My favorite Beat 'Em Ups

The Beat 'Em Up genre was my favorite growing up but in retrospect it has aged rather poorly due to repetition and the death of arcades. Though I wouldn't say the beat 'em up is completely dead because it is clear character action games like Devil May Cry, God of War, and Bayonetta have their roots in the genre.

Since this is only a top ten list I had to narrow it down to my all-time favorites. Here is a few honorable mentions: Final Fight, Double Dragon 1,2 and Neon, The Simpsons, Scott Pilgrim, Spider-Man arcade, and X-Men.

Favorite Beat 'Em Ups

	1. Alien vs. PredatorHands down my favorite of the genre. You have four distinct characters with different stats, you have useful weapons ranging from laser guns to spears, tons of enemies on screen, and special moves you access via Street Fighter commands. Unfortunately there was never a home port so unless your arcade had it or you're into the MAME scene you probably never played it.
	2. Castle CrashersOne of the most popular Xbox Arcade releases of all times and for good reason. It combines Action/RPG mechanics to the brawler formula and it is a fun party game with co-op.
	4. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of DoomI'm combining this with its sequel Shadow of Mystara. A fun take on the genre using basics of the Dungeon and Dragon rules like Clerics can't use bladed weapons and trolls being weak to fire. You also have multiple paths and an inventory.
	3. The WarriorsThis is Rockstar's foray into trying to reinvent the Beat 'em Up genre for the 21st century and they did a damn fine job. Can you dig it?
	5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in TimeOne of the rare instances where the home port is better than the arcade port. You got additional levels and unlike the arcade version the game doesn't kill you for living too long. Only downside is no 4-Player Co-Op.
	6. Streets of Rage 3While I love Streets of Rage 2, I think 3 is the better game. I think its lack of popularity is due to being released late in the Genesis life cycle, you needed the 6 button controller, and they didn't include Max from Streets of Rage 2.
	7. River City RansomBarf!
	8. The PunisherI might be a bit biased because I am a big Punisher fan. This is pretty much your standard Capcom brawler but each stage features a section that features sidescrolling gunplay to break things up. Word to the wise the Sega port is dog shit.
	9. Die Hard ArcadeThis game is ugly as sin, the controls are kinda janky, and I'm pretty sure it is a retextured version of a Dynamite Cop game. All that aside it is just dumb fun and when I worked at K-Mart I would spend my lunch break pumping quarters into that damn machine.
	10. Cadillacs and DinosaursThis is a beat'em I recently discovered. I like the gimmick where the dinosaurs will attack both the players and enemies alike. Plus it lives up to the title and delivers on said dinosaurs and Cadillacs.

Disappointed at the lack of Double Dragon Neon and Scott Pilgrim.

I've wanted to see Die Hard: Arcade get ported to a more modern machine for the longest time... I don't doubt that it's probably kinda bad even, but boy did I love that game. One of the few games I actually played on an Arcade machine.

Double Dragon Neon should be on that list for it's credits sequence alone.

Also, is there anywhere you can play Alien vs. Predator these days that isn't on an emulator? I'd love to give it a try.

Theoretically you could find a cabinet in the wild but I've never seen one.

Streets of Rage 3 lost a lot of charm because the music is just fucking crazy. Super experimental and not as catchy as 2 or as moody as 1. The enemy art wasn't as appealing, and I didn't like the look of the levels.

With that being said, when Streets of Rage Remake came out I came to realize how much stronger the gameplay is in 3. It's super fast, the special move timer is smart, and the roll and run just keep you moving constantly. These days, I'd still rather play 2 to 3. But I was lucky enough to grab Remake and mixing the gameplay with the previous games makes it so much stronger. I still wish Sega would just officially release the damn thing.

Where is Dragons Crown...

Going to be honest I wasn't crazy about Dragons Crown. The controls never felt right and the combat didn't feel that satisfying.

As for Double Dragon Neon, I love the music, the cassette tape based fighting system, and how batshit crazy it was. If this was my Top 11 list it would be number 11 easily

I'm surprised Muramasa isn't on that list. Also, Guardian Heroes.

And I will fight anyone for putting Double Dragon Neon or Scott Pilgrim on a Top X list for brawlers. They're OK games, but in the larger pantheon of brawlers they should NOT be on a list.

@bartok: Dude, that is almost exactly the same list I'd make (down to the number placement!). The Warriors is dreadfully underrated. The only one I may have switched was Streets of Rage 3 for 2. But that's just nostalgia since it was the first console game I owned. Oh, and I may have to squeeze X-Men in there somewhere, just because I'm a giant comic nerd.

Anyway, let me know if you need a co-op partner!

I like Muramasa but I consider it more as a 2D Devil May Cry like Shank or Dishwasher Samurai. I sadly never played Guardian Heroes but I have heard the awesome soundtrack.

I don't think The Warriors or Die Hard Arcade hold up today. When I played through the recently Die Hard felt sluggish and unresponsive, and the Warriors is a wonderful love letter with some really poor design. There's a handful of running sequences and boss-like fights that are far more frustrating than fun, but I definitely appreciate how much care went into that game.

Castle Crashers, Guardian Heroes and Streets of Rage 2 are my favourites. I like the old term Beat-em-up.

River City Ransom and the Capcom D&D games are pretty much my favorite beat-em-ups of all time. Both Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara actually manage to capture the feeling of the tabletop game really well. Good visuals too, with detailed characters and some cool enemy designs. The optional Red Dragon in Shadow over Mystara still feels pretty damn intimidating. I was so happy when Iron Galaxy's compilation came out last year.

Retro Gamer had a pretty comprehensive article on the D&D games a few years back, which I wholeheartedly recommend. Capcom hadn't really worked with Western developers (in this TSR) before, so there was a bit of a culture clash. Alex Jimenez constantly had to negotiate with the two companies during development. For example: Capcom wanted to put a steamship in the game. TSR wouldn't allow it since that kind of technology doesn't exist in the Mystara setting. Jimenez explained this to the team in Japan, who tried to talk him into convincing TSR. However, this proved impossible, much to Capcom's disappointment. I think the article mentions a few more stories like it, so I should dig that up.

For the past couple months I've been digging DEEP into this genre. First off Jeff's right about SoR3, and the Sega port of The Punisher is not "dog shit". We're lucky that game got released at a console at all, and even with the worse graphics the gameplay is almost as fun. I'm also probably trying to justify my purchase of it with case and all for an unspeakable amount of money. Did you know that Aliens vs. Predator was planned for a release on the 32X? If that was a decent port, THINK about how that would drive up the demand for 32x's.

The best Double Dragon game action-wise is Advance. My favorite obscure beat-em-ups are D.D. Crew, Night Slashers, and 64th Street: A Detective Story. Admittedly 64th St and D.D. Crew are not very good, but nobody talks about those games enough. They're repetitive as they come, but goddamnit they're some of the funniest games I've ever played (unintentionally, probably.) Shout out to the Batman Returns SNES game and the Hook arcade game for being awesome and licensed. Undercover Cops is also pretty good.

No X-Men or Final Fight?