The Sony PlayStation, the biggest shock to the game industry, came to the West in 1995. One of the most significant industry-wide shakeups that changed the console landscape forever happened when the PlayStation came to market. Only being discontinued in 2006, the Sony PlayStation was a huge contender. Starting with a widely publicized failed effort to create a CD-based add-on for Nintendo, Sony decided to go to market on their own.
One of the first consoles to move away from cartridge-based gaming and use compact discs. The Sony PlayStation meant business, it became the first system to sell over 100 million units in less than a decade. Gaming-wise, the back catalog for the PlayStation will forever be known as one of the greats. With the likes of Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot and Metal Gear Solid, there is no denying the power of PlayStation. Every genre was covered and then some, and amongst the selection are some classic beat-em-up titles that don’t get enough coverage.
6 Fighting Force
Released in 1997, Fighting Force was developed by Core Design and published by Eidos. A 3D street-level brawler that gave players four characters to pick from and take on those mean streets. Hawk, Mace, Alana and lovingly nicknamed Smasher all came together to keep the city clean from Dr Dex Zeng and his minions.
Originally pitched to Sega as the next installment of their successful Streets of Rage franchise, however, Sega declined, stating that they had their own plans for the series. These plans for a fourth Streets of Rage wouldn’t come to light until 2020 when Streets of Rage 4 was finally released. Fighting Force is a fantastic first step into 3D brawlers and also produced a sequel Fighting Force 2 which focused solely on Hawk and took a much more stealth-based approach in comparison to the original action fighting game foundation.
5 Gekido
Gekido: Urban Fighters came from Italian developers NAPS team in 2000. A colorful fast-paced title that puts players into the shoes of Travis who has been hired to investigate a crime boss and rescue a girl named Angela. Travis has backup in the form of his three trusty companions Ushi, Tetsuo and Michelle.
Levels each have a timer for Travis to punch, kick and use foreign objects to defeat all on-screen enemies before moving on to the next area. Gekido received a sequel named Gekido Advance: Kintaro’s Revenge for the Gameboy Advance. This title was ported to Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC in 2018.
4 Jackie Chan: Stunt Master
Jackie Chan was an absolutely massive star when Jackie Chan: Stunt Master was released in 2000 for the Sony PlayStation. Controlling the famous martial artist himself, players must battle their way through 15 stages to save Jackie’s kidnaped grandfather. To succeed several moves must be chained together across the different challenges present.
Acting as a consultant for the game, Jackie Chan performed voice acting and motion capture so that the character in the game performed moves and sounded as accurate as possible. On completion of the game, players get to see a video of Jackie Chan discussing the motion capture and behind-the-scenes footage.
3 Crisis Beat
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Set on a cruise liner hijacked by terrorists, Crisis Beat arrived in 1998 to bolster the Sony PlayStation beat-em-up lineup. Developed by Soft Machine and published by the almighty Namco, Crisis Beat allowed players to choose between four characters to fight through waves of enemies.
Whilst the textures and character models may not have aged well, the color palette is quite vibrant in comparison to other titles in the genre. Often overlooked and forgotten, Crisis Beat is a fun jaunt for fans of beat-em-ups making players learn to string together combos with a simple two-button attack set up to proceed through each stage.
2 Fantastic Four
Unfortunately released in 1998 when the beat-em-up genre was declared all but dead, Fantastic Four brought 2D licensed Marvel Comics brawling to the Sony PlayStation. Based on the comic series of the same name rather than either of the two Fantastic Four live-action movies, Fantastic Four played like a classic arcade title.
Taking control of one out of The Fantastic Four, players must survive being teleported to various locations by Dr Doom. Using a PlayStation Multitap, four-player sessions were able to take place on the couch using one machine. Controls aren’t that great and the graphics are nothing to write home about but for fans of the franchise, Fantastic Four gives players a chance to play an old-school arcade title albeit a not that exciting one.
1 Panzer Bandit
Another 2D side-scrolling brawler, Panzer Bandit, was only released for Japanese audiences in 1997 for Sony PlayStation. It did however make its way onto the PlayStation Network in 2011 for players to try on PlayStation 3 again this was Japan only. Based on an unreleased Sega Genesis title Axion, Panzer Bandit was very similar to the game Guardian Heroes which was released on Sega Saturn and Xbox 360.
After a robotic army invades cities around the world, the main character Kou and a band of heroes must put a stop to this mechanical menace. Each of the four characters has their own move sets to take on the enemy waves and save the city. Set across eight colorful stages, Panzer Bandit is a classic that players in the West should strive to try if they can get a copy to play.