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80-551: ShiftyLook shut down on September 30, 2014. ShiftyLook was headed by editor-in-chief Robert Pereyda. The idea behind the company was to revive Namco's more obscure, dormant video game franchises for mediums such as webcomics and animations. Pereyda believed that entertainment formats like webcomics were largely successful, and that if these intellectual properties become popular through them, it could garner more interest in those series and make Namco Bandai interested in creating new games for them. Namco Bandai also believed that ShiftyLook

160-436: A shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm with fighting elements when he designed Kung-Fu Master . The game was also distinctive for its use of health meters , for both the player character and each boss. Another 1984 release, Bruce Lee , combined multi-player, multi-character combat with traditional collecting, platform and puzzle gameplay. Later that year, Karateka combined the one-on-one fight sequences of Karate Champ with

240-623: A "brawler") is a type of action game where the player character must fight a large number of enemies in unarmed combat or with melee weapons. Gameplay consists of walking through a level , 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. Arcade versions of these games are often quite difficult to win, causing players to spend more money. 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

320-516: A "comical action game", the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero with telescopic limbs, as he must defeat the villainous Dr. Bomb ("Dr. Bakuda" in Japan) before he takes over the world. Bravoman can use his arms, legs and head to defeat enemies, and can also crouch and jump over them. The game ran on the Namco System 1 arcade board. Conceived by Namco composer Norio Nakagata, Bravoman

400-435: A bionic tokusatsu superhero who possesses telescopic limbs. Bravoman and Alpha Man set out to stop Dr. Bomb and prevent him from taking over the world. Bravoman was the creation of Namco composer Norio Nakagata, who joined the company in the mid-1980s. He had previously directed the arcade game Genpei Tōma Den (1986), a hack and slash platform title that is claimed to be an early precursor to Bravoman . His goal for

480-662: A certain degree of success, and entered the Japanese arcade earnings charts at number-two in August 1996. Core Design 's Fighting Force (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 beat 'em up genre declined in the late 1990s, largely disappearing from arcades by the end of the decade. In 2000, Squaresoft published The Bouncer (2000), developed by DreamFactory and designed by former Virtua Fighter designer Seiichi Ishii , for

560-450: A combat motif as beat 'em ups, including fighting games. However, they were differentiated by a specific prefix; games like Double Dragon or Final Fight were called "scrolling beat 'em ups" and games such as Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat were referred to as "one on one beat 'em ups". Fighting games were still being called "beat 'em up" games in the UK gaming press up until the end of

640-517: A few properties, namely Bravoman , Wonder Momo , and Katamari , had reached the success the company had hoped for. Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool believes that financial difficulties were to blame for the company's downfall, despite the creative talent and marketing push behind it. Matt Moylan, the CEO of Udon and the writer for 300 strips of the Bravoman comic, described his work at ShiftyLook being "one of

720-403: A published book by Udon. An animated adaptation of the comic by Copernicus Studios premiered via ShiftyLook's YouTube channel on May 20, 2013, and ran for twelve episodes, concluding on February 12, 2014. The series was written by Moylan and Jim Zub , and featured the voices of Rob Paulsen as Bravoman and Alpha Man; Dee Bradley Baker as Dr. Bomb and Black Bravo, renamed Anti-Bravoman as in

800-452: A random powerup item. These include rice balls and noodles that will refill a portion of his health, a star that gives him the ability to fire atomic blasts from his fists, a drink that grants temporarily invincibility, and a bullet train that will warp him to the end of the level. The game features 33 stages. Some of these levels take place underwater and transition the gameplay into a horizontal-scrolling shooter, transforming Bravoman into

880-418: A row, in 1988 and 1989 . Double Dragon 's success resulted in a flood of beat 'em ups in the late 1980s, where acclaimed titles such as Golden Axe and Final Fight (both 1989) distinguished themselves from the others. Final Fight was Capcom 's intended sequel to Street Fighter (provisionally titled Street Fighter '89 ), but the company ultimately gave it a new title. In contrast to

