Sega's Tough Turf also has guys in dress shirts and ties as the playable characters. They're probably supposed to be police detectives, but they look like office workers. Oh, and if anybody doubts that Double Dragon is named after Enter the Dragon: half the character in the games are named after Enter the Dragon character: Lee, Roper, Williams, O'hara, Bolo (an actor in the movie), and Linda is Bruce's actual wife.
I was about to suggest Tough Turf and then I've seen your comment... I think it's a very underrated Double Dragon "clone", with a few wonderful ideas like having some weapons hidden behind the scenery (like a crate, or a silo). Finishing this game with my older brother, putting coin after coin, is one of my best arcade memories.
it is one of the titles I actually thought a lot about, since you do elbow people and knee them when grabbing them, but ultimately I placed it on the hack and slash list since your main weapons are swords and an axe. I will be doing a video on those in the future since there are SO MANY awesome titles that fall in that category.
@Bob Duckington you're just arguing semantics, which is what I already said. The fact that the term "hack n slash" even exists proves that some people think it should be listed separately. The only thing that would be different about this video if they were included would be that somebody would be arguing semantics that shouldn't have been included. And no, it's not worthless since they specifically said they'll be part of a different video. No need to be so dramatic about it.
@Bob Duckington I think you are technically correct. It is shame most people separate the weapons side scrolling brawlers into a _Hack & Slash_ subgroup of games. Capcom's *Warriors of Fate* AKA *Tenchi wo Kurau 2: Sekiheki no Tatakai* is one of my favourites and has 5 selectable characters. 2 with permanent weapons, 2 who fight bare handed and 1 who has a permanent bow with endless arrows! All can still pick up additional swords to use temporarily.
@@almightycinder , he and I both speak the truth, you hypocritical Jackass McGees! If it has a weapon, then, by default, it is a hack-and-slash game, according to your Level 99 dumb ass semantic rules. Hell, even the Diablo games, and their clones, are technically beat-em-up/brawler/hack-and-slash games, to say nothing of Dungeon Fighter Online/Offline, if one were to be even more particular about things.
Crime Fighters is also notable for its Boss run. At the end of the game, they make you fight every single boss in the game all at the same time. I can't think of another title that has ever done that.
and if you beat the game all the way through twice it goes into free mode. The boss rush was the most memorable part of the games. Most beatemups just have you fight the previous bosses one at at ime on one level not all at once
The double dragon, from my fighter background perspective, has high kicks and crispy punches, which a technical martial artist should have, but it also has a raw dirty beating, and grabs, street bloody stuff, nasty weapons as well, and this makes it pretty good and groundbreaking, in comparison with the previous beat em ups. When I first played it I was shocked. It was totally addicting. And it's somehow an exaggerated reality as well. Nice video.
"from my fighter background perspective" : you sound like a wimp. Actually, reading your profile sounds like the same nonsense Steven Seagal and Frank Dux used to say. "I was in the special forces and have won dozens of tournaments" jabbering in broken, illiterate, English. Absolute fraud confirmed.
Great video. Honestly I thought I was the only one who remembered the "Superman" game. I only saw it in the wild once, in a pizza place in my town. GREAT JOB!!!!!!
Streets of Fire was popular over in Japan so it's very possible. But also, Walter Hill who made Streets of Fire, directed the Warriors, which inspired the first Kunio Kun/Renegade. Both movies had a big impact on the genre.
Actually, those films were only PARTS of the inspiration for Kunio-Kun/Renegade...the other part had to do with the childhood of the person that had created the series. Yeah, basically, he came from the Japanese equivalent of Compton or South Central and there were literally fights all throughout the school, and his neighborhood.
Youre right, seems unreasonable. Not only that, at 0:46 he excludes "hack and slash" games like "Ninja Warriors" ...dafuq? Its the same thing and just as much helped shaping the genre.
@@DustMan2704 It's because I don't think he knows what genres create what when it comes to video games. I mean, Golden Axe IS a beat-'em-up as well. Even if he takes weapons into consideration, that doesn't change what the game's genre was.
@@JavaBum yeah i find the exclusion of Golden Axe to be particularly baffling. It's got the same basic structure as games like Streets of Rage, only with a fantasy medieval setting
@@aweirdredtoad3637 sure, but it's also a beat 'em up first and foremost. To not include it in a video about the history of beat 'em ups would be like not including Mega Man in a video about the history of platformers because "he shoots so it's a run n' gun"
I give my thanks for creating this documentary. Beat em' up games continue to be among my favorite genres. Many of my favorite titles are included in this video, and I learned of new ones as I continued watching. I would love to see a new Superman side scroll game today.
what's the difference between golden axe and any of these games besides the arbitrary fact you're using swords instead of fists? does a beat'em up stop being one when you pick up a weapon?
I just subbed to your channel because I love beat ‘em ups. Dude I love the TMNT Cowabunga collection, Streets of Rage games, Double Dragons, the Capcom Beat em up Collection, etc. I mean dang they are just fun. Don’t know why or how but it’s such a fun genre. I look forward to more of your beat em up videos! 🤘
Gaming Quarterly: "I will not be covering hack-and-slash games in this video..." (literally shows a hack-and-slash game at the beginning of this video)
I think of karateka as an early entry into the fighting game genre more than bet em up. one on one fights with each characters having their own life bar.
I probably hadnt thought of Karateka in 30 years. a summer school program i was in had computers that had it on there and we loved when we got to play it. Wow. like part of me still remembers that excited feeling when we knew we'd get to play it. definitely shaped my love for fighting games.
