The 15 Best Beat ‘Em Ups

The Punisher

• Release Date — April 1993
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Review Aggregate Score— 73% (Mixed or Average) (Genesis Version)
• Steam User Score — 93% (Very Positive) (Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection)
• Platforms — Arcade, Sega Genesis, PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

An oft-forgotten entry in Capcom’s large library of excellent beat ’em ups, The Punisher is a criminally overlooked game. Released at a time when The Punisher comic was riding high on Marvel’s sales charts thanks to the War Journal series, The Punisher arcade game is an appropriately dark and violent take on the character. Unlike most beat ’em ups of the era, The Punisher gives players plenty of firearms to use in combat, which turns it into a sort of blend between a traditional beat ’em up and a run ‘n gun, greatly switching up the game’s pacing in comparison to its contemporaries. While it does mostly stick to the template of other Capcom beat ’em ups like Final Fight and Captain Commando, The Punisher is a great comic book video game adaptation that deserves recognition as a top-tier beat ’em up game.

The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors

• Release Date — June 24, 2023
• Developer — NatsumeAtari
• Publisher — Taito
• Review Aggregate Score— 79% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch

Although Capcom and Konami’s coin-ops typically get the most love from fans when trying to rank the best beat ’em ups, it’s important to remember that there were several other companies producing genre entries that were just as good, if not better. One such title is Natsume’s NinjaWarriors, which was originally released in Arcades and on the SNES. Nearly 30 years later, Natsume would tackle the game again in a full-blown remake, unleashing the excellent The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors on PC and modern platforms, which does everything that the original NinjaWarriors did, but better.

The main element separating Ninja Saviors from other beat ’em ups is its use of a single plane, with characters unable to switch between the foreground, middle ground, and background. As a result, The Ninja Saviors has a distinct flow and pacing that forces players to use positioning and space wisely, and it gives players a varied cast of playable characters to use in doing so. It might not be as well-known as many of the Capcom and Konami classics, but The Ninja Saviors remake of the classic NinjaWarriors is no less essential for any beat ’em up fan.

Guardian Heroes

• Release Date — January 26, 1996
• Developer — Treasure
• Publisher — Sega
• Review Aggregate Score— 83% (Generally Favorable) (Xbox 360 Version)
• Steam User Score — N/A
• Platforms — Game Boy Advance, Sega Saturn, Xbox 360

Often considered one of the most innovative and original beat ’em up games for its time, Guardian Heroes also happens to be one of the Sega Saturn’s greatest titles. This RPG and beat ’em up hybrid saw players control one of a small handful of characters who each control differently, have different starting stats, and wield different combat abilities, taking these heroes through some brilliantly designed 2D stages that have enemies approaching from three distinct planes of action. In Guardian Heroes, switching between planes is done with a press of a button, which encourages players to play intently, always keep an eye on their surroundings, and respond to enemy advancements strategically to not become overwhelmed.

River City Girls

• Release Date — September 5, 2019
• Developer — WayForward
• Publisher — WayForward
• Review Aggregate Score— 79% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 84% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

The long-running Kunio Kun series is one of the most important legacies in the beat ’em up genre (for proof, look no further than the fact that three games from the Kunio Kun saga are on this list). But after years of having Kunio Kun‘s male leads chase down their kidnapped girlfriends, WayForward brilliantly flipped the script by giving players the chance to finally play as the proverbial damsels in distress: Kyoko and Misako. As it turns out, these River City Girls are just as adept at punching and kicking goons across Tokyo as their boyfriends, and when the chance to rescue Kunio and Riki presents itself, these heroines don’t hesitate to get out and beat the streets looking for a fight. River City Girls is the complete package, offering satisfying gameplay and killer retro-style presentation along with a humorous story that plays with genre conventions.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

• Release Date — June 16, 2022
• Developer — Tribute Games
• Publisher — Dotemu
• Review Aggregate Score— 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Let’s face it — The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and beat ’em ups go together like peanut butter and jelly. So to see everyone’s favorite “Heroes in a Half-Shell” return to the genre after so many years away is a welcome sign of all being right with the world. Fittingly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge feels like the perfect follow-up to Turtles in Time, making it seem like the amphibian heroes never skipped a beat in the ensuing 30 years between the two titles.

