Evolution of Beat ’em up Games [1984-2023]

[@Livingtree32]

Golden Axe was such a revolutionary one.

[@nonameboy6164]

These are nice... Honorable mention : GODHAND. It's underrated, but a good games

[@w4lk3rV]

Street of Rage, Double Dragon: let's show all the parts Yakuza: let's show only the first part

[@turbomario]

No Renegade/Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun? Literally the founding father of the beat em up genre..

[@Rocketknightgeek]

You missed Renegade, one of, if not the single most, important games in the genre's history. I also would have made room for Bad Dudes and Guardian Heroes.

[@EightOne01]

I was looking for _this_ comment. Thank you!

[@fivefive9514]

Beat Down Fists of Vengeance , Urban Reign, The Bouncer, Spike Out Battle Street, Fighting Beauty Wulong ( and even Ikkitousen Shining Dragon set higher standards for the genre no other has reached. Everything else are cheap effort cash grabs compared to PS2/Xbox best 3D beatemups. Yakuza series does have graphics but its too narrative focused (meanwhile Urban Reign has alternative free mode), and generally has next to no character selection nor alternative modes (and they dont allow girls like Haruka to fight. meanwhile SOR4 allows Cherry) plus Yakuza series been moving to turn based RPG so its further away fom beatemup genre now and they still have no versus nor co-op modes, and premium adventure is no where near as diverse with playable characters like Yakuza 5. so there hasnt really been top quality beatemups since PS2.

[@shiva_MMIV]

And a lot of other games, like the Dungeons & Dragons games by Capcom, pretty sure this is a random ChatGPT list like so many other content on YT.

[@jiltedgames]

Cool video, really interesting to see how beat'em ups have evolved, i don't think i saw Castle Crashers though; i thought that was a important one as it's influenced alot of beat'em ups since it was made. Didn't realise there were so many 3D beat'em ups similar to mine, will have to go through and look at them more in depth and see what they did well and did badly, seems like my games like a combination of the 2000 Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster and the 2010 Splatterhouse, hopefully my game can appear in one of these videos one day🤞

[@fivefive9514]

Beat Down Fists of Vengeance , Urban Reign, The Bouncer , Ikki Tousen Shining Dragon, SpikeOut: Battle Street, it feels like everything after them is backwards. Even Sifu can't rival PS2's/Xbox best beatemups in graphics, tech nor depth. The Beatemup genre continues to look like a joke these days compared to fighting genre (Tekken,VF, DOA), RPG genre (TES), shooter genre (COD, Metroid Prime, PUBG), even Adventure genre (Tomb Raider)! modern beatemup devs are aiming too low with their beatemup standards. Sticking to the early 90's is not the way to cultivate the genre. Look how dumb the upcoming Double Dragon is gonna look. it makes even Double Dragon Advance or Neon and Cobra Kai look next gen. And I still say EA should have designed and marketed Mirror's Edge series as a first person beatemup. parkour sure didnt keep it relevant. ME Catalyst during battles feels like a next gen beatemup should feel. there should be advanced and more forward thinking beatemups. Saints Row series and Cyberpunk 2077 should of had a beatemup mode/cheat where everyone in the city fights barehanded. Beatemup genre is still one of the most cheaply made genres.

[@Livingtree32]

*an important one

[@Thatdeal79]

The lack of Die Hard Arcade & Guardian Heroes kinda broke my heart a bit.

[@abrarbhatti605]

Thnku 4 making this vdo...

[@derek-64]

I personally prefer the beat em ups of old with the 16-bit bit style. Fight'n Rage is a nice throwback with some modern enhancements such as the lighting. By the way, you missed Super Double Dragon, Knights of The Round, King of Dragons, Captain Commando. Those are classics.

[@alucard624]

Knights of the Round is such a good beat'em up. I put a lot of quarters into that game back in the day. Played the SNES port but still prefer the arcade game and glad that's gotten legit console releases too.

[@derek-64]

@@alucard624 it's part of the Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle for Switch. King of Dragons is good too.

[@agamaz5650]

i dont as my first was crazy flasher 2, when i played streets of rage 4 I was like... hell yeah this is what I have been waiting for my whole life. Can someone please reccomend something similar? As there is still no Streets of Rage 5

[@jpodos]

You missed the Simpsons, bully, and Tron evolution

[@mactassio21]

To be fair he missed at least 1k im this category. I dont think it was supposed to show all the games in a list

[@alimohsin2128]

Also Ninja Warriors Again

[@ArcticPrice]

And that one anime side scrolling beat em up as 4 player

[@AmbientWalking]

Amazing!!!!!! Thanks so much!!!! ❤❤❤

[@tman25671]

As soon as it goes 3D all that kickass music - Gone.

