Sidescrolling beat ‘em up games were one of the defining arcade genres of the late 80s, early 90s. Whether you were huddled around the darkened screen of your local arcade or assaulted by noise and light at your local Chuck E. Cheese, the beat ‘em ups always knew how to bring in the quarters. Of course, it was that hunger for quarters that made the genre a little less adaptable to home consoles, and why it went largely dormant in the early 2000s.

The classics of the genre, while fun, didn’t really have much to incentivize you to play more than once beyond siphoning quarters out of your pocket to get payback for last time. Newer beat ‘em ups, besides actually being completable, know how to up the ante, give you a little extra value, a little more incentive to keep playing even after seeing the credits. Whether you like RPG-style experience gain or unlocking extra weapons or characters, these games know how to keep you mashing those buttons.

8

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Great For An Afternoon With Friends

While it’s usually an iron-clad rule that games based on movies stink, there have been a few exceptions over the years, and sometimes from unexpected places. One of those unexpected places was the 2010 tie-in to the film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World which, in addition to having excellent pixel graphics and music by Anamanaguchi, ended up being a pretty fun time.

The game follows the same basic trajectory as the movie, which in turn is a heavily condensed version of the Scott Pilgrim comic series. Scott and friends traipse across Toronto, punching punks along the way, with the goal of pummeling Ramona’s seven evil exes. The game is technically linear, but there are secrets to uncover in some levels like hidden shops and subspace shortcuts. You’ll return to a few levels semi-regularly to buy health-restoring items and level-boosters.

There is some incentive to clearing the game multiple times, specifically in that every playable character has a unique ending cutscene, but besides that, it’s just a generally fun game to play with friends. Every player has their own character progression tracked separately, so if you have one-to-three buddies to play consistently with, you all feel a tangible sense of growth that’s oddly satisfying to feed.

7

Absolum

Nothing Adds Replayability Like Repeated Deaths

In the modern day, you can’t have a discussion about replayability in games without bringing up the booming roguelike genre. After all, nothing incentivizes you to play a game again like getting your face punched in and having to start over. Considering how many game overs we got back in the day, it’s kind of a perfect match with the beat ‘em up genre, as illustrated in Absolum.

Absolum is a high fantasy “rogue ‘em up,” in which a quartet of heroes battle through the land to take down a corrupt king. It’s a similar framing device to a lot of classic beat ‘em up games, but the difference is the integration of roguelike mechanics. Not only do your characters level up as you progress, but you can also receive individual upgrades and fill out a skill tree based on your preferred playstyle.

Absolum also has a branching map, which means no two runs through the game will be exactly alike. As with most roguelikes, you probably won’t beat the game on your first try, but every attempt gets you a little bit closer to the final encounter. It’s a lot like the classics in that way, except you don’t have to plunk another quarter in each time.

6

Dragon’s Crown Pro

Kind Of Like Arcade Diablo

Speaking of fantasy settings, some of the greatest beat ‘em ups in history leaned hard on traditional sword and sorcery, like Golden Axe and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara. Arguably, the game that inherited that particular spirit was Dragon’s Crown Pro, which is itself an enhanced version of Dragon’s Crown released five years later.

Dragon’s Crown Pro is a spiritual successor to the Sega Saturn game Princess Crown, in which a gaggle of adventurers from various fantasy races go on your typical dragon-slaying, evil-stopping journey. Dragon’s Crown Pro is kind of like if Diablo were a beat ‘em up; there are various dedicated dungeons to explore, find loot, and level up, but you’re doing it all with traditional sidescrolling combat. Co-op multiplayer is encouraged, though solo players can find skeletons in dungeons that can be revived as AI-controlled allies.

The very structure of the game encourages replayability, as each dungeon has multiple routes to take. Additionally, completing the game on the base difficulty unlocks a higher difficulty with a higher level cap, as well as a progressively-generating endless mode for you to play at your leisure.

5

Fight’N Rage

Real Arcade Action

Most modern beat ‘em up games are made by those who already have a strong affinity for the genre thanks to growing up playing them in arcades. Just about all of these games are some degree of love letter, though perhaps the one that tries hardest to capture the feel of playing in an arcade is Fight’N Rage.

Fight’N Rage is one of the most deceptively deep beat ‘em ups ever made, with three martial artists caught in the midst of a human-on-mutant war. Though there are only three main playable characters, they have vastly different movesets and playstyles from one another, unlike in a lot of beat ‘em ups where every character is effectively the same. This ties into the game’s deep combat system, which boasts combo strings, special meters, and even a parrying mechanic. There isn’t a leveling mechanic, though you can earn coins to unlock outfits and game modes with high scores.

