who in my book are the undoubted kings of the side scrolling beat ‘em up. Capcom have been responsible for an amazing amount of side scrollers in their time. Final Fight is obviously their most famed, but there are a number of other great ones (see the website links for more info/screenshots of the games):
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: set in the year 2513, this was 3-player co-op complete with the regular clichéd characters. As the name suggests, this side scroller had lots of Cadillacs and…er...Dinosaurs in it. You fought through the usual locales against the usual kind of scum, plus you could use a number of weapons such as handguns, shotguns and rocket launchers. Some sections saw you driving the aforementioned Cadillac, whilst in many levels there were big dinosaurs to fight.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=533
Aliens vs Predator: control a Predator Warrior, Predator Hunter, clichéd female or even Arnie complete with massive gun in a battle against the evil Aliens. Each level was the same sort of deal: use big weaponry to kill the hoards of Aliens, but it was real high-octane stuff. One of the things I remember about this game was the sheer amount of enemies on-screen at a time, leading to mundo chaos.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=136
Armoured Warriors: What do you get if you combine Capcom, anime characters, huge mechs, 3 player gameplay, big guns, and lots of destruction? You get Armoured Warriors! As an anime fan who loves the big mechs, I loved this game, as the sheer amount of robotic destruction was a delight. Each of the four robots had big guns and could kick some serious butt, plus, as you progressed, you could upgrade your mech and get new attacks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=205
Battle Circuit: highly odd beat ‘em up in which you could control a strange plant man, small girl on an emu suit, a jungle woman, and a couple of strange super hero blokes. There were lots of crazy moves, and you could collect coins in the levels and buy new crazier moves. There are some great screenshots here:
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade3/03/3.htm
Captain Commando: action packed beat ‘em up in which you had to…surprise surprise, save the world from the evil baddies. Control either a mummy man, a ninja, a baby in mech suit or the square-jawed Captain Commando himself (who also appears in Marvel Vs. Capcom).
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=554
Knights of the Round: I don’t actually remember much about this one, but it was Capcom’s attempt at putting Final Fight into Arthurian legend.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1611
Sega also produced some much loved side scrollers:
Streets of Rage & Golden Axe: Although I’m a big fan of side scrolling beat ‘em ups, I’ve never actually played these two, though the long lasting appeal is undeniable, as fans will no doubt tell me.
Moonwalker: the player(s) controlled Michael Jackson and had to rescue kidnapped children from the ingeniously named Mr. Big with the aid of his crazy moonwalking skills and good friend Bubbles The Chimp. To save the little brats, all Michael needed to do was *ahem*, touch them. He battled against hoards of gangster types and even some zombies in his quest, and he also had a special dance attack where all the enemies danced along with Michael…then died!
When you met Bubbles the Chimp, he turned Michael into a giant robot of mass destruction called Moonwalker, however the robot wasn’t exactly in Robocop’s league and didn’t look like it could kill a fly let alone a gang of baddies.
Not forgetting Konami:
The Simpsons Arcade: one of my favourite arcade games of all time was this one. Back in the good old days, when Simpsons games were good, and not the reviled piles of cash-in mediocrity they are today, this ruled in the arcades. Smithers and Mr. Burns kidnapped Maggie, so it was up to the all-American family to rescue her in level upon level of Springfield themed chaos. There were loads of recognisable characters and backgrounds from the TV show, and the 4-player gameplay was great.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=2828
X-Men: control some of everyone’s favourite mutants in this 6-player(!!) beat ‘em up. Each character had their own unique special moves, and there were plenty of baddie fodder to beat up.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=X&game_id=3774
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle in Time: Most people probably remember this one from the SNES days, and this was one heck of a scrolling beat ‘em up. There were a number of different time zones to battle through, loads of cool moves, plenty of speech and some great baddies and bosses from the TV show/comics to beat up.