[@msvgameschannel5429]

man bare knucle OST still rules

[@SailorNatsu10]

I love those games so much, especially the obscure ones! I mostly prefer the ones from the 90s made by Konami. They were totally awesome.

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

I'm still shocked the two famous stoners had a video game.

[@joseabelverduzcojuarez4942]

The lack of P.O.W.: Prisoners of War broke my heart .

[@hugorojas9909]

Debieron haberlo incluido como personaje en los king of fighters, simplemente por ser un duro de verdad.

[@casaospinatores1009]

Long life at the Beat'em up.❤❤❤

[@RobsRetroGaming]

This is an awesome video!!!

[@3DeeFanatic]

Why was God Hand left out ? It came out in 2006 on the PS2.

[@moisessaunders947]

The best of all time

[@3DeeFanatic]

@@moisessaunders947 - I know right ? We definitely need a remake !

[@freddierodriguez3036]

Final Fight - Grocery store arcade while mom was shopping or waiting in line to pay. TMNT Arcade - At the local Pizza Hut. The good ole days 😢

[@gearswitch8193]

So many missing from this list how can yu forget bad dudes

[@traviskoontz4796]

Nostalgic goodness thanks 😢

[@ralfxephon1]

I Just suscribed, greetings from México !!

[@EryxChannel2160]

Welcome!

[@pizzakidd]

Great video! 👊🍕

[@onedrrgames]

Great montage! Working hard to add another to the great genre.

[@dwainegabriel1807]

Everyone knows streets of rage and ninja turtles was the best honorable mention double dragon

[@ganjagun0025]

Just happy to see them back

[@jameswayne4369]

I liked the video by the way. I do appreciate you for making this for us. But you forgot about X-Men the arcade game, double dragon and the punisher1994.

[@EryxChannel2160]

Thank you very much! Yes, unfortunately, not all games were taken into account

[@Rjay0922]

They also forgot Captain America & the Avengers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on SNES version, Battletoads & Double Dragon, Castle Crashers

[@jameswayne4369]

Oh okay. Yeah please make a part 2 to this and I do understand that there are a lot of beat em up fighting games out there.

[@jameswayne4369]

That superman and spiderman game was lit though I'm actually upset I didn't play those growing up. Lol

[@zumizm1]

Snap exactly what I thought, I'll have to get the emulator going and download them and a few others 😄😄😄

[@SyntheticCK]

8:51 The female character in AvP was so damn fun. That charge up energy punch was so satisfying.

[@erikcuevas8376]

There's a cool number of games here and to some degree you can see how things went back to where they started when the retro games scene was invented. But if you're going to talk about beat em ups and the evolution of them, then you have include the GOD of War series before Ragnarok.

[@MarcelCamargoRJ]

cadillacs and dinossaurs!

[@DanaOtken]

While neither was either influential enough nor centered enough in the genre to really be worth including in "THE evolution of beat-em-ups", two more entries should you ever want to make a more expanded version of this video: * One Finger Death Punch (and its sequel, though I've played both and the original feels a purer expression of its concept): This is a distillation of the basic beat-em-up formula down to playing with no joystick and just two buttons, but as simple as the basic gameplay boils down to, it manages to progressively elaborate on this both cosmetically and tactically. * Way of the Passive Fist: This is a very classic beat-em-up... only almost entirely removing your ability to in fact "beat them up". Your fighting (bosses excepted, and even there for the most part) consists of evading and parrying both individual attacks and enemy clusters with the goal of exhausting their ability to continue fighting you without really harming them. This does have one benefit over the classic approach: in a classic beat-em-up, your goal is entirely to get your offensive timing down to the degree that not only do you not care what the current enemies are, if you're good enough you'll never even see most of their animations. Here you end up learning everything all the enemies in the game have because your goal requires seeing and learning to handle all of it. Despite a very different and slower-paced feel and a lack of any real influence on the genre, I've played it enough to make it a permanent entry on my "games to replay every now and then" list.

[@robertoricci3393]

Golden Axe has one of the best soundtracks ever

[@folcloregamer2781]

faltaron varios juegos de este gran genero de videojuegos que me gusta que es el beat em up, juegos como el renegade, sengoku 3, violent storm,

[@elbarriotrucker]

Me gusta Sengoku 3.

[@styledox6879]

Final Fight, Turtles 2, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, shank looks awesome, Jay and Silent Bob look awesome. As an honorable mention, You forgot N.A.R.C.

[@PhotriusPyrelus]

The lack of Dragon's Crown makes me sad. But at least you included Aliens Vs. Predator.

[@GKornev]

Thanx

[@КонстантинНиколаев-и3и]

Pulirula very funny games.

