side scroll beat 'em ups

[nightmare_gorilla]

i downloaded the demo for streets of rage 2 the over day looking for a little nostalgia and i realized there is no equivalent experience nowadays. think about it, having played games since the nes days i remember there was a plethora of really fun 2d side scrolling beat em ups over the years. final fight, rival turf, streets of rage, i could go on but chances are all of you have played one of even these 3 let alone all the choices they had. now i know the beat em ups these days are equivalent to low brow humor and looked down on by almost everyone in the gameing comunity I.E. dynasty warriors. but seriously i can't figure out why there are no more games like this, you know, 5 or so characters with set abilities and you just go fighting repetative enemies to "get your girlfriend back" or some other simple storyline idea. the most recent game i can think of that fits the bill is mortal kombat: shaolin monks and that game was tons of fun. i mean now adays the only thing similar is games like connan or god of war but they are all one player one character type stuff. i would love to once again be given a gang of 3 or 4 dudes and chicks to choose from with my friends picking another one. games like ultimate alliance i guess but the whole 4 player lay out makes the characters kind of shallow. i heard somewhere they were going to make another shaolin monks but have yet to hear anything about it. i know they made that final fight:street wise but overall these are some of my favorite games from my childhood and they're dying off.

 

[brabz]

Those were great games to grow up on. Loved the old school arcade Simpsons, X-Men, Double Dragon, and Ninja Turtle ones especially. I actually found and downloaded the '89 Ninja Turtle game on LIVE, and it was a blast. I had 3 other friends over to play Halo 3 and stuff, and when I casually mentioned I had downloaded it, everyone shared the same great memories as me, and we ended up beating the game together enjoying the nostalgia of a lost art.

 

[Elddir]

I totally agree. Got hold of a retro pack of Capcom games for PS2 a while back just for 'Knights of the Round'. I miss those days...

Weren't they gonna re-make Golden Axe? Whatever happened to that?

 

[Jinky Williams]

Castle Crashers (http://www.castlecrashers.com/) is where it is at. I am very much in agreeance with you that there's precious little side-scroller beat-em-up action to be had, these days. Gone are the days of River City Ransom, Final Fight, etc.

I cannot even tell you how jazzed I am for CC to come out. It looks like all that one could hope for in a SSBEU. It's supposedly coming out Q12008, so we shouldn't have long to wait.

Check out gametrailers.com for some good HD videos of the game in action.


My XBL gamertag is Jinky Williams. Hit me up some time when this game comes out.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

oh a remake of golden axe would be sweet. personally i'd just be happy to see haggar again he's easily one of my favorite video game characters of all time, an ex pro wreslter, a mayor, and a part time shit ruiner, not to mention the bitchin 80's ponytail he had hahahaha.

 

[Terramax]

There are the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles games still coming out, providing 2-4 player Streets of Rage style fun.

I rented a Gamecube one out a year or two back and it was OK, but I have to say I can't remember why I enjoyed games like Streets of Rage and Final Fight all those years back.

You only had a choice of punch, kick and jumping attacks really. Sure, there were weapons, but they were a novalty rather than adding any strategy or skill.

I played one with my sister and she loved the game more than I did. The only one that I'd justify playing now is Guardian Heroes, having the leveling up and magic to make it more complex.

I too heard a new Golden Axe was on the playing cards. Perhaps this is what Silicon Knights is working on with Sega.

 

[Necrohydra]

I rented a Gamecube one out a year or two back and it was OK, but I have to say I can't remember why I enjoyed games like Streets of Rage and Final Fight all those years back.

You only had a choice of punch, kick and jumping attacks really. Sure, there were weapons, but they were a novalty rather than adding any strategy or skill.

You ever play those games with a friend? A lot of the enjoyment came from for me came from playing with a buddy. We'd be half competeing for a higher score, and half working together to smash everything in our way.

On a side note, it seems any game that works best in 2D is dying nowadays. What happened to side-scrolling ship shooters like gradius?

 

[Duck Sandwich]

It seems beat-em-ups have been replaced by the horribly shallow genre known as "Action-RPG's." Sure, it's a kickass concept, choosing and customizing your character so you can play him or her the way you want to, but what it ends up being is a random chance infested pile of crap with a horribly shallow fighting system.

I think the closest thing you'll find nowadays to a good beat-em-up is Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which is sad because that game's fighting system sucks. Sure, you can turn computer players off and play with 1 or 2 or 3 human players, but if you do so, you'll discover just how cheap and glitchy the fighting is.

To tell you the truth though, I never really liked Final Fight, mainly because you couldn't run. You were pretty much limited to walking, punching, grabbing, desperation attacks, and jump kicking.

The best beat-em-up I've played is Shadow Over Mystara. 6 playable characters (Dwarf, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Elf, Mage), special street-fighter moves like uppercut slashes, sliding slashes, blocking and countering, some of which were unique to certain characters like backstabbing (thief) and pogo swording (elf), juggling enemies, different weapons, kickass level design, and items/magic make the game kick all kinds of ass.

Maximum Carnage for SNES/Genesis was another awesome game. It's one of the few Spider-Man games where Spider-Man is done right. A lot of kickass moves at your disposal, and you have infinite webbing. The main flaw though is that it's only one player.

