Beat 'Em Up Lovers Lane

bad dudes vs dragon ninja. i used to play it alot. have not seen one in years.
also,not really a beat em up,super dodge ball.
 
Spikeout



The usage of linked cabs allowed players a level of freedom unseen in other beat em ups. The graphics were amazing at the time (1998) and there's plenty of combos, items to use, and team attacks to keep the game challenging and fresh.
 
Radiac said:
Spikeout



The usage of linked cabs allowed players a level of freedom unseen in other beat em ups. The graphics were amazing at the time (1998) and there's plenty of combos, items to use, and team attacks to keep the game challenging and fresh.
Click to expand...

Spikers is one game I want to play badly. It looks like such an awesome concept and once again it's a real shame that this never made it very far in the US.

BTW, someone recently released an arcade beat 'em up they made for their Masters Degree, even had a cabinet for it. It was influenced by games like Final Fight and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. The game itself could use some more polish but it is free.

http://arcadeheroes.com/2011/01/03/the-arcade-beat-em-up-for-a-masters-degree-mashup-basterds/
 
AtariShag said:
Spikers is one game I want to play badly. It looks like such an awesome concept and once again it's a real shame that this never made it very far in the US.

BTW, someone recently released an arcade beat 'em up they made for their Masters Degree, even had a cabinet for it. It was influenced by games like Final Fight and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. The game itself could use some more polish but it is free.

http://arcadeheroes.com/2011/01/03/the-arcade-beat-em-up-for-a-masters-degree-mashup-basterds/
Click to expand...


Spikers is a different take on the Spikeout series. It is arena based fighting using the Spikeout characters and battle engine. Thus, you lose the exploration the long Spikeout stages afford. It is kind of cool, but it seems way watered down to me.

Spikeout and Spikeout Final Edition are the real-deal, 3D beat em ups in the series and are a blast to play, particularly when you have multiple machines linked up. It is unfortunate they were never released in the US.
 
some games you mention here like dungeons and dragons and golden axe are not pure beat m ups but slash m ups
combatribes,violent storm,punisher,double dragon 2 are my favorites
 
You drive a tank at one point in the game, so it must be a driving game as well. Right? Yeah? What do you mean, "no"?

*straightens taped glasses* Metal Slug sits in more of a sub-genre of shmups people like to call "run n' guns"...sometimes "side scrolling shooter" (which is kind of a bad name as well, considering we have horizontal shmups) which is more of a cross between horizontal shmups and platformer (but with a lot less emphasis on platforming). 2D gameplay where you move horizontal (X) and have a limited jump vertical (Y)...and the primary emphasis of the gameplay is that you're dodging AI bullet patterns and firing projectiles back.

Beat em' ups are games where there is a psuedo 3D gameplay design. Horizontal movement (X) as per usual, and especially with 2D art assets: two versions of vertical. One limited jump vertical (Y) and even more distinctive, movement in and out of a seperate vertical plane (representing Z). It can also be done in true 3D also. Anyways, the reason this distinction needs to be clear is...*catches breath for a second*... it breaks 2D fighting games away from 2D Beat em Ups.

Breaking it even further apart from fighting games, the definition tends to also follow through for games where you fight a group of opponents at one time. If the emphasis is just 1 on 1 combat, it's likely a fighting game. This helps cover 3D fighting games breaking away from 3D beat em ups.

There are games that wind up becoming hybrids of multiple genre definitions (Power Stone and Super Smash bros. for example)...and that's fine. Sometimes new sub-genres are created because of those games. It doesn't mean that the definition isn't valid anymore.

Double Dragon = Beat em Up
Street Fighter II = 2D Fighting game
Tekken 3 = 3D Fighting game (you can move in the Z axis, but emphasis is till on 1 vs. 1)
Metal Slug = Shmup/Side Scrolling Shooter/"Run n' Gun" (kinda enh, but seems to be a popular term)
The Grid = Third Person Shooter
Power Stone 2 = Breaks both definitions since you wind up fighting multiple opponents at one point, but there is an emphasis on 1 vs 1 eventually...kinda becomes its own thing
Smash Bros. = Same thing with PS2.

*gasping for more air* this stuff seems silly, but these genres do have legit definitions. These are things that people within a professional sphere have had to discuss, argue, analyze and agree upon to some extent. If only for the sake that people can be, on some level, on the same page. It's just that we're talking about video games on a random arcade forum, so people get a pass for making shit up, confusing everyone and mixing up or in some cases making up the definitions.

