Favorite Beat Em Ups...

[Asymptote Angel]

Oh God, Turtles in Time... that game swallowed an embarrassing number of hours of my childhood. Other goodies include DMC3, Streets of Rage, and Maximum Carnage. It's a shame that beat-em-ups tend to bore me now, since I had so much fun with them as a kid. Oh well, times change.

 

[ejb626]

I enjoyed SSBB's Subspace Emmisary mode because it was actually fun a lot of times campaigns in games annoy me at times but I don't remember getting annoyed at it I beat it three times, on the third time I beat Tabuu in two tries on normal which is probaly my biggest video game acievement I like video games but I'm not too good at them

Movie tie-ins ussually suck but I enjoyed the Bourne Conspiracy as a rental, the boss battles were incredibly frustrating though you fight guys with steel skelatons apparently (Not really but with the amount of punishment these guys take you'd think so)

Thats it I haven't played that many beat-'em-ups

 

[Cuddly Knife]

Unfortunately, there's one element that the former games lack: co-op. Co-op made the awesome genre even more awesome. Furthermore, newer beat-em-up games are hard to come by.

1) Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition - Kickass weapons, kickass bosses, kickass fighting styles, everything about this game kicks ass. The only real problem with this game is the camera. The Bloody Palace, Vergil, and the extra difficulties add some nice replay value.

In conclusion, Capcom needs to hurry up and start working on Devil May Cry 5.... and add co-op to it.

I thought it was cool of Capcom to give us a kind of co op mode in DMC3 when you had the Doppelganger. If you had someone who was decent, it got really exciting.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is also adding co op. I got a little taste of it in the demo, and what i played was fun, if not a bit too hectic. If the camera had a little more height to it, it wouldn't be an issue at all, but sometimes your co op character will get in your way on the screen.

 

[Ericb]

METAL SLUG 1-5 (6 was eh)

Contra

did i mention metal slug?

Those are shmups.

Since it's rarely mentioned, those are Shmups of the Run and Gun [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_%27em_up#Run_and_gun] variety. There's bit more to it than traditional shmups, so...

Anyway, The King of Dragons impacted me very much because of the gorgeous graphics and the ability to block, which I have never seen prior to the game, although it's very possible that it was implemented before.

And the Dungeons and Dragons beat'em up by Capcom, especially the original Tower of Doom game, for the attempt at complex mechanics which came very close to working perfectly in my opinion, particularly because of the minute response timings in the movements, which required quite a reflex control on the player's part.

That feeling of a proper combat (D&D most of all) might actually come from thet fact that those two games came from a studio very much focused on fighting games.

 

[Cuddly Knife]

Oh my God, how could I totally forget about The Warriors! That should also be on my top list. Great game, only the co op was clunky as all hell.

 

[Cuddly Knife]

I know they rereleased it on the PSP, and heard the rererelease is going to be on Live Arcade or PSN? Seems about right... In any case, hopefully more people will buy it.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

DMC is a Hack N Slash, not a Beat Em Up. As a fan of the series I would expect you to atleast know that.
The Warriors for the Ps2, was one hell of an epic Beat Em Up.

I've always considered to hack n slashes to be games like Diablo, where the combat just consists of mindless clicking/button mashing, where as DMC and Ninja Gaiden, and even 2D beat-em-ups have at least some degree of skill requirement.

That sounds like a better description than one genre being the same as the other, except just with weapons. You wouldn't consider Soul Calibur and Street Fighter to be different genres simply because the former has weapons.

 

[King_Julian]

Such a shame that nobody ever realizes how good of a beat em up game the warriors was. I loved the way you could use all the bricks bats and bottles you wanted and there was so many cool ways to kick the shite outta your enemies.

plus it only had like 2 guns in the whole game and you weren't allowed to use them which was great.

 

[Lemur_Ninja]

Battle Toads, Castle Crashers, and River City Ransom.

 

[super_smash_jesus]

double dragon 2 and xmen legends 1 and 2.

 

[Cuddly Knife]

And the Dungeons and Dragons beat'em up by Capcom, especially the original Tower of Doom game, for the attempt at complex mechanics which came very close to working perfectly in my opinion, particularly because of the minute response timings in the movements, which required quite a reflex control on the player's part.