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960-753: A selectable track for the Pac-Land stage. Pac-Man 99 also features a Bravoman visual theme as downloadable content. As part of Bandai Namco's ShiftyLook initiative to revive older properties, a new Bravoman webcomic was created in collaboration with Udon Entertainment , titled Bravoman: Super Unequaled Hero of Excellence . Written by Matt Moylan and illustrated by Dax Gordine, the strip premiered on March 9, 2012, and focused on comedic elements such as Bravoman's poor control of his powers, Alpha Man's lackluster attempts to teach Bravoman, Dr. Bomb's misuse of Engrish , and various examples of metahumor . The comic also introduced two new characters that never appeared in

1040-735: A sense of progression, along with the use of cut scenes to give it a cinematic look and feel. Like Kunio-kun , the game's combat system drew inspiration from the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon , while Double Dragon added a new disaster-ridden city setting inspired by the Mad Max films and Fist of the North Star manga and anime series. Double Dragon became Japan's third highest-grossing table arcade game of 1987 , before becoming America's overall highest-grossing dedicated arcade game for two years in

1120-484: A sophisticated move set likened to a fighting game. It updated the Streets of Rage formula to 3D, while implementing moves and combos from the fighting game Virtua Fighter 2 (1994), the ability to combine weapons to create more powerful weapons, and in two-player mode the ability to perform combined special moves and combos. It also had cut scenes , with quick time events interspersed between scenes. The game achieved

1200-422: A submarine that can fire missiles at enemies. Most stages feature a boss at the end that must be defeated in order to progress. The most common boss the player fights is Black Bravo, an evil clone of Bravoman that mimics his attacks. Other bosses include the cyborg ninja Waya-Hime; a mechanical version of the king of Atlantis ; and Pistol Daimyo, a shogun with a cannon attached to his head. The first level acts as

1280-418: A tutorial, with a robot alien named Alpha Man teaching the player how to play the game. In the last level, the player must fight Dr. Bomb himself. Some levels act as bonus levels, featuring many power-ups and little to no enemies. The storyline in Bravoman is told through the game's attract mode sequence, alongside various pieces of promotional material. When Japanese car insurance salaryman Hitoshi Nakamura

1360-578: Is Namco's only video game to use pressure-sensitive buttons, which were reportedly easy to break. It was ported to a handful of systems, including the TurboGrafx-16 , Japanese mobile phones , and the Wii Virtual Console . In Japan, Bravoman was widely successful, receiving high praise for its gameplay and humor. It received much more negative coverage from western publications, who disliked its mechanics, difficulty, and inferiority to other games in

1440-416: Is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling , two-dimensional (2D) levels, while a number of modern games feature more open three-dimensional (3D) environments with yet larger numbers of enemies. The gameplay tends to follow arcade genre conventions, such as being simple to learn but difficult to master, and

1520-416: Is a homage to 1960s tokusatsu films, parodying common tropes found in the genre, and Nakagata's love for synthesizer music. Many former staff members from Toei Animation were hired for the project, leading to the game's distinct art style influenced by anime . Bravoman's real identity, known as Hitoshi Nakamura, is a caricature of Namco's then-president Masaya Nakamura , who the game was dedicated to. It

1600-441: Is a horizontal-scrolling shooter notable for its outlandish theme and strange character designs. Bravoman appears as a playable character in the 2005 PlayStation 2 game Namco x Capcom , developed by Monolith Soft , where he is paired up with Wonder Momo ; Waya-Hime also appears in the game, first as an enemy then later as a playable character. Bravoman is also featured in the tactical role-playing game Namco Super Wars for

1680-509: 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. Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja featured platform elements, while P.O.W.: Prisoners of War took the weapon aspect a stage further, allowing the players to pick up guns. Another beat 'em up— River City Ransom (1989), named Street Gangs in Europe—featured role-playing game elements with which

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1760-556: 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. In the United Kingdom, video game magazines during the 1980s to 1990s, such as Mean Machines and Computer & Video Games (C+VG) for example, referred to all games which had

1840-567: Is the Dynasty Warriors series, which beginning with Dynasty Warriors 2 (2000) offered beat 'em up action on large 3D battlefields with war strategy game elements, 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

1920-483: Is very popular. Dungeon Fighter Online has become one of the most-played and highest-grossing games of all time, having grossed over $ 10 billion. Other traditional 2D scrolling beat 'em ups were released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network including The Behemoth 's Castle Crashers (2008), featuring cartoon graphics, quirky humor, and acclaimed cooperative gameplay, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile (2011), Double Dragon Neon (2012) and Scott Pilgrim vs.

