Growing up, side-scrolling beat 'em ups were a large part of my life. They kept me out of trouble, helped me deal with stress, and most of all, they were just plain fun.

So being able to see the Final Fight franchise come to XBLA is a very exciting prospect, especially when we can all play it starting April 14 for 800 MS and April 15 on PSN for $9.99.

As you can see, Capcom has taken some care of replicating the arcade experience by enabling you to play on a cabinet. In fact, as soon as you start playing the game, the borders of the screen will show what the original cabinet had on it.

You can expect to play the same game you played all those years ago, either in the arcade or when it was ported to Super Nintendo. The premise is simple enough: Cody, Guy, and Haggar all decide to forgo regular law enforcement and proceed to beat up every single thug that gets in their way to rescue Cody's girlfriend. In addition to remaking the game with better graphics and a remixed soundtrack, Final Fight: Double Impact will feature drop-in co-op play using Capcom's "GGPO" aka "good game, peace out" - that provides a frame-accurate experience as well as voice chat.

The release in the game also serves as a prequel of sorts, allowing players to find out who Cody and Guy were prior to their integration into Super Street Fighter IV.

I know, paying 800 MS/$9.99 for one beat 'em up game doesn't seem like a worthy investment, that's why Capcom opted to include Magic Sword, another beat 'em up style title! This one is set in an unknown world and places you in the role of "The Brave One" (not Jodie Foster, unfortunately) where you must clear an ancient tower of evil forces and eventually destroy the evil lord, Drokmar.

Rather than giving you multiple heroes to play as, Magic Sword gives you eight allies to help in your quest. Co-op play is also present in this title, giving the secondary player an axe as opposed to The Brave One's sword and shield.

I never played Magic Sword as a kid per se, but that's the beauty of the beat 'em up genre - they're basically all the same - you take a very simple premise and just re-skin it and it's still as fun. Companies are still trying to bring this genre back with titles such as Dynasty Warriors and Castle Crashers. While a few of these games have found success, the genre has been mostly forgotten by gamers - hopefully the Final Fight Double Impact/Magic Sword bundle will help re-ignite interest in the 2D beat 'em up experience!

Think you'll pick up these titles? What 2D beat 'em up would you like to see ported to the current consoles?

Source: Capcom