10 Great Modern Side Scrolling Beat 'Em Ups
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- The side-scrolling beat-'em-up was a genre that was once at the forefront of gaming. You were just as likely to be striding through murky, graffiti-covered alleyways beating up the local delinquents in the ‘80s and ‘90s as you were to be exploring shady, underground facilities with a gun poking out of the bottom of the screen in the late 2000s. Whether you were loading Renegade from a tape on your Amstrad CPC, throwing coins into Final Fight at your local arcade, or heading down to the Streets of Rage, there was plenty of digital, street-based violence to keep you occupied. If crime gangs weren’t your thing, but you still wanted your taste of 2D physical assault, there were plenty of more outlandish offerings too. The likes of Battletoads, Golden Axe, and Alien Storm all had you covered if you wanted to beat up something a bit more … unusual. Here are 10 Great Modern Side-Scrolling Beat-'Em-Ups.
VO: Ben Potter (@Confused_Dude)
Script: Simon Pike (@Sim198k)
Video Editor: Saul Phillips
#RiverCityGirls #ScottPilgrim #YoungSouls
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Love the new turtles game. My daughter (who is now 4) enjoys playing (and completing arcade mode) with me on weekends, cultivating a new member of the next generation of gaming. They are reptiles, BTW.
Mayhem Brawler is so unfairly forgotten! This is also a great game of this genre
Happy to see The TakeOver make the list, it’s a fun one. As it should be, since it was written and produced by classic beat-em-up enthusiast Matt McMuscles.
Having 7 of 10 of these… You hit some very great nails here! The side scroller seemed to have fallen from favor. But these games really are fun! The co-op really sold a lot of them for me! The idea that a friend can grab a controller next to me like in the old days was exactly why I loved playing these newer continuations of the genre.
Game called Charlie Murder back on the 360 was a lot of fun. Heavy metal theme, horror movie references, a lot of different classes you can unlock. The Bad Ending hit me hard too. It's a shame it never got up-ported
It’s on Steam.
@@El3ctr0Lun4I didn't know that. Neat. I meant backwards compatible on the new consoles.
Love that game man, was playing it a couple months back & am like 60% done!
I love beat 'em ups! & here are 5 more:
Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All!
Dawn of the Monsters
Gekido: Kintaro's Revenge
Mayhem Brawler
Mother Russia Bleeds
So great to hear Ben from the legendary PlayStation Radio UK on this kickass UA-cam channel! Excellent list. It’s a great time to be a retro game aficionado.
I’d throw Dragons Crown in the mix but there’s a few I hadn’t heard of here that I need to go research. Many thanks for shining a light on those!
Dragon’s Crown is a PS3 game from 2013, that’s not modern. Technically Dragon’s Crown Pro could count since it’s from 2018, but it’s just a straight HD port and is generally considered lesser than the original since it doesn’t offer anything new.
Ditto with Dragon's Crown, was so awesome. I'd also give an honorable mention to Mother Russia Bleeds
Just came to check if anyone mentioned Dragon's Crown... Good job sir, you are a man of culture. Oh, and Scott Pilgrim is one my all-time favourites.
@@MrBeardsleyif Scott Pilgrim is modern then Dragon's Crown is modern
Loved Dragons Crown so much.
I love that 99 Vidas was included on this list. That game does not get the credit it deserves!
Also, I'm surprised that "Ninja Saviors: Return Of The Warriors" was not on this list. It's an absolute banger!
Thanks! I enjoyed watching this a lot!
This genre has so much potential. Would love to see a samurai or ninja game. Also a game where you play as some vampire like Castlevania. They need to get more creative the potential is endless.
Don't sleep on River City Girls if you're a beat em up fan. It's got a great soundtrack and absolutely phenomenal character animations.
Also one of the sequels to a true O.G. plus the art style is a really nice update
Also check out the River City Girls of Rage hack for Streets of Rage 2. It imports the sprites from River City Girls and it's an absolute blast to play, one of the best ways to play SOR2
I don't like its free roaming mode.
Meh. It's alright.
Word. It’s so good.
I'm OBSESSED with "River City Girls" 1 & 2!!!!!! SO MUCH FUN! Bring on 3!!! 👩🏻🦰👩🏻💥🤕🏪
One pretty modem one I recall enjoying that I think gets slept on is Mother Russia Bleeds, pretty fun beat 'em up.