Out of all of them i feel that Double Dragon was still the best. It had a huge move set, and the ability to take the weapons from your enemies was a true innovation (but by today's standards probably taken for granted) also a small detail that i love is that when the sprites move up the screen you can see their back. In Final Fight which came out later the sprites although much larger, more detailed, and generally more impressive seemed more like cardboard cutouts. The fact that double dragon had the 2 characters was great too. Even though they were just pallet swaps, the idea of identical twins is appealing to young boys.
@@retiredsnowbunnyhunterx5106 Which was 90% of the time. If there's more than 2 enemies or if there's a barrel or boulder onscreen. Take the nostalgia goggles off.
@@gaylordfocker7990 😂 well true. I learn to get around that. If you keep moving forward the more enemies would appear. Take out the one or two enemies at a time otherwise a whole group coming on screen to slow the screen down. 😂 When I was a kid I used to go up to the laundry mat after school an play it every day. I got so good at it I would actually beat the whole game off one quarter 😂
A thorough and engaging survey of the 80s beat ‘em up evolution, but for the disappointing mere passing mention of the seminal TMNT arcade game. While the heroes use weaponry (and so arguably hack ‘n slash), the game was much more akin to (and an evolution of) the classic beat ‘em up. Looking forward to checking out the remainder of the series!
I agree. TMNT (and, by extension, Golden Axe), as I view it, is more of a Beat 'em Up............or more accurately, a Hack n' Slash-style Beat 'em Up [Which distinctly differentiates itself from "Hack n' Slash" games usually assigned to games such as Dynasty Warriors and such]
Great video. I really enjoyed tge trip down memory lane. Just 2 big missing pieces: 1. Golden axe and 2. A deeper analysis of TMNT arcade. Both were big hits and move the dial forward.
Love Final Fight. It reinvented the beat em up genre, my favorite of all time. Vendetta, the sequel to Crime Fighters, is probably my favorite. Love Crime Fighters as well though. Also liked that it let you attack enemies when they were down too in order to kill then more quickly. Great video, just subbed.
Everybody liked Guy because of his distinctive karate-like stances and techniques. (Even though his profile said he was a ninja). And people liked Haggar because of his flying pile driver. It took me a while to figure out it’s jump, THEN attack, not simultaneous like the instructions indicated. I swear, Sodom was the freaken hardest boss in the whole game!
@@perfectsplit5515 I know right? Capcom must have been big wrestling fans, with Andore looking so much like Andre The Giant. I believe they called him that because when you see Andre matched in Japan when he's introduced there by ring announcers, his name sounds more like Andore. Although I've heard he was also based on a staff member. And Abigail always reminded me of one of the Road Warriors, who were also big in Japan.
So... instead of actually covering the genre (which is defined by gameplay) you made a video about any game where you punch and kick? Golden Axe IS a beat 'em up. How would you define Captain Commando where some characters kick and punch and others use weapons?
good question. I included captain commando under beat em ups due to that exact reason. Since I chose to separate the genre into two, it could have gone either way. I chose beat em up as a coin toss. Could've gone either way. But I will be doing a video in the future where I will give the hack and slash games their due. There's so many awesome classics to mention. Golden Axe is one that I grew up with. Also decided to separate the genre since my channel is just starting and placing all of them together would require long video run times. I figured people would skip my small channel if they saw videos being too long. Hope this answers your question. Thanks for watching.
Ever since watching the AVGN Double Dragon episode I can't get the sound of the Nerd singing along to the theme tune from my head! lol. 🤣 "🎵DID DUM DUM DUM DUM DUR DURRRR! DID DUM DUM DUM DUM DUR DURRRR! DID DUM DUM DUM DUM DUR DURRRR!🎵"
In Double Dragon 2, you could just keep using the Hurricane Kick over and over again, if you mastered the technique. But the timing was tricky. I loved playing it on my friend’s NES.
No lie bro: I was sick from school 1991 3rd grade. I beat Double Dragon 2's final boss with a hurricane kick, and no lives or bars left. One of my greatest achievements. 😀
That game is awesome! There is also a PC game that is DD2, I believe, with much better FPS plus you could use some of the wrestlers from the WWF Superstars arcade game as playable characters. I can’t recall the name but it’s easy enough to find.
@@martinbrundage2092oh my god, its an OpenBOR 4 player game; i love those!!! ive played the tmnt one where you unlock several characters throught the game like splinter and april and plqy with them
My father had a couple of arcade places and once brought a Kung Fu arcade machine in our basement. We (3 kids) were totally hyped. Sad thing was he took the game away 2 days later to install it in his business. We got it later on the NES though. Good times.
Thanks a lot, Beat’Em Up is the best game-genre in the world. I didn't know that there was so many cool Beat'Em Up projects, in my beloved 1980's. I know only most famous, benchmark games of that time, by ascending years: Kung Fu Master (1984), Renegade (1986), Double Dragon (1987), Final Fight (1989).
This Brought Back Memories of many days in the arcade, Avengers was hard to find, Double Dragon 1,2,3 was insane, Renegade, River City Ransom, and That Batman game I spent many hours on Like Metroid
I love most of these games, especially Sega's offerings (Well, Coreland did My Hero). Double Dragon was groundbreaking, but it ran like a backfiring, unaligned Buick stuck in first gear with a flat tire.
TMNT Turtles in time Double dragon Golden axe Aliens Aliens vs predator Cadillacs and dinosaurs Robocop Metamorphic force Final fight Streets of rage 1 & 2 Night slashers Eight man Mutation nation Those are my personal favourites. I'll never tire of playing that list of awesomeness.
Once you went Beast Mode, you could really start kicking ass and taking names! When I played it on my Genesis in college, my Radical Christian roommate said the game was “demonic” for depicting dead people being resurrected.
