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ElkinFencer10 wrote:My top 5 would have to be...

1. TMNT 4: Turtles in Time (SNES)
2. Battletoads/Double Dragon (NES)
3. Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES)
4. Battletoads (NES)
5. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii)

If you guys can't tell, I LOVE Battletoads. I'm not 100% positive that No More Heroes would count under this, but I've always thought of it as a modern 3D beat-em-up. I know it's not retro, so don't shoot me, but it's a good game.

I would say No More Heroes counts, the beat'em up genre has evolved in different ways and they don't all resemble the old school ones anymore

Have you played the Battletoads arcade game? I think it's pretty awesome. Here's a vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhyo3fN6CxA

This is AMAZING!! I've never even heard of it. Did they ever port it to any home consoles?

ElkinFencer10 wrote:This is AMAZING!! I've never even heard of it. Did they ever port it to any home consoles?

Unfortunately, they didn't. You can try an emulator like MAME if you want to play it though. This seems like that "lost" Battletoads game that no one knows about. That first stage music is awesome

See, this thread is exactly what I was getting at in my first post here. Every time this subject comes up, it's always the usual suspects(which are great games, obviously, but still...).

Almost never a mention of say: Light Bringer/Dungeon Magic(Arcade/Taito Legends 2 for PC, PS2, XBox), Shadow Force(Arcade), Undercover Cops(Arcade/SNES), Brawl Brothers(SNES), The Peace Keepers(SNES), etc.

Admittedly, I only got around to checking out most SNES titles within the last couple of days(of which this is one genre I gotta say, we really didn't do too badly in what came over from Japan on that console). However in doing so, coupled with a lot of arcade titles, I believe there are 2 rather unsung heroes in brawler/beat em up/belt scroll(honestly, never heard that one 'til the article) development.

Taito: Growl/Runark(Arcade/Genesis), Sonic Blast Man games(Arcade/SNES), Pu-Li-Ru-La(Arcade/Saturn), Arabian Magic(Arcade), Silent Dragon(Arcade), Light Bringer/Dungeon Magic(already mentioned earlier in this post), and...I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something, but even if not...

Irem: Kung Fu Master/Kung Fu(Arcade, and a ton of early generation consoles, notable for pretty much creating the genre), Undecover Cops(already mentioned), Spartan X 2/Kung Fu 2(rom translation)(NES), Ninja Baseball Batman(Arcade), Vigilante(TurboGrafx-16/Arcade), Blade Master(Arcade), Hook(Arcade, pretty much the only good game to bear that license), and...well that seems to be pretty much it..

Not a whole hell of a lot each, but a lot more than anyone else, aside from Technos, Konami, Sega, and Capcom, who developed anything for the genre during it's peak. (Brawl Bothers and Peace Keepers being by Jaleco, who only developed 3 other brawlers I know of, which aren't anywhere near as good, including the first part of the Rushing Beat SNES trilogy, Rival Turf). Both companies also deserve a lot of credit for their overall contributions to this hobby of ours.

So as to not derail the topic, if I'm not too late...:

Definitely Arcade Battletoads as a fave, the usual Capcom/Sega/Konami suspects, Shadow Force, Light Bringer, Brawl Brothers, The Peacekeepers(note for Streets of Rage Remake fans, you don't have to unlock the color editor here :p), Undercover Cops(preferably the Alpha Renewal Version) (all of the preceding I need to play tons more of), TMNT: Hyperstone Heist(kind of a usual suspect, but not in comparison to the rest of the TMNT games, almost the black sheep really), Kung Fu, Spartan X 2/Kung Fu 2, Technos Samurai(rom translation, original Japanese name is too long for me to want to list, I'll count it's prequel of sorts, RCR as a usual suspect), ...and I suppose that'll do it.

So here's how I feel at the moment regarding what my fave brawlers are. They are in no particular order as I find doing that annoying. You don't look at your kids and try ranking them from best to worst do you? You just love them all. A bunch of these are mentioned in my beat'em up article, but this is more of a personal take on them and why I like them

Ninja Warriors(SNES)-I like how the game goes against a lot of genre norms. The game also has some unique moves, three characters who play VERY differently, a pretty solid soundtrack and a cool ending. It's a balanced beat'em up too, challenging but never cheap(unlike the vast majority of beat'em ups)
Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesIV:Turtles in time(SNES)-I love the changes and improvements Konami made, making it a more fun, more balanced and more interesting version of the arcade game. I was a TMNT fan as a kid so I like a lot of the Konami's TMNT games, but this is the best one
Guardian Heroes-One word. Nicole. I can't play well with anyone else. I like Nicole because she's odd for a beat'em up character. She can heal herself(a godsend for solo play)and she has this insane Dragonball Z like energy blast that surrounds her and juggles the holy living hell out of her enemies for insane damage! Specially when you have them up against a wall and it repeatedly damages even blocking enemies making her a boss killer. She's overpowered and I love it!
Lord of the Rings:Return of the King-Every bit as epic in every sense of the word as the movie. Production value through the roof on this one. I love counter/fatality system that is the "bane" moves, the awesome parry system that lets you stop ANY incoming attack including projectiles making for some stylish gameplay, the massive hordes of enemies(like Dynasty warriors),the projectile attacks that when properly upgraded let you play Legalis the way he is MEANT to be played, and the environmental kills that you can use
Dynasty Warriors 3 and 5-It's the whole battlefield thing I love with this series. There's an actual WAR going on and you can directly influence it in a variety of ways, changing events and influencing the moral of your allied forces. Plus, it's a real ego lifter when your forces acknowledge your badassery every time you get a hundred or so kills
Three Dirty Dwarves-It's funny, it's cartoony(always a plus in my book),it's different,it's creative,it's got a decent moveset(moreso than I thought the first time I played it),it's got some great songs and the difficulty is just right. What's not to love? Seriously, this game is everything that makes me love video games
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai-I love the rocking soundtrack and overall style of the game. This is Kill Bill/Lady Snowblood mixed with over the top Japanese anime, a touch of Goth, a dab of Mortal Kombat and a little John Woo and I like it. Also, this is really the only 2D game I've played that feels like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, if they were put into 2D form. It's wonderfully bloody and gory too
Castle Crashers-Wow, where do I start? AWESOME visual style, fantastic soundtrack, long game, interesting levels, some well implemented rpg elements, fun gameplay(the game has every move I could want in a beat'em up plus awesome air combos,cool magic attacks,bombs,arrows, "beefy" mode, etc.),TONS of playable characters and the game is hilarious. Plus, an improved PS3 version coming out soon. Sweet
Mortal Kombat:Shaolin Monks-I always liked MK's chop socky feel, brutality, tons of secrets,use of environmental kills, story and characters. Place all of that into a beat'em up? Yes, please. The MK universe is so much fun, I really would like to see more of it explored in the world of beat'em ups