Fortunately, the beat em up genre adapted pretty well to the times, with 3D beat em up, hack n slash, and musou games, and 2D games still coming out.
great nostalgia injection. i grew up on tmnt 4-player at the arcade and river city ransom sprites. thx
The world definitely needs more beat em ups.
Good video. You forgot
“Mother Russia Bleeds”😂
Great video! I'm only missing Dragon's Crown in this list. Beat em up is one of my favorite game genres. I am demanding of them. Dragon's Crown fulfills all my whims big and small ones.
There is a cult of beat em up in Poland. Thus game "Franko" was created in the garage, a poor but heartfelt game depicting the charms of Polish in a distorting mirror. Last month, the second part came out, equally bad but done with the same methods.
Equally bad? I have a question, have you played Skinny & Franko at all? Because I don't think so. If you know the combat system, you will see that this is one of the best games in this genre.
that was a almost perfect list great video!
1:22, for those of you who don't want to wait well over a full minute for this guy to get to the reason you clicked on this video.
Fight N Rage is such a good beat ‘em up
Nice! We did a video on this topic a while back as well. I think all of these games plus 10 others were included.
They're not traditional beat em ups, but I wish Viewtiful Joe and Muramasa the Demon Blade got ported to modern consoles.
Thanks for this video!
Thank you for this amazing video,
TMNT & SOR4 are my favorites,
Now I am playing castle crashers and It’s insanely good
I will give 99Vidas a try with the souls one.
I also like Meyham Brawler as I enjoyed it far more than I enjoyed the take over.
I love my beatemups and RunandGuns games these two genres will never die for me as I keep playing the games over and over, and can’t wait for the new double dragon game & the TMNT dlc
Such excellent writing!
Loved this one!
I’d add Dragon’s Crown to this list!
1&2 were exactly what they should have been. Especially hitting those 200+ hit combos. Also SOR3 Roo is unlockable! Along with Shiva, Max and the new original character Estelle.
Surprised they left of Battletoads for Xbox. I had a blast playing it with my sons and the jokes referencing the older games like how all is older games still have PTSD from the turbo tunnel and Toadchambeau (rock paper scissors) had us in tears laughing.
Fight N rage looks like the schematics for Battletoads for the Super Nintendo. I definitely want to get that from my switch and Streets of Rage 4 looks awesome. Hopefully skate is in it. Cheers triple jump from Connecticut.
Great video
After 2024 ends you have to make a part 2 of this video.
Karate Kid is awesome and Power Ranges will be spetacular!
Awesome video!!!
Ayyyyyye, great list guys!
3:04 "Leeloo Dallath multi-path!"
No Paprium? I personally can't wait for TMNT Dimension Shellshock or Toxic Crusaders to come out. Good times.
Streets 4 is great, but Fight’N’Rage clears all of these by miles. One of the best beat em ups of all time.
Mother Russia Bleeds should be on this list
It’s from 2016, that’s not modern.
@@MrBeardsleynah it should be, if we're gonna put Scott Pilgrim (originally from 2010), and Castle Crashers (originally from 2008) in this list
Mayhem brawler, one of the best i played in long time, such a good game
"Punhos de repúdio" is another great beat'em up from Brazilian developers.
shank series is one of the great ones too
Where those timestamps? It's 2024, homies.
I like Young Souls’ use of camera and the environment
Only played River City Girls 1 and Castle Crashers in the list for now.
RCG1 is a fantastic game, it's also a short game so that's cool.
Castle Crashers takes the cake for me, great gameplay and can play up to 4 players.
Both games got good OSTs.
river city ransom underground needs to be shown more love.
Shredder's Revenge is getting DLC
This genre is the pinnacle of gaming. It's 99% gameplay and 1% everything else, with all that "else" (music, visuals, sound effects, style, story) contributing to the gameplay. Only Dark Souls gets close, it being 98% gameplay, 1% cut-scenes, 1% everything else.
Is there any serious, modern but retro beat 'em up set in a fantasy world, like Golden Axe or King of Dragons? I think I haven't heard of any.
Nice list, but I'm dissapointed Dragon's Crown Pro never got a mention.
