Beat'em ups.

[hazys]

Beat-'em-ups are one of my favorite genres, and my favorite to 1CC. I think they get a bad rap for being "shallow and repetitive," when the best ones are actually very engaging and dynamic. My favorites are Violent Storm, Guardians: Denjin Makai II, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, D&D: Shadow over Mystara, The King of Dragons, and Alien vs Predator.

3D beat-'em-ups kinda died as a concept in the 2000s, which is a shame because we never really got to see how the genre might evolve. My favorites are God Hand, Spike Out, Urban Reign, and "Tekken Force" mode from Tekken 4. Resident Evil 5's Mercenaries mode also kinda feels like a beat-'em-up.

I appreciate the "retro revival" of beat-'em-ups we've been experiencing, but I think most of them are kinda bad lol. I did enjoy Fight N' Rage.

 

[spectresfrommercury]

the bouncer will always be one of the best beat em ups i've played on the ps2 imo.

 

[RetroCasual]

Probably my top 10, but not in order:

Turtles In Time (Arcade and SNES)
Golden Axe (Arcade and Sega Genesis)
Hook (Arcade)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (Arcade)
The Punisher (Arcade)
Night Slashers (Arcade, not the awful remake)
Aliens Vs. Predator (Arcade)
Die Hard Arcade (Arcade and Sega Saturn)
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks (PS2 and XBOX)
Final Fight LNS (Openbor, still in development)