10 Best Side-Scrolling Beat 'Em Ups Of All Time

1. X-Men Arcade

There wouldn't be a more fitting game to sit at the top of this list than X-Men Arcade. While previous games on this list were certainly more influential, none was more fun to play and more addicting than this.

For starters, character choice was double what it was in most beat 'em ups, allowing you to choose from six different mutants: Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler or Dazzler. Not only was the six player co-op a rare thing for arcades at the time, but it featured one of the most massively awesome cabinets ever. It was huge, and actually had two screens, one at the normal spot and another reflecting up from below. It featured six joysticks, all allocated to a specific character, but yet still had enough room for all six people to play comfortably. If you walk into an arcade today and see this cabinet, chances are you're going to end up playing through the whole thing especially if you're with a group of six.

One of the best things about this was just how different each mutant played from one another. Wolverine had fast and furious swipes with his claws while Colossus had slow and powerful swings. Each mutant also came with a powerful mutant ability that came at the cost of your health. So while you could spam an incredibly powerful attack, you'd be damaging yourself in the long run.

It's safe to say if you played any beat 'em up before, this was one of them. And while it isn't a trend setter, it didn't have anything ground breaking come out of it other than the best cabinet ever, it's instantly recognizable to those who have ventured inside of an arcade and is certainly the best side scrolling beat 'em up of all time.

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