Beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring melee combat

Mêlée

Melee , generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual....

 between the protagonist and a large number of underpowered antagonists. These games typically take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical or fantasy themes. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling

Scrolling

In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...

, two-dimensional

2D computer graphics

2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...

 (2D) levels, though some later games feature more open three-dimensional

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 (3D) environments with yet larger numbers of enemies. These games are noted for their simple gameplay

Gameplay

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

, a source of both critical acclaim and derision. Two-player cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...

 and multiple player character

Player character

A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...

s are also hallmarks of the genre.

The first influential beat 'em up was 1984's Kung-Fu Master, with 1986's Renegade

Renegade (video game)

Renegade is a video game released in American and European arcades in 1986 by Taito. It is a westernized conversion of the Japanese arcade game , released earlier the same year by Technos...

 introducing the urban settings and underworld revenge themes employed extensively by later games. The genre then saw a period of high popularity between the release of Double Dragon

Double Dragon

is a classic beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technos Japan Corporation, who also developed the Kunio-kun series ....

 in 1987, which defined the two-player cooperative mode central to classic beat 'em ups, and 1991's Street Fighter II

Street Fighter II

is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...

, which drew gamers towards one-on-one fighting game

Fighting game

Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...

s. Games such as Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2, known in Japan as , and in Europe as Streets of Rage II with a Roman numeral, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released by Sega in 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The game is also playable in the game Sonic's Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection...

, Final Fight

Final Fight

is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...

 and Golden Axe

Golden Axe

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling beat 'em up and hack & slash arcade video game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the Golden Axe series....

 are other classics to emerge from this period. The genre has been less popular since the emergence of 3D-based mass-market games, but still some beat 'em ups adapted the simple formula to utilize large-scale 3D environments.

Definition

A beat 'em up (sometimes also called "brawlers") is a type of action game

Action game

Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...

 where the player character must fight a large number of enemies in unarmed combat or with melee weapon

Mêlée weapon

A melee weapon is any weapon that does not involve a projectile — that is, both the user and target of the weapon are in contact with it simultaneously in normal use...

s. Gameplay consists of walking through a level

Level (video gaming)

A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...

, one section at a time, defeating a group of enemies before advancing to the next section; a boss fight normally occurs at the end of each level. However arcade versions of these games are often quite difficult to win, causing players to spend more money to try to win.

Beat 'em ups are related to—but distinct from—fighting games, which are based around one-on-one matches rather than scrolling levels and multiple enemies. Such terminology is loosely applied, however, as some commentators prefer to conflate the two terms. At times, both one-on-one fighting games and scrolling beat 'em ups have influenced each other in terms of graphics and style and can appeal to fans of either genre. Occasionally, a game will feature both kinds of gameplay.

Game design

Levels and enemies

Games usually employ vigilante crime fighting and revenge plots with the action taking place on city streets, though historical and fantasy themed games also exist. Players must walk from one end of the game world to the other, and thus each game level will usually scroll horizontally. Some later beat 'em ups dispense with 2D

2D computer graphics

2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...

-based scrolling levels, instead allowing the player to roam around larger 3D

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 environments, though they retain the same simple gameplay and control systems. Throughout the level, players may acquire weapons that they can use as well as power-up

Power-up

In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...

s that replenish the player's health

Health (gaming)

Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....

.

As players walk through the level, they are stopped by groups of enemies who must be defeated before they can continue. The level ends when all the enemies are defeated. Each level contains many identical groups of enemies, making these games notable for their repetition. In beat 'em up games, players often fight a boss—an enemy much stronger than the other enemies—at the end of each level. In fact, the term "boss" likely originated in beat 'em ups, since this final enemy was literally the captain of the enemies seen earlier in the level.

Multiple characters and players

Beat 'em ups often allow the player to choose between a selection of protagonists—each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and set of moves. Attacks can include rapid combinations of basic attacks (combos) as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Characters often have their own special attacks

Superpower (ability)

Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...

, which leads to different strategies depending on which character the player selects. The control system is usually simple to learn, comprising as little as two buttons. These buttons can be combined to pull off combos, as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Since the release of Double Dragon

Double Dragon

is a classic beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technos Japan Corporation, who also developed the Kunio-kun series ....

, many beat 'em ups have allowed two players to play the game cooperatively

Cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...

—a central aspect to the appeal of these games. Beat 'em ups are more likely to feature cooperative play than other game genres.