Double Dragon II's control is easy to teach if you explain it in terms of an NES controller. The A button was on the right, B button on the left. Ergo... A always attacks right side of the screen B always attacks left side of the screen ... if you're facing the direction you're attacking, it'll be a punch. If you're facing away, it'll be a back kick
Odd you have Renegade followed by Express Raider and here is why. In early 87 my re-tired grandfather helped my youngest uncle open a small rural pizza place. The amusements vendor brought in 1 pool table, 1 jukebox, and 2 arcade games: Renegade and Express Raider (had the alternate name Western Express). I had nothing better to do and was there all the time helping (pretty much working for pizza)..when the games were dropped off I was super bummed...even in 87 I would have loved to see a Donkey Kong or Moon Patrol. But I couldn't have been more wrong and every quarter I could make around there went into those two machines. I of course played Renegade to death on the NES later and Express Raider was one of my first mind blowing MAME finds in the late 90s. I guess I was lucky those two were the ones dropped off. Probably were not making good money on the guy's route and were dumped in "the sticks" to JD's Pizza as he knew he wouldn't be making good money from the location. Thank you amusement vendor guy :)
Did I miss it? Or did you forget to add TMNT The Arcade Game to 1989? Final Fight is definitely a pioneer in the genre, but TMNT was EVRYWHERE that year and I have some great memories playing that arcade cab when I was really little. Definitely needs an honorable mention!
Great video. You covered everything from my youth (I feel so old). Luckily my kid joins me on Switch to clean up the streets. Btw you have a very cool voice for this. Not sure if you have Spanish background but I can detect an accent but it sounds great.
Didn't know there were top down beat em ups. But from the footage it is for a good reason, it is just too hard to judge distance between you and the enemies from that angle.
10:00 Only other game I can think of atm is Victory Road/Ikari Warriors 2 from a year or two later, which is only partially a beat 'em up. Nice vid! Edit: Actually I might've been thinking of Ikari 3, sorry heh.
I just found your channel. I love beat um ups. I'm enjoying new turtles and Final vandetta. Altered beast is a tough game. I need to get back into it. Keep up the cool videos
Top 10 fighting games before the 1990's that I played: 1. Kung Fu: I only played this one in arcades. Never could beat it as a kid. 2. Legend of Kage: I only played in arcades, might be considered hack & slash by your standards, because your character has a sword and throwing stars. The thing that blew me away as a kid was how you could jump around everywhere. I did beat this one. 3. Double Dragon: My first NES beat 'em up, I used to go over to friend's houses & play this one. I wasn't very good, but I hung in there long enough to get better. Never beat it though. 4. Altered Beast: Mostly played in arcades, but now that it's available on a lot of consoles, I still play this one. The boss fights are so weird. I got good enough to beat this one as a kid playing in the arcade. 5. Bad Dudes: Arcade only. I loved using to nunchucks. The level with the trucks was the last level I could beat as a kid. 6. Splatter House: Technically, hack & slash, but this game is so awesome I can understand why it's on your list. I remember beating the first level, with the leech boss fight, but I never got back to this one. 7. POW: Arcade as a kid, rediscovered on consoles a few years back. I always remembered the knockout sound bite when you beat an enemy. Funny that only the final boss has a handgun. 8. Golden Axe: Although I understand you considering it hack & slash, I can't resist. As a kid, I was able to reach the castle, but couldn't beat it. Fortunately, I managed to get back to this one & finish it. I forget which version had you opening the door & going inside, but that boss fight is awesome. 9. TMNT (Arcade version): My first co-op experience. I spent SO many quarters on this one. I love the soundtrack to this game, the sewer stage was probably my favorite. I've probably beaten this game with every turtle. 10. Godzilla, Monster of Monsters: An NES monster beat 'em up that doesn't get nearly enough praise so I'm throwing it in as an honorable mention. You play as BOTH Godzilla and Mothra fighting an army of monsters, most of which are obscure Toho movie monsters. Starting on Earth, you fight monsters on every planet, at least one more being added each stage. A very early 2D side scroller, with Godzilla having a decent set of moves (punch, kick, tail whip, atomic breath) is better for Boss fights while Mothra is better at getting through stages. MechaGodzilla, King Ghidorah and The Smog Monster round out a collection of Toho Boss monsters.
Ikari warriors 3 the rescue was a top down brawler that I loved but it also had guns with limited ammo and exploding barrels that that exploded overtime I had it on the NES and loved it also played in the arcade it used a rotary 8-way joystick to move your character around good time
This is a GREAT video thanks! I had Reneged on the ZX Spectrum and I absolutely loved it. I've never played Kung Fu or Kung Master so I'll be looking forward to having the go on them 😀👊💪
Nope. Will it make good ones, yes, but the RCR/KK style of doing things is not always the best way to do things, and that system can use improvement as well.
There was also Legend of Kage fro '84. You were a ninja and fought with two chain sickles. Side scroller but also you could jump through trees toss shurikens and a scroll would appear where once opened, it killed all the enemies on the screen. Another fun addictive coin-op from Taito.
Thanks for the great (in every ways) video, just a couple things: Dragoninja/Bad Dudes is an amazing game in every way, most of all the number of great moves you can achieve with such a short buttons number available is incredible; also, Shadow Warriors is great too, the NES conversion is simply a different game (there is only a pretty good conversion around, for Lynx). Regarding Final Fight, this IS simply THE best scrolling beat'em up ever created (even in 2022), the second one btw is Street of Rage II, from the third place we can all argue who's next (mine is Double Dragon II).
I just want to mention that "Rival Turf" was also a great game for its time at super nes. All of the other game that you mentioned on this video are great too.
Man, I've always wanted a Big Trouble in Little China beat em up! How cool would it be if Tribute games made that happen?!? Complete with some of the original actors voices...
Scott Pilgrim vs The World game was definitely influenced by River City Ranson because that game has all the features mentioned in the video that was in RCR.
