Screenshots: Capcom Beat 'Em Up Collection, Double Dragon II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Absolum, River City Ransom, Battle Circuit, Alien Vs. Predator
Beat-’em-ups are misunderstood. Often seen as nostalgia trips for those still recovering from the death of arcades, naysayers would describe them as overly simplistic relics with little that separates one game from the next. What they miss is that while there is overlap in how some of them play, the best entries in the space stand apart thanks to small details that add up: the satisfying foley when you land a punch, a character’s expressive idle animation that instantly conveys their personality, the feeling of knocking down foes like bowling balls with a well-timed judo toss. And perhaps most importantly, the genre taps into a straightforward, central appeal: it is very fun to wail on waves of pixelated hooligans.
To highlight the breadth and depth of these belt-scrollers and old-school brawlers, we’ve rounded up the 25 best beat-’em-ups of all time. We’ve got well-known household names, alongside obscurities that sold fewer than 50 cabinets before being rediscovered on emulators. We’ve got old games, we’ve got new games. We’ve got schlocky gorefests and family-friendly face-offs. Popular licensed games and strange one-offs. If you want to punch a bunch of dudes digitally, you’ve come to the right place.
If you want to see first-hand how long the right game at the right time could dominate an arcade, just hop in your nearest time machine, set the dial for a Saturday afternoon in 1988 or 1989, and head to any bowling alley in any suburb in America. I guarantee you the longest line there isn’t for the shoe return or the concession stand or even the cigarette machine, but for Double Dragon II in the gameroom. It’s no surprise that this one had a hold on kids like no other beat-’em-up had before: It’s deviously elegant in its crunchy, bone-breaking brutality, with a roster of distinct and memorable thugs to KO. And you could do it all with your best bud. Bowling’s cool, and everything, but it was never the main event; it was the thing you did so you could get to the arcade and wait in line for your turn on the dude-punching machine. [Garrett Martin]
24. Kung Fu Heroes
Developed By: Nihon Game
Release Date: 1984
Kung-Fu Heroes began its life as the 1984 arcade hit, Chinese Hero, back when Culture Brain was still Nihon Game. Sure, it’s as basic as a top-down beat-’em-up gets. Play as one of two brothers (or both in co-op), and wreck enough enemies on charmingly basic Chinese-culture-inspired backdrops until the door at the top of the screen opens, allowing you to progress to the next level. It plays rough, looks rough, and it sounds awful. It can be brutal at times because hitboxes and spatial positioning are casually gestured at and poorly communicated. But I challenge you to sit down and not end up pumping hours of your life into helping Jacky and Lee (their on-the-nose American names) bust their way through creepy, weirdo enemies to save Princess Min-Min. After all, there’s a reason this spawned a 20-year-long Super Chinese franchise. [Dia Lacina]
23. Knights Of The Round
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1991
On the surface, Knights Of The Round doesn’t seem like it has much that separates it from countless other Capcom beat-’em-ups from its era, particularly given that the publisher released another fantasy action RPG, The King Of Dragons, just the year before. However, while much of what’s here is familiar, Knights Of The Round leveled up one element compared to its peers: a feeling of progression. As you hack and slash your way through Arthurian legend, you’ll gradually improve your chivalric hero, improving their attack speed, range, and perhaps most importantly, upgrading their medieval drip. Yes, this sounds like old hat in a post-RPG-ified world, and it wasn’t the first beat-’em-up to do this, but its execution of this concept was a cut above. Add other nuances, like the ability to block incoming attacks, and you have plenty of reasons to wield Excalibur. [Elijah Gonzalez]
22. Fight N’ Rage
Developed By: SebaGamesDev
Release Date: 2017
Do you like combos? Do you like the feeling of juggling ineffectual goons across the screen with a flurry of punches and kicks that keep them airborne for seconds at a time, their bodies propelled against gravity due to the sheer onslaught of your blows? Good news, more so than almost any other beat-’em-up out there, Fight N’ Rage enables you to let out your inner fighting game freak, mixing and matching attacks for extended sequences of flying fists. Sebastián García, who programmed, designed, and illustrated the game himself, managed to achieve a complexity here that far exceeds what’s found in most entries in the space. Although purists may argue that this sophistication undermines some of the genre’s simplistic charms, they probably would change their tune after performing a 150-hit combo that took their foe from coast to coast in a beatdown that is as flashy as it is gratifying. Ultimately, it’s held back by a story and world with some off-putting vibes, but the depth of what’s here is a must for those looking to dig a bit deeper.[EG]
21. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game
Developed By: Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Chengdu
Release Date: 2010
There was a brief moment in 2010 when it felt like Scott Pilgrim was inescapable, with the last volume of the comic, the Edgar Wright film, and a video game all coming out the same summer. And despite being the least emphasized of the three (probably because beat-’em-ups are for little freaks), Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game was a damn fine genre entry in its own right. While part of its appeal was its attempts at “modernization,” like its additional attack buttons, easy-to-use defensive mechanics, and more, the thing that really made it special was its aesthetics. Paul Robertson’s distinctive pixel art and Anamanaguchi’s all-timer soundtrack combined to bring Bryan Lee O’Malley’s world to life. [EG]
The Turtles are beat-’em-up royalty, and while you could certainly quibble over how many of these games are actually, you know, good, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge very much passes muster. Skillfully, threading the line between old-school sensibilities and contemporary affordances, this throwback knows exactly what it’s doing, bringing us back down memory lane as its unique character movesets offer room for player expression. Add in colorful visuals that accentuate both lighthearted charm and martial arts shellacking, and you have a well-considered throwback. [EG]
19. Night Slashers
Developed By: Data East
Release Date: 1993
If Splatterhouse had developed into a traditional brawler, it might look something like Night Slashers. But where Namco’s series uses gristly imagery for legitimate shock and peril, Data East’s zombie brawler has more fun with its Ocean Spray splashes of blood and mash-up of movie-inspired monsters. If you’re looking for a definitive way to play, the free and open-source Night Slashers X Rebalanced iterates on the classic with wide screen support, extra characters, new moves, and other fun features like a roguelike mode. It preserves everything that makes the over-the-top art direction and flashy combat worthwhile, with none of the concessions made by Forever Entertainment’s bland remake. [Madeline Blondeau]
18. Streets Of Rage 4
Developed By: Dotemu, Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games
Release Date: 2020
The Streets Of Rage series has a long and storied legacy, a trilogy of brawlers known for their console-first-release cadence, scrappy brawling, and perhaps most of all, for featuring some of the most beloved game soundtracks of the ’90s. So after a more than 25-year hiatus, it goes without saying that Streets Of Rage 4 had a lot to live up to. Somehow, though, it delivered, iterating on the series’ central slugfests with an easy-to-pick-up, difficult-to-master combo system that makes the most of its disparate fighters’ movesets. One great example of its innovations are how, like many games in the genre, you can spend health to perform more powerful moves, with the twist being that in this case, you can earn that health back by landing several blows in a row without getting hit. The depth that extends from these seemingly simple core moves is genuinely striking, pulling you back in time and again as you hone your skills and ratchet up the difficulty. It isn’t easy to compete with memories of an old classic, especially after a quarter-century wait, but Streets Of Rage 4 does just that. [EG]
17. Violent Storm
Developed By: Konami
Release Date: 1993
“You gotta hear the tunes, youngblood!” That was the answer I got from the manager of my favorite arcade in Richmond, VA, when I asked why the brand new Violent Storm cabinet had been put all the way in the back, tucked into a weird dark alcove that felt like a utility closet with the door ripped off. Its only accompaniment was a dangerously overfilled cylindrical ashtray. He had been spending a lot of time on this, clearly. And with good reason. Sure, Konami’s big bold character sprites and competent action gameplay are a solid enough rival to Capcom’s offerings from the era, but what brings it all together in this post-WW3 romp about Cool Bros saving a California Blonde who just wants to grocery shop in the ruins is one of the best soundtracks in video game history, easily going toe-to-toe with the very best that Streets of Rage has to offer. [DL]
16. Splatterhouse
Developed By: Namco
Release Date: 1988
While the later entries complicated the formula, the sheer straightforward momentum of the first Splatterhouse is unforgettable. Gory death animations and squishy, crunchy foley make each swing of Rick’s fist a spectacle. Where the simple combat falters, ghoulish mise en scene picks up the slack. Disemboweled women writhe in pain behind steel bars in early levels—unnamed victims that the player must leave behind if they have any hope of survival. Few arcade games manage to strike the horrific chord Namco did here. [MB]