One game I'm going to mention,which isn't really a beat'em up but has some beat'em up gameplay is Batman:Arkham Asylum. There's too much stealth play and exploration for me to call it a straight up beat'em up. However, the combat system is pure beat'em up bliss. Outside of the story mode, you get to play some combat challenge maps and this is where the game becaomes an old school beat'em up arcade game. The focus in these challenge maps is simple. Stay alive and get a high score. It's not easy either. Some of the maps throw a ton of enemies at you and even mix things up with different enemy types(some who use guns if they can get their hands on one) and and one stage even has a time limit. Getting a high score means stringing together a long combo, using ALL of Batman's moves and gadgets and not taking damage. The combat system PERFECTLY captures the badass martial artist that is Batman better than any Batman game ever made. Here's a video to show that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKTfoiF3FY

EDIT:Added Lord of the Rings:Return of the King and clarified which versions of Ninja Warriors and Turtles in Time I was talking about

Kudos to MidnightRider for hyping the Rushing Beat series, even if the first entry isn't as polished as the later two games. I almost never seen those mentioned, even when discussing competent beat em ups for the SNES, which is an absolute shame. Brawl Brothers and The Peacekeepers deserve the love and attention.

My personal favorite has already been mentioned, but that first post is a little old, so I'll say it again: Aliens Vs. Predator will likely always be my favorite arcade beat 'em up. I spent countless quarters as the Predator Hunter, and I consider it money well spent. It's one of the few titles I've actually beaten in the arcade that wasn't a Vs Fighter.

Ack wrote:Kudos to MidnightRider for hyping the Rushing Beat series, even if the first entry isn't as polished as the later two games. I almost never seen those mentioned, even when discussing competent beat em ups for the SNES, which is an absolute shame. Brawl Brothers and The Peacekeepers deserve the love and attention.

My personal favorite has already been mentioned, but that first post is a little old, so I'll say it again: Aliens Vs. Predator will likely always be my favorite arcade beat 'em up. I spent countless quarters as the Predator Hunter, and I consider it money well spent. It's one of the few titles I've actually beaten in the arcade that wasn't a Vs Fighter.

Yeah, I remember you posting about the Rushing Beat series a long time ago, which got me to do a little research on them. Though, I've never played them I know a bit more about the series and I think the anger mode thing is kind of a cool concept and that super saiyan like state one of the characters can enter is cool as well. Animation in those games seems a bit rough though and the series got a little screwed in terms of localization, but they seem cool regardless. I think the fact that they got rid of the low blow attack in the US releases REALLY sucks though.

AvP is awesome, but too hard for my meager skills, but I played through it in full using infinite credits on an emulator and thought the game was totally badass. I've seen some damn impressive stuff on youtube though. People one crediting the game and pulling off some insane combos as well. I love Kurosawa, who I think is in Canon Spike too, or someone that looks like her

EDIT:I've kept games like Rushing Beat in mind when I was working on my second beat'em up related contribution to the sight, which hopefully gets as much of a positive response as the first one when you guys get to see it. It's not an article, but something different

Didn't know the changes between regions was so vast. Guess I'll have to check out the Japanese versions.

Really, it's not like Jaleco's other beat em ups are flat out horrible, it's just that they lack something that the better beat em ups have. 64th Street for example, once you play through it once(if you can), you wouldn't want to a 2nd time(and it forces you to, the second the ending is over), but it shouldn't be the abysmal 2 score that I've seen it get.

I'm not an expert like some people here are but I got a soft spot for Golden Axe as I liked it so much that I really mastered that one (I could beat it on one credit and I think I even finished it with full health portion - that doesn't mean not losing any, as there are food items around).

Comix Zone is great and if I recall doesn't have the "depth" part so it is particularly unique even without the amazing art style etc.

I keep wanting to give Guardian Heroes more time and I think I'll really like it (the "sequel" on GBA, Advance Guardian Heroes IS pretty cool, but possibly not on par with the classic and quite different gameplay).

A possible "hidden gem" for those of you that are fans of the genre: there is a GBA game based on Jackie Chan's cartoon that is quite an high quality brawler:
http://www.gamespot.com/gba/action/jack ... dventures/
Try it and let me know what you think.

Ivo.

I really like Batman Returns for SNES for some reason. It's just fun.