You can get the river city ransom sequel now. River city underground. Also, there are two new games in the series, River city girls 1 and 2. Fun fact, another game you mentioned, renegade, is in the same universe. The main character is the same guy in River city ransom.
The arcade Ninja Gaiden had very awkward attacks. The NES version was radically different, and the attacks were much easier and not awkward. It had an expansive storyline. But the final boss was a nightmare!
The arcade version of Renegade and Double Dragon blew my mind in the 80's. I like most all of the Beat 'Em Ups. The NES version of DD was rad too. Would like to mention the first SF on arcade in this era I really liked as well, even though it catches alot of heat for the controls and such. I likes the Ikari Warriors Arcade controls because You could attack behind You while forging ahead.
@@slightlyevolved Have not played the 2nd DD yet. With the simultaneous play of the original and great soundtrack, DD 2 has to be a classic as well if it can hang. Played DD 3 and it was decent. Very difficult to create a sequel to something that is that rad. Lookin' forward to some 8 bit gamin' with my son in the near future. WILL check out DD2. Thanks
I remember playing *Kung-Fu Master* in the arcades with my school friend. A year or so later we found a place which had *Double Dragon* and to be able to play simultaneously on the screen at the same time was revolutionary. Unfortunately, if one of us accidentally hit the other we would start brawling amongst ourselves instead of playing properly.
@@dududu5189 Funny story. The double dragon in the arcade I went to was always being played by the tough kids, so i would sometimes wait an hour or more to play it, and sometimes I wouldn't even play it.
@@roywilson4514 I recall my parents bought me double dragon one week after coming out. I was hyped for it. Gonna have to look up target renegade. Not familiar with that one. Hope you enjoyed the video.
Final Fight at the arcade was pretty mind blowing at the time. It was soo well made.
It was cool when you finally defeated the elevator boss who used grenades, he would throw a ring of grenades around himself to commit suicide.
@@perfectsplit5515 forget his name but he was in Street Fighter alpha.
Rolento?
Odd name for a suicide bomber...
Hasan, Ali, Mohammed etc
Thanks to these games i had a wonderful childhood, so many friends i've met playing around
same here
Thanks to these games I have a wonderful adulthood.
Same here. I miss the arcades of the 1980s
That era was one of the best for Fighting games, I loved playing them.
me too . were amazing back on the day
Sega's Tough Turf also has guys in dress shirts and ties as the playable characters. They're probably supposed to be police detectives, but they look like office workers.
Oh, and if anybody doubts that Double Dragon is named after Enter the Dragon: half the character in the games are named after Enter the Dragon character: Lee, Roper, Williams, O'hara, Bolo (an actor in the movie), and Linda is Bruce's actual wife.
I was about to suggest Tough Turf and then I've seen your comment... I think it's a very underrated Double Dragon "clone", with a few wonderful ideas like having some weapons hidden behind the scenery (like a crate, or a silo). Finishing this game with my older brother, putting coin after coin, is one of my best arcade memories.
*Tough Turf* must be better in 2 player co-op.
I played it in MAME and it does not let me continue indefinitely.
Bad Dudes introduced me to arcade gaming back then. Lucky enough I got it on GOG and still play it to this day. Great history lesson.
I think the first level boss with the claw hands was based on Mister Han at the end of Enter the Dragon, with his claw hand.
Bad Dudes hasn't aged very well, definitely remember it blowing my mind and stealing a ton of quarters when I was a kid.
Great video btw.
Agreed. the stuttering framerate is odd. I never got past stage 3 in the arcades. I did beat it on the NES though.
Thank you for the compliment.
Idk golden axe might use weapons but it’s definitely a beat em up.
it is one of the titles I actually thought a lot about, since you do elbow people and knee them when grabbing them, but ultimately I placed it on the hack and slash list since your main weapons are swords and an axe. I will be doing a video on those in the future since there are SO MANY awesome titles that fall in that category.
Hack n slash is essentially the same genre, just with permanent weapons. Most people list them separately.
@Bob Duckington you're just arguing semantics, which is what I already said. The fact that the term "hack n slash" even exists proves that some people think it should be listed separately. The only thing that would be different about this video if they were included would be that somebody would be arguing semantics that shouldn't have been included. And no, it's not worthless since they specifically said they'll be part of a different video. No need to be so dramatic about it.
@Bob Duckington
I think you are technically correct.
It is shame most people separate the weapons side scrolling brawlers into a _Hack & Slash_ subgroup of games.
Capcom's *Warriors of Fate* AKA *Tenchi wo Kurau 2: Sekiheki no Tatakai* is one of my favourites and has 5 selectable characters.
2 with permanent weapons, 2 who fight bare handed and 1 who has a permanent bow with endless arrows!
All can still pick up additional swords to use temporarily.
@@almightycinder , he and I both speak the truth, you hypocritical Jackass McGees! If it has a weapon, then, by default, it is a hack-and-slash game, according to your Level 99 dumb ass semantic rules. Hell, even the Diablo games, and their clones, are technically beat-em-up/brawler/hack-and-slash games, to say nothing of Dungeon Fighter Online/Offline, if one were to be even more particular about things.
Crime Fighters is also notable for its Boss run. At the end of the game, they make you fight every single boss in the game all at the same time. I can't think of another title that has ever done that.
and if you beat the game all the way through twice it goes into free mode. The boss rush was the most memorable part of the games. Most beatemups just have you fight the previous bosses one at at ime on one level not all at once
Konami did it again in X-Men in 1992.
@@mrmovieprop , now the free mode thing I honestly did NOT know about, but thanks for the information.
The double dragon, from my fighter background perspective, has high kicks and crispy punches, which a technical martial artist should have, but it also has a raw dirty beating, and grabs, street bloody stuff, nasty weapons as well, and this makes it pretty good and groundbreaking, in comparison with the previous beat em ups. When I first played it I was shocked. It was totally addicting. And it's somehow an exaggerated reality as well. Nice video.