15. Absolum
Developed By: Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks
Release Date: 2025
Absolum is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious beat-’em-ups of all time, and even if its reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, its moment-to-moment delights largely make up for its more fleeting lowlights. After publishing and developing several titles at the forefront of the ongoing old-school action game revival, like the previously mentioned Streets Of Rage 4 and TMNT Shredder’s Revenge, Dotemu worked alongside Guard Crush Games and Supamonks to bring this dark fantasy romp to life. On the one hand, its attempt to bridge the gap between arcade sensibilities and a modern run-based roguelite has some issues due to a few awkward difficulty spikes and overarching repetition. However, at the same time, it has some of the crunchiest, most satisfying brawls the genre has ever produced, with parries, dodges, and cancels that allow for tricky combos and make this experience as deep as you want it to be. With style, substance, and an innovative structure, Absolum’s strengths triumphed over the concern that it’s being placed in the pantheon too soon. [EG]
14. Captain Commando
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1991
Years after popping up in manuals and on boxes for other Capcom games, superhero cop / corporate mascot Captain Commando took the spotlight in one of the company’s many excellent beat-‘em-ups. This Final Fight spin-off envisioned a Metro City set in the far away future of 2026, infusing Mike Haggar’s gritty old stomping grounds with a sci-fi flair and weapons a little more flashy than knives and whips. Pretty much everybody’s got superpowers here, and between that and support for up to four players, that makes Captain Commando a kind of precursor to Konami’s 1992 smash based on the X-Men. The Captain and his pals (including a student of Final Fight’s Guy and a baby driving a robot, literally called Baby Head) hit with the crunch and color Capcom’s brawlers are celebrated for, and although it’s not as famous as the marginally less fanciful series it grew out of, Captain Commando might be more fun than any Final Fight. [GM]
13. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1996
As this list indicates, Capcom was pretty good at this whole beat-’em-up thing. The mid-’90s were arguably the company’s peak in this regard, and despite a rapid-fire output, its best titles of that era managed to stand apart from each other and outside competition. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara is a perfect example, an (admittedly loose) riff on D&D defined by distinct characters and a bounty of branching that made it tempting to get lost in this labyrinth. There’s a lot going on here: six classes with entirely different stats and movesets, consequential stat progression, a spellcasting system, equippable items hooked up to an inventory system, charge attacks, multiple types of jumps, a shield shortcut, crouching, slides, and more. It made for an unusually dense arcade title, especially for the time, but it still maintained the straightforward appeal of smacking goblins with a broadsword—what more could you want? [EG]
12. The Simpsons
Developed By: Konami
Release Date: 1991
Konami’s beat-’em-up roster is filled with licensed tie-ins. But good as things like Turtles In Time and X-Men are, The Simpsons wins my quarters every time with its expressive, colorful art direction and straightforward mechanics. It’s the easiest brawler to pick up and play through with a complete beginner, but clever and stylish enough to rank among the best examples of the genre. Any game where players can wallop goons with vacuum cleaners and jump ropes is one worth playing. [MB]
11. Final Fight
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1989
When Double Dragon II inevitably lost its arcade crown, it went straight on the head of Mayor Mike Haggar, the luxuriously mustachioed pro wrestler who won Metro City’s election on a platform of piledriving crime. Set in a fatalistic fever dream of urban decay ripped straight out of the most gormless Death Wish knockoff, Final Fight capped off the ‘80s as a seemingly perfect beat-’em-up. If you weren’t on the scene and need an idea of how quickly technology advanced back then, just compare Final Fight to Double Dragon II. Only one year separated them, but Capcom’s brawler is several leagues higher. Its large sprites, detailed backgrounds, vivid colors, and sheer volume of enemies made it feel like the future when it hit arcades at the end of the ‘80s—an exciting early glimpse at the promise and potential of the 1990s. [GM]
10. River City Ransom
Developed By: Technōs Japan
Release Date: 1989
