Grab a delicious floor turkey and pull up the one chair in the room that hasn’t already been punched to pieces, because I’m going to take you on a quick tour of a few of my favourite games in one of the hobby’s oldest and best genres: scrolling beat ’em ups. Maybe my little amble through the genre will help you find something new to play, or simply confirm your already fabulous taste in games. Either way, I hope you enjoy your time here.
Where best to start but in the genre’s natural home: arcades. Capcom made more than a few of my ’90s favourites: both of their Dungeons & Dragons games are excellent, and although I’ve always been more drawn to the latter of the two, Shadow Over Mystara—probably because if I’m looking at a pair of something I’m naturally going to gravitate to the slightly more recent one with a greater quantity of stuff—but as I get older I find myself appreciating Tower of Doom more. They both have some shockingly clever ways of working the tabletop RPGs rules into the gameplay (such as Thief’s ability to steal items and all those classic spells actually working as they’re supposed to), but Tower of Doom just seems to have that special something extra in to it, and in more than a few places it really does feel like a dungeon master’s campaign brought to life in a “spiritually accurate” way that more faithful digital recreations of the rules don’t quite capture.
Battle Circuit is in my opinion the zenith of Capcom’s contribution to the genre, partly because every last pixel fizzes with energy, but mostly because one of the playable characters is a pink emu wearing an eyepatch. I love it when games dare to be silly. “How long has it been since we last made the player smile?” should be a question every developer asks themselves from time to time. Better still, the game’s included in the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle as well as Capcom Arcade Stadium, so for the first time in… just the first time, sadly, the game’s as easy to buy as it is fun to play.
Less well known and sadly not even half as competently emulated are Knights of Valour 2: Nine Dragons and The Gladiator, both created for IGS’s PGM arcade hardware. Both are gorgeous games with branching paths, a good selection of interesting characters, and the sort of depth that invites you to pick a favourite and truly master their broad range of techniques. They are more than capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with any game in the genre you already adore, and deserve to be played far more often and thought more highly of than they currently are.
Light Bringer, AKA Dungeon Magic (available as part of the old multi-format Taito Legends 2 pack), is another unsung classic. Almost every room in this free roaming isometric brawler offers a unique experience, from treasure chests hidden on rooftops to floating platforms to a wide range of devious traps. There’s giant bosses, a wide range of useful equipment to pick up, and all sorts of secrets and optional extras to uncover by solving small puzzles or carefully stacking boxes on top of each other to create a rudimentary staircase. It really does feel like I’m exploring a fantasy world when I play this one, and thanks to the almost endless supply of alternative routes to each stage’s goal that the decisions I make really do matter.
In stark contrast to the extreme freedoms of movement mentioned above are single plane games like the excellent Panzer Bandit always feel a little unfairly pushed to one side to me, as if their lack of depth, in an “in and out of the screen” sense meant they lack mechanical depth too. Of course you can find bad examples of everything but to my mind a single plane beat ’em up is one where you’re always taking everything head-on, and there’s no escape. For anyone not convinced I recommend spending a little time with PC doujin game Ragnarok Battle Offline. It’s got a fantastic streak of humour running through it even if you aren’t especially familiar with the MMO that inspired it, and its multiple customizable classes, wide range of special moves, and challenging bosses prove this sort of game can put up a good fight.
The X68000 and Mega Drive versions of Mad Stalker are another fun example of this flattened subgenre, although to my mind the expanded PlayStation remake’s the most refined version of the game, even if it’s no longer the easiest one to buy (it was available via Japan’s PSN service). The game’s cool guard mechanic and command style inputs for special moves were a direct influence on Treasure’s timeless Guardian Heroes, a Saturn game took that one plane and made it three, finding a fun compromise between the snappy immediacy of the games that came and the layered hordes of mainstream scrolling beat ’em ups. You don’t need me to tell you that the game’s an utterly essential experience, although I am happy to remind everyone that there’s no reason to plump for the increasingly expensive Saturn original over the more easily accessed and thoughtfully updated Xbox 360 (don’t worry, it’s compatible with modern Xboxes…Xboxii… Xbox) remake. Its GBA exclusive sequel is also worth a look, although for very different reasons: if you’ve ever wondered what the bitter (and not entirely unwarranted) feeling “Where the hell were you when we needed you?!” would play like, it’s that game.