2000-403: Is walking home one day, he encounters a strange, humanoid-like alien named Alpha Man, who claims to be from the planet Alpha. He informs Nakamura of a mad scientist named Dr. Bomb, who plans to destroy Earth and enslave the human race through his army of robots and a deadly superweapon. Alpha hands Nakamura three items; a metal rod, a tuning fork, and a ¥100 coin, which transforms him into Bravoman,

2080-640: 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 . Capcom's Viewtiful Joe (2003), directed by Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya, used cel-shaded graphics and innovative gameplay features (such as

2160-497: The PlayStation 2 console. It was an ambitious project that attempted to deliver a cinematic, story-driven beat 'em up, combining 3D beat 'em up gameplay with action role-playing game elements, cinematic cutscenes, high production values and an "Active Character Selection" system where choices alter the storyline . It was highly anticipated due to Squaresoft's reputation with Japanese role-playing games such as Final Fantasy , but

2240-404: The PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on June 8, 2023. Bravoman received high praise when it was first released in arcades. The video game publication Gamest gave it several awards, including 3rd Grand Prize, 3rd Best Ending, and 12th Annual Hit Game. In their 1991 mook The Best Game , they commended its gameplay for being fun and balanced in terms of its difficulty, and also praised

2320-533: The WonderSwan Color . The arcade game Marvel Land features a parade float in the design of Bravoman fighting Waya-Hime. In 2005, Japanese company Yujin released a gashapon figure of Waya-Hime as part of their "Namco Girls" collection. One of Taki's alternate costumes in Soulcalibur II is also based on Waya-Hime. The fighting game Super Smash Bros. For Wii U features the soundtrack for Bravoman as

2400-480: The belt scroll format, allowing both vertical and horizontal movement along a side-scrolling environment, while also popularizing street brawling in the genre. Created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto , game was inspired by his own teenage high school years getting into daily fights, along with Bruce Lee's martial arts film Enter the Dragon . The Western adaptation Renegade (released the same year) added an underworld revenge plot that proved more popular with gamers than

2480-403: The 1990s. Beat 'em up 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 -based scrolling levels, instead allowing

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2560-551: The 2000s, a sub-genre of 3D hack-and-slash games emerged (also known as "character action games"), adapting the beat 'em up formula to utilize large-scale 3D environments, with popular franchises including God Hand , Devil May Cry , Dynasty Warriors , God of War and Bayonetta . Since the 2010s, traditional 2D beat 'em ups have seen a resurgence, with popular titles such as Dungeon Fighter Online , Dragon's Crown , Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge . A beat 'em up (also called

2640-466: The TurboGrafx-16 port received mostly negative reviews. Frank Provo GameSpot , who described it as "a blueprint of how to make a bad action game", was critical of its poor English translation, rough character designs, and bland backgrounds. He also disliked the player's hitbox for being too large, which as such made the game too difficult. Provo further labeled the game as "utterly atrocious" and one of

2720-537: The World: The Game (2010). Fable Heroes (2012) is an Xbox Live Arcade only title released in 2012. Saints Row IV (2013) featured a parody of Streets Of Rage entitled "Saints Of Rage", where the player rescues Johnny Gat from a virtual prison. Dragon's Crown (2013) is a 2D fantasy game with a mix of beat 'em up and ARPG elements that were specifically inspired by Golden Axe and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom . Streets of Rage 4 (2020)

