Alright Era introduce me to Beat Em Ups games

[iconoclast]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

 

[Spinluck]

It really is. It's honestly my favorite beat 'em up. I still pray it will return someday.

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Just the other day I was wondering why this hasn't been ported to any current gen consoles especially Switch.

This might be the worst possible reason.

One of the greatest soundtracks out there too.

 

[SlasherMcGirk]

What's the best way to play the DnD Capcom games. Are they on any recent collections or systems?

 

[RingRang]

Fight'N Rage just came out for Xbox and Switch a few weeks ago. It's also on PC.

Incredible game.

 

[andymcc]

Capcom Beat 'em up Bundle (current systems) is probably the best place to start.

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Absolutely this. Best all time beat em up developer.

What's the best way to play the DnD Capcom games. Are they on any recent collections or systems?

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Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara on Steam

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara brings reworkings of two of Capcom’s classic arcade hits - Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara – together in one definitive digital package.

store.steampowered.com

 

[TheMadTitan]

Super Final Fight Gold Plus.

 

[Sharivan]

The Final Fight games (arcade and SNES)
The Ninja Turtles arcade game + Turtles in Time (SNES)
The Simpsons arcade game
Alien Storm (arcade and Genesis/Mega Drive)
The Ninja Warriors (SNES)
Double Dragon games (especially Double Dragon 2 on the NES)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (arcade)
Knights of The Round (arcade)
Fighting Force on the PS1
Rival Turf (SNES)
Burning Fight (NEO GEO)
Ninja Gaiden (arcade version)

 

[Rei no Otaku]

Ninja Savior just came out on Switch and PS4. A great remake of a classic.

 

[Deleted member 15447]

Ninja Gaiden/Shadow Warriors the actual arcade game is brilliant.

https://youtu.be/WRck5DsF32s

Aliens vs Predator and Ninja Baseball Batman are great too.

Muramasa on Wii is good.

Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub Zero is sort of a Dark Souls of side scrolling beat em ups if you want to test your might...

 

[mrwilt]

Is Guardian Heroes delisted for xbox?

 

[Deleted member 8860]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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I'd like to give that Sailor Moon game a go someday. Is the other game on the top line Warriors of Fate?

 

[D-Soo]

In all seriousness, Streets of Fury EX is an awesome game. Don't let the graphics fool you, it's got super satisfying, combo heavy gameplay. Also, these folks are working on the new Streets of Rage.

 

[gozu]

The Punisher feels like the ultimate realization of Final Fight clone's gameplay, as opposed to later Capcom beat-em-ups that had more complex fighting game inspired combat. There aren't a whole lot of attacks, but they make up for it by having tons of weapons lying around and encouraging you to use as many as possible. There are a fair few movement options as well.

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punisher was dope as hell, i agree.

 

[Kapryov]

I see Guardian Heroes was already mentioned, so I'll say...

Guardian Heroes
Fuck it. It's the best beat em up ever.

It has fighting game inputs, so it has to use lane-switching instead to movie around (because UP is jump).
A HUGE cast of characters to play as in the arena, pretty much every enemy you encounter is playable. 6 characters are playable in the story.
Speaking of the story, it's a choose your own adventure style, so it's very replayable. There are 5 or 6 different endings, I can't remember.

The 360 version is BC on Xbox One, and is the definitive version, fixing the performance issues in the Saturn original and making it widescreen, as well as expanding on the arena (bringing it from 6 players to 12 players or something crazy like that). It's also frequently on sale for some reason.

 

[Fularu]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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Breh where's Streets of Rage ?

 

[Allforce]

I'll throw an obscure one out in hopes someone can identify which title it is. Not exactly a full game but just a beat-em-up mode in one of the older Tekken games was pretty great and actually Incorporated the actual moves for the fighting.

I feel like it was on PS2 but I wouldn't be shocked if it was one of the Tekken games on 360.

 

[DFG]

I'll throw an obscure one out in hopes someone can identify which title it is. Not exactly a full game but just a beat-em-up mode in one of the older Tekken games was pretty great and actually Incorporated the actual moves for the fighting.

