Close Button Get free games updates:  
Popular Games:    2048    ***   Pacman    ***   Asteroids Classical    ***   TicTacToe    ***   Room Escape    ***   Sudoku    ***   Dots Pong    ***   Space Invaders    ***   Robbers In Town    ***   Gold Miner    ***   Wothan Escape    ***   Fast Knife    ***   Tower Platformer    ***   Snake    ***   Defender    ***   Exolon    ***   Blackjack    ***   American 2048    ***   Trouble Bubble    ***   Slot Machine    ***   Knights Diamond    ***   Shoot Angry Zombies    ***   Zombie Shooter    ***   Gogi2    ***   Bubble Shooter    ***   Dead City    ***   Domino    ***   100 Balls    ***   Plumber    ***   3D Maze Ball    ***   Super Kid Adventure    ***   Shadow Boy    ***   Angry Fish    ***   Dead Land Adventure    ***   Freecell    ***   Greenman    ***   Candy Game    ***   Air Plane Battle    ***   Jeep Ride    ***   Tank Arena    ***   Cowgirl Shoot Zombies    ***   Action Reflex    ***   Angry Finches    ***   Snake    ***   Ancient Blocks    ***   Frog Jumper    ***   Pacman    ***   Jewel Match    ***   Monster Jump    ***   UFO Raider    ***   Pinball    ***   Hangman7    ***   Zombies Buster    ***   Asteroids Modern    ***   Gomoku    ***   Color Box    ***   Towers Of Hanoi    ***   Viking Escape    ***   Tower Challenge    ***   Dead City    ***   Blocktris    ***   Space Invaders    ***   Blocktris    ***   Checkers    ***   Backgammon    ***   Going Nuts    ***   Angry Aliens    ***   Jewel Match    ***   Breakout    ***   Boy Adventurer    ***   Candy Game    ***   Connect4    ***   Battleship    ***   Frog Jumper    ***   Chess    ***   Defender    ***   Dangerous Rescue    ***   Bubble Shooter    ***   Sky War Mission    ***   Blackjack    ***   Flies Killer    ***   Asteroids Classical    ***   Breakout    ***   Death Alley    ***   Exolon    ***   Action Reflex    ***   Soap Balls Puzzle    ***   DD Node    ***   Tripolygon    ***   Nugget Seaker    ***   Goto Dot    ***   










Classical game of Breakout - break through the wall by hitting it with the ball

Insights from the gaming industry

Beat 'em up Games

Beat 'em up (also known as brawler) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat between the protagonist and an improbably large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, though some later games feature more open three-dimensional (3D) environments with yet larger numbers of enemies. These games are noted for their simple gameplay, a source of both critical acclaim and derision. 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, with 1986's Renegade 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 in 1987, which defined the two-player cooperative mode 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 Battletoads 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.