Asterix: The biggest French export since those onion necklaces and berets, Asterix was a strange choice to be a scrolling beat ‘em up, but it worked pretty well, with Asterix and Obelix beating up the Romans. It looked faithful and had plenty of comical fighting moves to use.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=214
Others:
Rival Turf: A blatant Final Fight rip-off made by Jaleco. It was pretty much an inferior clone of Capcom’s finest, but it was still quite fun, even if it was rubbish. I remember the enemies made funny whimpering noises when they died
Knuckle Bash: unintentionally camp Final Fight rip-off, control one of three muscle men wrestlers and beat the hell out of wrestler baddies wearing tight lycra and knee length socks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1616
PuLiRuLa: made by Taito, this is a highly odd cartoony beat ‘em up in which you control boy and/or girl as they fight to recover some strange time key that will unfreeze their town. This is one of the weirdest, most surreal games ever, with strange enemies, backgrounds and special moves. It had some nice bright and bold graphics and was pretty fun, though I can imagine that was probably like playing through a bad acid trip.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade2/pulirula.html
They were one of the biggest most successful genres in all of gaming, so what did happen to the scrolling beat ‘em up?
In trying to milk the franchise, some weaker watered down Final Fight sequels appeared and weren’t as good or successful as the original, but Street Fighter 2 was probably the final nail in the coffin. It was so successful that games companies like Capcom focused their attentions on that style of beat ‘em up instead. Street Fighter style games are still some of the most successful genres in all of video games, with Tekken 4, Virtua Fighter 4, Dead or Alive 3, Capcom Vs SNK, Soul Calibur 2 etc, filling up the charts.
As time went on, and the games industry evolved, gamers wanted either something a bit more cerebral or fast paced fighting like SF2, meaning that the rather monotonous scrolling beat ‘em up was confined to the pages of gaming history. The genre couldn’t really be taken much further and seemed to disappear overnight. Games like Fighting Force, Dynamite Cop, Zombie Revenge, Gekido and The Bouncer tried to resurrect the genre in recent times, but they failed to capture the ‘old skool’ essence of the scrolling beat ‘em ups of old and were disappointing.
It was great when Final Fight was re-released on the GBA letting older gamers play it again, or younger players play it for the first time, and hopefully we’ll see a few more classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups re-released on the handheld in the future. I saw some screenshots of a GBA version of Gekido coming one day, which might please fans, but it would be great if the genre could have a few more new and decent games in the future on next-gen systems, rather than the average ones we’ve seen in recent times. It would be great to see some classic side scrolling beat ‘em up compilations available from Capcom, with all their best ones on a single disc, giving nostalgic old fogies like me the chance to play some of them again.
For the moment, the world of classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups lives on in the form of emulators, old consoles, or memories.
Will they make a comeback? Only time will tell...
Thanks for reading :)
Don't forget the legendary IK+ for the humble Speecy/C64 - now rereleased for the GBA!
I've still got Contra Spirits for my SNES and it's brilliant with an excellent difficulty level. Another one of my favourites (even though it wasn't a beat-em-up) was Cybernator on the SNES. That's one of my most loved games EVER! Combining Japanese Anime robots and flying, side-scrolling shoot-em-up gameplay it remains one of the best games on the SNES. Now, if only they'd re-release it for the GBA...actually, i don't care if they did anyway. i've got the SNES version and it rocks!
I've still got Contra Spirits for my SNES and it's brilliant with an excellent difficulty level. Another one of my favourites (even though it wasn't a beat-em-up) was Cybernator on the SNES. That's one of my most loved games EVER! Combining Japanese Anime robots and flying, side-scrolling shoot-em-up gameplay it remains one of the best games on the SNES. Now, if only they'd re-release it for the GBA...actually, i don't care if they did anyway. i've got the SNES version and it rocks!
I would call them side scrolling shoot 'em ups rather than beat 'em ups, but they are another genre that hasn't been well supported over recent times.
Metal Slug and Contra rule, and Sunset Riders was great fun too.
Metal Slug and Contra rule, and Sunset Riders was great fun too.
Contra's coming out soon isn't it? That rocked! What about Metal Slug!
Imagine if you will, that the games industry is a giant settee. (!! Bear with me!!) In real life, stuff, usually money or midgets, slip down the side of the settee cushions, and get lost and forgotten about.
The same sort of thing happens in the games industry settee, but instead of coins or tiny people being lost, entire game genres have slipped down the side and are lost to the world.