Is this the arcade game you're talking about? I've played a bit of it through MAME, and found it to be very enjoyable. It seems pretty deep with its leveling up and all, but I didn't get to much into it before having to turn it off.

As far as bets series of beat-em-ups, i'd have to nominate the Final Fight trilogy. I only played the SNES version, but each one I found to be better than the previous version. Great games.

 

[blood77]

... Plus a question or two, to spark a little discussion.

First, my faves:
1. God Hand[PS2] - beat em ups are supposed to be over-the-top in execution, making your character basically a one-man army in the vein of old-school shmups. God Hand does that very thing and more, with it's unique take on combat freedom, by offering you the ability to switch out any collected fighting moves at any time(in a menu, of course). The roulette moves steal the show though, with some insane ways to stun or downright kill your opponents. IGN gave this game a 3.0. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/738/738253p1.html Blew my mind, when I give this game no less than a 8.5. The only thing that could've made it better was co op.

2. Battletoads[NES] - Considered to be one of the most difficult games ever created, it's also one of the funnest, with some seriously unique gameplay and level design(worm-riding, snowball throwing, swimming, spinning towers with clouds trying to blow you off it, surfing, and who can forget the clinger-winger level?). Plus co op up until the clinger winger level, LOL.

3. Double Dragon 2[NES] - It streamlined the combat from the original, added co op, and some great new moves, and viola! awesomeness in a little gray cart. I thought this version was better than the arcade version, but that also went for pt 1.

4. Viewtiful Joe[GCN] - Possibly the most unique beat em up ever. So unique, it even had a shoot em up level in it.

And now, on to my question. Should games like Ninja Gaiden, DMC, God of War, Otogi, and to a lesser extent, Jade Empire be considered beat-em-ups? I ask, because I see that they follow the same types of formulas, such as having to kill set amounts of enemies before moving on, combos and moves created for certain situations, boss battles where the enemy is ten times stronger than regular goons, and so on. Would people be more inclined to call Ninja Gaiden a beat em up if they only gave you the Falcon's Talons for use in the game? IMO, the beat em up genre has basically evolved into what we see these days. Not so much hack/slash/repeat, and more of a focus on freeform combos and such.

#1 and #4 are at the top of my list.

And at third, well, I am not sure if Batman Arkham Asylum qualifies, but if it does it defiantly makes my list.

 

[FinalHeart95]

Turtles in Time on the SNES. It has to be on the SNES because it has what was one of the most creative boss battles at the time with the first Shredder boss.

 

[tomtom94]

I've been playing Comix Zone recently and yes, beat em ups are fun.
I wouldn't call Devil May Cry a beat em up...partly because it has guns in it, partly because the emphasis isn't so much on combat.
Still a great game though.

 

[Cuddly Knife]

I've been playing Comix Zone recently and yes, beat em ups are fun.

COmix Zone was a great game, hard as nails, though. I still haven't beaten it.

I wouldn't call Devil May Cry a beat em up...partly because it has guns in it, partly because the emphasis isn't so much on combat.

No? What's the focus of the game, then, if not combat? Character development?

 

[tomtom94]

I've been playing Comix Zone recently and yes, beat em ups are fun.

COmix Zone was a great game, hard as nails, though. I still haven't beaten it.

I wouldn't call Devil May Cry a beat em up...partly because it has guns in it, partly because the emphasis isn't so much on combat.

No? What's the focus of the game, then, if not combat? Character development?[/quote

I would say Devil May Cry is more of an adventure game, and while the puzzles mostly amount to "pick up item x and place it on pedestal y" my idea of a beat em up is just running through people with a variety of attacks. But you do make a good point.

 

[ace_of_something]

I enjoy the hell out of the X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance series. In the past we played a lot of 'sonic blastman' and final fight as beat um ups.

2. Battletoads[NES] - Considered to be one of the most difficult games ever created, it's also one of the funnest, with some seriously unique gameplay and level design(worm-riding, snowball throwing, swimming, spinning towers with clouds trying to blow you off it, surfing, and who can forget the clinger-winger level?). Plus co op up until the clinger winger level, LOL.

Those were SNAKES!