"from my fighter background perspective" : you sound like a wimp. Actually, reading your profile sounds like the same nonsense Steven Seagal and Frank Dux used to say. "I was in the special forces and have won dozens of tournaments" jabbering in broken, illiterate, English.
Absolute fraud confirmed.
Great video. Honestly I thought I was the only one who remembered the "Superman" game. I only saw it in the wild once, in a pizza place in my town. GREAT JOB!!!!!!
Superman had something like a “Haduken”, but you had to first charge up to use it.
The game was really a mix between beat-‘em-up and shooter.
There’s actually another belt scrolling beat ‘em up that preceded Kunio-Kun/Renegade, called Typhoon Gal, which was released by Taito in 1985!😄
Streets of Fire was popular over in Japan so it's very possible. But also, Walter Hill who made Streets of Fire, directed the Warriors, which inspired the first Kunio Kun/Renegade. Both movies had a big impact on the genre.
Did not know. Awesome info.
I agree. Huge impact on beat em ups.
Actually, those films were only PARTS of the inspiration for Kunio-Kun/Renegade...the other part had to do with the childhood of the person that had created the series. Yeah, basically, he came from the Japanese equivalent of Compton or South Central and there were literally fights all throughout the school, and his neighborhood.
@@paxhumana2015 I don't think there's a Japanese equivalent to Compton, it's most likely he was a juvenile delinquent and got into fights alot.
Batman wasn't a beat em up. It was an action platformer. The most notable feature was the wall jump. It was as beat em up as Quantum fighter.
Youre right, seems unreasonable.
Not only that, at 0:46 he excludes "hack and slash" games like "Ninja Warriors" ...dafuq? Its the same thing and just as much helped shaping the genre.
@@DustMan2704 It's because I don't think he knows what genres create what when it comes to video games. I mean, Golden Axe IS a beat-'em-up as well. Even if he takes weapons into consideration, that doesn't change what the game's genre was.
@@JavaBum yeah i find the exclusion of Golden Axe to be particularly baffling. It's got the same basic structure as games like Streets of Rage, only with a fantasy medieval setting
@@tigerfestivals5137 It is technically a hack n slash, so he's probably going to cover it like that.
@@aweirdredtoad3637 sure, but it's also a beat 'em up first and foremost. To not include it in a video about the history of beat 'em ups would be like not including Mega Man in a video about the history of platformers because "he shoots so it's a run n' gun"
I give my thanks for creating this documentary. Beat em' up games continue to be among my favorite genres. Many of my favorite titles are included in this video, and I learned of new ones as I continued watching. I would love to see a new Superman side scroll game today.
Thanks for indicating the location of the comments, being down below. I couldn't find them.
please do more of these long form 'history' type videos. this series is excellent. thank you for the hard work!
what's the difference between golden axe and any of these games besides the arbitrary fact you're using swords instead of fists? does a beat'em up stop being one when you pick up a weapon?
Had the exact same thought. And is the distinction really whether there's a weapon sprite drawn over the character? note: I still enjoyed the video.
Really enjoyed the trip through my gaming past. Thank you.
I just subbed to your channel because I love beat ‘em ups. Dude I love the TMNT Cowabunga collection, Streets of Rage games, Double Dragons, the Capcom Beat em up Collection, etc. I mean dang they are just fun. Don’t know why or how but it’s such a fun genre. I look forward to more of your beat em up videos! 🤘
Gaming Quarterly: "I will not be covering hack-and-slash games in this video..." (literally shows a hack-and-slash game at the beginning of this video)
I think of karateka as an early entry into the fighting game genre more than bet em up. one on one fights with each characters having their own life bar.
The narrator mispronounced the word.
I probably hadnt thought of Karateka in 30 years. a summer school program i was in had computers that had it on there and we loved when we got to play it. Wow. like part of me still remembers that excited feeling when we knew we'd get to play it. definitely shaped my love for fighting games.
Yep it's not a beat 'em up. One of many wrong things about this list!
Out of all of them i feel that Double Dragon was still the best. It had a huge move set, and the ability to take the weapons from your enemies was a true innovation (but by today's standards probably taken for granted) also a small detail that i love is that when the sprites move up the screen you can see their back. In Final Fight which came out later the sprites although much larger, more detailed, and generally more impressive seemed more like cardboard cutouts. The fact that double dragon had the 2 characters was great too. Even though they were just pallet swaps, the idea of identical twins is appealing to young boys.
Double dragon hands down.
Practically the entire game was in slow motion. The sprites were too much for the hardware to handle.
@@gaylordfocker7990 That only happened if too many enemies was on the screen.
@@retiredsnowbunnyhunterx5106 Which was 90% of the time. If there's more than 2 enemies or if there's a barrel or boulder onscreen. Take the nostalgia goggles off.
@@gaylordfocker7990 😂 well true. I learn to get around that. If you keep moving forward the more enemies would appear. Take out the one or two enemies at a time otherwise a whole group coming on screen to slow the screen down. 😂 When I was a kid I used to go up to the laundry mat after school an play it every day. I got so good at it I would actually beat the whole game off one quarter 😂
This was a great documentary about my favorite video game genre of all time! I'm definitely going to check out the other parts of this series. 👍
A thorough and engaging survey of the 80s beat ‘em up evolution, but for the disappointing mere passing mention of the seminal TMNT arcade game. While the heroes use weaponry (and so arguably hack ‘n slash), the game was much more akin to (and an evolution of) the classic beat ‘em up. Looking forward to checking out the remainder of the series!