One such genre sadly lost down the side of the games industry settee, and covered in fluff and crumbs, is the side scrolling beat ‘em up.
The side scrolling beat ‘em up is a long lost genre from the golden age of gaming, and many years ago when the world was a much more innocent place, gamers like myself revelled in the ability to take on gang after gang of street punk, without the risk of actual physical damage from the comfort of our own homes or the arcades. The concept was simple, and the execution was fun and addictive as you fought against the scum of society, turning the streets from a dangerous hostile place filled with criminals into a blood-soaked place littered with dead criminals.
The formula was pretty much always the same for every side scrolling beat ‘em up; control one of the characters, either: generic square-jawed beefcake hero, big muscular guy with moustache and wrestling moves, tall elegant karate expert/ninja type or the clichéd buxom female. You must then walk from one end of the level to the other, beat seven shades of crap out of hoards of henchmen, eat some roast chicken hidden in a barrel, and then face a big tough end of level boss. Repeat for about 10 levels and that’s about it.
Why do I love them? The side-scrollers were one of the greatest and most addicting genres in all of gaming. They had simple non-stop action packed gameplay requiring absolutely no cerebral input whatsoever, that and the ability to be a digital muscle man beating heads. Scrolling beat ‘em ups had no story, no depth and simple gameplay with wave after wave of enemy fodder to beat up, but they were fun and addictive no-brainers. You could turn on your console/go to the arcade, turn off your brain and have some mindless fun. Most only had very simple two button controls, with jumping and attacking, plus you could press both at the same time to unleash an unspectacular special attack.
Of all the genres in gaming, the side scrolling beat ‘em ups were the ones that caused the most sweaty palms, red faces and blistered fingers from all the frantic button pummelling (aside from the finger bleeding Daley Thompson’s Decathlon & Combat School on the Spectrum). They caused your fingers to hurt and your eyes to ache, but what the heck, they were so darn fun!
Also, I love co-op games, so one of the biggest plus points for me was that 99% of them were 2, 3 or even 4-player simultaneous, allowing friends and/or relatives to team up and be butt-kicking psychos together.
Renegade on the Spectrum was probably the first scrolling beat ‘em up I ever played, though it was hard to control it with the unresponsive old Speccy keyboard, it was great fun. But, when the sequel Target Renegade came along, it introduced my brother and I to the wonders of the simultaneous 2-player scrolling beat ‘em up. We’d already enjoyed 2-player co-op Space Invaders some years previous, but Target Renegade and later Double Dragon, Final Fight arcade, Turtles In Time, The Simpsons Arcade and countless others, probably strengthened our brotherly gaming bond, as for the first time we were fighting on a team in one of our favourite game genres.
In terms of the peak of the genre, many people talk about Streets of Rage, though I never had a Sega Master System/ Megadrive, it did look a great game that is also many peoples favourite. Similar to the Sonic & Mario debates of yesteryear as to which games were the best, in the realms of the 2D scrolling beat ‘em up; you’re either a Final Fight person or a Streets of Rage person. I’m definitely a Final Fight person.
Final Fight has always held a special place in my gaming affections; it was one of the first SNES games I saw, and I still remember ogling at the screenshots in Mean Machines, and then buying the (hugely overpriced) American version from a local video shop and finally getting to play it at home instead of in the arcades. Beating up the scum of the seemingly lawless Metro City was always a satisfying experience, combined with some great visuals, memorable tunes and a good variety of enemies. It was a tough game, but when you’d finally beaten the crossbow-bolt firing guy in the wheelchair by turning him into pavement pizza and completed it, it was one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming because you knew you had literally worked your fingers to the bone to finish it.
