Beat-'Em-Up! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Super Smash Bros.

First released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64, "Super Smash Bros." has since become one of Nintendo's most famous fighters and most-played game series overall. The aim of the game is to pick a character, usually one from a Nintendo series, though later instalments have seen third-party inclusions, and face off against a handful of other players or computer avatars aiming to get the best score or be the last man standing.

The game also features cameo inclusions of other famous and not-as-famous characters and unique settings and items from the games in the Nintendo line-up.

Answer: Brawlhalla

Originally released on the PC and PS4, "Brawlhalla" is similar to "Super Smash Bros.", but with a non-licensed, Nordic twist. You play as one of dozens of characters in this game, each with semi-distinct abilities and attribute points that lend characters to have more strength, better dexterity, enhanced speed, or more powerful defence.

While the game is a free-to-play release, players can either purchase characters or wait for them to cycle through; on a regular rotation, characters get swapped in and out of activity for those looking to play on a casual level.

Answer: Castle Crashers

This 2008 game originally released on XBLA became popular enough to be ported to PC, PS3, PS4, and the Nintendo Switch over time, bringing with it a cute, animated world filled to the brim with fierce battles against enemy regimes. In this one, you play as a knight in a side-scrolling world, fighting in melee combat with an arsenal of close-range weapons, or firing at a distance with ranged items. Amassing wealth and experience helps increase your abilities, and locating small creatures known as animal orbs will further help-- each one has a different ability. Unlike beat 'em up fighters, this game takes the 2D style on the road, taking the player (or players, plural, as it can be a cooperative adventure) through levels while pummelling foes.

Answer: Double Dragon

"Double Dragon" was a step ahead of most fighters in its day because unlike the head-to-head fighting arcade games of the time, it followed a clear storyline in which the player (or players, if two people wanted to work together) had to save his girlfriend from evil thugs by fighting their way through, dealing enough damage with strikes to win each pre-planned battle.

In addition to having to fight enemies, players would also have to face a timer and, in some stages, avoid falling into traps or off the screen entirely.

The game would be one of many seminal classics to shape beat 'em ups as a genre, predating similar games that wouldn't show up in 3D for more than ten years.

Answer: Viewtiful Joe

Released in 2003 by Capcom and Clover Studio (who later developed "Okami" before dissolution), "Viewtiful Joe" was a colourful beat 'em up sidescroller that was, inevitably, ported to the PlayStation 2 after its success on the Gamecube. In the game, you could follow stages along the 2D world to beat up foes and solve puzzles. Killing enemies with chained combos and certain techniques could go towards unlocking more abilities between the game's stages.

The game was critically lauded upon release and fanfare led it to have an accompanying manga and fifty-episode anime.

It had three sequels, all of which released within two years of the original.

Answer: MadWorld

Although Clover Studio closed down after "Viewtiful Joe" and "Okami", many of its creators moved on to create PlatinumGames, teaming up with Sega to release "MadWorld" in 2009. The game, clearly inspired by the visuals of the "Sin City" graphic novels, was one of the more mature titles to be released on Nintendo's super-popular console, taking advantage of the Wii Remote's motion controls to bring a hyper-violent offering to an otherwise tame system.

In the game, your goal is to beat up all of the enemies for the sake of a reality TV show called "DeathWatch" (think Stephen King's "The Running Man", but with consent), occasionally using a chainsaw to run through bigger adversaries.

Answer: Devil May Cry

In a rare instance, the beat 'em up genre is blended with the hack and slash genre in this Capcom series that started back on the PlayStation 2 in 2001. In the series, you typically play as Dante, a warrior born of a demon and a human woman with significant combat abilities which, over the course of the series, end up being influenced by triggering events, melee weapons, grappling hooks, and guns.

It all somewhat ties in to a narrative inspired by the works of Dante Alighieri, though later games in the series (like 2019's "Devil May Cry 5") take a more modern spin.

Answer: Arkham Asylum

While there have been attempts to create faithful "Batman" games in the past, Rocksteady succeeded in getting the tone just right when they started their series with "Arkham Asylum", a game which sent Bruce Wayne to Arkham Island to face off against the Joker and a rogue's gallery of famous bad guys from the franchise.

While some major boss battles had unique mechanics, many of the fights in this game were classic beat 'em up bouts which utilized Batman's brute force and his dextrous techniques to bring down entire groups with chained combos.

The formula was successful enough to be brought back for several sequels in the 2010s.

Answer: God of War

One of the most popular brands under the PlayStation umbrella in the 2000s, "God of War" had several major releases starting back on the PlayStation 2 in 2005. Set in Ancient Greece, you play as Kratos as he sets out to defeat countless Gods of the pantheon and their underlings. Things escalate through the series until Kratos faces off against the Titans and Zeus himself, often in battles that bring him up close and personal with his fists and hand-to-hand skills (though, occasionally, with weapons). Because of the devastation caused in the first few games, the creators at Sony's in-house studios switched things up in 2018, reframing the story for Norse myth instead of Greek.

Answer: Bayonetta

In a unique take on the beat 'em up/hack and slash genre from the creators of "MadWorld", "Bayonetta" puts you in the role of a witchy character who fights with her own style of martial arts, magical powers, and firearms. For anyone thinking that it has the same sensibilities as the "Devil May Cry" series, you'd be on the nose; the game was developed by one of its creators and shares not only many of the mechanics, but some of the same narrative overtones as derived from the works of Dante Alighieri. "Bayonetta" would go on to be one of Nintendo's more unique and unconventional exclusive franchises over successive generations.