I agree. TMNT (and, by extension, Golden Axe), as I view it, is more of a Beat 'em Up............or more accurately, a Hack n' Slash-style Beat 'em Up [Which distinctly differentiates itself from "Hack n' Slash" games usually assigned to games such as Dynasty Warriors and such]
Amazing to see that the Fan Base for Beat 'Em Ups is still alive and kicking in 2022!
I played all these in the arcades. Completely forgot about some of them!
Great video. I really enjoyed tge trip down memory lane. Just 2 big missing pieces: 1. Golden axe and 2. A deeper analysis of TMNT arcade. Both were big hits and move the dial forward.
Love Final Fight. It reinvented the beat em up genre, my favorite of all time. Vendetta, the sequel to Crime Fighters, is probably my favorite. Love Crime Fighters as well though. Also liked that it let you attack enemies when they were down too in order to kill then more quickly. Great video, just subbed.
Everybody liked Guy because of his distinctive karate-like stances and techniques. (Even though his profile said he was a ninja). And people liked Haggar because of his flying pile driver. It took me a while to figure out it’s jump, THEN attack, not simultaneous like the instructions indicated.
I swear, Sodom was the freaken hardest boss in the whole game!
@@perfectsplit5515 Totally. Usually had to spam the super attack to beat Sodom when I couldn't grab him. Rolento was even tougher.
@@TV-Tony And wasn’t it weird that they named one of the masculine male tough-guy badass bosses, “Abigail”?
@@perfectsplit5515 I know right? Capcom must have been big wrestling fans, with Andore looking so much like Andre The Giant. I believe they called him that because when you see Andre matched in Japan when he's introduced there by ring announcers, his name sounds more like Andore. Although I've heard he was also based on a staff member. And Abigail always reminded me of one of the Road Warriors, who were also big in Japan.
My dad has a multi arcade cabinet. It's got Shaolin Road on it and my 7 year old loves that game. First time I've ever seen it.
Golden axe isnt beat'em up? Wtf.
Thanks for this! I really love this genre!
thanks for watching!
Thank you so much. Finally I found the game last battle from this video. I was playing this game about 30 years ago 😄
glad I could help.
Well I learned something new. I didn't know top down beat e'm ups existed. Thanks for the awesome video and game library. 😁👍✌️😎
Whoa!! I never ever heard about Karateka! This looks incredible! Big thanks for pointing that one out! 💜💜💜
thanks for watching.
I've played almost every one of the games you showed except for just two. Thank you for the video.
Wow this is fantastic thankyou for this great video bro 🤟
Can't wait to watch the other videos.
SPLATTERHOUSE yes♥️♥️
You got the name of the movie wrong. It's name was Wheels on Meals. Or Spartan X in Japan.
So... instead of actually covering the genre (which is defined by gameplay) you made a video about any game where you punch and kick? Golden Axe IS a beat 'em up. How would you define Captain Commando where some characters kick and punch and others use weapons?
good question. I included captain commando under beat em ups due to that exact reason. Since I chose to separate the genre into two, it could have gone either way. I chose beat em up as a coin toss. Could've gone either way. But I will be doing a video in the future where I will give the hack and slash games their due. There's so many awesome classics to mention. Golden Axe is one that I grew up with.
Also decided to separate the genre since my channel is just starting and placing all of them together would require long video run times. I figured people would skip my small channel if they saw videos being too long.
Hope this answers your question. Thanks for watching.
This.
River City Ransom - Hella good memories. Hitting pause in mid-fight, "Hole-up, y'all. Bout to cook up a steak and read a comic..."
Ever since watching the AVGN Double Dragon episode I can't get the sound of the Nerd singing along to the theme tune from my head! lol. 🤣
"🎵DID DUM DUM DUM DUM DUR DURRRR!
DID DUM DUM DUM DUM DUR DURRRR!
DID DUM DUM DUM DUM DUR DURRRR!🎵"
i watched all this from the beginning to the end and i really enjoyed it . thanks for the memories :)
In Double Dragon 2, you could just keep using the Hurricane Kick over and over again, if you mastered the technique. But the timing was tricky. I loved playing it on my friend’s NES.
No lie bro: I was sick from school 1991 3rd grade. I beat Double Dragon 2's final boss with a hurricane kick, and no lives or bars left. One of my greatest achievements. 😀
@@morbidcorpse5954 And the girlfriend came down from heaven as an angel...
Shaolin's Road is also known as Kicker - one of my all time favorite arcade games.
say Gaming Quarterly, do you know of that double dragon "parody" game for pc called abobos big adventure? great video by the way!
It’s more of a parody of gaming in general, as per the Zelda section as well as Ballon Fight.
I can't say that I am, but I will definitely check that one out. Thanks for the info. Glad you enjoyed the video.
That game is awesome! There is also a PC game that is DD2, I believe, with much better FPS plus you could use some of the wrestlers from the WWF Superstars arcade game as playable characters. I can’t recall the name but it’s easy enough to find.
@@martinbrundage2092oh my god, its an OpenBOR 4 player game; i love those!!! ive played the tmnt one where you unlock several characters throught the game like splinter and april and plqy with them
There's a playthrough on avgn.
That Shaolin's Road game has great sound effects and music, it's like going back to the 80s arcades.
Kung Fu Kid in the Sega Master System was awesome. I remember playing that one back in 80 something lol. Man you brought me great memories!
My father had a couple of arcade places and once brought a Kung Fu arcade machine in our basement. We (3 kids) were totally hyped. Sad thing was he took the game away 2 days later to install it in his business.
We got it later on the NES though. Good times.
Thanks a lot, Beat’Em Up is the best game-genre in the world. I didn't know that there was so many cool Beat'Em Up projects, in my beloved 1980's. I know only most famous, benchmark games of that time, by ascending years: Kung Fu Master (1984), Renegade (1986), Double Dragon (1987), Final Fight (1989).