Does anyone remember an animation for a fake side scroller beat'em where 2 random protagonist are fighting their way to the roof of a building. Through their journey they use various super attacks, and summons. During the final battle they use an ultra final attack that is a combination of super moves and summons, such as John Goodman's Walter Sobchak and it ends with Christopher Walken destroying the world?
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans is also very good
Really fun! The story and comedy is very nice, makes me wanna watch their shows n films ...
Very unique n varied title
Double dragon neon should have made that list
Mother Russia Bleeds
It's a wild beat em up
Great job on the video Ben
For me, probably the best beat em up game is Skinny & Franko: FOV. But there is one condition, you need to know the combat system to know what I mean. This is real modern beat 'em up, not another Final Fight tracing or other Capcom games. Interactions, lots of punches, throws, blocks, counters. I've been waiting for a beat em up like this my whole life. It's really good once you get to know the mechnics.
You are missing Skinny and Franko Fists of Violence from last year - it's very like Renegade and the rest. You should try it, it's brutal
River city girls, fight n rage, final vendetta, 99 vidas, scott pilgrim, castle crashers, young souls, the takeover, tmnt shredders revenge, sor4 !!
ramona flowers really got around
Great list, but Dragon's Crown is notably missing.
PS3 games from 10 years ago aren’t “modern.”
One of the games in this list is a port of a 2010 game. Another is a port of a game from 2008 rereleased in 2015.
I think we can stand to mention the Vanillaware games.
You CAN'T forget about F.I.S.T !!
Luv u ben
Sad that Viewtiful Joe isn't considered modern. Worth checking out.
its 20 years old lol
It’s two decades and four console generations old, there’s nothing “modern” about it.
Actually point and click adventure games still exist just because the gaming mags said the genre was dead doesn't make it true
back in the day, theres this gem called "little fighters" i think it was free.... its pretty awesome i don't know if theres any updates to it been so long, but it ya looking for a good side scroller beat em up... i would recommend that game hahah
My favorite one is the friends of Ringo Ishikawa.
the reason you get the guys at the begining in River City Girls 2 is because there are 2 other characters you can play as...but you have to unlock them.
After experiencing open bor games like Art of fighting trouble in south town or Double Dragon reloaded. I can't give low tier games like river city girls even a second of my time. To many far better games to enjoy.
The TMNT game looks perfect! SOR 4 doesn’t remind me of the older games. That anime cartoon look is a bad direction developers keep going with. Give me big sprites and great animation and immersive backgrounds and I’m set.
I beat Streets of Rage 4 and play the tmnt one and Scott pilgrim one too
If you did not play Mayhem Brawler, you probably ignore how good that modern beat'em up is.😑
Nice selection there! But turtles are reptiles, not amphibians.
11:07 Turtles are reptilians, not amphibians
Dragon's Crown
i was REALLY hoping they wouldv'e put roo as a playable character in streets of rage 4, but alas.....we just got that weak cameo.
You forgot the Machete franchise.
You forgot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge and Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle
Wish That I'd Gotten a Side Scrolling Brawler Based on Warriors Of Virtue hell make It better than the movie a reverse Fight Club you can say I'd play that every hour every day
Pardon me for saying...
DRAGONS CROWN.
Guns Gore and Canoli 2 is my shit!
These AI voices are getting more advanced
Mayhem Brawler not on the list?
And They're gree-e-n.
Charlie Murder
Yessir 🔥
no Mother Russia Bleeds?
Ok what game 0:14
Modern beat em up you say...that's where Skinny & Franko is?. The only modern beat em up that is not a tracing and does not resemble capcom games from the 90s and goes its own way.
Mayhem brawler is a big miss on this list.
😂NEVER EAT THE BIO-DUMPSTER MEATS!!🍖 🥓 😂
...I just realized 😳 how awful that sounds sans context.. and how much it also describes an ex or um... hmm.. moving right along! 😂❤
Oh my lol
Mmmm….the 90s. When a Chinese man a white women and a white dude clean up with streets….with a black kid wearing roller blades. No notes
It really gives me the ick when British people use 'gotten' instead of 'got'.
👽
Meh but no cheats
Longest intro ever, almost closed the video tbh.
11:06 obviously you failed biology class. turtles are reptiles, not amphibians. That's the other beat'em ups, the battle toads are amphibians.
@sunnylove2866 yu