Beat 'em up
A beat 'em up, also known as a scrolling beat 'em up or "brawl-me-do", is a video game genre famed for its simplicity, violence and accurate depiction of postmodern urban society in America. Despite its enormous popularity during the early nineties, the genre has become less widely accepted, partly due to its own effects on the crime rate. Police forces around the world became conscious of the threat of spontaneous beat 'em uppery as depicted within the games, giving rise to 'beat 'em up orientated policing'. Ordinary citizens also became 'beat 'em up aware' during the peak of the genre's popularity, causing countless incidents of unmotivated face bashing, head smashing and snacking on of hamburgers hidden in conspicuous wooden crates.
Game design[edit | edit source]
Gameplay in a beat 'em up game consists of repeatedly smashing several buttons at random until the objective of beating 'em up has been completed, or until the game controller has been mangled unusable. Players partake in spur-of-the-moment vigilante-ism across identical stages of filthy streets while beating up everything and everyone, for reasons depicted in cutscenes and dialogue which the players skip in a state of manic rage. Distinguishing potential villains from innocent civilians is not necessary. They've all called your mother with derogatory terms and deserve to get their heads bashed in.
Weapons and power-ups are obtained through scavenging strategically placed garbage bins while the player's health bar is replenished by eating rotten fast food found laying on the ground, a game mechanic which has been a subject of frequent criticism from health organizations and concerned parents. Common story themes in beat 'em up games include beating up terrorists that have kidnapped the daughter of the city mayor, beating up terrorists that threaten to bomb the city mayor's office building, beating up terrorists for fun while banging the daughter of the city mayor and beating up your wife(s) that are actually terrorists in disguise.
A typical play-through of a beat 'em up game is rarely a challenge, as they're mostly infested with mindless roving thugs that fall in a mere couple of jabs. A notable feature in the beat 'em up villains is their noticeable genetic similarity and their shared fashion sense, although they are sometimes accompanied with their friends who shop at the same stores but prefer green or blue jackets to their reds. Occasionally stronger and lot more conspicuous enemies show up amidst the suicidal drones, and chances are that they are referred to as "bosses" of unspecified companies. These overpowered enemies are designed to drain players off their pocket money and arcade credits, eventually causing them to give up and to return to their more prosaic "pre-beat 'em up" life without all the thrills of jump-kicking, lead pipe swinging and the special moves.
Characters[edit | edit source]
The cast of playable characters in a beat 'em up game usually consists of a slow, strong character; a fast, weak character; and an average, average character. Their names emit overwhelming manliness and must consist of no more than just two syllables, since the tough conditions on the mean streets (and the limited memory on arcade machines) require a quick and ruthless name. A name like a switchblade - for example, "Switch Blade". Other popular - and often recycled - character names in beat 'em ups include Cody Lee, Mike Fist, Jimmy Kick and Guy Mann.
Popular beat'em up games[edit | edit source]
- Double Dragon
- Triple Dragon
- Quadruple Dragon
- Final Fight
- Backstreet Brawler
- Bad Street Brawler
- Streets of Rage
- Streets of Non-complacency
- Streets of the Slightly Irked
- Streets of Streets
- Long Nondescript Street of Monotonous Pummeling of Generic Thugs (parts I, II, and III)
- Mike Tyson's Flamboyant Fist Out
- Al Gore's Super Global Warming Punch-'em-Out