What is your favorite beat em up ever made?

[marvelvscapcom2]

During the epic waged 16 bit war for console superiority of SNES vs Genesis they both churned out some amazing beat em ups .  Last night I went on a huge binge of playing some of the best ones on a modded SNES classic in HD.  My favorite by a large margain is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.   I played for hours and lost complete track of time.  It might be the most rounded game ive seen on SNES in terms of the trifecta of Epic Music, Graphics and Gameplay. It's really fun.  I wanna seek out a physical cart now .

Which beat em up is your favorite? 

My top 5 is

1. Turtles in Time
2. Maximum Carnage
3. Batman and Robin
4, Streets of Rage 3
5. Battletoads

[azure]

Hmm, Turtles in Time or Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, hard choice.

[bikingjahuty]

In no particular order

- Diehard Arcade
- Streets of Rage 2
- Turtles in Time
- Alien vs Predator (arcade version)
- The Simpsons

[undertakerprime]

It’s really hard to narrow it down. Beat ‘em ups are among my all time favorite genres.
The top is definitely:
1. TMNT (arcade)

After that, it gets tough, so I’ll just list my favorites.
Simpsons (arcade)
X-Men (arcade)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Double Dragon (arcade)
Double Dragon 2 (NES)
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Double Dragon Advance
Turtles in Time (SNES)
Golden Axe (arcade)
Captain America and the Avengers (arcade)

Streets of Rage Remake would be in my top 5 but I didn’t count it because it’s not official.

[hexen]

Honestly not a big fan of the genre, but one in particular I loved that I can't believe hasn't been mentioned...

Castle Crashers! How has no one else mentioned it? Usually Beat 'em ups are pretty simple, but Castle Crashers has like a billion characters who all play differently, tons of equipment choices for weapons as well as bonus animal friends that give perks and a leveling system to specialize in different forms of combat. It is also just great on aesthetic with so much humor and interesting enemies/bosses.

All these things make Castle Crashers better to play on your own then average, but I feel like it's just a genre that suffers unless played multiplayer.

[burningdoom]

1. X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (SNES)
2. Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES)
3. Golden Axe (Arcade)
4. Final Fight (Arcade)
5. The Punisher (Arcade)

[aliensstudios]

Couldn't say, but I'm fond of these:
• Double Dragon (Genesis/Arcade)
• Batman Returns (SNES)
• Golden Axe (Genesis)
• Curses 'N Chaos (PS4)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)

[wartoy]

1.streets of rage (gen)
2.river city ransom (nes)
3.t.m.n.t turtles in time (snes)
4.double dragon (nes)

[stealthrush]

Arcade favorites in no order

Captain Commando
Die Hard Arcade
Alien vs. Predator
The Combatribes
Sengoku 2

[shepard11]

This is like asking me what Mega Man game I rather play. The answer is always ALL OF THEM!!! So I'm going to think about the ones I spent the most money on in the Arcades when I was a kid (and/or own the actual machine at one point in my life).

1) X-Men Arcade
2) Final Fight
3) Simpsons the Arcade
4) Mutation Nation
5) Robo Army

I love beat 'em uppers. Probably my 2nd favorite genre of games.

[98dgreen]

Turtles in Time
Streets of Rage Series
Golden Axe

[blurks]

- Knights of the Round
- King of Dragons
- Streets of Rage II

All three of them have a fantastic soundtrack and a very enjoyable setting. Excellent sprite art and interesting enemies. They are rock solid brawlers and among my absolute favorites.

Golden Axe

IMO, Golden Axe has atrocious animations (= almost none), infuriatingly simple artwork and a very average soundtrack. I find it especially disappointing, that even Golden Axe III couldn't really make a big step forward and push the Genesis' hardware to its limits. It looks almost identically to Golden Axe II with almost no visible enhancements. I was trying to give the Golden Axe franchise a chance but after being spoiled by masterpieces such as Knights of the Round, King of Dragons and the likes I just couldn't bear the horrible presentation. Feels like the developers were always 3 years behind with every single release of the series.

[hoshichiri]

The original Streets of Rage might not be the best beat 'em up, but I'll always be fond of it- it was one of my favorites as a kid, and I played the crap out of it. I got all 4 endings... by myself. Really- I taught myself to play 2nd player with my feet so I could get the 'bad' endings. Can't do it anymore though, my toes are too big now.

[shadowzero]

You guys have listed so many greats its hard pick, except one.  Here in real life when my mind needs to play some sort of danger music there's a good chance its a tune from TMNT Turtles in Time.  I would also add near the top X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse since its one that my wife and I maxed stats out on.

[Cartagia]

Honestly not a big fan of the genre, but one in particular I loved that I can't believe hasn't been mentioned...

Castle Crashers! How has no one else mentioned it? Usually Beat 'em ups are pretty simple, but Castle Crashers has like a billion characters who all play differently, tons of equipment choices for weapons as well as bonus animal friends that give perks and a leveling system to specialize in different forms of combat. It is also just great on aesthetic with so much humor and interesting enemies/bosses.

All these things make Castle Crashers better to play on your own then average, but I feel like it's just a genre that suffers unless played multiplayer.

This is an excellent choice, and definitely my choice out of all the modern beat em ups.

Out of the classic arcade ones, I'd say The Simpsons.  They are all relatively repetitive, but Simpsons has the most personality and variety.