I feel like it was on PS2 but I wouldn't be shocked if it was one of the Tekken games on 360.

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Tekken 3: Force Mode or Tekken 5: Devil Within?

 

[Outrun]

X-Men Arcade 6 player.

Nuff said.

 

[Host Samurai]

No mention of Crime Fighters 2 or Super/Return of Double Dragon? WTF!!

Fight n Rage is the best modern beat em up that gets it right. I want a sequel ASAP.

 

[TacoSupreme]

Yeah i should've also mentioned Yakuza but i did forget Judgment though so I'll most likely will grab that at the end of year

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There's also Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise. Made by the same people as Yakuza, kinda different, but glorious in its own right. Even better if you've watched Fist of the North Star, but it's totally fine to go in with zero idea about the series.

 

[Platy]

Since people are mentioning games that are impossible to get legally like X-Men 6 players, Alien vs Predator, Scott Pilgrim, Punisher and Chinese arcade games, I have to make a special mention to

Astroboy Omega Factor
an action game with heavy beat em up elements for the GBA by the creators of guardian heroes.

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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This person have bad taste a preference for simpler beat em ups, so if you want some deep combos and special moves (which your reference to dragon's crown shows you do), ignore this list

 

[DFG]

There's also Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise. Made by the same people as Yakuza, kinda different, but glorious in its own right. Even better if you've watched Fist of the North Star, but it's totally fine to go in with zero idea about the series.

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It was full price laat time i checked it here, maybe not anymore. I've already read the entire manga, i like it enough to buy it. I'll chuck it on my list

 

[Piccoro]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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This is a good list, but I think it's missing River City Girls.

 

[chirt]

Just play Streets of Rage 2 again :)

 

[DFG]

Just play Streets of Rage 2 again :)

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I've finished it over 200 times easily since childhood lol can't wait for SF4 tbh

 

[Deleted member 1627]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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Man this is a good fucking list.

 

[chirt]

I've finished it over 200 times easily since childhood lol can't wait for SF4 tbh

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Fair enough. It's for sure in my top 10 of all time.

 

[PMS341]

Came into this thread to mention Guardian Heroes.

 

[C.Mongler]

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Woah, I'm a big TMNT beat-em-up fan but I've never heard of this project. This looks awesome, I'll definitely be checking this out when I get home later tonight.

 

[MistaTwo]

Lots of good recommendations here!

Some of my personal favorites are Streets of Rage series, Sengoku series, D&D, Turtles in Time, Konami X-Men, and Fighting Force! I also got to play some Spikeout for the first time at an arcade recently and that was a blast.

I would also recommend the new Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 to scratch this itch. Especially if you can get some friends to pick it up for online coop.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Cyborg Justice isn't really good a good game because there is zero variety, but it's nice to play around with once. The whole gimmick is that the player and all the enemies are robots with interchangeable parts. You can rip off an enemy's arm and throw it back at them or attack it to yourself. You can instantly kill an enemy by pulling off its torso and then absorbing its health. You can also kick some destroyed enemies, put them back together, and then kick them a second time.



Also, look at that fucking walk animation.

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To this day I wonder how a Cyborg Justice with a proper budget would have looked like. Me and my friends played it more than it had any right to be played :P . I still have the cart.

AvP is the best best 'em up. By far.

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AvP is amazing but it's brought down by an understandable lack of enemy variety. It's still probably the third best classic beat-em up behind the D&D duology.

 

[HiLife]

River city girls.

 

[Weltall Zero]

They're not a pure beat-em-up, but Capcom's D&D games.
They're Dragon's Crown, but good.

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Both the D&D games and Dragon's Crown are top-of-genre. Calling either of them "not good" is, well... pretty ridiculous.

 

[Hate]

Yakuza!

 

[Oneself]

Hey, there's a current gen one that is actually pretty good. Strangely, it hasn't been mentioned and it seems widely underappreciated: Mother Russia Bleeds.
It's very well done and belongs in the top tier of the genre IMO. And it has that awesome, pumping OST too.

 

[L Thammy]

To this day I wonder how a Cyborg Justice with a proper budget would have looked like. Me and my friends played it more than it had any right to be played :P . I still have the cart.

