Beat 'em ups are video games which pit a fighter or group of fighters against many underpowered enemies and bosses. Gameplay usually spans many levels, with most levels ending in an enemy boss. If multiple players are involved, players generally fight cooperatively.

It is often useful to characterise gameplay as either 2D (largely characterised by the player walking only to the left or right) or 3D (characterised by full movement in the implied horizontal plane, sometimes also with a button for jump). Graphics can likewise be categorised as 2D (with sprites, sometimes with an isometric or parallax effect) or 3D (polygons), or hybrid (e.g. sprite characters in front of polygon backgrounds, or vice versa).

Beat 'em ups

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Graphics 2D gameplay 3D gameplay
2D (sprites)

(Also known as single-plane or side-scrolling)

(Also known as belt scroll)

3D (polygons) (Also known as 2.5D)

Games with beat 'em up sections

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Hack 'n slash

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "First Samurai". Computer and Video Games. No. 121 (December 1991). 15 November 1991. pp. 28–30.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Complete Games Guide". Mean Machines. No. 20 (28 April 1992). May 1992. pp. 6, 14, 18, 20, 22, 26.
  3. ^ Reed, Kristan (4 January 2007). "Taito Legends Power-Up". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. ^ Gass, Zach (11 May 2020). "10 Awesome Hack and Slash Games That Aren't God of War". Screen Rant. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  5. ^ Greg Kasavin (2006-11-30). "Golden Axe Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  6. ^ Patrick Shaw (2008-05-16). "Golden Axe: Beast Rider". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  7. ^ Weiss, Brett (9 July 2018). Classic Home Video Games, 1989-1990: A Complete Guide to Sega Genesis, Neo Geo and TurboGrafx-16 Games. McFarland & Company. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-7864-9231-2.