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I miss the old 2D side scrolling beat em ups... R they still around?

MrPressStart

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
441
Growing up playing video games, I have fond memories of Golden Axe, Bad Dudes, Double Dragon 1 and 2.... I loved the side scrolling action adventure beat em up games.

With time and technology, it seems the gaming world went to 3D and I went alont with it....

Fast forward to present day and while I love my open world 3D games, I am honestly missing those types of games.

Is there anything out now that is like that? I want something deep but fun, with beautiful graphics and a decent little story...

Something in the Golden Axe/ Double Dragon vain.... but new

Any ideas?
 
SwampBastard

SwampBastard

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
10,999
I haven't played it, but I thought the Scott Pilgrim XBLA game was supposed to be great. Can you play that on current gen Xbox hardware?
 
jett

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,652
You aren't going to get a "decent story" in these games, but Double Dragon Neon and Fight'n Rage are quality.

store.steampowered.com

Double Dragon: Neon on Steam

BRO-TACULAR! Legendary martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee return in this creative re-imagining of the classic beat ‘em up, Double Dragon Neon. Fight your way through countless henchmen including Linda and Abobo on your way to rescue the love of your life, Marian!
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com

store.steampowered.com

Fight'N Rage on Steam

Fight’N Rage is a brand new old-school side-scroller beat’em up. Inspired by the classics from the “golden age”, and with an art style that mimics the aesthetic from the 90's arcade gems, this game pays homage to all classic gameplay features that makes this genre one of the best from its time!
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com
 
apocat

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,040
If you can stomach some of the questionable female character designs, Dragons Crown could be of interest to you.
0dffb5cb-e028-4b05-8t3kah.jpeg


snacknuts said:
I haven't played it, but I thought the Scott Pilgrim XBLA game was supposed to be great. Can you play that on current gen Xbox hardware?
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I'm so happy I have this on my Xbox 360. It's really great and totally gone from the market.
 
Virtua King

Virtua King

Member
Dec 29, 2017
3,972
I guess there's Yakuza and Castle Crashers from years ago, but to me, it's always been:

1. Streets of Rage
2. Guardian Heroes
3. Chronicles of Mystara
4. Everything else

No other beat 'em up can come close to my favorites, so I just replay those, plus Streets of Rage Remake effectively ended the genre with its sheer greatness in 2011.
 
Sumio Mondo

Sumio Mondo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,911
United Kingdom
Streets of Rage 4 is out this year.

Dragon's Crown (PS3/PS4/Vita) is worth getting, so is Odin Sphere (PS4/Vita) and Muramasa (Vita) from Vanillaware.

I also liked the look of Fight N Rage a lot. Streets of Rage Remake is amazing if you have chance to play that too.

Also definitely get the Capcom Beat Em Up Collection it's amazing!
 

Deleted member 8860

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,525
jett said:
You aren't going to get a "decent story" in these games, but Double Dragon Neon and Fight'n Rage are quality.

store.steampowered.com

Double Dragon: Neon on Steam

BRO-TACULAR! Legendary martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee return in this creative re-imagining of the classic beat ‘em up, Double Dragon Neon. Fight your way through countless henchmen including Linda and Abobo on your way to rescue the love of your life, Marian!
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com

store.steampowered.com

Fight'N Rage on Steam

Fight’N Rage is a brand new old-school side-scroller beat’em up. Inspired by the classics from the “golden age”, and with an art style that mimics the aesthetic from the 90's arcade gems, this game pays homage to all classic gameplay features that makes this genre one of the best from its time!
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com
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These two play great, although they still sadly feature the problematic representation of women that is par for the genre.
 
KDR_11k

KDR_11k

Banned
Nov 10, 2017
5,235
Slaps and Beans is apparently good if you ever wanted a Bud Spencer & Terence Hill beat'em up (I recall wondering why that wasn't a thing in the arcade era)
 

Mudo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,114
Tennessee
The Capcom beat em up collection is like 6 old 2D side scrolling beat em ups so that sounds right up your alley

Edit: oops you want new stuff. Other than Streets of Rage 4 coming later I don't know if any big ones :/
 
Indelible

Indelible

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,595
Canada
Fight'N Rage and Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds are damn fun beat em ups. I also love Scott Pilgrim but that is stuck on PS3.
 