2800-511: 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 traditional beat 'em up genre alive. The traditional 2D beat 'em up genre has seen a resurgence in Asia, where the South Korean online beat 'em up Dungeon Fighter Online (2004)

2880-433: The basic structure of a beat 'em up, with Lee ascending five levels of a pagoda while fighting numerous enemies and several boss battles along the way, while another Lee film Enter the Dragon (1973) also influenced the genre. The first video game to feature fist fighting was Sega 's arcade boxing game Heavyweight Champ (1976), which is viewed from a side-view perspective like later fighting games. However, it

2960-400: The beat 'em up genre began seeing a revival in the form of popular 3D hack and slash games in the style of Devil May Cry (2001 onwards), including Onimusha , Ninja Gaiden (2004 onwards), God of War (2005 onwards), God Hand (2006), Heavenly Sword (2007), Afro Samurai (2009), and Bayonetta (2009). Featuring a more fantasy themed approach, with longer campaigns and

3040-476: The big time, we've done a good job. We're casting a really wide net. We're doing different styles, different artists, different kinds of titles, just filling out a whole matrix of different things we can do and then seeing where that goes." If the webcomics were successful, Pereyda hoped that content such as merchandise and print versions would be available as well. ShiftyLook officially launched on March 9, 2012. Five webcomics were announced to begin production under

3120-435: The combat system tends to be more highly developed than other side-scrolling action games . Two-player cooperative gameplay and multiple player characters are also hallmarks of the genre. Most of these games take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical, science fiction or fantasy themes. The first beat 'em up was 1984's Kung-Fu Master , which

3200-501: The comic; Romi Dames as Waya-Hime; and Jennifer Hale as Bravowoman. The web series was later removed from YouTube along with ShiftyLook's channel, and is currently legally unavailable for viewing. Bravoman: Binja Bash! , an endless runner based on the comic, was released for iOS and Android devices on August 30, 2013. The game has since been delisted and is no longer available. Beat%27em up A beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all )

3280-632: The company; Bravoman , Xevious , Sky Kid , Rocket Fox , and Alien Confidential : Black and White . Comics were made available for free on the website, all without advertisements aside from those for Bandai Namco's other projects. In June 2012, ShiftyLook announced that Japanese manga artist Hitoshi Ariga would begin work on a webcomic based on Klonoa , becoming the first ShiftyLook comic created outside North America. To increase their viewer base, ShiftyLook regularly attended fan conventions in their own booth, where they featured artists behind some of their comics as well as merchandise. A YouTube channel

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3360-476: The early 1990s, following the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II (1991) which drew gamers back towards one-on-one fighting games, while the subsequent emerging popularity of 3D video games in the late 1990s diminished the popularity of 2D-based pugilistic games in general. Another notable game from this era is Gang Wars , released in 1989. Sega's Die Hard Arcade (1996) was the first beat 'em up to use texture-mapped 3D polygon graphics , and it used

3440-418: The end of the 1980s, but was cancelled when the developers grew concerned that its concept would not work as a game. In Bravoman , the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero who possesses telescopic limbs, in his mission to stop the evil scientist Dr. Bomb from taking over the world. Bravoman can punch, kick, and headbutt enemies to defeat them; the game uses pressure-sensitive buttons, where

3520-736: 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. Beat 'em ups often allow the player to choose between a selection of protagonists—each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and set of moves. The combat system typically tends to be more highly developed than other side-scrolling action games. Attacks can include rapid combinations of basic attacks ( combos ) as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Characters often have their own special attacks , which leads to different strategies depending on which character

3600-432: The enemy, making him unable to defend himself against successive punches. Rather than one-hit kills, the player needed to hit enemies multiple times, "beating them up," in order to defeat them. Compared to earlier side-scrollers, the environment was expanded to a scrolling arena-like space, while the combat system was more highly developed, with the player able to punch, kick, grab, charge, throw and stomp enemies. In 1987,