Origin

The first game to feature fist fighting was Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

's boxing game Heavyweight Champ (1976), which was viewed from a side-view perspective like later fighting games. Sega followed it with several more fighting games, including Samurai (1980), a martial arts themed arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 where the player simultaneously fought multiple opponents in an enclosed area, before proceeding to fight a master samurai in a boss encounter. Bruce Lee (1983) was a martial arts themed single-screen computer platform game

Platform game

A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...

 that featured fist-fighting, while Chuck Norris Superkicks

Chuck Norris Superkicks

Chuck Norris Superkicks, is a 1983 video game produced by Xonox where the player takes control of Chuck Norris himself. It was also sold as "Kung Fu Superkicks" when the license for the use of the name 'Chuck Norris' expired.- Gameplay:...

 (1983) was a martial arts themed Atari 2600

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...

 action-adventure game

Action-adventure game

An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...

 which used a vertical-scrolling overhead view for exploration and random encounter

Random encounter

A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby encounters with non-player character enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random...

s that switched to a single-screen side view for one-on-one fighting.

However, it was Data East

Data East

also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...

's fighting game Karate Champ

Karate Champ

Karate Champ, known in Japan as is a arcade game developed by Technos Japan Corporation for Data East. It is one of the first fighting games, and has been believed to be the first to use today's common side-perspective...

 (1984) which popularized martial arts themed games. The same year, Irem's Hong Kong cinema

Hong Kong action cinema

Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...

-inspired Kung-Fu Master (known as Spartan X

Wheels on Meals

Wheels on Meals is a 1984 Hong Kong martial arts action film written and directed by Sammo Hung. Starring in the film are Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao...

 in Japan) laid the foundations for side-scrolling

Side-scrolling video game

A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...

 beat 'em ups with its simple gameplay and multiple enemies. Later that year, Karateka

Karateka (video game)

Karateka is a 1984 computer game by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia. Karateka was Mechner's first hit game, and was designed while he was attending Yale University. The game was renowned at the time for its realistic animations. In the United States, Karateka was published by...

 combined the one-on-one fight sequences of Karate Champ with the freedom of movement in Kung-Fu Master, and it successfully experimented with adding plot to its fighting action. It was also among the first beat 'em ups to be successfully ported

Porting

In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 to home systems. Another title that year, Chinese Hero

Chinese Hero (arcade)

is an arcade action game developed by Nihon Game and published by Taiyo System in October 1984. Chinese Hero is the first game in the Super Chinese series by Culture Brain. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System as Kung Fu Heroes in 1986.-Gameplay:The player controls the main character...

, experimented with two-player cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...

 and used an overheard view. Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun

Renegade (video game)

Renegade is a video game released in American and European arcades in 1986 by Taito. It is a westernized conversion of the Japanese arcade game , released earlier the same year by Technos...

, released in 1986 in Japan, deviated from the martial arts themes of earlier games and introduced street brawling to the genre. The Western adaptation Renegade (released the same year) added an underworld revenge plot that proved more popular with gamers than the principled combat sport of other games. Renegade set the standard for future beat 'em up games as it introduced the ability to move both horizontally and vertically

Belt scroll

Belt scroll is a video game genre that is side-scrolling action with downward camera angle. The character is able to move not only sideways but also vertical to depth within limited area.This term is mainly used in Japan...

. It also introduced the use of combo attacks; in contast to earlier games, the opponents in Renegade and Double Dragon could take much more punishment, requiring a succession of punches, with the first hit temporarily immobilizing the enemy, making him unable to defend himself against successive punches.

Golden age

In 1987, the release of Double Dragon

Double Dragon

is a classic beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technos Japan Corporation, who also developed the Kunio-kun series ....

 ushered in a "Golden Age" for the beat 'em up genre that lasted nearly five years. The game was designed as Technōs Japan's spiritual successor to Renegade, but it took the genre to new heights with its detailed set of martial arts attacks and its outstanding two-player cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...

. Double Dragons success largely resulted in a flood of beat 'em ups that came in the late 1980s, where acclaimed titles such as Golden Axe

Golden Axe

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling beat 'em up and hack & slash arcade video game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the Golden Axe series....

 and Final Fight

Final Fight

is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...

 (both 1989) distinguished themselves from the others. Final Fight

Final Fight

is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...

 was Capcom's

Capcom

is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...

 intended sequel to Street Fighter

Street Fighter

, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...

 (provisionally titled Street Fighter '89), but the company ultimately gave it a new title. In contrast to the simple combo attacks in Renegade and Double Dragon, the combo attacks in Final Fight were much more dynamic. Acclaimed as the best game in the genre, Final Fight spawned two sequels and was later ported to other systems. Golden Axe was acclaimed for its visceral hack and slash

Hack and slash

Hack and slash or hack and slay, abbreviated H&S or HnS, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat. "Hack and slash" was originally used to describe an aspect of pen-and-paper role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs, MMORPGs, and video games in general...

 action and cooperative mode and was influential through its selection of multiple protagonists with distinct fighting styles. It is considered one of the strongest beat 'em up titles for its fantasy elements, distinguishing it from the urban settings seen in other beat 'em ups. Another highly lauded beat 'em up—River City Ransom

River City Ransom

River City Ransom, released as in Japan and as Street Gangs in PAL regions, is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was developed by Technōs Japan and originally released in Japan on April 25, 1989. It is the third game in Technos' Kunio-kun series released for the console,...

