The Beat Em' Up genre is one that used to be much more prevalent in the gaming industry, especially in the Playstation 2 era, but has since shrunken down quite a bit to only a few niche releases per year. That said, these games will always have a faithfully loyal fanbase to play whatever new games come out. They do this for many reasons, but these are some of the largest.
One, the Beat Em' Up gameplay loop of beating up enemies, dodging attacks, and moving on to the next screen is just innately satisfying. Two, these games tend to feature amazing character designs that all have their own unique mechanics. And three, Beat Em' Up games love to sprinkle little bits of their hidden lore all throughout their levels, dialogue, and narrative. So, let's take a look at some Beat Em' Up titles, both classic and more modern, that actually have a lot more lore than what one might expect.
6 Streets Of Rage
First up is probably one of the more iconic Beat Em' Up games out there, Streets of Rage, otherwise known as Bare Knuckle in Japan. This classic franchise has been around since 1991, and even had its most recent addition to the IP released in 2020.
Now, on the surface, this game just seems like it's about a gang of vigilantes taking down a crime syndicate for the good of the city. And, for the most part, this is the majority of its "core" story. But, as players replay the games, look into their lore, and figure out the connections between all four titles, they'll see how many extra bits of info there are. Some examples include:
- All the familial or just incredibly personal connections between characters like Adam Hunter and Cherry Hunter or how Dr. Zan built Floyd Iraia's robotic arms.
- The third game, in particular, has a narrative that differed massively between the Japanese and Western releases. The Western version of the game has no mention of the element "Rakushin", which is integral to the Japanese version's story and is also the element used to power Floyd's robotic arms in Streets of Rage 4.
- Lastly, there's all the subtle background information on all the playable characters sprinkled throughout the games such as Axel becoming a bodyguard and Blaze becoming a dance instructor after the events of the first SoR.
5 Final Fight
Alongside Streets of Rage, the Final Fight franchise is one of the few other Beat Em' Ups that holds even a relatively comparable amount of reputation and prestige. This long-running franchise started back in 1989 and released two sequels not long after (one in 1993 and then the next in 1995). But, after Final Fight 3, the franchise only had re-releases and spin-offs keeping it afloat until Final Fight: Streetwise came out in 2005. Frankly, this franchise deserves more, or at the very least the same sort of treatment that the TMNT: Cowabunga Collection got.
These games all take place in a fictional metropolitan area called Metro City, a place where playable character Mike Haggar is Mayor, and a city that has been used by Capcom multiple times as the setting or backdrop in other games such as Captain Commando or even Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. Now, in terms of lore, the Final Fight franchise has a ton of it just in the first game alone. For its time, the first Final Fight has an obscene amount of narration and story cutscenes. But, even as a franchise, the characters of the Final Fight IP have so much an expansive mythos tied to them thanks to their appearances in Street Fighter primarily.
And, with this tie to Street Fighter, an IP that's one of the biggest fighting game franchises of all time, characters like Mike Haggar and Cody Travers have even received bits of extra lore revealed or elaborated on in all the side material for Street Fighter. These include the Udon comics, codex entries in spin-off games, or even the Street Fighter animated series.
4 Dragon's Crown
Next up is a game that any fan of Vanillaware, a group of expert developers, will immediately recognize due to it having their trademark high-quality art style. Dragon's Crown is one of the more modernized Beat Em' Up games, coming out 2013 and one that obviously is inspired by the Capcom Dungeons and Dragons Beat Em' Up series as well as Golden Axe. In it, players can choose between one of six different characters with unique archetypes such as the Knight, Amazon, Dwarf, Elf, Wizard, and Sorceress. Once chosen, they can then go alone or have their friends join them and go on surprisingly difficult adventures all throughout the kingdom of Hydeland.
The actual story of Dragon's Crown can be pretty confusing at first due to the game being built around replaying old levels a lot, which typically puts a lot of time between new bits of story information. But essentially, the story involves a political coup, lots of adventuring, and working together to slay ancient dragons. Now, in terms of lore, there's a lot sprinkled throughout the game through side paths to levels, item descriptions, different character endings, and more. Not only that, but the IP has also had an official manga published about it and even some short comics in magazines like Famitsu.
3 Castle Crashers
Now, at first, Castle Crashers doesn't quite seem like a game that's overflowing with rich, deep, or even remotely complex lore. And that's a correct assumption because the game is intentionally very "basic" when it comes to its narrative and story elements. It's designed to be an easy entry for newcomers to the genre, so everything is relatively simple. Princesses get kidnapped, Knights go and save them, they beat the big bad, and the world is saved. It's a pretty cookie-cutter narrative.
But, because there are over 30 different playable characters in the game, about 20 bosses, tons of subtle interactions between enemies and allies, piles of animal orbs, and a bunch more, there are a ton of what could be called "tiny lore crumbs". Add all these crumbs together and a truly dedicated player actually has a lot they can learn and discover about the Castle Crashers world, though it will likely take a ton of playthroughs to do so.
2 Battletoads (2020)
In the original 1991 game, Battletoads wasn't exactly a title known for having a lot of lore to find since not many people made it through the endless "game over" screens. But, in the 2020 sequel, there is a real emphasis placed on giving a ton of new characterization for Zitz, Rash, Pimple, and even the Dark Queen.
Not only that, but the setting itself has massive amounts of world-building spread throughout the game. Honestly, the story in the 2020 Battletoads game is one of the more expansive stories that a singular Beat Em' Up title has ever had, especially in comparison to the almost non-existent lore that was in the original.
1 River City Ransom & River City Girls
The River City series might be the most notable "grandfather of all Beat Em' Ups", even more so than Final Fight or Streets of Rage, as the original game was one of the first to even attempt it. Now, at its core, the River City IP is all about its protagonist Kunio as he fights against other school delinquents physically, in sports, or even in martial arts.
Throughout all the games there's been a ton of characters introduced with their own stories, backgrounds, and impact on the story, but River City Girls, a reboot of sorts that came out in 2019, really made sure to flesh out a lot of the story elements and even adding new playable characters into the mix with its sequel. Not only does River City Girls add massive characterization to Misako and Kyoko, who are Kunio and Rikki's girlfriends, but it also just adds a lot of world-building to the River City franchise. Plus, the sheer number of Double Dragon references in the game, considering how similar the two IPs are and where they were both developed, has basically stitched these two worlds together into the same universe.