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Sometimes the best way to make a difference is to wrap your knuckles, step out onto a mob-filled street, and punch the enemy squarely in the snot box. With beat em ups, the gameplay goal is simple: Destroy the enemy waves before they destroy you. Although that description applies to many video game genres including action, strategy, and shmup beat em ups have their own flavor.
Thanks to pioneering titles like
The Warriors-inspired Renegade and the post-apocalyptic Double Dragon, beat em ups typically feature street-level heroes who must rescue a girlfriend, save a president, exact cold revenge, or engage in some other B-movie trope. The games usually feature simple side-scrolling movement, which is why beat em ups are known as belt scrollers in Japan and some Western gaming circles. Brawlers is another term for the genre.