punch, punch, punch, GIANT PUNCH

Where the hell are all the beat em ups? I'm talking old-school, arcade style, multiplayer beat em ups. Just you and a friend or two roaming around beating the shit out of anything that moved, picking up weapons, and eating random food you find in broken objects. Streets of Rage, River City Ransom, Golden Axe, Battletoads, Final Fight, etc...the list goes on. We all know the big classics. Lately through classics collections, I've been able to play quite a bit of these games and learn about new ones. You owe it to yourself to grab Capcom Classics Collection vol 2 just to play Knights of the Round...you won't be disappointed.

It's easy to remember the big ones from the 90's, but what have we seen recently? We're not even getting remakes of the classics and I can't remember the last 3d beat-em up that came out. What made the transition from 2D to 3D so difficult? I've played very few 3D games that have gotten it right. The Warriors (PS2/XBOX/PSP) is very possibly the best one that I've ever played. Even if you're not a gigantic fan of The Warriors like me, you'll still enjoy the hell out of this overlooked Rockstar gem from a few years back. I also thought that Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks (PS2/XBOX) did a fantastic job at capturing the old feel of playing through one of these games with a friend. But what else has there been in recent years?

Why has the transition to 3D been so difficult for this genre? I recall The Bouncer being my first major disappoint when it was released after it had been hyped up to revive that dead scene. For some reason that game holds a special place in my heart, but I will admit that, yes, it sucks. Remember the transition into 3D for Final Fight? Probably not. Hell, don't even look it up...you'll be embarrassed how such a classic franchise could turn out such an awful game. You don't even have to play any of the newer Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games to know that they suck, but unfortunately I have and even the HD Remix of Turtles in Time is weak as fuck. Are games like Dynasty Warriors really the closest thing we have these days?

I'm holding a copy of Streets of Rage in my hand trying to figure out 5 old-school styled beat em ups that I've played in the past few years that I actually liked. Please somebody, it's really not that hard. I just wanna hang out with a friend and beat up some thugs. Until some developer can figure out a way to make that fun on my PS3 or 360, I guess I'll just have to stick with the classics. I really hope that Capcom JP will give us a new Final Fight done properly now that Street Fighter has become so popular again...

-Brian T