Classic Beat’em Ups, Part 1

Believe it or not, the arcades were once a great place to hang out and play really cool video games. Back in the day, ticket games were only a very small attraction at arcades, as opposed to modern times when every arcade is now filled with crane games, quarter flippers and “stop the flashing light and WIN!” games. Of course, the arcades haven’t totally turned their back on the video games as evidenced by the presence of rundown machines like 18 Wheeler, Virtua Fighter and Police 911.

I enjoyed the fighting games, weird early 80s games and shooter games as much as anyone else, but my first love was and still is the beat’em up genre, where you continuously walked from one end of the screen to the other, giving anyone who stood in your way a taste of lethal bare knuckle street justice!

Here’s my absolute favorites of the genre, which I played CONSTANTLY “back in the day” and also a few that I’ve come to love in the last few years. Oh, and for the sake of not having a really long list (it’s already so big I’m cutting this into two parts), I won’t be including the hack ‘n’ slash genre which is very similar to beat’em ups, but had more of a fantasy/RPG element to it with, you guessed it, hacking and slashing with swords and what have you.

The Punisher (1993, Capcom)

This game is so fun. Just like with the Punisher comics, the violence is very over the top and I love it. Guns, swords, knives, bats, fire extinguishers, just about every you would want is a weapon in this game and you can even beat up the scenery, which is something I like to see in my beat’em ups.

Another cool bit is that you could also play through the game as Nick Fury if you chose to do so.

Kingpin is the game’s final boss.

Spider-Man: The Video Game (1991, Sega)

Though I consider Capcom to the king of the beat’em ups, Sega did very well for themselves with this nifty release (it’s a video game, you know). You had your choice of Spidey, Hawkeye, Namor the Sub-Mariner or Black Cat as you battle your way through villains like the Green Goblin, Scorpion and Venom as you make your way to the game’s lead baddie: Dr. Doom.

Though I enjoyed it, I always thought having Namor and Hawkeye in this game was a bit odd, but whatever. Variety is the spice of life, right?

The game moves a bit slow in my opinion compared to other beat’em ups, but I enjoyed the fact that the game strived for a comic book feel and I liked when the screen would pan out for a wider view as you fought your way across buildings.

X-Men (1992, Konami)

Another great Marvel title (where the HECK was DC in the early 90s ?!) and it helped to contribute to my love of the X-Men. It’s just a beautiful game and tThe roster of characters you could choose in this game is classic Claremont: Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and, um… Dazzler.

The mutant abilities were really fun to use, but when did Wolverine ever shoot energy beams out just by knocking his claws together? A couple different cabinets were issued, the one I grew up with was the 6-player cabinet, but there were a few that only allowed up to 4-players at once.

Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (1990, Sega)

The game’s premise: you (Michael Jackson) are on a mission to rescue a bunch of kids. Go ahead, make your jokes. I’ll wait.

You done?

I don’t really remember seeing this game in any arcade, but in Lynchburg, VA, there was a super drugstore called Phar-Mor (kind of a like a combination of Walgreens, Big Lots and Walmart) and they had it right by the door way and I threw a fit if I didn’t get to play Moonwalker!

I’ve played it recently, nostalgia has been kinder to it than reality has been, but I still had fun with it and I get a kick out of MJ moonwalking about and all the bad guys dancing and then dying when you get to use your “dance magic”.

The infamous Bubbles the monkey also makes an appearance in the game and whenever you catch him, you transform into a Robo-MJ of sorts and you can start shooting lasers at people.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989, Konami)

Oh, I love that cheesy title image! April looks like she been caught stealing (once, when she was five) and Shredder is either blind or drunk. Could this be the greatest arcade game of all time? Mmmmmaybe! It certainly was ported to the NES and became one of my favorite NES games of all-time (we’re talking Top 5) under the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: The Arcade Game.

While I’ve beaten that version plenty of times, I never did beat the original arcade version (those multiple Shredders always killed my quarters), but I sure had fun trying, taking on all sorts of foot soldiers and going against Bebop, Rocksteady and Baxter Stockman.