While it doesn’t quite live up to the same level of technical depth that Dotemu set with its other major modern beat ’em up (more on that later), Shredder’s Revenge is a different kind of game entirely. Shredder’s Revenge is frantic and fast, but most importantly, it’s fun, and its all-star cast of playable TMNT heroes gives it plenty of replay value either alone or in co-op.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

• Release Date — August 10, 2010
• Developer — Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Chengdu
• Publisher — Ubisoft
• Review Aggregate Score— 77% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 75% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS3, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim is a legendary graphic novel series that centers around the titular protagonist, a video game and pop culture-obsessed nerd who plays bass in a rock band. So it makes perfect sense for the title to get adapted into a video game, especially in the wake of Edgar Wright’s excellent Scott Pilgrim vs. The World live-action film adaptation. Rather than use the movie as its source material, the Scott Pilgrim game faithfully adapts O’Malley’s visuals from the graphic novel series, and its gameplay is pretty much a 1:1 homage to the beat ’em up classic River City Ransom. But, unlike River City Ransom, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is playable with up to 4 players in either local co-op or online, making it one of the best beat ’em ups to tackle with a friend while taking in its offbeat humor and meta-commentary.

X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse

• Release Date — November 1994
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Review Aggregate Score— 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — N/A
• Platforms — SNES

Unlike The Punisher, which has since broken free of its prison on the Sega Genesis to arrive on modern platforms and PC, Capcom’s X-Men Mutant Apocalypse is another of the company’s great comic book-themed beat ’em ups that remain exclusive to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. While most players would associate the X-Men with the two excellent side-scrolling Genesis games, X-Men Mutant Apocalypse is a phenomenal beat ’em up that deserves more love, including a modern re-release or remake. The main reason we have yet to see a re-release of the game may be due to its substantial challenge (which, admittedly, is tough as nails), but the large cast of playable heroes and iconic setpiece moments from the comics and animated series make this a must-play for any X-Men fan.

River City Ransom

• Release Date — April 25, 1989
• Developer — Technos Japan
• Publisher — Technos Japan
• Review Aggregate Score— 78% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — N/A
• Platforms — Famicom/NES, Game Boy Advance, PC Engine, Nintendo Switch, X68000

Technos Japan would end up being one of the major innovators in the beat ’em up scene following 1984’s Kung Fu Master from Data East, delivering the first Kunio Kun game a year later (released on the NES as Renegade) and then inventing the belt-scrolling beat ’em up with Double Dragon in 1987. But it would be the studio’s 1989 NES title River City Ransom (the fifth game in the Kunio Kun series) that would provide one of the genre’s greatest innovations with its blending of RPG-style character progression and free-roaming exploration within the context of a side-scrolling beat ’em up. It may seem like RPG mechanics and beat ’em up gameplay go hand-in-hand now, but at the time of River City Ransom‘s release, it was practically revolutionary, and the genre hasn’t been the same since.

Sifu

• Release Date — February 8, 2022
• Developer — Sloclap
• Publisher — Sloclap, Kepler Interactive
• Review Aggregate Score— 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 92% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Not all modern beat ’em ups tap into the nostalgia players have for the old-school, 2D side-scrolling games of the past. Instead, some modern games in the genre are attempting to push the envelope for what can be considered a “beat ’em up”, all while unmistakably fitting into the “beat ’em up” category. One of the greatest modern beat ’em ups, and perhaps the greatest 3D beat ’em up ever made, is Sifu.

The mechanics of Sifu see it land somewhere on the genre Venn diagram between being a classic beat ’em up, a roguelike, and a character action game. But as a lifelong beat ’em up fan playing through Sifu‘s first level, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the title absolutely nails exactly what beat ’em up developers in the 1980s would have done had they had access to the technology. Sifu is brutal, visceral, and challenging, but few games make you feel as effortlessly cool.

Double Dragon

• Release Date — April 8, 1988
• Developer — Technos Japan
• Publisher — Technos Japan (JP), Tradewest (NA)
• Review Aggregate Score— 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — N/A
• Platforms — Famicom/NES, Nintendo Switch

More than just the first entry in its own long-running series, Double Dragon is an important and foundational entry in the beat ’em up genre as the first game to utilize “belt-scrolling”. Technos Japan’s first Kunio Kun game (released in the West as Renegade) was similar to other early beat ’em ups in that all the action takes place on a single screen. For Double Dragon, the studio decided to implement a continuously scrolling series of screens that saw players traverse from left to right, giving the impression of progress and a longer adventure. This innovation would have an impact reaching far beyond beat ’em ups, going on to influence any arcade game that utilized scrolling, such as run ‘n guns and shmups.

Beyond the importance of its innovations, though, Double Dragon is just a great game. Specifically, we’re referencing the NES port from 1988, which adapted the arcade original into a game with some distinct differences while also lowering the difficulty. Like River City Ransom from a year later, it’s hard to imagine an NES library feeling complete without the original Double Dragon.