3680-600: 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 martial arts games to be successfully developed for and ported across different home systems. Sega 's My Hero (1985) adopted the gameplay format of Kung-Fu Master , but changing the more traditional martial arts setting to a more contemporary urban city environment with street gangs. Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun , developed by Technōs Japan and released in 1986 in Japan, introduced

3760-415: The game was a good companion piece to Vigilante and Splatterhouse , writing: "Given the choice between the three, I'd likely give a slight nod to Bravo (even if it doesn't do anything particularly well beyond its kookiness). But it's worth considering a purchase of any one of them to get a sense of that part of Hudson company history." A sequel titled Kaettekita Bravoman was in development around

3840-610: The game was dedicated to. The game's title is a nod to a nickname given to a fellow employee of Nakagata worked with in the past. Bravoman was released in May 1988 in Japan, running on the Namco System 1 arcade hardware. It was ported to the TurboGrafx-16 in October 1990, being the game's first appearance outside Japan. Developed by Now Production , it features numerous changes to the game, such as new and altered stage designs, additional enemy types and Bravoman's attacks being changed due to

3920-416: The game's anime-like artstyle and characters. Bravoman is Namco's only video game to utilize pressure-sensitive buttons, where the harder the player pushed them the stronger their attack was in the game. These buttons were notoriously faulty and fragile, to the annoyance of Namco technicians. Bravoman's real identity, Hitoshi Nakamura, is a caricature of company founder and president Masaya Nakamura , whom

4000-423: The genre. The game spawned a shooter spin-off, Pistol Daimyo no Boken , in 1990. Bravoman has since gained notoriety from its revival through the now-defunct ShiftyLook division of Namco Bandai Games , who produced a webcomic and animated series based on the game. ShiftyLook also produced an endless runner based on the comic, Bravoman: Binja Bash! , for cellular devices. A true sequel was in production towards

4080-429: The harder the button is pressed, the stronger the player's attack is. Bravoman can also jump over enemies and other obstacles in his way. He also has a health meter at the bottom-left of the screen, which will deplete when he is hit by an enemy or projectile. Most enemies leave behind small items known as "Fuku" when defeated. Collecting ten Fuku will cause Bravoman's robotic friend Lottery Man to appear, who will give him

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4160-406: The late 1980s. It was to feature Bravoman, now divorced, unemployed, and homeless, fighting to win back the love of his wife and return to his former glory. It was scrapped during the concept stages as the team was not sure if the concept would work as a game. An arcade spin-off, Pistol Daimyo no Bōken , was released in Japan in 1990. Starring the titular Pistol Daimyo, a boss from Bravoman , it

4240-455: The most creatively rewarding experiences [he has] ever had in comics." Moylan stated that Bandai Namco likely invested too much money into ShiftyLook up front and that plans to monetize its productions did not materialize until it was too late. Bravoman Chōzetsurin Jin Bravoman is a 1988 beat'em up arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco . Described as

4320-415: The new levels for sometimes being frustrating or overly long. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote that the game had responsive controls and had a strange yet interesting theme, but that its concept was done many times already and in better quality. They were also critical of the game's constant voice overs for being generally annoying and overused. The Wii Virtual Console re-release of

4400-458: The original Bravoman game: Bravowoman, a no-nonsense female superhero, and Braveman, a self-obsessed television actor based on the North American box art for the TurboGrafx-16 version of Bravoman . The series concluded with its 300th strip on March 16, 2014, shortly after the announcement of ShiftyLook's closure. The comic is no longer available for viewing, though its first 130 strips received

4480-449: The parodies and spoofs of Japanese pop culture and movies. They also liked the game's level variety, randomness, and colorful graphics. The character of Bravoman was given the first place award for Best Character based on reader vote, while the game itself was placed at the 23rd spot for the best arcade games of all time up to that point. The TurboGrafx-16 conversion received more mixed coverage. Japanese magazine Monthly PC Engine said it