Bad Dudes was my favorite game to play at the arcade and I loved to play the NES version.
Great and detalied documentation . thanks so much for doing it!!
Final Fight, the best one ever! Great memories.
This Brought Back Memories of many days in the arcade, Avengers was hard to find, Double Dragon 1,2,3 was insane, Renegade, River City Ransom, and That Batman game I spent many hours on Like Metroid
I love most of these games, especially Sega's offerings (Well, Coreland did My Hero). Double Dragon was groundbreaking, but it ran like a backfiring, unaligned Buick stuck in first gear with a flat tire.
Double dragon 2 on nes nailed it tho. My favorite beat em up.
TMNT
Turtles in time
Double dragon
Golden axe
Aliens
Aliens vs predator
Cadillacs and dinosaurs
Robocop
Metamorphic force
Final fight
Streets of rage 1 & 2
Night slashers
Eight man
Mutation nation
Those are my personal favourites. I'll never tire of playing that list of awesomeness.
Thank you for this video series and thank you for doing Hack n Slash in the future!
Altered Beast (Sega Genesis) will always hold a special place in my memories.
Once you went Beast Mode, you could really start kicking ass and taking names!
When I played it on my Genesis in college, my Radical Christian roommate said the game was “demonic” for depicting dead people being resurrected.
Superman was great! I remmeber playing this for the first time at the roller skating rink as a little kid.
Excellent video. Final fight was and still is the best arcade game ever
I was thinking Karateka had a real Prince of Persia feel to it and then you mention Jordan Mechner, it all makes sense now.
Beating Double Dragon is one of life's greatest moments
Double Dragon II's control is easy to teach if you explain it in terms of an NES controller. The A button was on the right, B button on the left. Ergo...
A always attacks right side of the screen
B always attacks left side of the screen
... if you're facing the direction you're attacking, it'll be a punch. If you're facing away, it'll be a back kick
Honorable mentions: Streets of Rage, TMNT, Captain Commando, The Simpsons, Children of the Atom, Battletoads
@M Taylor did you get Shredders Revenge?
Odd you have Renegade followed by Express Raider and here is why. In early 87 my re-tired grandfather helped my youngest uncle open a small rural pizza place. The amusements vendor brought in 1 pool table, 1 jukebox, and 2 arcade games: Renegade and Express Raider (had the alternate name Western Express). I had nothing better to do and was there all the time helping (pretty much working for pizza)..when the games were dropped off I was super bummed...even in 87 I would have loved to see a Donkey Kong or Moon Patrol. But I couldn't have been more wrong and every quarter I could make around there went into those two machines. I of course played Renegade to death on the NES later and Express Raider was one of my first mind blowing MAME finds in the late 90s. I guess I was lucky those two were the ones dropped off. Probably were not making good money on the guy's route and were dumped in "the sticks" to JD's Pizza as he knew he wouldn't be making good money from the location. Thank you amusement vendor guy :)
Did I miss it? Or did you forget to add TMNT The Arcade Game to 1989? Final Fight is definitely a pioneer in the genre, but TMNT was EVRYWHERE that year and I have some great memories playing that arcade cab when I was really little. Definitely needs an honorable mention!
Great video. You covered everything from my youth (I feel so old). Luckily my kid joins me on Switch to clean up the streets. Btw you have a very cool voice for this. Not sure if you have Spanish background but I can detect an accent but it sounds great.
Glad you enjoyed the video. One of the things I hate the most when editing my videos is having to hear myself talk. Ugh. 😄
Just being in love with things you're nostalgic for is not a personality trait.
Didn't know there were top down beat em ups. But from the footage it is for a good reason, it is just too hard to judge distance between you and the enemies from that angle.
the River City Ransom "sequel" (Downtown Special) is available in the US as part of the Double Dragon and Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle
Once again, 'Street Smart' cruelly overlooked.
10:00 Only other game I can think of atm is Victory Road/Ikari Warriors 2 from a year or two later, which is only partially a beat 'em up. Nice vid!
Edit: Actually I might've been thinking of Ikari 3, sorry heh.
Glad to hear you liked the video. part 3 coming in the next few days. Working on it.
I just found your channel. I love beat um ups. I'm enjoying new turtles and Final vandetta. Altered beast is a tough game. I need to get back into it. Keep up the cool videos
Top 10 fighting games before the 1990's that I played:
1. Kung Fu: I only played this one in arcades. Never could beat it as a kid.
2. Legend of Kage: I only played in arcades, might be considered hack & slash by your standards, because your character has a sword and throwing stars. The thing that blew me away as a kid was how you could jump around everywhere. I did beat this one.
3. Double Dragon: My first NES beat 'em up, I used to go over to friend's houses & play this one. I wasn't very good, but I hung in there long enough to get better. Never beat it though.
4. Altered Beast: Mostly played in arcades, but now that it's available on a lot of consoles, I still play this one. The boss fights are so weird. I got good enough to beat this one as a kid playing in the arcade.
5. Bad Dudes: Arcade only. I loved using to nunchucks. The level with the trucks was the last level I could beat as a kid.
6. Splatter House: Technically, hack & slash, but this game is so awesome I can understand why it's on your list. I remember beating the first level, with the leech boss fight, but I never got back to this one.
7. POW: Arcade as a kid, rediscovered on consoles a few years back. I always remembered the knockout sound bite when you beat an enemy. Funny that only the final boss has a handgun.
8. Golden Axe: Although I understand you considering it hack & slash, I can't resist. As a kid, I was able to reach the castle, but couldn't beat it. Fortunately, I managed to get back to this one & finish it. I forget which version had you opening the door & going inside, but that boss fight is awesome.
9. TMNT (Arcade version): My first co-op experience. I spent SO many quarters on this one. I love the soundtrack to this game, the sewer stage was probably my favorite. I've probably beaten this game with every turtle.