Also busy running on consoles less powerful than the Saturn is Sega’s Comix Zone. This one uses unique panel-style presentation and peppers the action with plenty of speech bubbles—even your enemies have something to say as you jump-kick them to oblivion. Between the relatively rich cast and the impressive special effects (I love the hard rain used in the first area) it’s an almost cinematic take on the genre, and I’m honestly struggling to think of anything else that’s quite like it. Under the faux-sketched surface likes a pleasantly flexible game with various items to hold onto and use, a dedicated block button, and multiple routes to take through each stage—there’s a lot to love, even if over-exposure to the game via bundles of varying quality have made it seem a bit ordinary.
Another Mega Drive favourite of mine with a selection of paths from beginning to end is the wonderful Streets of Rage 3. Whether you choose to play the too easy/better balanced Japanese original release or go for the real challenge/patience-testing slog of the US/PAL versions (delete my descriptions as suits your own preferences) this game is the best in the series as far as I’m concerned. That subtle little rumble just before one of those train-things hurtles down the track, giving you the time to move out the way. The mad dash to rescue the general/police chief through round six’s maze of corridors and rooms. The dashing, dodge-rolls, and special moves that are only available when a specific character’s holding a particular weapon. The weight of that fantastic soundtrack. It’s just perfect.
Another scrolling beat ’em up available for the Mega Drive is Sword of Sodan. H-hey! Don’t touch that tab! This Danish effort is not a good game by any common measure, but it is a very interesting and somewhat misrepresented one. The better known Mega Drive port is a lesser experience in every way than the Amiga original, which happened to blow my tiny child brain with its enormous sprites—the standard player graphics take up half the vertical height of the screen—smooth scrolling, odd bouts of foreground parallax, and the frequent use of clear speech samples. Shallow, right? Well… context is important here: you see, this was happening in homes back in 1988, the year before Golden Axe appeared in arcades. This game existed before the Mega Drive did. So in many ways it didn’t matter that concepts such as speed or fluidity largely went out the window here, because at the time it honestly felt like the future had turned up early. And there is some good to be found in here: a sincere attempt has been made to have scenes that lead naturally from one to the next, like you’re taking part in a grand adventure, and the cramped screen space makes it all feel a bit more personal and claustrophobic. Anyway, you can download the Amiga version of the game direct from its original coder’s website here and see for yourself if you like.
Leaping ahead into the future brings us to the Dreamcast, home of Dynamite Deka 2 (AKA: Dynamite Cop) and Zombie Revenge. Both feel like Sega turned the genre dial up to 11, the former offering a one on one against a giant octopus, the latter mixing The House of the Dead with Streets of Rage to brilliant effect. There’s a huge chaotic energy to both of them, which in a game can only come about when everything’s so carefully made the player can truly be let loose without the whole thing falling apart around their ears.
And looking further ahead than that? The genre’s not as dormant as the age of my above picks may make it appear. The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors made a happy, um, return, and the casual availability of my favourite Neo Geo monster mash King of the Monsters 2 everywhere Hamster’s wonderful Arcade Archives series is sold (which, to my frustration, is still not Steam) is something to be celebrated. As far as new new games go the excellent Streets of Rage IV and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge both fit their respective series’ like a glove without being restricted by the past: Streets of Rage IV’s new combo-encouraging mechanic is loads of fun, and Shredder’s Revenge is packed with secrets, references, additional challenges and a cheery feel-good vibe. The presence of bartending kangaroos and phenomenal soundtracks that sound as cool as old people like me think the musical interludes in their favourite Saturday morning cartoons used to (it would be remiss of me to not mention Raekwon and Ghostface Killah’s epic boss track too) are the skilful cherry on top, proof—if it were ever needed—that these projects were made with love for everything they represent. It’s a joy and a privilege to play anything with as much passion and talent behind them as these two games clearly have.
The genre has much more to offer modern gaming than (wonderful) retro-ish throwbacks too: I don’t know how else I’d define Koei’s endless stream of Warriors/Musou games other than scrolling beat ’em ups taken to a new thrilling extreme, and Devil May Cry 5 is so superb nobody cares what label anyone puts on it.
What do you mean, “Devil May Cry 5’s not a scrolling beat ’em up!”? Of course it is! You walk into a small area you can’t leave until you’ve creatively kicked the backsides of everything that approaches you using a combination of guns, fists, and magic, occasionally pick up items to restore your health, bash whatever objects happen to be around for extras, and at the end of a mostly linear level some bigger, stronger, thing will show up just so you can whack into oblivion.
And when you’re done? You see if you’ve got a new high score.
The more the genre changes, the more it stays the same, right?
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 