[@endredankay2555]

Hey, you missed Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, that is a fantastic one.

[@rickymcgruder4868]

that why i said video games need there own television network and tv channel. 60 years of video games. so many legendary icon games and gaming storylines that need to be broadcast. i feel sorry for the casual gamers nad this tik tok generation who only got into gaming to look cool or the money or to go viral. 1988 to 1998. was the best gaming of my life. it was litterly like playing interactive cartoons and movies. and the feeling you get at beating those games and earning the ending storylines. the feeling is something you cannot get by movies and tv shows.

[@fivefive9514]

TV network would do nothing for videogames outside of marketing. that money is better spent making videogames than making things people just watch. people can get media and info about these series from youtube anyways. videogames already have a bad habit of copying books and tv shows/movies to the point that they at times leave out player choice from the equation and dont even let players choose/create their own preferred character (compare games like FFXVI with The Elder Scrolls series). TV shows, movies, books are anti-choice and anti-freedom . they are just built to program viewers to allow the medium to think for them, that conditions simpletons to thinking games that are not character driven are "empty" cause they are used to expecting writers to think for them and supply them with thoughts and purpose and block player imagination and creativity, most aren't creative thinkers. many prefer interactive movies instead of games where they can shapte their own identity and goals. so TV shows showcasing storylines of games really isnt helping people think for themselves., and when it comes to beatemups, story gets in the way of the gameplay, amogn other things, and the more story driven a game is, the less freedom, flexibility, options and potential there are.

[@rickymcgruder4868]

@@fivefive9514 naw i disagree. tv shows show lame reruns of shows 1000 times. and it gets about 40,000 views. or 100k. showing celebritiy playthrough. or famous people playing retro games or walkthrought or speedruns would get watched. its just the troll video game channels. who act crazy and just do dumb shit during playthrough. and make it all about themselves. trust me. if mtv,vh1,bet or one of the cool kids network decide to do it. they would watch it.

[@estebancruz6194]

The 2d games so much better. 8bit, 16bit beautiful fun games.

[@sehirdiyebiryer1271]

Sana katılıyorum adamım👍Devrim niteliğinde işlerdi...

[@tbhunt1234]

How did you miss Streets of Rage 2, Battletoads and Double Dragon, The Punisher

[@paragumugen]

Absurdo como Final Fight 1 estava muito acima do seu tempo graficamente, justificado o sucesso q fez

[@von2300]

Where's X Men: Mutant Apocalypse?

[@patrickkgarlopa]

Mortal Kombat Shaolin monks

[@jason.h.zager88]

Streets of rage series define this genre

[@BobBob-tt5po]

It's not 4 it's remake

[@VictorGabriel3.0]

20:49

[@revolutionoftheclassics3630]

Alien vs Predator is an amazing game

[@krsporlaneff2549]

I missed some games like Gekkido and Crisis Beat (PS1), Captain Commando and Battle Circuit (Arcade), Die Hard Arcade (Arcade and Sega Saturn) and one of the best IMHO besides not being a beat'em up game: Tekken Force Mode inside Tekken 3 for PS1.

[@maximillianalexkimble]

So much games of super turtles ninja 😊

[@Megster_3000]

Spawn SNES finally gets some attention

[@Panthro-lo2lh]

Well I learned something about dynasty warriors

[@elvisrobotbeta3299]

Wooow, hay un montón de juegos beat'em-up allá afuera, muchos más de los que yo conocía. Me quedó la siguiente duda: ¿Por qué si pusiste el Ásterix más reciente no pusiste el Ásterix & Obelisk que sacó Konami alrededor de 1990?

[@EryxChannel2160]

Unfortunately, not all games were taken into account. some I didn't know about, some I just forgot about

[@TheOneWhoAsked37]

This man has balls of Titanium for not showing any Yakuza game in this video 💀

[@IczR1]

decent list, but missing some of the best of the genre Sengoku 3 (2001), Urban Reign (2005), God Hand (2006), Dragon's Crown (2013)

[@maxtaylor5665]

I miss splatterhouse

[@SteveBrandon]

The Famicom/NES Double Dragon (the version seen in this video) came out in 1988, the 1987 arcade version looks much better than that.

[@ionpavlidis5978]

From 2000 onward it looks more like de-evolution to me.

[@ToutEstPolitiqueEtCestLogique]

1997, from PS1 era onward. But there are some good 3D BTU.

[@Riccardo-ej8cd]

Man, where is devil may cry?

[@deviandrianto]

I like _Street of Rage_ remake. btw its a good video

[@EryxChannel2160]

Thank you

[@jason.h.zager88]

it is not a remake it is streets of rage 4

[@petervoros262]

And obscure one, but if you know the names in its title, you'd probably enjoy the game Bud Spencer & Terence Hill: Slaps and Beans.

