Beat 'em up


A beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional levels, while some modern games feature more open three-dimensional environments with a larger number of enemies. Gameplay tends to follow arcade genre conventions, such as being simple to learn, but difficult to master, and the combat system is typically more highly developed than other side-scrolling action games. Two-player cooperative gameplay and multiple player characters are also hallmarks of the genre. Most of these games take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical, science fiction or fantasy themes.
The first beat 'em up was 1984's Kung-Fu Master, which was based on Hong Kong martial arts films. 1986's Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun introduced the belt scroll format employed extensively by later games, and also popularized contemporary urban settings, while its Western localized version Renegade further introduced underworld revenge themes. The genre then saw an interval of high popularity between the release of Double Dragon in 1987, which defined the two-player cooperative mode and continuous belt scroll format central to classic beat 'em ups, and 1991's Street Fighter II, which drew gamers towards one-on-one fighting games. Games such as Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Golden Axe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are other classics to emerge from this time. In the late 1990s, the genre lost popularity with the emergence of 3D-polygon technology.
In the 2000s, a sub-genre of 3D hack-and-slash games emerged, adapting the beat 'em up formula to utilize large-scale 3D environments, with popular franchises including God Hand, Devil May Cry, Dynasty Warriors, God of War and Bayonetta. Since the 2010s, traditional 2D beat 'em ups have seen a resurgence, with popular titles such as Dungeon Fighter Online, Dragon's Crown, Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

Definition

A beat 'em up is a type of action game where the player character must fight a large number of enemies in unarmed combat or with melee weapons. Gameplay consists of walking through a level, one section at a time, defeating a group of enemies before advancing to the next section; a boss fight normally occurs at the end of each level. Arcade versions of these games are often quite difficult to win, causing players to spend more money.
Beat 'em ups are related to, but distinct from fighting games, which are based around one-on-one matches rather than scrolling levels and multiple enemies. Such terminology is loosely applied, however, as some commentators prefer to conflate the two terms. At times, both one-on-one fighting games and scrolling beat 'em ups have influenced each other in terms of graphics and style and can appeal to fans of either genre. Occasionally, a game will feature both kinds of gameplay.
In the United Kingdom, video game magazines during the 1980s to 1990s, such as Mean Machines and Computer & Video Games for example, referred to all games which had a combat motif as beat 'em ups, including fighting games. However, they were differentiated by a specific prefix. Games like Double Dragon or Final Fight were called "scrolling beat 'em ups" and games such as Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat were referred to as "one on one beat 'em ups". Fighting games were still being called "beat 'em up" games in the UK gaming press up until the end of the 1990s.

Game design

Beat 'em up games usually employ vigilante crime fighting and revenge plots with the action taking place on city streets, though historical and fantasy themed games also exist. Players must walk from one end of the game world to the other, and thus each game level will typically scroll horizontally. Some later beat 'em ups dispense with 2D-based scrolling levels, instead allowing the player to roam around larger 3D environments, though they retain the same simple-to-learn gameplay and control systems. Throughout the level, players may acquire weapons which they can use as well as power-ups that replenishes health.
As players walk through the level, they are stopped by groups of enemies that must be defeated before they can continue. The level ends when all enemies are defeated. Each level contains many identical groups of enemies, making these games notable for their repetition. In beat 'em up games, players often fight a boss—an enemy much stronger than the other enemies—at the end of each level.
Beat 'em ups often let the player pick between a selection of protagonists, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and set of moves. The combat system is typically more highly developed than other side-scrolling action games. Attacks can include rapid combinations of basic attacks as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Characters often have their own special attacks, which leads to different strategies depending on what character the player selects. The control system is usually simple to learn, often comprising just two attack buttons. These buttons can be combined to pull off combos, as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Since the release of Double Dragon, many beat 'em ups have allowed two players to play the game cooperatively—a central aspect to the appeal of these games. Beat 'em ups are more likely to feature cooperative play than other genres.