Turtles in Time for SNES/Arcade rocks as well. Not as deep as Maximum Carnage, but it has well balanced characters and it's 2/4 player.

I've also heard that Battle Circuit is a good game. It's the last beat-em-up Capcom ever made, complete with street fighter move commands and customization, but it only came out for arcades, so there's no way to get the game, save for emulation.

 

[Terramax]

You ever play those games with a friend? A lot of the enjoyment came from for me came from playing with a buddy.

Well yeah, my sister, like I mentioned after the quote.

On a side note, it seems any game that works best in 2D is dying nowadays. What happened to side-scrolling ship shooters like gradius?

They're still getting made AND being released in the west. Try 'Wartech' on the 360 (or 'Senko No Rendo in Japan I think it's called'), Project Gaiden III is in the makes, as is Gradius 6. The Dreamcast has become the main showcase for latest shmups (check out 'Under Defeat' and 'Radiology' as a starters).

There are plenty on the PS2 as well. You just gotta know where to find them.

 

[Necrohydra]

Well yeah, my sister, like I mentioned after the quote.

Ah, sorry. I used to play games with my sister too. Or tried to...they didn't wind up very enjoyable. Which is why I still asked .

They're still getting made AND being released in the west. Try 'Wartech' on the 360 (or 'Senko No Rendo in Japan I think it's called'), Project Gaiden III is in the makes, as is Gradius 6. The Dreamcast has become the main showcase for latest shmups (check out 'Under Defeat' and 'Radiology' as a starters).

There are plenty on the PS2 as well. You just gotta know where to find them.

Hmm..didn't know gradius 6 was in the works. I have more to brush up on. Thanks for the information.

 

[WingedFortress]

River city ransom was a good one, and power rangers sticks out in my mind as the only thing that I could do while being baby sat other than watch terminator 2. I wouldnt like to see side scrolling beat em ups come back or anything, mainly because I think the best and the worst have already come and gone, and we might as well move forward than try and tap an already dried well.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

eh, i'm not so much a fan of the "side scrolling" aspect i mean i'm not looking for another exactly the same game, but i would like a game to continue the spirit, i mean i think we've proven that games can have 7 or 8 playable characters with rich full fighting styles... i hope. and the idea of laying it out level style with a short simple storyline seems well within the grasp of designers, i'm not saying it'd be great to play games with 3 attacks for everyone i'm saying bring the genre into this new generation of gaming, update it and give us the things they couldn't back then.

as i said, more games like shaolin monks would make me very happy, i mean the fighting styles in that game were as complex as you'd need them to be, the fatality system was particularly fun to wrecking shit when just killing people didn't make your point properly. and co-op for when your friends are over.

i don't really think they are a dried up well so long as they still provide enjoyment to those who play them, and i still enjoy playing final fight when i can get out the old SNES now and again, it'd just be nice if the game were a little deeper without changing the nature of the game.

 

[neems]

If memory serves, Tekken 3 on Playstation had a bonus mode that was a side scrolling beat em up. It wasn't the best example of the genre tbh, but it was worth a bash.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

http://www.shockwave.com/contentPlay/shockwave.jsp?id=guardians&memberStatus=NotSignedIn&brand=

While we're on the subject of kickass beat-em-up games, here's a flash game from Shockwave, Guardians of Altarris. You can upgrade your characters and use Bullet Time ("Quickening your spirit") to do insane combos.

 

[monodiabloloco]

Those games truly are a lost art. What I find frustrating about that is that they could 'remake' many of those games, keeping them 2D and maybe update them just a little for the kids that would care that the art has to be super pretty, and push them back out again. They CAN'T cost much for hte developers to make. Almost no thinking, easy level design.. and they could make pretty tidy profits even selling them cheap as heck. Hell, Atari games are being remade and sold on Live.. Why not these gems? That above mentioned mystara game would F! rock as a new remake/port with the same game play. I loved that one in the arcade!

 

[patrol18]

Me and a friend have weekly game nights where we look for 2 player games with and old school feel. Our favorites so far have been, The Warriors (XBOX), Onimusha 4 (PS2), Earth Defense Force 2017 (XBOX360) Check em out.

 

[DantehMan]

Streets of Rage 2 with its upbeat sound track and very interesting choices of attacks,,,, i could not ask for more on my laptop back during long lectures at Uni and now they have a version on XBL,, oh yeah

 

[Irrok the Wide]

Double Dragon ... that game should still be alive. As popular as it was, there is no reason for its demise. I miss leveling up and auto-acquiring a new move, like sitting on a punk and punching his face until he's out. That was the best move I got before I quit.

Contra was my favorite at the time. But I had my fill of that. There just isn't enough 2-player adventure anymore. I guess the best thing about growing up in the 2D era was having so many 2-player games, with out splitscreen.

 

[Terramax]

Those games truly are a lost art. What I find frustrating about that is that they could 'remake' many of those games, keeping them 2D and maybe update them just a little for the kids that would care that the art has to be super pretty, and push them back out again.

To be honest, you don't even need to remake these games. It's not as if you need a complex plot.

A kingpin plans to take over the poverty stricken places of New York and it's up to three heroes, one mega butch bloke, one young karate kid and a sassy, fast paced women. There; plot done, someone give me Capcom's number.

Or 'Chav Beaters'. Now there's a game that would sell on its title alone...