Every level in Fight’N Rage has branching paths with different environments and encounters, and that’s just in the base arcade mode. You can unlock a head-to-head battle mode, score and time attack modes, and a survival mode, all to help you really flex your skills with your character of choice.

4

Streets Of Rage 4

Challenge Higher Difficulties

There’s a lot of interest crossover between beat ‘em up games and fighting games. While beat ‘em ups usually don’t have as much depth as the average fighting game, their combat loops have a similar vibe, and are fun for those who like to challenge themselves. If a challenging difficulty curve is on your wishlist, you’ll like Streets of Rage 4.

Streets of Rage 4 is the very, very late-stage continuation of the Streets of Rage beat ‘em up trilogy from the 90s, with Blaze, Axel, and their allies battling crooks on the streets ten years later. The game has a surprisingly in-depth fighting game-style combo system, allowing you to string standard and special attacks together into lengthy strings alongside juggles and wall-bounces. If you like to get techy in fighting games, you’ll love Streets of Rage 4’s combat.

There are both story and traditional arcade modes, as well as boss rush and competitive battle modes for a little extra flavor. If you don’t think you’ve gotten sweaty enough, finishing the game unlocks several progressively harder difficulty settings with which to challenge yourself.

3

Castle Crashers

Keep Playing To Unlock Everything

Remember how I said beat ‘em up games went largely dormant in the early 2000s? Well, there was one indie game whose remarkable success was a major contributing factor in ending that dormancy: Castle Crashers. When it originally launched on the Xbox Live Arcade back in 2008, it swiftly became one of the go-to games for local multiplayer, and its impressive replayability only contributed to that decisive victory.

Castle Crashers is a fairly simple, not to mention very silly, four-player beat ‘em up starring four hapless knights attempting to rescue the king’s four daughters from an evil wizard. Compared to other, newer beat ‘em ups, Castle Crashers isn’t a particularly deep game, combat-wise, but that also helps to make it more accessible to players who aren’t as familiar with the genre. Your knight of choice will also get progressively stronger as you progress, so the learning curve keeps things nice and smooth throughout.

More to the point, Castle Crashers is bursting at the seams with unlockables, including characters, weapons, and little animal buddies. Most of the characters require you to beat the game with specific other characters, so there’s going to be a lot of clears in your future if you want to unlock everything.

2

River City Girls

Short, Sweet, Yet Deceptively Deep

The River City/Kunio-Kun franchise is one of the oldest and most well-regarded in beat ’em up history. River City Ransom, in particular, was a departure from linear beat ‘em ups of the time, incorporating an open map with action RPG elements. That particular flavor of beat ‘em up persists through one of the franchise’s spin-offs, River City Girls.

River City Girls stars Kyoko and Misako, Kunio and Rikki’s girlfriends, as they slug their way through River City in search of them. Like their predecessors, River City Girls is a semi-open beat ‘em up with a map to explore and quests to complete. Rather than individual stages, the game regularly places “screen locks,” which you can only break by beating up everyone on screen. There’s also a leveling system, unlockable moves via dojos, and various forms of equippable accessories available in shops.

The game has two endings, the better of which you need to complete a game-spanning sidequest to unlock, so there’s a lot to keep you busy after the credits roll. Incidentally, River City Girls 2 is also a very replayable beat ‘em up, but I think the first game has a slight edge in that department just because its map is a little more concise.

1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Replay It Alone, Replay It With Friends

If you ask any veteran of the arcade years what their favorite beat ‘em up was, odds are strong a statistically significant portion will say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. It’s no secret, those Turtles know how to carry a sidescroller. It shouldn’t be particularly surprising, then, that one of the most replayable modern beat ‘em ups, and one of the best beat ‘em ups in general, is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

Shredder’s Revenge is an old-school beat ‘em up with new-school sensibilities, letting you play not just as the Turtles, but April and Splinter as you take on Shredder and his Foot Clan flunkies. There’s both a traditional arcade mode if you want to keep things concise, and a more elaborate story mode, which features various sidequests and secrets to uncover. You have most of the playable roster from the start, though you do need to beat the game at least once to unlock Casey Jones, which is a worthy cause if ever there was one.

There are also achievements to unlock for leveling up the characters and beating story mode with each, so you’ll have plenty to keep you busy. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that the game’s DLC adds a survival mode for those who want to spend more time with the combat without going through the levels again, as well as two additional playable characters.