Sumio Mondo

Sumio Mondo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,911
United Kingdom
Also get a Switch if you love the genre like me there's loads of beat em up games on there like the upcoming The Ninja Warriors: Once Again and other old ones from the arcades like Mutant Nation and Burning Fight and the Sengoku series. It's a treasure trove for arcade games of all types the Switch is.
 
PSqueak

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
Castle Crashers still holds up heroically and is basically out in every modern platform ever.
 
Robsolete

Robsolete

Member
Oct 25, 2017
92
Fight N'Rage is quite excellent, played it myself hoping for some Streets of Rage style action with a modern twist and that was exactly what I got. Great art style, excellent tunes and solid gameplay. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is another top choice if you own a playstation, I've not played it myself but it comes extremely highly recommended and is definitely on my own to do list.
 

Deleted member 5621

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,192
They are on a life line, but kinda exist.

Besides the already mentioned Fight'N Rage (that you need to play if you are a fan of the genre) and the upcoming Streets of Rage 4 and Ninja Warriors: Once Again (arguably "new" as you want), check out:




store.steampowered.com

Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage on Steam

Told as a “Wuxia” story, which literally means "martial hero", Mirage captures the essence of a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Shrouded in secrecy, an organization of assassins wreak havoc on the local populace.
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com

Double Dragon Neon and Bloodrayne Betrayal may also interest you.
 

Deleted member 2620

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,491
A lot of modern games in this genre aren't built with an arcade structure, which is something I think I need for this genre to be all that appealing to me. Fight N' Rage seems really cool from what I've played, though, and I have hopes for Streets of Rage 4.

The plus side is that there are so many good old games in the genre that I'm not exactly starving for new entries.
 

HyperDimension

Member
Mar 18, 2019
627
There is at least one popular 2D beat 'em up still around:

Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO)

With a total player base exceeding 600 million worldwide and lifetime revenue exceeding $11 billion, DFO is one of the most-played and highest-grossing games of all time

While it's largely unknown in the West, DFO is huge in Asia. It shows that there's a huge market for online 2D beat 'em ups in Asia.
 
AfropunkNyc

AfropunkNyc

Member
Nov 15, 2017
3,958
HyperDimension said:
There is at least one popular 2D beat 'em up still around:

Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO)

With a total player base exceeding 600 million worldwide and lifetime revenue exceeding $11 billion, DFO is one of the most-played and highest-grossing games of all time

While it's largely unknown in the West, DFO is huge in Asia. It shows that there's a huge market for online 2D beat 'em ups in Asia.
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Beat me to it. Neople should look into figuring out how to port this to the consoles.
 

Deleted member 5621

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,192
* here's where I argue again that DFO stopped being a beat'em up ages ago and now is a grindy korean MMO based around killing a whole screen with the press of a button instead of pretending that knowing how to crowd control or combo is relevant at all and the different classes barely have a unique identity anymore *
 
ViewtifulJC

ViewtifulJC

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,020
The only modern one built with the arcade structure in mind is fight'n'rage. No XP bullshit to buy moves in the stores you should've had in the first place, no long ass playtime that's not built around a hour or so single sitting.

That and streets of rage remake, but that game you have to acquire through...other channels
 

Deleted member 5621

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,192
ViewtifulJC said:
The only modern one built with the arcade structure in mind is fight'n'rage. No XP bullshit to buy moves in the stores you should've had in the first place, no long ass playtime that's not built around a hour or so single sitting.
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This is not true though. Aces Wild, Mother Russia Bleeds, Aztez (outside of the Campaign mode) etc also follow this template.
 
Mugy

Mugy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,424
Dragon's Crown is the best one by a long shoot. Extremely stylish and story-driven, with a fun progression system and overall world. One of my favorite games of PS3. Second is Scott Pilgrim, the co-op is a blast!
 
ImaPlayThis

ImaPlayThis

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,060
People have already listed the bigger ones, there's random side scroller beat 'em ups on the GBA and DS, a full metal alchemist and gekido game comes to mind among others.

