Genesis beat 'em ups

[samsonlonghair]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in the Sega forum or the Fighter forum.

I'm writing an article on the entire Genesis beat 'em up library. The goal of this article is to briefly review every U.S. beat ‘em up on Genesis and Sega CD. To the best of my knowledge, the 32X need not be covered as it features no true beat ‘em ups. I need help identifying every Genesis game in this genre.

The phrase “beat ‘em up” means different things to different people in different countries. For the purpose of this article I will define the beat ‘em up as any video game wherein one or more fighters face wave after wave of opponents in melee combat in a side-scrolling 2D environment in the style of Double Dragon. A one-on-one fighting game such as Mortal Kombat will not be considered a beat ‘em up. An action platformer such as Revenge of Shinobi will not be considered a beat ‘em up.

Here's my list so far:
The Adventures of Batman and Robin
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Batman Forever
Battletoads
Battletoads and Double Dragon
Captain America and the Avengers
Cliffhanger
Comix Zone
Cyborg Justice
The Death and Return of Superman
DJ Boy
Double Dragon
Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
Final Fight CD
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Growl
Last Action Hero
Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter
Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
The Punisher
Spider-man and Venom: Maximum Carnage
Spider-man and Venom: Seperation Anxiety
Splatterhouse 2
splatterhouse 3
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist
The Tick
Toxic Crusaders
Ultraverse Prime

I've written brief reviews for about half of these so far. When I'm done, I'll go back and get some screenshots. If this turns out well, I might submit it to Racketboy. I'm sure I must have missed some of the beat 'em ups for Genesis. If anyone can name the ones I'm missing, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

[FiftyDollarCurse]

Beat 'Em Ups are quite possibly my favorite retro genre. I'm looking forward to reading your article.

Here's a few more games off the top of my head:

Sega CD:
Ninja Warriors
Hook

Genesis:
Two Crude Dudes
Mystical Fighter
Superman: Man of Steel
Thunder Fox

and you consider something like Moonwalker a beat 'em up then I don't see what's so different about
X-Men
or
X-Men 2: The Clone Wars

[Xonticus]

Beat 'Em Ups are quite possibly my favorite retro genre. I'm looking forward to reading your article.

Agreed and mine too. I cannot get enough of them! Streets of Rage Remake is an amazing modern installment in the SoR series, but fanmade. I'd recommend you check out their site,

http://www.bombergames.net/sorr_project/

As for retro beat em ups, I cannot think of any others off the top of my head.

[samsonlonghair]

I'll probably scratch Moonwalker off the list. I think Adventures of Batman and Robin is closer to a Beat 'em up than a run n gun. True you can fire off batarangs, but you can also brawl.

There are a few others I'm considering including. Ka-Ge-Ki is mostly a VS fighting game, but sometimes the enemies come at you one after another like in beat 'em ups. The button pressing and storyline are also very similar to beat 'em ups. Give the game a try, and you'll see what I mean. Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl is a rugby game at the core, but there's a lot of Beat 'em up gameplay. What do you guys think about those two games?

[h8b1llg8ts]

How about ESWAT?

And one of my favorite Dynamite Duke ... close to beat 'em up ...

[samsonlonghair]

Sega CD:
Ninja Warriors
Hook

Genesis:
Two Crude Dudes
Mystical Fighter
Superman: Man of Steel
Thunder Fox

Thanks for the list. I'll play these games so I can review them.

Another game I'm undecided about is Cutthroat Island. The first level plays like a beat 'em up, but the rest of the game is more like an action platformer. I'd like to hear someone else's thoughts on this one.

[DCsegaDH]

Beat 'Em Ups are quite possibly my favorite retro genre. I'm looking forward to reading your article.

Agreed and mine too. I cannot get enough of them! Streets of Rage Remake is an amazing modern installment in the SoR series, but fanmade. I'd recommend you check out their site,

http://www.bombergames.net/sorr_project/

As for retro beat em ups, I cannot think of any others off the top of my head.

I also recommend SoR remake, Its like all 3 games in 1 with guns, explosions, and new characters

[Gamerforlife]

I'll probably scratch Moonwalker off the list. I think Adventures of Batman and Robin is closer to a Beat 'em up than a run n gun. True you can fire off batarangs, but you can also brawl.

There are a few others I'm considering including. Ka-Ge-Ki is mostly a VS fighting game, but sometimes the enemies come at you one after another like in beat 'em ups. The button pressing and storyline are also very similar to beat 'em ups. Give the game a try, and you'll see what I mean. Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl is a rugby game at the core, but there's a lot of Beat 'em up gameplay. What do you guys think about those two games?

First of all, you are awesome for doing this. I also love beat'em ups. However, I disagree with Batman and Robin being a beat'em up. I played through that game in its entirety years ago. If you look at the S-NES version, it plays much closer to a beat'em up(with some platforming thrown in). In the Genesis version, which is a totally different game, you can simply upgrade one projectile weapon to max and then blast your way through the game. In fact, beyond the game's first level, relying on your melee attacks becomes pretty much suicidal. There's also some levels that play like a horizontal shooter, which moves the game even further away from beat'em up territory

Or perhaps we can just call this a hybrid game. You DO have melee moves and can pick up hearts for health, which is SOMEWHAT beat'em up-ish, but most of the game just comes down to blasting things and avoiding incoming fire and enemies. Your call though

[Betamax001]

I'm not sure if you count Genesis games that weren't issued in America/or on a retro collection, but there was a 3rd Golden Axe game. It was issued only in Japan and on the Sega Channel. It also was on the 2 Sega Genesis Collection games.

[samsonlonghair]

I wasn't planning on including import games, but I might do that once I've finished reviewing all the domestic releases.

I disagree with Batman and Robin being a beat'em up. I played through that game in its entirety years ago. If you look at the S-NES version, it plays much closer to a beat'em up(with some platforming thrown in). In the Genesis version, which is a totally different game, you can simply upgrade one projectile weapon to max and then blast your way through the game. In fact, beyond the game's first level, relying on your melee attacks becomes pretty much suicidal. There's also some levels that play like a horizontal shooter, which moves the game even further away from beat'em up territory

Or perhaps we can just call this a hybrid game. You DO have melee moves and can pick up hearts for health, which is SOMEWHAT beat'em up-ish, but most of the game just comes down to blasting things and avoiding incoming fire and enemies. Your call though

You might have me there. There are a lot of games that aren't purely beat 'em ups.

Good call on Mystical Fighter, FiftyDollarCurse. I just played it. It's a pretty good beat 'em up that I would have missed if you hadn't mentioned it.