As you probably know, Final Fight was developed by Capcom, who in my book are the undoubted kings of the side scrolling beat ‘em up. Capcom have been responsible for an amazing amount of side scrollers in their time. Final Fight is obviously their most famed, but there are a number of other great ones (see the website links for more info/screenshots of the games):
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: set in the year 2513, this was 3-player co-op complete with the regular clichéd characters. As the name suggests, this side scroller had lots of Cadillacs and…er...Dinosaurs in it. You fought through the usual locales against the usual kind of scum, plus you could use a number of weapons such as handguns, shotguns and rocket launchers. Some sections saw you driving the aforementioned Cadillac, whilst in many levels there were big dinosaurs to fight.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=533
Aliens vs Predator: control a Predator Warrior, Predator Hunter, clichéd female or even Arnie complete with massive gun in a battle against the evil Aliens. Each level was the same sort of deal: use big weaponry to kill the hoards of Aliens, but it was real high-octane stuff. One of the things I remember about this game was the sheer amount of enemies on-screen at a time, leading to mundo chaos.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=136
Armoured Warriors: What do you get if you combine Capcom, anime characters, huge mechs, 3 player gameplay, big guns, and lots of destruction? You get Armoured Warriors! As an anime fan who loves the big mechs, I loved this game, as the sheer amount of robotic destruction was a delight. Each of the four robots had big guns and could kick some serious butt, plus, as you progressed, you could upgrade your mech and get new attacks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=205
Battle Circuit: highly odd beat ‘em up in which you could control a strange plant man, small girl on an emu suit, a jungle woman, and a couple of strange super hero blokes. There were lots of crazy moves, and you could collect coins in the levels and buy new crazier moves. There are some great screenshots here:
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade3/03/3.htm
Captain Commando: action packed beat ‘em up in which you had to…surprise surprise, save the world from the evil baddies. Control either a mummy man, a ninja, a baby in mech suit or the square-jawed Captain Commando himself (who also appears in Marvel Vs. Capcom).
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=554
Knights of the Round: I don’t actually remember much about this one, but it was Capcom’s attempt at putting Final Fight into Arthurian legend.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1611
Sega also produced some much loved side scrollers:
Streets of Rage & Golden Axe: Although I’m a big fan of side scrolling beat ‘em ups, I’ve never actually played these two, though the long lasting appeal is undeniable, as fans will no doubt tell me.
Moonwalker: the player(s) controlled Michael Jackson and had to rescue kidnapped children from the ingeniously named Mr. Big with the aid of his crazy moonwalking skills and good friend Bubbles The Chimp. To save the little brats, all Michael needed to do was *ahem*, touch them. He battled against hoards of gangster types and even some zombies in his quest, and he also had a special dance attack where all the enemies danced along with Michael…then died!
When you met Bubbles the Chimp, he turned Michael into a giant robot of mass destruction called Moonwalker, however the robot wasn’t exactly in Robocop’s league and didn’t look like it could kill a fly let alone a gang of baddies.
Not forgetting Konami:
The Simpsons Arcade: one of my favourite arcade games of all time was this one. Back in the good old days, when Simpsons games were good, and not the reviled piles of cash-in mediocrity they are today, this ruled in the arcades. Smithers and Mr. Burns kidnapped Maggie, so it was up to the all-American family to rescue her in level upon level of Springfield themed chaos. There were loads of recognisable characters and backgrounds from the TV show, and the 4-player gameplay was great.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=2828
X-Men: control some of everyone’s favourite mutants in this 6-player(!!) beat ‘em up. Each character had their own unique special moves, and there were plenty of baddie fodder to beat up.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=X&game_id=3774
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle in Time: Most people probably remember this one from the SNES days, and this was one heck of a scrolling beat ‘em up. There were a number of different time zones to battle through, loads of cool moves, plenty of speech and some great baddies and bosses from the TV show/comics to beat up.
Asterix: The biggest French export since those onion necklaces and berets, Asterix was a strange choice to be a scrolling beat ‘em up, but it worked pretty well, with Asterix and Obelix beating up the Romans. It looked faithful and had plenty of comical fighting moves to use.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=214
Others:
Rival Turf: A blatant Final Fight rip-off made by Jaleco. It was pretty much an inferior clone of Capcom’s finest, but it was still quite fun, even if it was rubbish. I remember the enemies made funny whimpering noises when they died
Knuckle Bash: unintentionally camp Final Fight rip-off, control one of three muscle men wrestlers and beat the hell out of wrestler baddies wearing tight lycra and knee length socks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1616
PuLiRuLa: made by Taito, this is a highly odd cartoony beat ‘em up in which you control boy and/or girl as they fight to recover some strange time key that will unfreeze their town. This is one of the weirdest, most surreal games ever, with strange enemies, backgrounds and special moves. It had some nice bright and bold graphics and was pretty fun, though I can imagine that was probably like playing through a bad acid trip.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade2/pulirula.html
They were one of the biggest most successful genres in all of gaming, so what did happen to the scrolling beat ‘em up?
