Beat 'em up

A video game genre in which players fight numerous opponents with close-range attacks, often advancing through stages on foot. Combat commonly combines punches, kicks, grapples, and improvised weapons.

Brawler: A character archetype built around close-range fighting, often using strength and melee attacks. Player characters in beat 'em ups often use the brawler archetype to handle groups of enemies.
Kung-Fu Master: A 1984 arcade game in which Thomas fights through a five-floor temple to rescue Sylvia. Its forward-scrolling stages and waves of enemies became a template for the genre.
Fighting game: A competitive game genre centered on direct combat between a small number of characters in an arena. Fighting games emphasize matched duels, while beat 'em ups pit players against crowds.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989 video game): A 1989 arcade beat 'em up in which players control the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Its licensed characters and four-player co-op made the arcade format accessible to a broad audience.
Hitbox: An invisible region used by a game to detect collisions and attacks. Hitboxes determine when a punch or kick connects with an opponent.
Renegade (video game): A 1986 arcade game that brought street fighting and multidirectional movement into a scrolling action format. It helped establish the urban street-brawling form of beat 'em up.
Hack and slash: An action-game style focused on repeated melee attacks against enemies, often with large-scale combat. The term overlaps with beat 'em up, but often describes later 3D action games.
The Simpsons (arcade game): A 1991 arcade beat 'em up based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It showed how familiar television characters could anchor a cooperative brawler.
Combo (video games): A sequence of attacks performed in succession, often before an opponent can recover. Combos reward chaining close-range attacks against enemies.
Double Dragon: A 1987 arcade game about Billy and Jimmy Lee fighting a gang to rescue Marian. Its two-player co-op and weapon use defined a widely copied arcade formula.

Linked from 6 pages