Slash em up, btw, I've heard used before. I've just never heard a convincing argument for it's existence other than "characters have bladed weapons, so I'm calling it a slash em up". DnD is a Beat em Up with RPG elements. GoldenAxe is very much a Beat em Up.

I'm done being an awkward know-it-all. :(
 
Last edited:
Making shit up & confusing everyone

sosage said:
You drive a tank at one point in the game, so it must be a driving game as well. Right? Yeah? What do you mean, "no"?

*straightens taped glasses* Metal Slug sits in more of a sub-genre of shmups people like to call "run n' guns"...sometimes "side scrolling shooter" (which is kind of a bad name as well, considering we have horizontal shmups) which is more of a cross between horizontal shmups and platformer (but with a lot less emphasis on platforming). 2D gameplay where you move horizontal (X) and have a limited jump vertical (Y)...and the primary emphasis of the gameplay is that you're dodging AI bullet patterns and firing projectiles back.

Beat em' ups are games where there is a psuedo 3D gameplay design. Horizontal movement (X) as per usual, and especially with 2D art assets: two versions of vertical. One limited jump vertical (Y) and even more distinctive, movement in and out of a seperate vertical plane (representing Z). It can also be done in true 3D also. Anyways, the reason this distinction needs to be clear is...*catches breath for a second*... it breaks 2D fighting games away from 2D Beat em Ups.

Breaking it even further apart from fighting games, the definition tends to also follow through for games where you fight a group of opponents at one time. If the emphasis is just 1 on 1 combat, it's likely a fighting game. This helps cover 3D fighting games breaking away from 3D beat em ups.

There are games that wind up becoming hybrids of multiple genre definitions (Power Stone and Super Smash bros. for example)...and that's fine. Sometimes new sub-genres are created because of those games. It doesn't mean that the definition isn't valid anymore.

Double Dragon = Beat em Up
Street Fighter II = 2D Fighting game
Tekken 3 = 3D Fighting game (you can move in the Z axis, but emphasis is till on 1 vs. 1)
Metal Slug = Shmup/Side Scrolling Shooter/"Run n' Gun" (kinda enh, but seems to be a popular term)
The Grid = Third Person Shooter
Power Stone 2 = Breaks both definitions since you wind up fighting multiple opponents at one point, but there is an emphasis on 1 vs 1 eventually...kinda becomes its own thing
Smash Bros. = Same thing with PS2.

*gasping for more air* this stuff seems silly, but these genres do have legit definitions. These are things that people within a professional sphere have had to discuss, argue, analyze and agree upon to some extent. If only for the sake that people can be, on some level, on the same page. It's just that we're talking about video games on a random arcade forum, so people get a pass for making shit up, confusing everyone and mixing up or in some cases making up the definitions.

Slash em up, btw, I've heard used before. I've just never heard a convincing argument for it's existence other than "characters have bladed weapons, so I'm calling it a slash em up". DnD is a Beat em Up with RPG elements. GoldenAxe is very much a Beat em Up.

I'm done being an awkward know-it-all. :(
Click to expand...

HaHa...I love this response. By the way I don'y want a pass for making shit up, confusing everyone and mixing up/making up the definitions...lol

I sincerely apologize for placing Metal Slug in the beat em up category(slowly crawling back to my little hole...)
 
sosage said:
You drive a tank at one point in the game, so it must be a driving game as well. Right? Yeah? What do you mean, "no"?

*straightens taped glasses* Metal Slug sits in more of a sub-genre of shmups people like to call "run n' guns"...sometimes "side scrolling shooter" (which is kind of a bad name as well, considering we have horizontal shmups) which is more of a cross between horizontal shmups and platformer (but with a lot less emphasis on platforming). 2D gameplay where you move horizontal (X) and have a limited jump vertical (Y)...and the primary emphasis of the gameplay is that you're dodging AI bullet patterns and firing projectiles back.

Beat em' ups are games where there is a psuedo 3D gameplay design. Horizontal movement (X) as per usual, and especially with 2D art assets: two versions of vertical. One limited jump vertical (Y) and even more distinctive, movement in and out of a seperate vertical plane (representing Z). It can also be done in true 3D also. Anyways, the reason this distinction needs to be clear is...*catches breath for a second*... it breaks 2D fighting games away from 2D Beat em Ups.

Breaking it even further apart from fighting games, the definition tends to also follow through for games where you fight a group of opponents at one time. If the emphasis is just 1 on 1 combat, it's likely a fighting game. This helps cover 3D fighting games breaking away from 3D beat em ups.

