side-scrolling beat’em ups are almost a
lost art and in our opinion they’re
overdue for a comeback welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be redux
in our countdown of the top pen
side-scrolling beat’em ups for this list
we’ve selected the best and the most
iconic side-scrolling beat’em ups of all
time sticking to our usual one entry per
franchise number 10 river city ransom
barf okay so the first best thing about
River City ransom are the awesome Batman
style exclamations that fatties give off
when you’re pummeling them including
repeatedly yelling barf and Wham on top
of the hilarious graphics and style
River City ransom is still an insanely
fun co-op brawler and one of the most
underrated games on the NES as one of
the first of its genre River City ransom
incorporated RPG style character
leveling mechanics and an open-ended
exploration system placing it firmly
ahead of its time
number nine golden axe golden axe is a
fantasy themed brawler with lots of
magic and mystical creatures you are
tasked with hacking through legions of
baddies in an effort to reach dark adder
an evil sorcerer that is unleash chaos
upon the land golden axe was an early
example of an arcade port done right
with solid graphics and ever-important
co-op mode intact plus the game features
a barbarian character known as axe
battler who for some reason doesn’t use
an axe but rather uses a sword so that’s
kind of funny right number eight
Battletoads
Battletoads follows two anthropomorphic
toads rations it’s as they embark on a
quest to save their buddy pimple and his
girlfriend Angelica in case you didn’t
know this is probably one of the hardest
games ever created but there’s nothing
more satisfying than working together
with your friend to get past that damn
hover bike level and finally lay the
smackdown on the Dark Queen an
additional fun fact is that Battletoads
was an early game for rare who would go
on to create some of the most revered
games for the SNES and n64 number 7
x-men arcade the x-men with their varied
powers and skill sets make up the
perfect cast of selectable characters
for a side-scrolling beat-em-up
that combined with the unique and
awesome six player co-op arcade cabinets
makes x-men a mainstay at the arcades
even to this day faithfully recreated
characters and tight gameplay made this
the ultimate comic book game for years
to come x-men arcade also features some
classic hilarious localization problems
including when magneto says I am Magneto
master of magnet
number six alien versus Predator todd
todd alien vs. predator is filled with
crazy action screen filling brawls and
probably the nicest graphics and sound
quality of any old-school brawler a VP
has the honor of being the best alien
versus Predator crossover ever and that
includes the PC titles and those movies
which are best not mentioned the only
problem with a VP is when your friends
both pick predator characters you get
stuck using one of the humans no matter
how many fancy toys the humans might
have they will never be as badass as the
Predators number 5 The Simpsons arcade
game quick named the best Simpsons
videogame okay so assuming you didn’t
say hit and run the other thing you
would have said is the Simpsons arcade
game after Maggie is kidnapped by mr.
burns and Smithers the iconic family
heads out to get her back clobbering
their way through hundreds of cronies
and thugs The Simpsons is not the first
franchise you might think of when it
comes to brawling yet somehow the
vibrant animation style and sense of
humor works perfectly in Konami’s arcade
masterpiece number four final fight
final fight took the formula established
by the games like Double Dragon and
improved upon everything with better
graphics and tighter controls final
fight is difficult but somebody needs to
clean up the streets of Metro City and
save Jessica the mayor’s daughter final
fight co-stars a giant muscle-bound
professional wrestler Hagar who is also
the mayor of the city and that’s just
plain awesome beyond hag our final fight
is chunk full of memorable capcom
characters including guy cody poison and
hugo who all became mainstays in
Capcom’s classic street fighter series
number 3 Double Dragon our capers
double dragon is the granddaddy of
side-scrolling beat’em ups hundreds of
games imitated double dragon including
the sequel double dragon – but the
original stands out as a great co-op
roller in its own right the concept is
simple
choose a brother Billy or Jimmy and
clobber your way through legions of gang
members using kung fu and even a few
weapons in order to save your girlfriend
Marion from big boss Willy the later NES
port of Double Dragon was immensely
popular for home gamers even though the
crucial co-op mode was unfortunately cut
number two Streets of Rage 2 the
original Streets of Rage was Sega
cashing in on the white-hot arcade
beat-em-up market
though it wasn’t a bad game the sequel
is where Sega struck gold Streets of
Rage 2 was the perfect storm of brawling
perfection combining slick animation
spectacular music interesting characters
both good and bad and one of the deepest
combat systems seen in the genre up
until that point will you be the one to
stop the dastardly mr. X and his legions
of street thugs before we unveil our top
pick here are a few honorable mentions
number one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
four turtles in time
what happens when you combine two of the
hugest sensations of the early 90s the
Ninja Turtles and side-scrolling beat’em
ups why you get turtles in time the most
iconic brawler in gaming history turtles
in time combines perfect gameplay with
the classic poopy turtles humor and
style the time-travel concept also
allows for some rad level design one
second you’ll be beating up Dino riding
foot soldiers in the prehistoric age and
the next you’re in the far future
fighting Krang on a high-tech hoverboard
agree with our list
did we forget any face puddling
beat-em-ups for more butt-kickin top 10s
published every day be sure to subscribe
to watchmojo.com
you