4560-676: The player selects. The control system is usually simple to learn, often comprising just two attack buttons. These buttons can be combined to pull off combos , as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Since the release of Double Dragon , many beat 'em ups have allowed two players to play the game cooperatively —a central aspect to the appeal of these games. Beat 'em ups are more likely to feature cooperative play than other game genres. The beat 'em up or brawler genre includes several sub-genres: Beat 'em up games have origins in martial arts films , particularly Bruce Lee 's Hong Kong martial arts films . Lee's Game of Death (1972) inspired

4640-411: The player to roam around larger 3D environments, though they retain the same simple-to-learn gameplay and control systems. Throughout the level, players may acquire weapons that they can use as well as power-ups that replenish the player's health . As players walk through the level, they are stopped by groups of enemies who must be defeated before they're able to continue. The level ends when all

4720-519: The player's character could be upgraded, using money stolen from defeated enemies. The Streets of Rage series was launched in the early 1990s and borrowed heavily from Final Fight . Streets of Rage 2 (1992) for Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis was 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. The beat 'em up

4800-473: The principled combat sport of other martial arts games. Renegade set the standard for future beat 'em up games as it introduced the ability to move both horizontally and vertically. It also introduced the use of combo attacks; in contrast 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

4880-442: The project was to create an arcade game based on things he personally enjoyed, such as synthesizer music and films from the 1930s. Nakagata was heavily inspired by Japanese tokusatsu movies and kaiju monsters such as Godzilla . Much of the game's content was made to parody common tropes found in tokusatsu films and other video games. Toei Animation assisted in character design and sprite animation, after taking an interest in

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4960-489: The protagonist's special powers) to "reinvigorate" its traditional 2D scrolling formula. Releases such as God Hand in 2006 and MadWorld in 2009 were seen as parodies 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 and Xbox Live Arcade ; critics reaffirmed

5040-426: The release of Double Dragon , designed as Technōs Japan 's spiritual successor to Kunio-kun ( Renegade ), ushered in a "golden age" for the beat 'em up genre that took it to new heights with its detailed set of martial arts attacks and its outstanding two-player cooperative gameplay . It also had a continuous side-scrolling world, in contrast to the bounded scrolling arenas of Kunio-kun , giving Double Dragon

5120-519: The simple combo attacks in Renegade and Double Dragon , the combo attacks in Final Fight were much more dynamic, and the sprites were much larger. Acclaimed as the best game in the genre, Final Fight spawned two home sequels and was later ported to other systems. Golden Axe was acclaimed for its visceral hack and slash action and cooperative mode and was influential through its selection of multiple protagonists with distinct fighting styles. It

5200-594: 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. On the urban-themed side of the genre was the Yakuza series (2005 debut), which combined elaborate crime thriller plots and detailed interactive environments with street brawling action. Rockstar Games ' The Warriors (based on

5280-559: The system lacking pressure-sensitive buttons. The TurboGrafx-16 version was digitally re-released onto the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, followed by the arcade version in Japan in 2009. Bravoman was ported to Japanese mobile phones on October 28, 2010 for the EZweb , i-Mode and S! Appli network services, featuring new stages and remastered visuals and audio. Bravoman later joined the Hamster Corporation's Arcade Archives series on

5360-433: The two-player cooperative mode and continuous belt scroll format central to classic beat 'em ups, and 1991's Street Fighter II , which drew gamers towards one-on-one fighting games . Games such as Streets of Rage , Final Fight , Golden Axe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are other classics to emerge from this period. In the late 1990s, the genre lost popularity with the emergence of 3D-polygon technology. In

5440-458: The variety seen before in multiple characters now being present in the one and only main character. Giving the player multiple weapons and movesets based on a variety of martial arts and different weapons. These games are also known as "character action" games, which represent an evolution of traditional arcade action games. The subgenre was largely defined by Hideki Kamiya , creator of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta . A best-selling Japanese series

5520-498: The video games abyss and won, which means it's time for us to move on and let the hit-makers play with some new toys." Before the company's closure, Udon Entertainment published hardcover books for Bravoman , Katamari , and Wonder Momo that featured the first 100 strips. A print version of Galaga was announced but never released. Writing for Publishers Weekly , Calvin Reid felt that ShiftyLook "looks to have failed overall" as only