[@eldiegoasecas]

my fave genre first game i remember playing is final fight

[@lovenlightman]

Streets of rage 2 ,Best for its time in my opnnion

[@LeonelQ201]

Yakuza are very good beat 'em up games

[@Youn-G84]

You missed "Plumbers Dont Wear Ties"

[@Gibonchek]

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks???

[@HeavyWeapon44]

👾

[@knightchef]

Dang thought the arcade die hard game would’ve made it.

[@m3lvn415]

The SNES was so powerful it destroyed the chronology of the evolution.

[@NickHazrd]

No love for Midnight Fight Express

[@RockGian]

Love it!!

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

The moment you realize Jay and silent bob had a game. 😂

[@rolfathan]

I find it interesting that the genre was filled with great tunes, until we see our first 3D ones, then suddenly they have... ambient noise???? Very odd choice. You would think CD audio would have meant they would license the kind of club music the chiptunes were trying to emulate. Late 90s were a weird time for the genre. Then we get out of the late 90s, our first game of 2000, a beautiful full orchestra score by John Williams! Haha

[@nyarlathoteppadredelosmilr7628]

*_Los jugaré aunque ya sea viejo y esté en un asilo jamás ke gustaron los juegos populares que a todos les gustan me quedo con mis beat em ups_*

[@gonzalotorres5282]

No Cadillacs & Dinosaurs?

[@MuhammadYasir-xl1xu]

Shadow Dancer, Final fight

[@alprienaldi5748]

the best of all time final fight 2 runner up captain comando

[@bragio]

Bud Spencer & Terence Hill: Slaps and Beans ?

[@alimohsin2128]

U missed Crude Buster in Sega Genesis

[@fqnfinancas3431]

Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Castle Crashers,.Captain Commando e The Punisher?

[@pawelbee]

Nice list but you left out an important many games from CPS1, CPS2, Konami, Namco, Neo-Geo like captain commando, punisher, cadillacs and dino,, x-men, mk:shaolin etc. Newer games like Street of Rage 4, new battletoads etc.

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

Forgot jay an silent bob had a video Game.

[@jorailotter3427]

101 side-scrollers, all copies of copies from one another, but there was never anything like Fighting Force 1 ever again. I can 't understand why they don't make a high-graphics 3D beat-em-up like that, ragdoll physics, realistic destruction. And I'm not talking about open world with car driving like Sleeping Dogs, and the Yakuza games have too many cutscenes which is a complete buzzkill to the feeling one craves to just dive into a high action beat-em-up with tons of fighting non-stop. Sifu is so close but the aging system ruins it for me.

[@HeithorAndrade]

You forgot Demolish Fist

[@azmodanpc]

Console versions are underwhelming compared to the Arcades. Sengoku, Growl... to name a few

[@bushwickbillOG]

No Renegade??? wtf man

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

There are soooooo many beat em up's He can't get to all of em. Should do a part 2.

[@Suavemente17]

Dude how do you forget about castle Crasher

[@VoodooApex]

Super Double Dragon?

[@derek-64]

One of my favorites

[@andresleon4833]

Batman returns?

[@reubenguttenberg7405]

Walt Disney's Hercules the video game

[@albertosaldivar2934]

What about ben 10 games?

[@dienomicgaming9428]

Outro music 🎵 ?

[@EryxChannel2160]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpuYoIOulKucj80

[@ИванАлёшин-я6ф]

Hello. Asalam. Shalom. AMAZING JOB. NIGHT SLASHER.?! AND OTHERS PROJECT. Thank You. Здравствуйте многие, но не все. ЭТО ПРЕВОСХОДНАЯ РАБОТА! НО. НОЧНАЯ РЕЗНЯ.?! И другие игры. СПАСИБО. ТАК ДЕРЖАТЬ! ВОТ.

[@reubenguttenberg7405]

Star wars Jedi power battles

[@Plaguedoctor93]

Where was castle crashers

[@alimohsin2128]

Can anyone tell me the name of the game in which we use capsule as Magic and Fight fat guys and first boss was a Lion it was in Sega Genesis

[@MuhammadYasir-xl1xu]

Cardillac and dinosaur

[@revolutionoftheclassics3630]

The console versions of these games were not the best versions

[@gamerz8220]

You forgot yakuza

[@rafaelramos7634]

And who said beat it up games aren't boring

[@grutsthefoodman3645]

No mortal kombat shaolin monks or urban reigns, or spikeout, or dynamite cop, or diehard

[@wordsshackles441]

Renegade ? Altered beast ? I mean, if you are going to do something, do it well… 😅