Dragon’s Crown

• Release Date — July 25, 2013
• Developer — Vanillaware
• Publisher — Atlus
• Review Aggregate Score— 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — N/A
• Platforms — PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita

Vanillaware‘s legacy is rooted in George Kamitani’s obvious love for mixing RPG mechanics and beat ’em up gameplay (as evidenced by the Sega Saturn classic Princess Crown), and Dragon’s Crown is perhaps the studio’s magnum opus, achieving the perfect blend between the two genres and being one of the best-looking games of its time. While Dragon’s Crown does share quite a bit of DNA with Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows over Mystara (which, coincidentally, Kamitani worked on during his tenure with Capcom), it goes all-in on its RPG mechanics and character progression in a way that few RPG/beat ’em up hybrids do, and it’s a more satisfying title for it. And it almost goes without saying that playing this game with a friend in co-op is some of the best local multiplayer fun one can have on the PlayStation 3 or 4.

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows over Mystara

• Release Date — February 1996
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Review Aggregate Score— 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 81% (Very Positive) (Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara)
• Platforms — Arcade, PC, PS3, Sega Saturn, Wii U, Xbox 360

If there’s one RPG/beat ’em up hybrid that deserves to sit at the top of the pile, it’s Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows over Mystara, a game that’s responsible for the existence of several other titles on this list. A sequel to the equally great Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, Shadows over Mystara is one of the first arcade beat ’em up titles to offer players branching paths for progression and a plethora of hidden and secret items to discover within the environment, which only serve to enhance the game’s replayability. Each of the different D&D classes players can choose from feels different in combat, and playing with a friend and finding the best complementary class combinations is part of the fun. On top of its mechanical brilliance, Shadows over Mystara looks incredible, bearing the high-quality 2D-pixel art synonymous with Capcom’s arcade coin-ops.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

• Release Date — March 1991
• Developer — Konami
• Publisher — Konami
• Review Aggregate Score— 83% (Generally Favorable) (SNES Version)
• Steam User Score — 88% (Very Positive) (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection)
• Platforms — Arcade, PC, PS4, PS5, SNES, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

At this point in the list, it’s worth pointing out that any of the next three games are practically interchangeable for the best beat ’em up game. Coming in first is the best of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games and one of the best beat ’em ups of all time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game was a major success for Konami, so it only made sense for the company to follow it up with a bigger and better sequel. And boy howdy, is Turtles in Time bigger and better by every metric.

The original arcade version of Turtles in Time was already great as it is, but it would be the SNES port that would cement the title as one of the greatest beat ’em up games, thanks to its expanded campaign and seamless local co-op. To top it off, Turtles in Time features some of the best visuals and music of any Konami game on the SNES, making tossing Foot Soldiers at the screen look great almost 35 years later.

Final Fight

• Release Date — November 25, 1989
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Review Aggregate Score— 71% (Mixed or Average) (SNES Version)
• Steam User Score — 92% (Positive) (Capcom Arcade Stadium Version)
• Platforms — Arcade, Game Boy Advance, PC, PS3, PS4, Sega CD, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One

The original prototype for Street Fighter II, Capcom would recognize it had something else entirely on its hands with Final Fight, choosing to release it into arcades as the company’s take on the standard belt-scrolling beat ’em up. Unsurprisingly, Final Fight would become a massive success for Capcom, quickly turning into one of the studio’s most popular arcade cabinets and receiving ports for just about every home console and computer under the sun. While the SNES version does make some interesting concessions from the arcade original, it’s the version that many players are familiar with, and its place as a groundbreaking and eye-catching title in the SNES’s early library would help it become synonymous with the console (enough to where the game’s two sequels were SNES-exclusive).

Streets of Rage 4

• Release Date — April 30, 2020
• Developer — Dotemu, Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games
• Publisher — Dotemu
• Review Aggregate Score— 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 92% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

The original Streets of Rage games all lay claim to being some of the greatest beat ’em up titles, but it’s 2020’s Streets of Rage 4 that is both the best game in the series and perhaps the most mechanically rich and satisfying beat ’em up ever made. While beat ’em ups typically either veer toward fighting game complexity or frantic arcade action, Streets of Rage 4 somehow manages to sit right between the two, offering up a low floor for player entry while also providing one of the highest skill ceilings in the genre. Guard Crush Games and Dotemu truly understood the assignment when it came to crafting a modern reboot of one of the most legendary beat ’em up franchises, and together with Lizardcube’s art and animation, they also made Streets of Rage 4 one of the most visually appealing games in the genre.