 (1989), named Street Gangs in Europe—featured role-playing game

Role-playing video game

Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...

 elements with which the player's character could be upgraded, using money stolen from defeated enemies. It was also non-linear, allowing players to explore an open world

Open world

An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...

. In 1990, SNK

SNK Playmore

SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....

 released beat 'em ups with a first-person

First person (video games)

In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...

 perspective: the hack & slash game Crossed Swords

Crossed Swords (video game)

Crossed Swords is a hack & slash action RPG arcade game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade system in 1990 and Neo Geo console in 1991...

, and the fighting & shooting game Super Spy

The Super Spy

Super Spy is an early SNK game, made in 1990 for the Neo Geo. It is a first-person shooter and beat 'em up game in which players move through the many floors of an office building shooting terrorists. It was an early example of a first-person shooter where the player character's arms and weapons...

.

The acclaimed Streets of Rage

Streets of Rage

Streets of Rage, known in Japan as , is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released by Sega in 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It is the first installment of the Streets of Rage series which was followed by Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3. The game was also converted over to Sega's Game...

 series was launched in the early 1990s and borrowed heavily from Final Fight. Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2, known in Japan as , and in Europe as Streets of Rage II with a Roman numeral, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released by Sega in 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The game is also playable in the game Sonic's Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection...

 for Sega's Mega Drive was notable for being one of the first console games to match the acclaim of arcade beat 'em ups. Its level design was praised for taking traditional beat 'em up settings and stringing them together in novel ways, and its success led to it being ported to arcades. Like Final Fight, Streets of Rage 2 has been claimed as "by far the best" scrolling beat 'em up. Another notable beat 'em up was Sega's Arabian Fight

Arabian Fight

is a scrolling beat 'em up arcade game released by Sega in 1992.Unlike many of Sega's arcade titles the game was never 'ported' to a home console, presumed reasons include size and the impressive sprite scaling and effects used in the gameplay and lack of popularity or notoriety in comparison to...

 (1992), which featured four-player cooperative gameplay and a three-dimensional playfield where players could move between several layers of scrolling backgrounds

Parallax scrolling

Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...

. The beat 'em up was also a popular genre for video games based on television series and movies, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade game)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Super Kame Ninja in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up released by Konami as a coin-operated video game in...

 a surprise success, and encouraged many more beat 'em up games based on the characters

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...

. However, the "Golden Age" of the genre ended in the wake of the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II

Street Fighter II

is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...

 (1991), which drew gamers back towards one-on-one fighting games, while the subsequent emerging popularity of 3D video games diminished the popularity of 2D-based pugilistic games in general. By the mid-1990s, the genre suffered from a lack of innovation.

32-bit era onward

Core Design's

Core Design

Core Design was a British video game studio best known today for creating the popular Tomb Raider series.-History:Based in the city of Derby, England, Core Design was set up in 1988 by Chris Shrigley, Andy Green, Rob Toone, Terry Lloyd, Simon Phipps, Dave Pridmore, Jeremy Heath-Smith and Greg Holmes...

 Fighting Force

Fighting Force

Fighting Force is a 1997 3D beat 'em up developed by Core Design and published by Eidos in the same lines of classics such as Final Fight and Streets of Rage...

 (1997) was anticipated to redefine the genre for 32-bit consoles through its use of a 3D environment. However, it was met with a lukewarm reception. The Dynasty Warriors

Dynasty Warriors

is a series of tactical action video games created by Omega Force and Koei. The award-winning series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, based loosely around the Chinese classical novel of the same name. The first game titled Dynasty Warriors,...

 series, beginning with Dynasty Warriors 2

Dynasty Warriors 2

is a crowd-combat fighting sequel to the fighting game Dynasty Warriors. It is the second game in the Dynasty Warriors series, but the first in the Shin Sangokumusō series. The game was released in other countries as Dynasty Warriors 2, leading to the discrepancy in title numbers...

 in 2000, offered traditional beat 'em up action on large 3D battlefields, displaying dozens of characters on the screen at a time. The series to date spans 14 games (including expansions) which players in the West view as overly similar, although the games' creators claim their large audience in Japan appreciates the subtle differences between the titles. While critics saw Dynasty Warriors 2 as innovative and technically impressive, they held a mixed opinion of later titles. These later games received praise for simple, enjoyable gameplay but were simultaneously derided as overly simplistic and repetitive. Another best-selling Japanese series, Yakuza

Yakuza (series)

Yakuza is a Fighting game video game franchise created by Amusement Vision and owned and published by Sega.The series has sold at least 3.2 million copies as of March 2009...