lost art and in our opinion they’re
overdue for a comeback welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be redux
in our countdown of the top pen
side-scrolling beat’em ups for this list
we’ve selected the best and the most
iconic side-scrolling beat’em ups of all
time sticking to our usual one entry per
franchise number 10 river city ransom
barf okay so the first best thing about
River City ransom are the awesome Batman
style exclamations that fatties give off
when you’re pummeling them including
repeatedly yelling barf and Wham on top
of the hilarious graphics and style
River City ransom is still an insanely
fun co-op brawler and one of the most
underrated games on the NES as one of
the first of its genre River City ransom
incorporated RPG style character
leveling mechanics and an open-ended
exploration system placing it firmly
ahead of its time
number nine golden axe golden axe is a
fantasy themed brawler with lots of
magic and mystical creatures you are
tasked with hacking through legions of
baddies in an effort to reach dark adder
an evil sorcerer that is unleash chaos
upon the land golden axe was an early
example of an arcade port done right
with solid graphics and ever-important
co-op mode intact plus the game features
a barbarian character known as axe
battler who for some reason doesn’t use
an axe but rather uses a sword so that’s
kind of funny right number eight
Battletoads
Battletoads follows two anthropomorphic
toads rations it’s as they embark on a
quest to save their buddy pimple and his
girlfriend Angelica in case you didn’t
know this is probably one of the hardest
games ever created but there’s nothing
more satisfying than working together
with your friend to get past that damn
hover bike level and finally lay the
smackdown on the Dark Queen an
additional fun fact is that Battletoads
was an early game for rare who would go
on to create some of the most revered
games for the SNES and n64 number 7
x-men arcade the x-men with their varied
powers and skill sets make up the
perfect cast of selectable characters
for a side-scrolling beat-em-up
that combined with the unique and
awesome six player co-op arcade cabinets
makes x-men a mainstay at the arcades
even to this day faithfully recreated
characters and tight gameplay made this
the ultimate comic book game for years
to come x-men arcade also features some
classic hilarious localization problems
including when magneto says I am Magneto
master of magnet
number six alien versus Predator todd
todd alien vs. predator is filled with
crazy action screen filling brawls and
probably the nicest graphics and sound
quality of any old-school brawler a VP
has the honor of being the best alien
versus Predator crossover ever and that
includes the PC titles and those movies
which are best not mentioned the only
problem with a VP is when your friends
both pick predator characters you get
stuck using one of the humans no matter
how many fancy toys the humans might
have they will never be as badass as the
Predators number 5 The Simpsons arcade
game quick named the best Simpsons
videogame okay so assuming you didn’t
say hit and run the other thing you
would have said is the Simpsons arcade
game after Maggie is kidnapped by mr.
burns and Smithers the iconic family
heads out to get her back clobbering
their way through hundreds of cronies
and thugs The Simpsons is not the first
franchise you might think of when it
comes to brawling yet somehow the
vibrant animation style and sense of
humor works perfectly in Konami’s arcade
masterpiece number four final fight
final fight took the formula established
by the games like Double Dragon and
improved upon everything with better
graphics and tighter controls final
fight is difficult but somebody needs to
clean up the streets of Metro City and
save Jessica the mayor’s daughter final
fight co-stars a giant muscle-bound
professional wrestler Hagar who is also
the mayor of the city and that’s just
plain awesome beyond hag our final fight
is chunk full of memorable capcom
characters including guy cody poison and
hugo who all became mainstays in
Capcom’s classic street fighter series
number 3 Double Dragon our capers
double dragon is the granddaddy of
side-scrolling beat’em ups hundreds of
games imitated double dragon including
the sequel double dragon – but the
original stands out as a great co-op
roller in its own right the concept is
simple
choose a brother Billy or Jimmy and
clobber your way through legions of gang
members using kung fu and even a few
weapons in order to save your girlfriend
Marion from big boss Willy the later NES
port of Double Dragon was immensely
popular for home gamers even though the
crucial co-op mode was unfortunately cut
number two Streets of Rage 2 the
original Streets of Rage was Sega
cashing in on the white-hot arcade
beat-em-up market
though it wasn’t a bad game the sequel
is where Sega struck gold Streets of
Rage 2 was the perfect storm of brawling
perfection combining slick animation
spectacular music interesting characters
both good and bad and one of the deepest
combat systems seen in the genre up
until that point will you be the one to
stop the dastardly mr. X and his legions
of street thugs before we unveil our top
pick here are a few honorable mentions
number one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
four turtles in time
what happens when you combine two of the
hugest sensations of the early 90s the
Ninja Turtles and side-scrolling beat’em
ups why you get turtles in time the most
iconic brawler in gaming history turtles
in time combines perfect gameplay with
the classic poopy turtles humor and
style the time-travel concept also
allows for some rad level design one
second you’ll be beating up Dino riding
foot soldiers in the prehistoric age and
the next you’re in the far future
fighting Krang on a high-tech hoverboard
agree with our list
did we forget any face puddling
beat-em-ups for more butt-kickin top 10s
published every day be sure to subscribe
to watchmojo.com
you
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