Back in the 16-bit era, few genres had as much of a grip on both arcades and consoles as the beat ‘em up. Halfway between a fighting game and a platformer, a good side-scrolling brawler generally offered more complex combat than a basic action game, with the dimensional depth of moving up and down in planar space. But most importantly, they invited everyone to join in and play with their friends — desperately pooling their lives (or pocket change) to stay in the game to see the credits roll.

Outside of series built entirely around the premise like Battletoads or Final Fight , beat ‘em ups became the ultimate way to bring popular IP to gaming ; basically, any cartoon or comic that had a core group of recognizable characters was fair play. Konami ruled the scene with The Simpsons

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