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

5. Golden Axe

It's hard to talk about side scrolling beat 'em ups without bringing up the Golden Axe series. But when it comes to the Golden Axe series, nothing will ever top the first one.

Golden Axe has you take control of one of three characters; A dwarf with a giant battleaxe, an absolutely ripped barbarian with a broadsword or a badass amazonian warrior with a longsword. Along the way you'll find creatures to jump atop to take down enemies as well. Of course, you'd end up fighting with friends upon finding a dragon and the race was on even for those weird, purple rat-bird hybrids.

It's not a fantasy driven medieval world without magic either, and the magic ability in this game was one of the funnest yet more frustrating in any game. Collecting blue potions would power up your magic attack - the more you had the more powerful the attack. Those blue potions were held by the most annoying little s**t that ran around with a bag draped over its shoulder.

As annoying as they were as they frantically ran around, the satisfaction from kicking those things in the face will never be matched.