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'' ( 1984 , Irem ).]] Beat In this type of fighting game one or more players (most often two, but sometimes as many as six) each choose a unique character and team up to punch, kick, throw and slash their way through a horde of computer-controlled enemies. The fighting occurs in a series of Side-scrolling stages, some with a powerful Boss enemy at the end. In the most common variation, players can move away and toward the screen as well as left and right, although earlier scrolling fighting games such as '' Kung Fu '' were more likely to allow only single- Dimension al or Linear movement, plus jumping. This style is sometimes referred to as a walk and punch game. '' ( 1987 , Technos ).]] STYLES OF BEAT 'EM UPS There are two main variations on the style of gameplay: a and martial arts emphasized, or weapons emphasized. Fisticuff emphasized games focus on primarily fighting opponents with Hand To Hand Combat . On occasion these games will have weapons which the player can find lying around in the game world, or can take from opponents holding them (e.g. knocking down an opponent holding a bat in ''Double Dragon'' and ''Final Fight'' makes the opponent drop the bat). Since the primary focus of gameplay is hand-to-hand combat, it is common in this type of game for weapons to disappear relatively shortly after a player acquires them. This typically happens whenever a player is knocked down, uses the weapon more than specified number of times, or heads to another Stage . Example of games with martial arts emphasized include the '' Streets Of Rage '' series, '' River City Ransom '', '' Final Fight '', and the '' Double Dragon '' series. Weapons-emphasized games usually have a plethora of martial-arts weapons (such as Nunchaku and Shuriken ) as well as other types of weapons that are already at the player's disposal or can be found as the player progresses through the game. While some of these games do have hand-to-hand combat moves, like being able to throw a close-standing opponent, the focus is on Mêlée or Ranged weapon combat. Because the player is armed, these games typically have more opponents attacking a player at one time than games where the emphasis is on martial arts. Examples of games with weapons emphasized include the '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles '' series, '' Alien Vs. Predator '', '' Ninja Gaiden '' series, '' Devil May Cry '' series, '' Captain Commando '', '' Dynamite Cop '', ''Shinobi'' Series , '' Golden Axe '' series and '' Magic Sword ''. HISTORY Beginnings The game widely considered to have begun the genre was (known as "Renegade" in the US). Kunio-Kun introduced three features which would become central to the genre; a 3/4 view with the ability to move not only left and right but also vertically, in and out of the field of view, the 3-button "jump, left attack, right attack" control layout, and a unique boss at the end of each level. There are two features that most spefically set Kunio-Kun apart from its followers: the lack of multiplayer, and very small levels; in Kunio-Kun, each stage is set in an enclosed area, two screens in width, whereas all subsequent beat 'em ups involve fighting enemies and traversing obstacles along a long path that leads to the boss, in the style of most 2D scrolling video games. Golden age of scrolling fighting games '' ( 1989 , Capcom ).]] Starting in the mid '', '' Knights Of The Round '' and '' Alien Vs. Predator ''. Video Game Console s also had some very popular scrolling fighting games, particularly '' River City Ransom '' for the NES , and the '' Streets Of Rage '' series for the Sega Genesis . Modern scrolling fighting games While a few 3D scrolling fighting games exist (notably Urban Reign , Sega 's '' Die Hard Arcade '' and '' Spikeout '', Squaresoft 's '' The Bouncer '' and Konami 's remake of 1989 's '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''), they are much more a Niche genre than the 2D iterations were. They are mostly attempts to captialize on popular franchises on previous video game consoles. The major innovation that in the modern games is the introduction of Combo , and versus fighting game style moves to execute various attacks. In a combo system, the player can execute a certain series of moves to prevent the opponent from being able to counter attack and possibly receive bonuses for the number of consecutive hits. These gameplay extensions in part due to the expansion of the amount of buttons on modern controller interfaces, but also to add depth in what has been historically very simplistic gameplay (with some exceptions, such as the fighting system in the '' Kunio Kun '' games. However, modern scrolling fighting games have increasingly taken traditional gameplay elements created new hybrid gameplay with other genres. These games are charterized by an added depth accomplished by presenting variety of missions, much more gunplay (and fighting abilities that involve guns such as disarming moves), and slow-down/"berserk mode" abilities. Essentially, the 3d scrolling fighting game has been merged with the Third-person Shooter genre. Games that take this unified approach include '' BloodRayne '', '' The Warriors '', and '' Dead To Rights ''. SEE ALSO
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