In trying to milk the franchise, some weaker watered down Final Fight sequels appeared and weren’t as good or successful as the original, but Street Fighter 2 was probably the final nail in the coffin. It was so successful that games companies like Capcom focused their attentions on that style of beat ‘em up instead. Street Fighter style games are still some of the most successful genres in all of video games, with Tekken 4, Virtua Fighter 4, Dead or Alive 3, Capcom Vs SNK, Soul Calibur 2 etc, filling up the charts.
As time went on, and the games industry evolved, gamers wanted either something a bit more cerebral or fast paced fighting like SF2, meaning that the rather monotonous scrolling beat ‘em up was confined to the pages of gaming history. The genre couldn’t really be taken much further and seemed to disappear overnight. Games like Fighting Force, Dynamite Cop, Zombie Revenge, Gekido and The Bouncer tried to resurrect the genre in recent times, but they failed to capture the ‘old skool’ essence of the scrolling beat ‘em ups of old and were disappointing.
It was great when Final Fight was re-released on the GBA letting older gamers play it again, or younger players play it for the first time, and hopefully we’ll see a few more classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups re-released on the handheld in the future. I saw some screenshots of a GBA version of Gekido coming one day, which might please fans, but it would be great if the genre could have a few more new and decent games in the future on next-gen systems, rather than the average ones we’ve seen in recent times. It would be great to see some classic side scrolling beat ‘em up compilations available from Capcom, with all their best ones on a single disc, giving nostalgic old fogies like me the chance to play some of them again.
For the moment, the world of classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups lives on in the form of emulators, old consoles, or memories.
Will they make a comeback? Only time will tell...
Thanks for reading :)
The same sort of thing happens in the games industry settee, but instead of coins or tiny people being lost, entire game genres have slipped down the side and are lost to the world.
One such genre sadly lost down the side of the games industry settee, and covered in fluff and crumbs, is the side scrolling beat ‘em up.
The side scrolling beat ‘em up is a long lost genre from the golden age of gaming, and many years ago when the world was a much more innocent place, gamers like myself revelled in the ability to take on gang after gang of street punk, without the risk of actual physical damage from the comfort of our own homes or the arcades. The concept was simple, and the execution was fun and addictive as you fought against the scum of society, turning the streets from a dangerous hostile place filled with criminals into a blood-soaked place littered with dead criminals.
The formula was pretty much always the same for every side scrolling beat ‘em up; control one of the characters, either: generic square-jawed beefcake hero, big muscular guy with moustache and wrestling moves, tall elegant karate expert/ninja type or the clichéd buxom female. You must then walk from one end of the level to the other, beat seven shades of crap out of hoards of henchmen, eat some roast chicken hidden in a barrel, and then face a big tough end of level boss. Repeat for about 10 levels and that’s about it.
Why do I love them? The side-scrollers were one of the greatest and most addicting genres in all of gaming. They had simple non-stop action packed gameplay requiring absolutely no cerebral input whatsoever, that and the ability to be a digital muscle man beating heads. Scrolling beat ‘em ups had no story, no depth and simple gameplay with wave after wave of enemy fodder to beat up, but they were fun and addictive no-brainers. You could turn on your console/go to the arcade, turn off your brain and have some mindless fun. Most only had very simple two button controls, with jumping and attacking, plus you could press both at the same time to unleash an unspectacular special attack.
Of all the genres in gaming, the side scrolling beat ‘em ups were the ones that caused the most sweaty palms, red faces and blistered fingers from all the frantic button pummelling (aside from the finger bleeding Daley Thompson’s Decathlon & Combat School on the Spectrum). They caused your fingers to hurt and your eyes to ache, but what the heck, they were so darn fun!
Also, I love co-op games, so one of the biggest plus points for me was that 99% of them were 2, 3 or even 4-player simultaneous, allowing friends and/or relatives to team up and be butt-kicking psychos together.