River City Ransom roped you in with the allure of Double Dragon-style brawling promised by Technōs’ patented blockhead sprites, and promptly revealed itself to be a far deeper and more complex game full of RPG-style elements. You’d pop this into your NES expecting to get your digital knuckles bloody for a half-hour or so, only to be confronted with upgradable stats and learnable techniques. It has stores. You buy food. You go grocery-shopping in-between punching out teenaged thugs. Too weird to be a true hit, its mash-up of Renegade, The Warriors, and Hong Kong action movies hit hard with the right kind of game fans, becoming an instant cult classic whose reputation has grown exponentially in the decades since it was released. [GM]
9. Cadillacs And Dinosaurs
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1993
Cadillacs And Dinosaurs is “dudes rock” in arcade cabinet form, a beautifully dumb slice of pulp fiction that delivers what it says on the tin. Based on the post-apocalyptic comic book series Xenozoic Tales, which is about an Earth 500 years in the future where dinosaurs have returned, this brawler has you scrapping with velociraptors and blowing up triceratops poachers with rocket launchers, while gliding into each new level in a classic muscle car. While it groks fairly one-to-one to the “standard” Capcom control scheme of the time, it sets itself apart with its sheer absurdity: you’ll inevitably ask, “What strange sight is up next?” Run over a hooligan with the top-down, rescue a brachiosaurus, punch a T. Rex in the nose, truly anything could be around the corner. You’ll have a hard time finding a beat-’em-up that’s wackier or more memorable than this one. [EG]
8. Castle Crashers
Developed By: The Behemoth
Release Date: 2008
While there were a few beat-’em-ups released between the “death” of the arcade era and the late aughts, they had very much gone out of style, more or less replaced by the more complex Ninja Gaidens and Devil May Crys of the world. So when the studio behind Alien Hominid put itself behind a different kind of retro title with Castle Crashers, and that game became one of the early success stories of the Xbox Live Arcade, it was like brawler fans finally found an oasis in the desert. As for why it caught on, there was its distinct, exaggerated art style that set up the playable cartoon crusaders for many slapstick deaths. There were its RPG elements and its massive cast of unlockable characters, each with unique magic spells that set them apart. But perhaps most of all, it was that it offered a reprieve from the dominant flavors of the day, providing a forgotten spice that was all the sharper thanks to the many modern affordances, like its dedicated block button, online multiplayer, and more. Castle Crashers helped pry open the door for a modern era of beat-’em-ups, and we are mighty grateful. [EG]
7. The Punisher
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1993
Capcom’s 1993 beat-’em-up The Punisher has a simple premise: what if you brought a gun to a fist fight? Delighting in the edgelord antics of one Frank Castle, this beloved classic puts you in control of everyone’s favorite sociopathic vigilante, as you punch and shoot through an alarming number of “lowlifes” in this dystopian take on NYC. While the gunplay is exceedingly simple, it cannot be overstated how much of a mind-warping effect it has when, after deliberately punching your way through screen after screen of goons, you suddenly pull out a 9mm and start gunning down cannon fodder thanks to deep ammo reserves and generous auto-aim (Castle is a good shot, apparently). Living up to its source material, The Punisher is a raw, nasty, visceral barrage of exploding shrapnel and desperate acrobatics. It’s fast, it’s violent, and you can roll in a ball before propelling yourself through the air with extra momentum to perform a deadly flying kick that is absurdly satisfying to pull off. Or you can just put a slug between their eyes. Classic Punisher stuff. [EG]
6. Pu·Li·Ru·La
Developed By: Taito
Release Date: 1991
Blink, and Pu·Li·Ru·La will be over before you know it. But what the brief game lacks in length, it makes up for in sheer visual zeal and exuberance. Each vibrant, primary color-hued level is packed with cute cartoon animals and absurd enemies. Pu·Li·Ru·La is more or less the beat-’em-up equivalent to something like Parodius, with bizarre and occasionally risque imagery—i.e., a pair of women’s legs, spread-eagled and pumping out pink elephants (this was banned in the worldwide release, of course)—that helped stand out amid its contemporary scene of tie-in games and urban-themed brawlers. [MB]
5. Dragon’s Crown
Developed By: Vanillaware
Release Date: 2013
