The Beat Em Up

If there's one genre of games I miss most, it's the 2D side scrolling beat em up.


Remember these?

Everyone who grew up in the 80's played these throughout the 80's and 90's.

These games were short on plot, but long on ass kicking. You walked from left to right and punched, kicked, threw and assualted with weapons, a variety of run of the mill thugs with names like Stud and Spike. There were usually 8 stages, and at the end of each was some cheap ass boss who possessed the power to suck quarters from you like no other. When you finally conquered each of these badasses, you had little time to gloat, as you'd be in the next stage, with a fist to your face to announce your arrival.

The games were simple, but so fun and very replayable. They may not have the thrills and depth of more modern games, but for a really fun co-op experience, or for soinlge player replayability, they're almost unmatched. I have played Streets of Rage 2 and The Punisher more times than I can count. I have gone through Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones so many times my NES died of an overdose of manliness the 4000th time I hit that oh so sweet mid air spin kick.

(sorry, I know that's an arcade picture and not an NES one, but 3 ppl doing the spin kick at once just could not be passed up).

Now, with downloadable games doing so well via xbox live, wii ware and psn, there's no better time. SEGA, if you're listening, we're ready for SOR4. Ditto Capcom. A new 2D Final Fight would be great.

Dynamite Cop, while 3D, would be a hell of a port for the XBLA, especially with online co-op. Remember this wackiness? Nothing like smacking someone with a giant breadstick:

So get on it!