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[gunswordfist]

The #1 secret to making a good beat em up: Good enemies. Without that, you got nothing. You can try to make beat em ups fancier than the usually flat surface stages and give the hero some really cool special moves but when it comes down to it, it's about BEATING 'EM UP and if the guys you face aren't fun to fight, then nothing else will save the game.

[team_q]

What I like in Beat 'em ups:

Throwing guys
Throwing guys into other guys
Throwing guys into environment stuff, or off trains

[gunswordfist]

I can't believe you miss this out : Co-op

I remember playing bare kunckle with my brother, and he would accidentally hit me. I would get pissed, and ask him to go over, so I can hit him back. So he walked over... to beat me up some more, lol

Co-op moves are pretty sweet too.
And definitely slam moves.

Oh yeah, co-op moves. I actually just found out that Streets Of Rage had a special co-op move last year from watching my SUGC copy put on a demo.

[jrjellybeans]

What I like in Beat 'em ups:

Throwing guys
Throwing guys into other guys
Throwing guys into environment stuff, or off trains

Also, throwing guys into the camera Turtles in Time style!

[Ivan]

Transvestite prostitues with handcuffs.

[Wella]

Sorry to be shallow, but good graphics are a must in beat-em-ups for me. That's not to say up-to-date SF4 level of quality, just well drawn. Most popular beat-em-ups have good graphics anyway, especially games like SFA3 and Vampire Savior.

Also plenty of characters and epic combos.

[Alevice]

Transvestite prostitues with handcuffs.

part of me wants to pretend deeply poison and roxy arent really trannies. But even Capcom of Japan affirmed their status as such. askldlñkasdjlasd

[rayteoactive]

Sorry to be shallow, but good graphics are a must in beat-em-ups for me. That's not to say up-to-date SF4 level of quality, just well drawn. Most popular beat-em-ups have good graphics anyway, especially games like SFA3 and Vampire Savior.

Also plenty of characters and epic combos.

I came in to say about the same thing. Not just nice character, but a big part of the game is about traveling to the different places of different themes for me. The same can be said for platformer actually.

[gunswordfist]

hoverbike races

Dear God, don't even joke about that...

[Lime]

What Makes A Good Beat-Em-Up?

Ask Konjak.

[Hangedman]

Possible victory.

Most of the console beat-em-ups of the 90s were actually impossible to win, because no matter how good you were you always traded blows with enemies until you lost by sheer attrition.

Many of the 3d beat-em-ups had a different issue: clumsy targeting. Just plain bad.

Both had the issue of ridiculous unbalancing, like fighting enemies all over the place with guns (although beautifully lampshaded in the amazing spectacle fighter 'Samurai Western' for the PS2.)

[alspal]

Sorry to be shallow, but good graphics are a must in beat-em-ups for me. That's not to say up-to-date SF4 level of quality, just well drawn. Most popular beat-em-ups have good graphics anyway, especially games like SFA3 and Vampire Savior.

Also plenty of characters and epic combos.

lol? You're listing games from a different genre.

[gunmaggot]

He seems to be from the UK - for some reason they call fighting games beat 'em ups there.  Dunno why - in fighting games there is no 'em, just an 'im.

[Nektonico]

Beat em Up = Arcade = Capcom

The last and best beat em up released by Capcom for the arcades was Battle Circuit. The game setting is sci-fi and kind of ... well, strange, but the gameplay was a refined version of everything they had created before. It has huge movesets and silk smooth gameplay (as well as something original: upgrades -leveling up your special moves-). I have played a lot of 2D beat em ups, but this one is the best definitely. A rare game as well, which saw only a limited release western arcades.

D&D Shadow Over Mystara is nice also (having an inventory, spells and skills is nice, but it gets a bit overwhelming at times). I would rank it in a second place.

Armored Warriors and Alien vs Predator are very polished, but run of the mill ones for the most part. The former has a very interesting feature: the characters are modular, meaning you can mix and match arms, legs, and shoulder mounted weapons; if playing coop with 3 guys you can also combine the mechs to form a larger one.

Thats just off the top of my head anyway.

[Martin 2BAM]

Most of the console beat-em-ups of the 90s were actually impossible to win, because no matter how good you were you always traded blows with enemies until you lost by sheer attrition.

There was a reason for this: You feeding coins to the machine to keep playing.
Or else no one would have invested in a $10k machine (or whatever) if the game was winnable with a quarter

Nowadays you try to "go arcade" and it's really difficult to find an audience. Games are becoming simpler and easier (1 button, impossible to lose...)
For instance, 90% of flash game players whine endlessly about difficulty. A hardcore arcade player wipes his ass with most of today's games  


Btw, the first post list is really cool.
I liked The Punisher because sometimes it had guns (non lethal though).

[alspal]

Most of the console beat-em-ups of the 90s were actually impossible to win, because no matter how good you were you always traded blows with enemies until you lost by sheer attrition.

There was a reason for this: You feeding coins to the machine to keep playing.
Or else no one would have invested in a $10k machine (or whatever) if the game was winnable with a quarter

I'm not terribly familiar with Beat-em-ups yet, but most arcade games are winnable on one credit - but only the skilled survive.

The Punisher is meant to be one of the best, I'm definitely going to give that a go.

[Martin 2BAM]

I'm not terribly familiar with Beat-em-ups yet, but most arcade games are winnable on one credit - but only the skilled survive.

I agree on that, but to win Metal Slug with 1 coin you need a lot of plays.
All the coins spent by the 10% that reached that skilled status more than compensates for the ones that don't want to make a career out of the game and just spent 20 coins to finish it once.

[TheDustin]

What I like in Beat 'em ups:

Throwing guys
Throwing guys into other guys
Throwing guys into environment stuff, or off trains

Also, throwing guys into the camera Turtles in Time style!

Fuck yeah. And I echo the good graphics sentiment; I'm not that heavy into the genre so some sweet eyecandy always makes me giddy.

[gunmaggot]

Re: Cheapness:  All of the good ones can be beaten on one cred, BUT they also all seem to have a few bosses that will dish out some guaranteed damage if you don't know in advance exactly what their behaviour is - a smart, generalised strategy and a lot of skill is just not enough.  That is actually probably the worst thing about the genre.  I'd love an indie revival of bmups - they're about as simple to make as shmups and platformers and unlike those genres there are a bunch of relatively simple ways to 'fix' them.

Another couple of great bmups:  Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (designed by the guy who did Knuckle Bash!) and Guardians / Denjin Makai II.

[X3N]

I like it when the computers use some AI, with a bit of randomness.
Like advancing when your backs turned / retreating when you're facing. You have to struggle a bit to catch up, and watch your positioning so you don't get surrounded.
When the AIs intentionally circle around you and hit from both sides, that's pretty cool.
Weapon powerups work well too, I think.