Move over, Mystara. If there’s a beat-’em-up with RPG elements that really feels like it understands OD&D (and isn’t just slapped with a label), it’s Vanillaware’s lovingly illustrated (if weirdly sexualized) fantasy side-scroller. After a messy beginning (involving bad decisions by publishers, cancellations, studio closures, and building Vanillaware from the ground up), this once-in-a-future dead Sorcerian-like sequel to 1997’s Princess Crown blossomed into a titan among beat-’em-ups. We’re not just leveling up; this game has proper RPG mechanics, from dungeon delving, enchanted items, and skill development to RESURRECTING FOUND BONES (or you could bury them and roll a d20 to see if you get a surprise). There’s even a secret post-game MEGADUNGEON! A beat-’em-up with a proc-gen megadungeon! Hell yeah! Whatever you do, just don’t bury the 10,000,000 GP bones. [DL]
4. Ninja Baseball Bat Man
Developed By: Irem
Release Date: 1993
If someone ever says to you that they played Ninja Baseball Bat Man in American arcades, they’re either exceptionally lucky or lying: while the game did okay in Japan, it only sold around 50 cabinets in North America. However, sometimes, a game is just too good (and absurd) to fade away, rising from the dead after a new generation finally finds a way to get their hands on it. Thanks to its popularity on MAME, Ninja Baseball Bat Man has become a cult classic, a status gained thanks to its unique feel, fever dream premise, and a name that very much stands out in an index. You play as a group of baseball ninjas (who also kind of look like robots?) tasked by the Commissioner of Baseball with retrieving stolen items from the Baseball Hall of Fame. To do so, you must fight through the great ‘ol U.S. of A, going toe to toe with sentient baseballs and evil saxophones as you plunge deeper into a walking hallucination. And more than just coming across like a meme or a half-remembered dream, it certainly helps the game that it’s a joy to swing your (ninja) baseball bat around, with each blow connecting like a crisp line drive thanks to slick animation work. At their core, many of the best beat-’em-ups are exercises in ridiculous, eye-catching maximalism, and none do that better than Ninja Baseball Bat Man. [EG]
3. Battle Circuit
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1997
Combining creative character designs, tight controls, and an abundance of personality, Battle Circuit is a manga-inspired sci-fi adventure about weirdo bounty hunters who love collecting cartoon golden coins—before long, you too will enjoy grabbing those sweet dubloons because they let you access upgraded moves that are a game-changer. Pick one of five freakazoids: a small child on a purple alien ostrich, a venus fly trap alien monstrosity, a beast lady, or one of two overly self-confident spandexed dudes, and embark on a wacky adventure straight out of a sci-fi weekly. And beyond its gorgeous pixel art, it also happens to be a wonderful evolution of this lateish arcade era, sporting fighting game-inspired special inputs that let you mix flip kicks, clotheslines, and more into your standard combats, each hit accentuated with godly amounts of hit-stop. This one genuinely has it all, an overlooked classic that stands the test of time. [EG]
2. Streets Pf Rage II
Developed By: Sega
Release Date: 1992
Streets Of Rage Remake is the best way to experience Sega’s seminal street level series. But if you’re going to pick up a cartridge to play on an original Genesis—or Mega Drive, if you’re nasty—Streets 2 is the one to start with. That’s no knock on the first and third games, as they’re fine beat-’em-ups in their own right. But the sequel is the series firing on all cylinders, with a pioneering, oft-sampled electronic-soul fusion soundtrack and some of the franchise’s best levels. Players tear up smokey bars and brawl through arcades in a follow-up that hits harder, faster, and dirtier. [MB]
1. Alien Vs. Predator
Developed By: Capcom
Release Date: 1994
What happens when you pit two of Science Fiction’s most vicious apex predators against one another? Well, the Most Deadly Predator of them all shows up and wrecks shop. That’s right—the cyberpunk lady ninja. I could tell you about how great this game plays, how beautiful it looks, and that it was a dream to play with three other people in the arcade. But, of course all of that is true. Capcom in the ’90s was The Guy of Beat-‘Em-Ups, showing up at arcades across the country, signing autographs, tossing sunglasses, and whipping its blonde hair like Ken Masters. AvP is no exception to this pedigree; it is an exceptional game, but it has one secret weapon that sets it far apart…
Lieutenant Linn Kurosawa of the United States Colonial Marine Corps.
Move over mech-riding genius baby. Lt. Linn is here to wreck shop. Forget Dutch and the two Predators. They can’t hang against the Xenomorph horde menacing California. Only Lt. Linn has the stuff. Why play as anyone else? Do you know how many eggs she’s cracked? In losing the licensing rights to Dark Horse Comics’ Machiko Noguchi, they created someone new and maybe even more perfect. I still want orange camo pants with gunmetal knee pads and a mall katana to accessorize my tall ponytail because of her. Give Linn her own game already, Capcom, what’s wrong with you? [DL]
