The Invisible Pigeon-holing Council - Beat 'em Ups

If Chuck Palahniuk (author of the infamous novel Fight Club) has taught us anything, aside from the tragic negativity of the human condition, it’s that there is a visceral pleasure in punching the ever-loving shit out of anything that happens to be in your way. This is the essential idea behind the Beat ‘em Up genre, a sub-division of action games made famous in the 16-bit era that has found a resurgence in recent years. Like its older brother Shoot ‘em Up, Beat ‘em Up is a pure expression of the action genre – the ideal Beat ‘em Up pushes you into battles of ever-increasing intensity with minimal downtime or maintenance. It is not a genre without flaws, but a finer understanding of what makes up a Beat ‘em Up game can do wonders to improve one’s enjoyment of a quality example of the genre.

The Beat ‘em Up sub-genre, one of the oldest in video games, traces its origins back to the early days of arcades and, eventually, the NES. Flat 2D sidescrollers required little in the way of calculation and simple punch, kick, and jump buttons allowed for a great deal of variety. Advances in technology and software development techniques allowed for greater gameplay depth and graphical fidelity, but the basic formula stayed the same for quite some time. The addition of weapons, throws, and super moves was a natural evolution of the basic Beat 'em Up idea. Herein we see a component of the sub-genre that is often neglected - there is, functionally, little difference between brawling with fists and fighting with swords and other weapons.

River City Ransom, where the best defense is hurling your partner at the enemy.

The term Beat ‘em Up has been used sparingly in recent years, but it should be made clear that I interpret the genre on a larger scale than most. I believe there are a wide variety of games that are Beat ‘em Ups at heart that are rarely labeled as such – the God of War series, for example. Generally, this hack-and-slash brand of gaming is lumped in the very broad category of ‘action games.’ But an action game can be so many things; all manner of shooters, and even sports games, would be just as well suited to the ‘action game’ title. Unfortunately, like platformers, the Beat ‘em Up sub-genre lost a great deal of its support with the rise of 3D graphics. As in many other genres, early attempts to jump from 2D were met with little success, primarily because poor camera options and inefficient model design made fighting multiple opponents a trying experience. Once game designers adjusted to the 3D renaissance, a select few games stood out by incorporating advanced combo and weapon systems. Consider one of the early standouts, the original Devil May Cry. While DMC diversifies the experience with an expansive move list, assorted puzzles, and an exciting combo system, at its core it is a Beat 'em Up like any other. You move from stage to stage defeating groups of enemies of defined size in order to progress towards a major boss fight. When you strip down the bells and whistles of many modern action games, you are left with the same essential structure of some of the earliest arcade games.

Quite possibly the best there is. Shame the remake SUCKED.

Knowing that at the heart of many modern games lies the good old fashioned Beat 'em Up, how can we, as consumers, use this knowledge? Most significantly, we can recognize the trappings of the sub-genre and how to avoid them. A common flaw that runs through many action games is a lack of replay value, particularly with the increasing number of single player Beat 'em Ups in the market. The only source of replay value in a game built around the repetition of one general idea - in this case, fighting a group of enemies - comes down to challenge. Action games are usually more about testing their players’ skill than telling a story, and, ideally, a game that provides sufficient challenge will keep a player coming back to it for the experience. Some of the most important things to look at in Beat ‘em Ups are difficulty curve and other factors that expand replay value such as multiplayer options or branching skill paths.

Take a look at Capcom’s masterfully executed comedy Viewtiful Joe. Easily one of the best instances of the genre in two dimensions, Viewtiful Joe extends gameplay with an absolutely punishing difficulty curve that encourages intelligent play at a break-neck pace. Add to that a grade-based scoring system and a wide variety of rewards (chiefly extra characters with subtly different moves) for playing through successfully. The ability to select different characters on different iterations of a game is common in Beat ‘em Ups, and an excellent way to compel a player to put more time into a game. No game has done a better job with this than the 2008 XBLA game Castle Crashers. A Beat ‘em Up in the vein of traditional dungeon-crawlers, Castle Crashers pushes the concept of unlocking characters to the extreme, and in the process crammed an incredible amount of game into a small download.

In the end, we can judge a Beat ‘em Up game in much the same way we would judge an action movie. Criticizing an action movie for a poor story only makes sense if the story gets in the way of the film’s purpose – exciting action. One can even see a clear parallel in how modern action movies struggle to continue one-upping each other in order to be the biggest and bloodiest. In that respect, one might think of God of War as the “Crank” of video games.

A challenger approaches. Tune in next week for my review!

RPGs may be judged by their story. Shooters and fighters may be judged by their competitive balance. But with a Beat ‘em Up you just need to know how much fun you had and for how long. What makes a Beat ‘em Up bad is boredom and frustration (or just not being long enough to be worth the money – I’m looking at you, Heavenly Sword). There’s not a genre out there that can compete with the pure visceral enjoyment of a solid Beat ‘em Up, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.