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I feel like it's less "what if Cyborg Justice had a decent budget" and moreso "what if you could do everything you could do in Cyborg Justice but in a good beat em up game". I mean, I guess maybe one would lead to the other, but you actually had a ridiculously wide moveset. It's just that... you know, there wasn't anything except for that.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

A few that came to mind:
Alien vs. Predator
Golden Axe The Revenge of Death Adder
Streets of Rage series
The Punisher
Double Dragon Neon
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Final Fight Series
Captain Commando
The King of Dragons
River City Girls
Knights of the Round
Dungeons and Dragons series
Warriors of Fate
Dragon's Crown
Armored Warriors
Battle Circuit
Maximum Carnage
That japanese only River City game that was on the SNES but was never put out in english (officially)


3D:
Dynamite Deka 1 and 2
Urban Reigns
God Hand

Check out the Yakuza series

And Judgement as well

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Also this.

It is basically a 3d River City with lots of other stuff in between.

 

[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

Yakuza 0.

Capcom Beat 'em up Bundle (current systems) is probably the best place to start.

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This^

Scott Pilgrim

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Oh that's just cruel.

 

[USIGSJ]

Asterix



I'm not sure that Spin Master counts as beat em up too, but it's definitely fun.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I feel like it's less "what if Cyborg Justice had a decent budget" and moreso "what if you could do everything you could do in Cyborg Justice but in a good beat em up game". I mean, I guess maybe one would lead to the other, but you actually had a ridiculously wide moveset. It's just that... you know, there wasn't anything except for that.

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Exactly that, but I assumed, even back then, that they put all the development resources / budget / time into the fighting system and move animations (and enemy AI, I remember it being at least decent), and were left with $5 and a bubblegum foil wrap to make the environments, enemies, gameplay permutations, and well... like you say, anything else that isn't annoying rockets launched from offscreen.

God I hate those rockets.

 

[apieceofstrange]

Final Fight (arcade version not SNES) is still one of the best pure beat em ups.

Scott Pilgrim is low tier. Play River City Girls instead.

 

[Deleted member 35071]

The Warriors by Rockstar games

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

This person have bad taste a preference for simpler beat em ups, so if you want some deep combos and special moves (which your reference to dragon's crown shows you do), ignore this list

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Nah.
Almost all of the games on that list are pretty awesome.
It'd be a shame if the OP passed on them.

Also, I disagree with the notion that those games are "simpler" because they don't have special moves.
Final Fight alone requires a lot of time and effort to master.

 

[truncated_pachyderm]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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Cool list. I'm not sure what the reference is for (are you applying for something?), but 'grats.

Unfortunately I don't recognize the two games in S tier. Can you translate?

 

[andymcc]

Cool list. I'm not sure what the reference is for (are you applying for something?), but 'grats.

Unfortunately I don't recognize the two games in S tier. Can you translate?

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First:



Second:

 

[Transistor]

I had a lot of fun with River City Girls. The gameplay is great, the characters are fun, the music is fantastic.

 

[Belthazar90]

River City Girls

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This, it's one of the best beat'em ups available

 

[Deleted member 12009]

Alien Vs Predator and Battle Circuit are the two best arcade beat um ups in my opinion. Varied movesets between characters and command based specials make them stand out a lot for me.

 

[ghostcrew]

Made by Treasure? Interested.

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Guardian Heroes is easily one of the best beat 'em ups ever made and one of the best Sega Saturn exclusives. It used to fetch absurd prices pre-owned so it was a godsend when they released it on XBLA. You're not likely to find many 'Best Saturn Games' lists that don't include Guardian Heroes in the top 5.

Easy pick up if you have an Xbox One or a 360 lying around.

 

[Deleted member 2620]

Here you go bruv. Left to right preference, but the order isn't that strict. I've 1CC'd or no death cleared all of these, for reference.

Some of the less common ones are available as an Arcade Archives download on modern platforms (eg. Sengoku 3, Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, maybe others)

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Awesome. There's still so much I have to play! Interesting to see where you have FightN Rage (which again, I haven't played enough of)