But 3d hack 'n' slash games like Dynasty warriors/sengoku basara and the like kind usurped 2d beat 'em ups.

One game series I'd love to see have a beat 'em made of it is the resident evil franchise, I think that'd be amazing
 

Deleted member 5621

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,192
MechaMarmaset said:
Anyone remember Ninja Warriors on the SNES?

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Do I have news for you! https://gematsu.com/2019/04/the-ninja-warriors-once-again-launches-for-ps4-switch-in-july-in-japan

ImaPlayThis said:
People have already listed the bigger ones, there's random side scroller beat 'em ups on the GBA and DS, a full metal alchemist and gekido game comes to mind among others.
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IIRC Gekido was ported to Switch?
 
ImaPlayThis

ImaPlayThis

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,060

Deleted member 5621

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,192
ImaPlayThis said:
I think so I just saw a trailer for a gekido game on ps4. I've played the gekido game on ps1 (a side scrolling beat 'em up in 3d) and the 2d one with the caption "Kintaro's revenge" both were fun games, the ps1 game still holds a bigger place in my heart though
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The PS1 game is pretty cool, a shame no other 3D beat'em up tried improve its formula. I think the GBA game is a sequel?

EhieYovach said:
Didn't Alien vs Predator re-release get leaked?
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No, it's part of the Capcom arcade stick. https://www.resetera.com/threads/ca...stick-includes-alien-vs-predator-more.111625/
 
Mzen

Mzen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
578
Portugal
My default recommendation will forever be Shank 2. Unless you have a huge investment in the simple revenge story, just skip the first one and bask in what is, in my opinion, the best evolution to the beat 'em up genre. And that Survival mode... Many hours were spent playing through it with my friends. The biggest difference is that you move on a single plane, as in, you move forward and backward instead of up and down like Streets of Rage.

You should also check out The TakeOver on Steam, which is obviously made as an homage to Streets of Rage, but with a graphical style that is similar to old "CGI modeled" games like Donkey Kong Country or Killer Instinct, so it's definitely not for everyone, but the gameplay is very solid. Technically it's still in Early Access, but honestly, I don't fully understand why haha, it has so much content that I see it as a complete game by this point. It is still being updated, just not super regularly.

EDIT: Ohh goddamit, Viewtiful Joe! I know you're looking into recent stuff, but that one is also amazing, give it a look if possible. Completely slipped my mind for some reason...
 
KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,959
Osaka, Osaka
snacknuts said:
I haven't played it, but I thought the Scott Pilgrim XBLA game was supposed to be great. Can you play that on current gen Xbox hardware?
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It's definitely the best one I've played. Probably my favorite belt scroller period.

However, it's also infamously delisted and impossible to buy. So I really doubt you'll be able to get it onto current gen hardware. I'm just glad it's still on my PS3 and works with my arcade sticks.
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,580
I can think of two really good games that are not 2D side-scrolling beat-em-ups, but feature this kind of fighting. I don't know if others are going to agree.

It's dragon's dogma and Yakuza. I think these fighting systems are informed by those old beat-em-ups. They're more fleshed-out games and better for it, but majorly combat-heavy.

The fighting goes
Chop-Chop-Chop-*CHOP*

I feel a particularly strong connection between dragon's dogma and golden axe.
 
SwampBastard

SwampBastard

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
10,999
BocoDragon said:
That's a sore question....... No, it's been delisted and you can't buy it anymore.
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apocat said:
I'm so happy I have this on my Xbox 360. It's really great and totally gone from the market.
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DarkConfidant said:
It's definitely the best one I've played. Probably my favorite belt scroller period.

However, it's also infamously delisted and impossible to buy. So I really doubt you'll be able to get it onto current gen hardware. I'm just glad it's still on my PS3 and works with my arcade sticks.
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WTF?!
 
KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,959
Osaka, Osaka
snacknuts said:
WTF?!
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My first thought when Google debuted Stadia was "not after Scott Pilgrim".

It's the new poster child for game preservation. The rights are split between Universal Pictures, Ubisoft, the game developer, the comic writer, and Anamanaguchi.

It's just not possible to sell. But the soundtrack, art, and everything else about it is top notch and amazing. 4 player action is cool too.
 
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