9 Best Beat Em Up Games SNES That You Should Know Update 04/2024

best beat em up games snes SNES

As with the SNES, the “beat ’em up” fighting genre is now just a thing of the past that people remember fondly. While it has made a comeback with new versions of Rare’s Battletoads and Streets of Rage 4, it’s a long way from the glory days of the 16-bit era.

In the early 90s, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of these games that were so much fun. The SNES has a lot of great beat em ups, which makes it a good choice if you want to “kick it” with a friend or sibling.

In this video, we’ll mash and bash our way through the SNES’ library and talk about the 10 best beat ’em ups for the console.

Battletoads & Double Dragon

There doesn’t seem to be a good match between martial artists and mutant muscular toads. Though it makes sense because these button-mashing beat ’em ups look a lot like each other in style. Rare is in charge of this fun mix of IPs. They make a colourful side-scrolling game that combines the best of both worlds, making it fun to play. You have the more traditional DD sensibilities mixed with the fun of Rare’s game.

This game lets you and a friend choose between Billy or Jimmy from Double Dragon. You can also choose Zitz from Battletoads, as well as Pimple, Rash from that game.

When the NES version came out, Nintendo Power said it was the second best game for the system in 1993. It’s not very well known now.

Batman Returns

Take the epic superhero themes of Batman and his friends and mix them with the Final Fight mechanics, and Batman Returns is a very good beat ’em up. Konami, the company that made Turtles in Time and other great games like that, worked on the SNES version.

Really, the only thing that this Batman game doesn’t have is multiplayer. Regardless, this movie-based fight game has some fun beat ’em up gameplay thanks to tight mechanics, rich backgrounds, and colourful enemies that make the game fun to play.

Final Fight 2

Final Fight 2

Surprise hit: We didn’t know what to expect with this one, but it turned out to be a big hit. Like many other games on our list, it has a lot of replay value.

Capcom’s side-scrolling brawler takes you on a fun walk through rich environments all over the world. As long as you don’t mind friendly fire, this is a good game. It’s the first in the series to have co-op. They each have their own dynamic and fighting style, giving the game a little more depth.

Captain Commando

Many people find beat ’em up games to be fun, especially when played with a friend. Yet, some have said that there is a chance of repetition. Fortunately, Capcom’s sci-fi game from 1991 is a lot of fun because it has a lot of different situations and unique enemies.

As a butt-kicking robot fighter, you’ll be in a lot of different places, from spaceships to circuses. You can also choose from a lot of other fighters, each with their own unique styles and weapons.

The enemies, on the other hand, have a wide range of themes and mechanics that keep you on your toes. Captain Commando throws a lot of different ideas into a blender, and the result is a fun, creative beat ’em up.

Spider-Man And Venom: Maximum Carnage

Spider-Man And Venom Maximum Carnage

If you have a nimble, quick superhero like Spider-Man, the beat ’em up genre seems to be a good fit for superhero games.

They have a great game that moves in a side-scrolling direction. It’s so fun and pretty that you won’t even mind that you can’t play with a friend. This 1994 game has comic book-style graphics that make you want to play. It also has a lot of action and cool Spider-Man themes that make you want to play.

In this game, you can climb walls and swing around with your web, which makes it feel good to be able to do that.

Super Double Dragon

Back on the NES, Double Dragon had already made a name for itself with its 8-bit form. It’s hard to match the classic feel of the original games, but this sequel throws you into 16-bit dojos that look great. You can play in a casino, a city slum, and even on top of a moving truck in this game.

Billy and Jimmy have different fighting skills and mechanics in this fourth instalment, so the mechanics are more detailed than in the previous three games, which were more simple. Though it was made in 1992, it still beats a lot of other beat ’em ups.

The Ninja Warriors

The Ninja Warriors

SNES game The Ninja Warriors is a follow-up to a popular 1987 arcade game called The Ninja Warriors. It came out in 1994. The Ninja Warriors for the SNES is very different from the original arcade game in terms of graphics and level design, but it still has a lot of the same DNA. Players can choose from three deadly Ninja characters, each with their own unique moves and skills.

In The Ninja Warriors, combat is a lot more planned out. This is one of the things that makes the game stand out from other games in the same genre. You need to learn how to block and grapple to add more depth to the typical button-mashy style that the genre is known for.

There is also a special gauge bar that fills up as you move through the level. This allows players to use powerful blaster attacks to clear the screen at important times.

The AI of the enemies is also very good, so the game can feel like an action version of paper, rock, scissors, with grappling, blocking, and attacking being the three main parts.

This game will put your reflexes and decision-making skills to the test with its tough and thoughtful combat and tight controls that are hard to master at first. The synth-heavy soundtrack will get your heart rate up to match the tense scenes. As a whole, The Ninja Warriors is one of the best SNES games to play when you want to fight bad guys.

The Peace Keepers

One of the best beat-em-up games ever made is called Rushing Beat Syura in Japan. The Peace Keepers is one of the best.

The Peace Keepers is the third and last game in the Rushing Beat series. Rival Turf and Brawl Brothers are also part of the series (which you can read about below). The Peace Keepers is the third game in a well-known series. To make it stand out from the other games, it added new characters and new gameplay elements.

If you like Final Fight 3, The Peace Keepers also had a lot of different kinds of characters that you could play with, as well as different ways to get there and even different endings.

In my opinion, what set this game apart from other games in the genre was how well everything worked together. The game moves by strafing right, and you can punch, kick, and throw hordes of enemies.

Each playable character’s moves had a lot of strength and power to them. The animators did a great job of putting that into the game.

T.M.N.T. IV: Turtles in Time

T.M.N.T. IV Turtles in Time

Turtles in Time is one of the most popular and well-liked beat ’em ups ever, and it’s also one of the best.

A port from the Arcade to the SNES in 1992, Turtles in Time featured single, two, and four-player modes to make sure that you could round up the whole gang and go to town on the Foot Clan and beat the ever-living crap out of Shredder.

Love it even more because the story doesn’t make sense. The turtles go on a time-traveling adventure that takes them all over history, where they fight both new and old enemies as they go back and forth in time.

Each turtle had a different move set that was suited to their own style, and the game added new things like power moves, slams, and dash attacks. The controls were very close together, and the gameplay was butter smooth, so it was easy to play.

When it comes to animation, this game is still one of the best pixel-graphic games ever made. This is how it worked: The artist made a lot of weird, fun, and interesting characters come to life.

This game is a real treat.