10. Godzilla, Monster of Monsters: An NES monster beat 'em up that doesn't get nearly enough praise so I'm throwing it in as an honorable mention. You play as BOTH Godzilla and Mothra fighting an army of monsters, most of which are obscure Toho movie monsters. Starting on Earth, you fight monsters on every planet, at least one more being added each stage. A very early 2D side scroller, with Godzilla having a decent set of moves (punch, kick, tail whip, atomic breath) is better for Boss fights while Mothra is better at getting through stages. MechaGodzilla, King Ghidorah and The Smog Monster round out a collection of Toho Boss monsters.
3:44 That bassline goes hard, yo.
Ikari warriors 3 the rescue was a top down brawler that I loved but it also had guns with limited ammo and exploding barrels that that exploded overtime I had it on the NES and loved it also played in the arcade it used a rotary 8-way joystick to move your character around good time
Batman the arcade was not mentioned but then again it's high difficulty was probably the reason why.
This is a GREAT video thanks! I had Reneged on the ZX Spectrum and I absolutely loved it. I've never played Kung Fu or Kung Master so I'll be looking forward to having the go on them 😀👊💪
The RCR formula will ALWAYS make the best beat'em ups.
Nope. Will it make good ones, yes, but the RCR/KK style of doing things is not always the best way to do things, and that system can use improvement as well.
@@paxhumana2015 How come?
There was also Legend of Kage fro '84. You were a ninja and fought with two chain sickles. Side scroller but also you could jump through trees toss shurikens and a scroll would appear where once opened, it killed all the enemies on the screen. Another fun addictive coin-op from Taito.
I believe a game called Fist 2 on C64 fits this list as well. Its a little forgotten gem from 1986.
Kung fu master was also inspired by Jackie Chans Meals on weels as well.
Epic video. A tonne of research must have gone into producing the video.
Great work, very entertaining 🤙
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. More content coming down the pipeline.
Thanks for the great (in every ways) video, just a couple things: Dragoninja/Bad Dudes is an amazing game in every way, most of all the number of great moves you can achieve with such a short buttons number available is incredible; also, Shadow Warriors is great too, the NES conversion is simply a different game (there is only a pretty good conversion around, for Lynx). Regarding Final Fight, this IS simply THE best scrolling beat'em up ever created (even in 2022), the second one btw is Street of Rage II, from the third place we can all argue who's next (mine is Double Dragon II).
I just want to mention that "Rival Turf" was also a great game for its time at super nes. All of the other game that you mentioned on this video are great too.
Man, I've always wanted a Big Trouble in Little China beat em up! How cool would it be if Tribute games made that happen?!? Complete with some of the original actors voices...
The earliest beat’em-up I played was Ninja by Sculptured Software in 1986
Scott Pilgrim vs The World game was definitely influenced by River City Ranson because that game has all the features mentioned in the video that was in RCR.
I was playing these games every week here at Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor!!
You can get the river city ransom sequel now. River city underground. Also, there are two new games in the series, River city girls 1 and 2. Fun fact, another game you mentioned, renegade, is in the same universe. The main character is the same guy in River city ransom.
good info. I have heard of river city girls, but was not aware a sequel was out. Nice!
Awesome video, waiting for part 2!
Kudos for including P.O.W.
I Love Karateka! OMG thanks for Bringing this Up.
Loved Double Dragon. Hated the controls for DD2 when I first played it, but enjoyed it later. Ninja Gaiden may be my favorite best em up ever.
Oh man, Batman on the NES was great, but I remember it being hard. May have to give it another go. :)
Batman was brutal. No doubt about it. I never beat that game. I may have to have a go at it as well.
The arcade Ninja Gaiden had very awkward attacks. The NES version was radically different, and the attacks were much easier and not awkward. It had an expansive storyline. But the final boss was a nightmare!
The arcade version of Renegade and Double Dragon blew my mind in the 80's. I like most all of the Beat 'Em Ups. The NES version of DD was rad too. Would like to mention the first SF on arcade in this era I really liked as well, even though it catches alot of heat for the controls and such. I likes the Ikari Warriors Arcade controls because You could attack behind You while forging ahead.
@@slightlyevolved Have not played the 2nd DD yet. With the simultaneous play of the original and great soundtrack, DD 2 has to be a classic as well if it can hang. Played DD 3 and it was decent. Very difficult to create a sequel to something that is that rad. Lookin' forward to some 8 bit gamin' with my son in the near future. WILL check out DD2. Thanks
Awesome vid. tnx for posting!!
What experiences have you had with beat em ups in the 80s? Any favorites? Least favorites?
I remember playing *Kung-Fu Master* in the arcades with my school friend.
A year or so later we found a place which had *Double Dragon* and to be able to play simultaneously on the screen at the same time was revolutionary.
Unfortunately, if one of us accidentally hit the other we would start brawling amongst ourselves instead of playing properly.
@@dududu5189 Funny story. The double dragon in the arcade I went to was always being played by the tough kids, so i would sometimes wait an hour or more to play it, and sometimes I wouldn't even play it.
Yeah spent a fortume on double dragon and had renegade & target renegade for the spectrum
@@roywilson4514 I recall my parents bought me double dragon one week after coming out. I was hyped for it. Gonna have to look up target renegade. Not familiar with that one. Hope you enjoyed the video.
I am huge fan of fighting games and side scrool beat em ups... of course there were good ones and bad ones.
"Well, they're bad dudes. That's why the game is called Bad Dudes." - Gil Buchman, "Parenthood"
I have only one problem with this awesome vid. No "WISE FWOM YOUR GWAVE"
My favorite beatem up game on the NES was Karate Kid. And Kung Fu Master in the arcade.