"Scale the Gameplay
Beat ‘em ups are remarkably simple to pick up and learn, but that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be features available for advanced players to exploit. I would kiss the lead programmer who introduces fighting game elements into a BEU such as guard cancels, guard meters, and parries/reverses. Imagine D’ing up on the aforementioned pimp only to cancel out of your block animation during his cane attack and rock him with a super? That would be awesomeness on a stick covered in a glaze of magnificence."
I do agree that:
"Keep It 2D
This is probably isn’t too surprising to read coming from this site. Beat ‘em ups are all about opening enough cans of whoop-ass to fill a Wal-mart, so pressing a button and effortlessly taking a baseball bat to a thug’s skull is essential. We don’t want to struggle with camera angles, horrid collision detection, or cycling through enemies to target them. No, no, no, and no."
BLOG | BST Systems Owned: Atari 2600 & 5200, NES, Game Boy (OG, Pocket, Color, GBA & GBA SP), DSi, 3DS, SMS, Genesis, Sega CD,
Nomad, SNES, Saturn, PS1, Dreamcast, XBox, PS2, Gamecube, Nintendo DS, Wii, PSP, PS3, WiiU, XBOX, 360 XBONE & Switch.
Honestly I think the secret to making a good modern day beat em up is:
1.) Don't try to make it something it's not. Beat em ups shouldn't be overcomplicated
2.) They tend to get repetitive, make it interesting by having interesting situations, environments, items, and branching paths. Don't try to make it more interesting by complicating it with special moves or puzzles or other bs.
I was a part of the closed beta for Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online, and I must say it's a fun game. I'm not a fan of MMOs, but the beat-em-up gameplay really makes it a great experience.
I've always thought that many of the recent Marvel superhero games (ultimate alliance, legends, wolverine origins, web of shadows) qualify as a Beat Em Up. They're not sidescrolling , but still beat em ups thnat probably don't differ much from Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows over Mystara (it's the first BEU that came to my mind when I think of BEUs with leveling up and equipments), except with a different view angle.
Oh, and hello everybody! First time poster, but I've been lurking around the forums for a few months now.
neilencio wrote:Are Beat Em Ups really a dead genre?
I've always thought that many of the recent Marvel superhero games (ultimate alliance, legends, wolverine origins, web of shadows) qualify as a Beat Em Up. They're not sidescrolling , but still beat em ups thnat probably don't differ much from Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows over Mystara (it's the first BEU that came to my mind when I think of BEUs with leveling up and equipments), except with a different view angle.
Oh, and hello everybody! First time poster, but I've been lurking around the forums for a few months now.
I definitely agree, I see these as the 3D equivalent, they've just been stuck under the "Action" genre entirely. I also think it goes even further, with titles like Dynasty Warriors or God of War qualifying as well.
I tend to think that beat em ups are more linear where those xmen games had more wandering around/leveling up stuff (I didn't really like them).
I think for something to considered a beat em up it needs to have a constant forward progression and be geared towards multiplayer.
My experience with most of those role playing type hack and slash games is that they go on a long time, if not forever, and are more based on collecting. They also don't seem to have much variety other than different backgrounds. Classic beat em ups got away with this because they were short games that you'd jump into and finish within an hour. Like I said before, I think the secret to making them work today is more variety and multiple paths (although still straightforward), that way you could beat the game in a few hours, which is a plus for multi-player skewed games, but you could play it on another occassion and see completely new levels or bosses.
Castle Crashers is a defining beat-em-up game to me. I hadn't played a good BEU in ages until I played it... then I loved it. I can't tell you how long I had been waiting for a good BEU to rear its head.
While the game does have a level up system and unlockable characters, it wore a little thin after a few play throughs. Some of the extra characters are basically new "skins" and every unlocked character starts at level 0. But on the flip side there isn't too much of a point leveling up a character past the high 20's after you beat the final boss (unless you are into the PvP gladiator arena stuff).
This game had tons of good parts too such as hidden weapons, animal helpers, money to buy items, etc etc. The art direction of the game was a breath of fresh hair. Bright colors, ridiculous enemies... gigantic awesome bosses. All of that was there and I loved it.
River City Ransom on NES is my favorite Beat-em-up of all time. I don't think there is much to improve upon with it. It would be cool to see it redone with some new hand drawn graphics.