Renegade on the Spectrum was probably the first scrolling beat ‘em up I ever played, though it was hard to control it with the unresponsive old Speccy keyboard, it was great fun. But, when the sequel Target Renegade came along, it introduced my brother and I to the wonders of the simultaneous 2-player scrolling beat ‘em up. We’d already enjoyed 2-player co-op Space Invaders some years previous, but Target Renegade and later Double Dragon, Final Fight arcade, Turtles In Time, The Simpsons Arcade and countless others, probably strengthened our brotherly gaming bond, as for the first time we were fighting on a team in one of our favourite game genres.
In terms of the peak of the genre, many people talk about Streets of Rage, though I never had a Sega Master System/ Megadrive, it did look a great game that is also many peoples favourite. Similar to the Sonic & Mario debates of yesteryear as to which games were the best, in the realms of the 2D scrolling beat ‘em up; you’re either a Final Fight person or a Streets of Rage person. I’m definitely a Final Fight person.
Final Fight has always held a special place in my gaming affections; it was one of the first SNES games I saw, and I still remember ogling at the screenshots in Mean Machines, and then buying the (hugely overpriced) American version from a local video shop and finally getting to play it at home instead of in the arcades. Beating up the scum of the seemingly lawless Metro City was always a satisfying experience, combined with some great visuals, memorable tunes and a good variety of enemies. It was a tough game, but when you’d finally beaten the crossbow-bolt firing guy in the wheelchair by turning him into pavement pizza and completed it, it was one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming because you knew you had literally worked your fingers to the bone to finish it.
As you probably know, Final Fight was developed by Capcom, who in my book are the undoubted kings of the side scrolling beat ‘em up. Capcom have been responsible for an amazing amount of side scrollers in their time. Final Fight is obviously their most famed, but there are a number of other great ones (see the website links for more info/screenshots of the games):
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: set in the year 2513, this was 3-player co-op complete with the regular clichéd characters. As the name suggests, this side scroller had lots of Cadillacs and…er...Dinosaurs in it. You fought through the usual locales against the usual kind of scum, plus you could use a number of weapons such as handguns, shotguns and rocket launchers. Some sections saw you driving the aforementioned Cadillac, whilst in many levels there were big dinosaurs to fight.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=533
Aliens vs Predator: control a Predator Warrior, Predator Hunter, clichéd female or even Arnie complete with massive gun in a battle against the evil Aliens. Each level was the same sort of deal: use big weaponry to kill the hoards of Aliens, but it was real high-octane stuff. One of the things I remember about this game was the sheer amount of enemies on-screen at a time, leading to mundo chaos.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=136
Armoured Warriors: What do you get if you combine Capcom, anime characters, huge mechs, 3 player gameplay, big guns, and lots of destruction? You get Armoured Warriors! As an anime fan who loves the big mechs, I loved this game, as the sheer amount of robotic destruction was a delight. Each of the four robots had big guns and could kick some serious butt, plus, as you progressed, you could upgrade your mech and get new attacks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=205
Battle Circuit: highly odd beat ‘em up in which you could control a strange plant man, small girl on an emu suit, a jungle woman, and a couple of strange super hero blokes. There were lots of crazy moves, and you could collect coins in the levels and buy new crazier moves. There are some great screenshots here:
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade3/03/3.htm
Captain Commando: action packed beat ‘em up in which you had to…surprise surprise, save the world from the evil baddies. Control either a mummy man, a ninja, a baby in mech suit or the square-jawed Captain Commando himself (who also appears in Marvel Vs. Capcom).
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=554
Knights of the Round: I don’t actually remember much about this one, but it was Capcom’s attempt at putting Final Fight into Arthurian legend.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1611
Sega also produced some much loved side scrollers:
Streets of Rage & Golden Axe: Although I’m a big fan of side scrolling beat ‘em ups, I’ve never actually played these two, though the long lasting appeal is undeniable, as fans will no doubt tell me.
Moonwalker: the player(s) controlled Michael Jackson and had to rescue kidnapped children from the ingeniously named Mr. Big with the aid of his crazy moonwalking skills and good friend Bubbles The Chimp. To save the little brats, all Michael needed to do was *ahem*, touch them. He battled against hoards of gangster types and even some zombies in his quest, and he also had a special dance attack where all the enemies danced along with Michael…then died!