5600-536: The worst games available for the Virtual Console. Nintendo Life ' s Corbie Dillard was also critical of the game. He said that, outside of its good soundtrack, it was bland in design and suffered from poor visuals and sometimes unresponsive controls. Dillard only recommended Bravoman to hardcore side-scroller fans. Lucas M. Thomas of IGN was the most positive towards the game, specifically towards its presentation for its wackiness and bizarre nature. He said

5680-399: Was Data East 's fighting game Karate Champ (1984) which popularized martial arts themed games. Kung-Fu Master (known as Spartan X in Japan), designed by Takashi Nishiyama and released by Irem in 1984, laid the foundations for side-scrolling beat 'em ups. It simplified the combat system of Karate Champ , while adding numerous enemies along a side-scrolling playfield. The game

5760-497: Was a venue for content creators to collaborate on projects, and to establish working relations with artists and developers for future projects. In an interview with CRB.com, Pereyda stated: "Basically, what we're doing is taking a look at stuff that's forgotten IPs, stuff that's sleeping, stuff that — just to be honest — some people don't care about and thinking what we can do with it. This is a big system and we know that not everything's going to succeed, but if some of them can make it to

5840-437: Was also a popular genre for video games based on television series and movies, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman Returns a surprise success, and encouraged many more beat 'em up games based on the characters . Taito 's arcade game Riding Fight (1992) combined beat 'em up gameplay with a pseudo-3D chase view and hoverboard racing gameplay . The "golden age" of the genre eventually came to an end during

5920-502: Was also released to critical acclaim and has renewed interested in both the series and genre. Dragon's Crown sold over a million copies by 2017, while Streets of Rage 4 has sold over 2.5 million copies as of April 2021 . Also other well known classic franchises gained new titles such as Battletoads (2020) and The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors (2019) and River City Girls (2019). The beat 'em up genre has also seen

6000-412: Was an excellent port of the arcade original, and liked its new levels and refinements to the gameplay. Maru PC Engine also liked the port for its accuracy, but criticized its difficulty for being too high and making the game unnecessarily frustrating. Famitsu applauded Namco for their efforts in translating the arcade game to an underpowered console, but criticized the difficulty for being too high and

6080-409: Was based on Hong Kong martial arts films . 1986's Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun introduced the belt scroll format employed extensively by later games, while also popularizing contemporary urban settings, while its Western localized version Renegade further introduced underworld revenge themes. The genre then saw a period of high popularity between the release of Double Dragon in 1987, which defined

6160-435: Was based on two Hong Kong martial arts films: Jackie Chan 's Wheels on Meals (1984), known as Spartan X in Japan (where the game was a tie-in), and Bruce Lee's Game of Death , the latter inspiring the five end-of-level boss fights and the plot structure, variations of which were used in subsequent scrolling beat 'em ups. Nishiyama, who had previously created the side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol (1982), combined

6240-494: Was launched in 2013, featuring short animated series based on Bravoman and Mappy . The same year, Namco Bandai released an endless runner game based on Bravoman , titled Bravoman: Binja Bash! , for iOS and Android devices. ShiftyLook also published Wonder Momo: Typhoon Booster , a sequel to Wonder Momo developed by WayForward , and Namco High , a comical dating simulator game designed by Homestuck creator Andrew Hussie . A five episode anime series based on Wonder Momo

6320-492: Was met with a mixed reception upon release. The same year, Italian studio NAPS team released Gekido: Urban Fighters for the PlayStation console, which uses a fast-paced beat 'em up system, with many bosses and a colorful design in terms of graphics. In the early 2000s, 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. After 2000,

6400-426: Was released in early 2014 on Crunchyroll . On March 10, 2014, ShiftyLook announced that their site would no longer be updated beginning March 20, and by September 30 the company and website would be shut down entirely. They also announced that their YouTube channel, mobile games, and other digital merchandise would be pulled. The shutdown was announced by company executive Casy Casoni, who said that ShiftyLook "battled

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