What do you think are the best beat 'em ups?

[evil_ash_xero]

Necro bump.

I've been playing some more brawlers, and I've found a few that I'm quite into (and not, too).

Ninja Baseball Batman... yes, it's ridiculous, but very fun, and has my attention throughout. That's more than I can say about many, many brawlers. Even ones I like.
Violent Storm. Not as ridiculous, but still pretty silly. Seems like the TMNT crew did a Final Fight game. Lots of fun. The soundtrack is
pretty funny at times. Not as funny as NBB's soundtrack (oh yeah).

One game I cannot for the life of me get into, is River City Ransom. I have played this over and over, and it's just not clicking.
One thing that pisses me off is the GBA version. You'd think this would be the best version, but it didn't feel as fast paced as the NES or PC Engine versions.
Playing it again, I noticed that the enemies are always keeping out of your range. It's bizarre. They are extremely good at not getting into your punching
range. Makes for a frustrating playthru. Anyone else noticed this?
I think another thing that keeps me from getting into any version of this is the dimensions of your character. You look like a potato. So, when you kick and punch,
I'm not really feeling like I'm in motion. If that makes any sense.

[To Far Away Times]

Just popping in here to say that I really love Streets of Rage 4.

I don't play a ton of beat 'em ups, but this one seems to be head and shoulders above any other one I've played. A tier all of it's own.

[BurlyHeart]

Great game, but I wouldn't go as far as to say SOR4 is in a tier of its own.

My own opinion is that there are three 'S' tier modern beat em ups: SOR4, Fight'N Rage, and The Ninja Warriors Once Again.

[cfx]

One game I cannot for the life of me get into, is River City Ransom. I have played this over and over, and it's just not clicking.
One thing that pisses me off is the GBA version. You'd think this would be the best version, but it didn't feel as fast paced as the NES or PC Engine versions.
Playing it again, I noticed that the enemies are always keeping out of your range. It's bizarre. They are extremely good at not getting into your punching
range. Makes for a frustrating playthru. Anyone else noticed this?
I think another thing that keeps me from getting into any version of this is the dimensions of your character. You look like a potato. So, when you kick and punch,
I'm not really feeling like I'm in motion. If that makes any sense.

I get what you're saying; I've only every played the GBA version, but it never felt satisying to me to play and I think your last part is probably why though I never figured that out before.

I really like River City Girls, but I believe it's generally looked down on here. I'm nothing like an expert at these games though so I wouldn't be bothered by things that better players no doubt are.

[Leandro]

Just popping in here to say that I really love Streets of Rage 4.

I don't play a ton of beat 'em ups, but this one seems to be head and shoulders above any other one I've played. A tier all of it's own.

Did you know they used a wrapper to make SOR4? It isn't worth 5 dollars that trash.

Enviado de meu 2201116SG usando o Tapatalk

[To Far Away Times]

Just popping in here to say that I really love Streets of Rage 4.

I don't play a ton of beat 'em ups, but this one seems to be head and shoulders above any other one I've played. A tier all of it's own.

Did you know they used a wrapper to make SOR4? It isn't worth 5 dollars that trash.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I'm surprised by how harsh that is; what do you dislike about it so strongly? I do think SoR4 has its weaknesses but I'd still put it as one of the best games in its genre, and certainly I'd agree with Burlyheart about it, Fight'n Rage, and Ninja Warriors Once Again being the best beat-em-ups since basically the arcade era.

River City Ransom is a pleasant, fun game, but I don't think it's really one of the greats. It's very simple mechanically, both in player options and in enemy design (there's basically only one single enemy type for the entire game; even Kunio-kun had more going on in that regard) and it really disintegrates strategically once you start getting more of the special moves. And even before that point it's a bit too straightforward.

[To Far Away Times]

Oh no, I love Streets of Rage 4. Just making a meme post.

I really like Fight N Rage from what I've played of it. I've just never had the drive to play it past the first few levels. But the mechanics are quite nice. It feels like what a modern beat 'em up should be. I also love the idea of a risky SF3 third strike style parry in a beat 'em up.

[sunnshiner]

I find Fight N Rage super-grindy and mostly not fun at all, in the slightest. SOR 4 is ok, it looks nice but there are some really bullshit cheap boss bits that made me not play it again since getting to the really bullshit cheap boss bits. Meh.

I tend to go back to SOR 2 or 3 if I want to play a beat 'em up and I do still like Golden Axe occasionally too.

[cfx]

Perhaps too far off-topic, but can anyone suggest functional display option settings for Fight'n Rage?

I have the PS4 version but I imagine they'e all the same. I use the scanlines which aren't great IMO but don't like the look without them. The problem I have is the game seems to either be so dark it's hard to see anything, or if you adjust it where shadow detail is visible then it looks like you're playing on a broken monitor that has no blacks.

It has all those settings for HDR and such that don't really make any sense given the console doesn't support that.

I would list what I've tried and have it set to, but I changed the hard disk in my PS4 and haven't got it set up again yet which is why I'm too vague here.