There are games that wind up becoming hybrids of multiple genre definitions (Power Stone and Super Smash bros. for example)...and that's fine. Sometimes new sub-genres are created because of those games. It doesn't mean that the definition isn't valid anymore.

Double Dragon = Beat em Up
Street Fighter II = 2D Fighting game
Tekken 3 = 3D Fighting game (you can move in the Z axis, but emphasis is till on 1 vs. 1)
Metal Slug = Shmup/Side Scrolling Shooter/"Run n' Gun" (kinda enh, but seems to be a popular term)
The Grid = Third Person Shooter
Power Stone 2 = Breaks both definitions since you wind up fighting multiple opponents at one point, but there is an emphasis on 1 vs 1 eventually...kinda becomes its own thing
Smash Bros. = Same thing with PS2.

*gasping for more air* this stuff seems silly, but these genres do have legit definitions. These are things that people within a professional sphere have had to discuss, argue, analyze and agree upon to some extent. If only for the sake that people can be, on some level, on the same page. It's just that we're talking about video games on a random arcade forum, so people get a pass for making shit up, confusing everyone and mixing up or in some cases making up the definitions.

Slash em up, btw, I've heard used before. I've just never heard a convincing argument for it's existence other than "characters have bladed weapons, so I'm calling it a slash em up". DnD is a Beat em Up with RPG elements. GoldenAxe is very much a Beat em Up.

I'm done being an awkward know-it-all. :(
Click to expand...

slash m ups are different than beat m ups
they have unique elements because they are weapon based,and there many people who dont like them or dont like them much but they like the standart beat m ups
 
isn't the point of a beat 'em up that they're all good because all you have to do is beat 'em up? I mean if Double Dragon can be fun (and it is) then any beat 'em up can be fun.
 
oyama82 said:
slash m ups are different than beat m ups
they have unique elements because they are weapon based,and there many people who dont like them or dont like them much but they like the standart beat m ups
Click to expand...

Look. You guys can call these things whatever you want and make up genres within your own little sphere of video game discussion. In the more global context of the discussion outside of that circle, these things do have definitions and meaning. These aren't concepts I solely made up or an opinion I formed on my own. They are...or rather were...sound definitions people use to loosely agree upon when writing about the subject.

I explained this, but weapons doesn't break the game design apart from the beat em up formula.

Here's an easier way of looking at and figuring out game genres. Drop the weapons. Drop the characters. Drop everything that has to do with the artwork, storyline and theme. All of that stuff is icing on the cake...we don't want the icing. Break it all the way down to the basic framework of the game. Only look at the base game design, camera perspective, control scheme and objectives. Analyze those things and you will reach a conclusion about which genre it sits in...or which two genres it is a hybrid of.

No one has given me an example of a "slash em up" within those parameters, ever. Even Strider doesn't really work, because it's more platform or...ahem..."side scrolling action" (ugh) than anything to do with the concept of "slashing" in the game design.
 
sosage said:
Look. You guys can call these things whatever you want and make up genres within your own little sphere of video game discussion. In the more global context of the discussion outside of that circle, these things do have definitions and meaning. These aren't concepts I solely made up or an opinion I formed on my own. They are...or rather were...sound definitions people use to loosely agree upon when writing about the subject.

I explained this, but weapons doesn't break the game design apart from the beat em up formula.

Here's an easier way of looking at and figuring out game genres. Drop the weapons. Drop the characters. Drop everything that has to do with the artwork, storyline and theme. All of that stuff is icing on the cake...we don't want the icing. Break it all the way down to the basic framework of the game. Only look at the base game design, camera perspective, control scheme and objectives. Analyze those things and you will reach a conclusion about which genre it sits in...or which two genres it is a hybrid of.

No one has given me an example of a "slash em up" within those parameters, ever. Even Strider doesn't really work, because it's more platform or...ahem..."side scrolling action" (ugh) than anything to do with the concept of "slashing" in the game design.
Click to expand...

I tell you again its the weapons that makes the difference.beat m ups are based on unarmed martial arts,which can be more realistic and thats why people like them more.
gameplay and feel is different.you cant kill a dragon or other monster with bare hands.and you cant go to downtown to defeat junkies with a huge broadsword.
give billy and jimmy lee a sword to finish the whole game and see how different game would double dragon be.
street fighter and soul calibur are completely different things,both are fighters though.unarmed or weapon based.
same goes to double dragon vs golden axe for example.


I can accept that slash m ups are a subgenre of beat m ups though,in a different list than double dragon,final fight,etc.
 
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