Most moves = The best Beatemup game

[Thermoptic]

I love Beatemup games. And i always have the same argument when it comes to determine a good Beatemup, and thats the number of moves and attacks you can do in the game. If the game has more moves and attacks it has much more variety and is more fun to play. I dont know if you agree with me but Beatemups are pretty basic and repetitive, so if the characters in the game has very few moves it just becomes very repetitive and boring.

So what is the best Beatemup games? What Beatemup game has the most moves and attacks?

I counted the move lists of some of the more popular and classic Beatemups. Please try forget about nostalgia and what games you loved when you grew up. For example Final Fight where a good game when it was released but when you look at it today its really boring and if i counted right it only have 7 moves (including jump, attacks and specials) where i think Streets of Rage 2 today is still really fun, with a total of 21 different moves and attacks.

Here are some other games i counted: (the number is an average, depends on the character, and i might have missed one or two)

dynamite deka - 45 moves
streets of rage 2 - 21 moves
Turtles in time - 8 moves
Golden Axe - 7 moves
Final Fight - 7 Moves

[AppleQueso]

I don't think you can quantify the quality of a game with something like that. It's like judging a fighting game based entirely on how big its roster is.

Level design and memorable set-pieces are pretty important too. If all you care about are how many moves you can do, you might as well go play Devil May Cry or something.

[BoringSupreez]

By your logic, Chrono Cross is one of the best RPGs because it has 40 characters, and Banjo Tooie is one of the best 3D platformers because of all the moves you can learn. Conversely, the original Super Mario Bros. sucks.

[Frerix]

Borderlands and Borderlands 2 are best FPS's ever made, because they have over thousands of guns (in theory)

[Erik_Twice]

It doesn't matter how many options you have if they are all boring. It doesn't matter if you have only a handful if using them is amazingly fun.

[Gunstar Green]

Guardian Heroes has a lot of moves, many more than the games mentioned in the first post, and is a fantastic game. However, there are more reasons for it being good than its move list.

[J T]

While I agree with the counter-arguments, beatemups are generally pretty simplistic in gameplay and the repetition of the same actions becomes tiresome over time if you don't have something to change it up. More moves can help with that, but it also helps to have enemies that require a different approach, environmental obstacles that force a new playstyle, or the addition of weapons.

[d123456]

Hey Thermoptic,

I understand what you mean. Interesting concept. Offcourse it´s not 100% the determination if a beat em up is good, but you´ll know there´s a lot to do.
Good beat em ups? You should give Sengoku 3 a go. Neo/ps2
45 for dynamite deka? wow, I should look into that. Any link that describes the moves with photos? I have the ps2 port.

[brunoafh]

God Hand - 146 moves

[Godot102]

River city ransom doesn't have the biggest move set, however it had a nice rpg-like system where you could get money and improve your characters stats and even buy a couple of new techniques. I consider it to be one of the better beat em ups of that era.