What happened to beat em' ups?

[Xeogred]

In an era of online play and all, it would be easier than ever before to run through some arcade beat em' up action with a few friends. Of all the genres that come and go, along with the ones the indies bring back, I still find it to be really weird that traditional old school styled beat em' ups have been dead forever now. Why?

I know there's like Castle Crashers and whatever, but I'm talking purely 90's scene here, TMNT Arcade, Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Capcom, etc. One of my favorite genres of the 16bit era... pretty much died after that.

[BoneSnapDeez]

This is a genre that was very 2D and arcade dependent. Times have changed, as have development philosophies. Think we'll ever again see a 30-minute run & gun released on a console? How 'bout a five-hour action-RPG?

If anything, I'd like to see more arcade-exclusive retro beat 'em ups work their way to consoles via compilations. Getting Wizard Fire on the Wii was a nice touch, but we have a ways to go.

[Exhuminator]

There have been relatively recent releases on handhelds. I can think of beat 'em up releases on DS, PSP, 3DS, and Vita for example. But I know you don't like handhelds so it's a moot point I guess.

It boils down to what Bone was saying basically. It's a genre past its prime, no longer in vogue, lost to the current generation. But you still have a trace of beat 'em ups in some modern games, like Yakuza for instance.

[noiseredux]

Double Dragon Neon was meh. Wonder how IV is?

[Tanooki]

Four supposedly sucks even more than many of the others.

As said they do exist on handhelds still, but well if you hate those... Android has some I've noticed, and there are those shield microconsoles for your tv (or my tablet with a minihdmi to hdmi cable.) Problem is some of them are dumbed down for touch panel idiocy so it's more mash the crap out of a button than move around and work for it like back then.

I guess I'm not feeling the pinch so much as I never did realize how many SNK had on the Neo Geo so I've been fooling with those some and one I really got into other than 8Man again after so long would be Burning Fight (fairly Final Fight style) and Mutation Nation which I picked up. Doesn't solve the here and now problem but you can always look back and find something you didn't know was there.

Would that big boobed anime game Senran Kagura fit for a modern need? There's no less than 2 of those on Steam as I just saw them within the last hour. Dusted my account off to wishlist games I had on PS4 before I ditched the discs I'd mess with again on the cheap.

[Xeogred]

If anything, I'd like to see more arcade-exclusive retro beat 'em ups work their way to consoles via compilations. Getting Wizard Fire on the Wii was a nice touch, but we have a ways to go.

Yeah, the dream scenario for sure. Too bad I'm assuming a lot of this is licensing hell and such. Even the TMNT Turtles in Time remake on XBLA (which wasn't very good at all) I think got permanently pulled after awhile.

To counter you guys, the fighting genre sure seems to be pretty strong again ever since Street Fighter IV and that era. Killer Instinct has been strong, even the JoJo fighters got some spotlight over the last few years, new BlazBlue is awesome, Dead or Alive 5 sounds legit, new Tekken coming, etc and Smash if you count that... seems to be in a very healthy state and I have several friends that go deep and hit up those tournaments and such. Always kind of saw beat em' ups as a sister genre to fighters for single player or co-op. Let there be hope!

I'm just surprised at all the retro throwback stuff we get nowadays off and on nobody has still not done this yet. Oh and yeah I've only heard negative things about Double Dragon IV... something in the vein of Streets of Rage and Final Fight would be amazing.

But I'm probably just being too specific and too fanboyish over sprites... basically I just want Final Fight 4 and Streets of Rage 4.

[o.pwuaioc]

What's the point of a beatemup after Streets of Rage Remake?

[Ghegs]

Think we'll ever again see a 30-minute run & gun released on a console? How 'bout a five-hour action-RPG?

That's what I hope the indie devs will do. I'd especially love more action-RPGs that are short to play to story completion, but offer incentives to return to them again.

As for beat 'em ups...

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds, has both online and couch co-op.

River City Ransom: Underground, should be out soon, has both online and couch co-op.

Not new, but Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara always deserves a mention.

[alienjesus]

I think the indie scene is your only real option nowadays - stuff like Scott Pilgrim and Castle Crashers and the likes.

I think it's just the short length of the games that put off big names companies. I imagine they think they won't review well as full price releases.

That, and I think the beat-em-up genre has just evolved. People talk about stuff like Bayonetta or Dynasty Warriors as different genres, but the fundamentals of a beat-em-up are there. Modern 3D action games and Musou games are just the way the genre has gone imo.

[Ghegs]

That, and I think the beat-em-up genre has just evolved. People talk about stuff like Bayonetta or Dynasty Warriors as different genres, but the fundamentals of a beat-em-up are there. Modern 3D action games and Musou games are just the way the genre has gone imo.

Mmm, I don't quite agree with that. The basic premise is more or less the same, sure, but the gameplay details aren't. Beat 'em ups, at least the classics Xeogred is talking about, are designed to be played through in a single sitting and nothing carries over to the next run, which already makes a huge difference in my book. They also have little or no character development in terms of stats and abilities (of course there are notable exceptions like River City Ransom and D&D), what you start the game with is also what you'll fight the final boss with. So it's all about learning the fine details of even the basic attacks because you'll be using them throughout the game, rather than buying a superior move/better equipment somewhere down the road and never using the early stuff again.

Then there's the whole co-op aspect, which character action games lack completely.

I'd say beat 'em ups are their own niche, though carved from the same tree where Devil May Cry and Musou sprung from.