Sub-genres

The beat 'em up or brawler genre includes several sub-genres:
  • Scrolling beat 'em up – Beat 'em up games which employ a 2D scrolling format.
  • * Single-plane beat 'em up or side-scrolling beat 'em up – Scrolling beat 'em ups that move along a single side-scrolling plane of motion. This was the earliest style of beat 'em up, with the format established by Irem's Kung-Fu Master, designed by Takashi Nishiyama. Other titles that followed in the sub-genre include Sega's My Hero and Flashgal, Taito's The Ninja Warriors, Data East's Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja and Namco's Splatterhouse. This early style of beat 'em up is part of a broader genre of side-scrolling character action games, including 2D fighting games, scrolling platform games, and run and gun video games. A later example of this style is Capcom's Viewtiful Joe.
  • * Belt-scroll action game or belt-scroll beat 'em up – The most popular type of scrolling beat 'em up, these games use a belt scroll format, a side-scrolling format with a downward camera angle where players can move both vertically and horizontally along a horizontally scrolling environment. The term "belt scroll action game" was coined in Japan, where it was named as such due to the scrolling style resembling conveyor belt motion. This format was introduced by Technos Japan's Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, known as Renegade in the West, and further developed and popularized by its follow-up Double Dragon. Later popular examples including titles such as the Sega's Streets of Rage series and Capcom's Final Fight series.
  • Hack and slash – Beat 'em ups or brawlers that are centered around combat with melee-based weapons, such as swords or blades, rather than fist-fighting.
  • * 2D hack & slash or slash 'em up – 2D scrolling beat 'em ups centered around melee-based weapons. Examples include Sega's arcade series Shinobi and Golden Axe, Data East's Captain Silver, Taito's Rastan and Saint Sword, Tecmo's early Ninja Gaiden 2D games, Capcom's Strider, the Master System game Danan: The Jungle Fighter, and Vanillaware's Dragon's Crown.
  • * 3D hack & slash or character action game – These are third-person action games centered around weapon-based melee combat in three-dimensional environments. The sub-genre was largely defined by Capcom's Devil May Cry, designed by Hideki Kamiya, with other examples including Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors and 3D Ninja Gaiden games, later Devil May Cry games, Sony's God of War and Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, No More Heroes, Kamiya's Bayonetta, Darksiders and Dante's Inferno.
  • 3D beat 'em up – 3D brawlers that are closer to traditional beat 'em ups, with fist-fighting, but take place in larger 3D environments. Examples include Sega's Die Hard Arcade and Yakuza series, Eidos Interactive's Fighting Force, Squaresoft's The Bouncer, and Capcom's God Hand. This sub-genre of beat 'em up is generally not as popular as 3D hack & slash games.
  • Crowd combat fighting games – 3D brawlers which feature a person fighting a crowd of enemies

    History

Beat 'em up games have origins in martial arts films, particularly Bruce Lee's Hong Kong martial arts films. Lee's Game of Death inspired the basic structure of a beat 'em up, with Lee ascending five levels of a pagoda while fighting numerous enemies and several boss battles along the way. Another Lee film, Enter the Dragon, also influenced the genre. The first video game to feature fist fighting was Sega's arcade boxing game Heavyweight Champ, which is viewed from a side-view perspective like later fighting games. However, it was Data East's fighting game Karate Champ which popularized martial arts themed games.

Earliest beat 'em ups (mid-1980s)

Kung-Fu Master, designed by Takashi Nishiyama and released by Irem in 1984, laid the foundations for side-scrolling beat 'em ups. It simplified the combat system of Karate Champ, while adding numerous enemies along a side-scrolling playfield. The game was based on two Hong Kong martial arts films: Jackie Chan's Wheels on Meals, known as Spartan X in Japan, and Bruce Lee's Game of Death, the latter inspiring the five end-of-level boss fights and the plot structure, variations of which were used in subsequent scrolling beat 'em ups. Nishiyama, who had previously created the side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol, combined a shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm with fighting elements when he designed Kung-Fu Master. The game was also distinctive for its use of health meters, for both the player character and each boss. Another 1984 release, Bruce Lee, combined multi-player, multi-character combat with traditional collecting, platform and puzzle gameplay. Later that year, Karateka combined the one-on-one fight sequences of Karate Champ with the freedom of movement in Kung-Fu Master, and it successfully experimented with adding plot to its fighting action. It was also among the first martial arts games to be successfully developed for and ported across different home systems. Sega's My Hero adopted the gameplay format of Kung-Fu Master, but changing the more traditional martial arts setting to a more contemporary urban city environment with street gangs.
Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, developed by Technōs Japan and released in 1986 in Japan, introduced the belt scroll format, allowing both vertical and horizontal movement along a side-scrolling environment, while also popularizing street brawling in the genre. Created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the game was inspired by his own teenage high school years getting into daily fights, along with Bruce Lee's martial arts film Enter the Dragon. The Western adaptation Renegade added an underworld revenge plot that proved more popular with gamers than the principled combat sport of other martial arts games. Renegade set the standard for future beat 'em up games as it introduced the ability to move both horizontally and vertically. It also introduced the use of combo attacks, and in contrast to earlier games, the opponents in Renegade and Double Dragon could take much more punishment. This required a succession of punches, with the first hit temporarily immobilizing the enemy, who would then be rendered defenseless against subsequent punches. Rather than one-hit kills, the player needed to strike enemies multiple times, "beating them up", in order to defeat them. Compared to earlier side-scrollers, the environment was expanded to a scrolling arena-like space, while the combat system was more highly developed, with the player able to punch, kick, grab, charge, throw and stomp enemies.