, combined elaborate plots and detailed interactive environments with street brawling action. Despite these releases, game reviewers started to pronounce that the genre had died off. By 2002, there were virtually no new beat 'em ups being released in arcades.

Capcom's Viewtiful Joe

Viewtiful Joe

is a video game developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was originally released in 2003 as a part of the Capcom Five under director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba. Viewtiful Joe was later ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 by the same design team under the...

 (2003) used cel-shaded

Cel-shaded animation

Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games...

 graphics and innovative gameplay features (such as the protagonist's special powers) to "reinvigorate" its traditional 2D scrolling formula. The Behemoth

The Behemoth

The Behemoth is a video game development company that was created in 2002 by John Baez, artist Dan Paladin , and programmers Tom Fulp , Brandon LaCava, and Nick Dryburgh. Dryburgh later left the company. The Behemoth development studio is located in San Diego, California...

's Castle Crashers

Castle Crashers

Castle Crashers is a beat 'em up console video game independently developed by The Behemoth and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It features music created by members of Newgrounds. The Xbox 360 version was released on August 27, 2008 via Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade...

 (2008) also featured cartoon graphics, quirky humor, and acclaimed cooperative gameplay. Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...

' The Warriors

The Warriors (video game)

The Warriors is a beat 'em up video game published by Rockstar Games. It was released on October 17, 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and February 12, 2007 for PlayStation Portable. The game is based on the 1979 film, The Warriors...

 (based on the 1979 movie of the same name), released in 2005, featured large scale brawling in 3D environments interspersed with other activities such as chase sequences. The game also featured a more traditional side-scrolling beat 'em up Armies of the Night as bonus content, which was acclaimed along with the main game and was later released on the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

. Releases such as God Hand

God Hand

God Hand is a 2006 PlayStation 2 gameGod hand may also refer to:-Video games:* Ken "Godhand" Mishima, a character from the PlayStation game, Ehrgeiz* Godhand, the demonic version of Lenny from Shadow Hearts: Covenant...

 in 2006 and MadWorld

MadWorld

is a video game developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega. It was released for the Wii on March 10, 2009 in North America, on March 20 in Europe, March 26 in Australia, and February 10 in Japan...

 in 2009 were seen as parodies

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of violence in popular culture, earning both games praise for not taking themselves as seriously as early beat 'em up games. Classic beat 'em ups have been re-released on services such as the Virtual Console

Virtual console

A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...

; critics reaffirmed the appeal of some, while the appeal of others has been deemed to have diminished with time. Although the genre lacks the same presence it did in the late 1980s, some titles such as Viewtiful Joe and God Hand kept the genre alive.

In recent years, the beat 'em up genre has seen a revival in the form of popular 3D hack and slash

Hack and slash

Hack and slash or hack and slay, abbreviated H&S or HnS, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat. "Hack and slash" was originally used to describe an aspect of pen-and-paper role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs, MMORPGs, and video games in general...

 games, including Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry

is an action game developed and published by Capcom, released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Although it is the first game in the series of the same name, the events in Devil May Cry are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and...

 (2001 onwards), Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden

is a series of video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as in Japan. The word "gaiden" in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side-story" in Japanese, even though the Ninja Gaiden series is not a spinoff of a previous series...

 (2004 onwards), God of War

God of War (series)

God of War is a series of action-adventure video games based on Greek mythology.The main trilogy—God of War I, II, & III—in the series were developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's Santa Monica division , with Ready at Dawn Studios developing the PSP and Javaground the mobile phone installment...

 (2005 onwards), Heavenly Sword

Heavenly Sword

Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe...

 (2006), Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai (video game)

Currently the Metacritic score is 65. GameSpot gave it a 7.0 and IGN gave it a 6.6. Namco Bandai posted on its fiscal year report that the game sold 420,000 copies across all platforms in the US and Europe.-External links:* * at The Internet Movie Database...

 (2009), and Bayonetta

Bayonetta

is a hack and slash action game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 developed by Platinum Games in cooperation with publisher Sega. Set in a fictional city in Europe, the game centers on its title character, Bayonetta, who uses pistols and magical attacks to defeat enemies...

 (2009). Several traditional 2D scrolling beat 'em ups have also been released in recent years, including Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game based on the Scott Pilgrim series of comic books by Bryan Lee O'Malley, tying in with the release of the film of the same name. It is published by Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal with Ubisoft Chengdu. The game was...

(2010).