When you met Bubbles the Chimp, he turned Michael into a giant robot of mass destruction called Moonwalker, however the robot wasn’t exactly in Robocop’s league and didn’t look like it could kill a fly let alone a gang of baddies.
Not forgetting Konami:
The Simpsons Arcade: one of my favourite arcade games of all time was this one. Back in the good old days, when Simpsons games were good, and not the reviled piles of cash-in mediocrity they are today, this ruled in the arcades. Smithers and Mr. Burns kidnapped Maggie, so it was up to the all-American family to rescue her in level upon level of Springfield themed chaos. There were loads of recognisable characters and backgrounds from the TV show, and the 4-player gameplay was great.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=2828
X-Men: control some of everyone’s favourite mutants in this 6-player(!!) beat ‘em up. Each character had their own unique special moves, and there were plenty of baddie fodder to beat up.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=X&game_id=3774
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle in Time: Most people probably remember this one from the SNES days, and this was one heck of a scrolling beat ‘em up. There were a number of different time zones to battle through, loads of cool moves, plenty of speech and some great baddies and bosses from the TV show/comics to beat up.
Asterix: The biggest French export since those onion necklaces and berets, Asterix was a strange choice to be a scrolling beat ‘em up, but it worked pretty well, with Asterix and Obelix beating up the Romans. It looked faithful and had plenty of comical fighting moves to use.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=A&game_id=214
Others:
Rival Turf: A blatant Final Fight rip-off made by Jaleco. It was pretty much an inferior clone of Capcom’s finest, but it was still quite fun, even if it was rubbish. I remember the enemies made funny whimpering noises when they died
Knuckle Bash: unintentionally camp Final Fight rip-off, control one of three muscle men wrestlers and beat the hell out of wrestler baddies wearing tight lycra and knee length socks.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=1616
PuLiRuLa: made by Taito, this is a highly odd cartoony beat ‘em up in which you control boy and/or girl as they fight to recover some strange time key that will unfreeze their town. This is one of the weirdest, most surreal games ever, with strange enemies, backgrounds and special moves. It had some nice bright and bold graphics and was pretty fun, though I can imagine that was probably like playing through a bad acid trip.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade2/pulirula.html
They were one of the biggest most successful genres in all of gaming, so what did happen to the scrolling beat ‘em up?
In trying to milk the franchise, some weaker watered down Final Fight sequels appeared and weren’t as good or successful as the original, but Street Fighter 2 was probably the final nail in the coffin. It was so successful that games companies like Capcom focused their attentions on that style of beat ‘em up instead. Street Fighter style games are still some of the most successful genres in all of video games, with Tekken 4, Virtua Fighter 4, Dead or Alive 3, Capcom Vs SNK, Soul Calibur 2 etc, filling up the charts.
As time went on, and the games industry evolved, gamers wanted either something a bit more cerebral or fast paced fighting like SF2, meaning that the rather monotonous scrolling beat ‘em up was confined to the pages of gaming history. The genre couldn’t really be taken much further and seemed to disappear overnight. Games like Fighting Force, Dynamite Cop, Zombie Revenge, Gekido and The Bouncer tried to resurrect the genre in recent times, but they failed to capture the ‘old skool’ essence of the scrolling beat ‘em ups of old and were disappointing.
It was great when Final Fight was re-released on the GBA letting older gamers play it again, or younger players play it for the first time, and hopefully we’ll see a few more classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups re-released on the handheld in the future. I saw some screenshots of a GBA version of Gekido coming one day, which might please fans, but it would be great if the genre could have a few more new and decent games in the future on next-gen systems, rather than the average ones we’ve seen in recent times. It would be great to see some classic side scrolling beat ‘em up compilations available from Capcom, with all their best ones on a single disc, giving nostalgic old fogies like me the chance to play some of them again.
For the moment, the world of classic side scrolling beat ‘em ups lives on in the form of emulators, old consoles, or memories.
Will they make a comeback? Only time will tell...
Thanks for reading :)