Top 5 Commodore 64 Scrolling Beat 'Em Ups 

Surprised to see Street Hassle there! I am one of the programmers. Thanks for your kind words and review. Of most interest, I have carried my absolute dislike for political correctness to my fast approaching old age. These days I'm actively programming homebrew Atari 2600 games. Cheers!

Street Hassle is a pretty fair representation of Melbourne - although there are a ton more gorillas these days..... many of them run the state.

I didn't even know TMNT and The Simposons were converted so nicely, it's a joy to watch.

For me personally my favourite genre when I was growing up in the 80's was scrolling beat em up's and although i never got the chance to play games such as The Simpsons, playing streets of rage one and two on the Mega drive and final fight in the arcades was living in heaven. Never got to play this conversions for the c64 but they look great. Thanks bro

I agree on the Kung Fu master review here. I was elated back then that it captured the essence from the original, even with the limitations of the C64. I am glad i was a kid during those days. The scene was wonderful, sharing games, visiting people we would never get into contact with in other ways. Im sure our parents were wondering sometimes why we were so excited over these futuristic computers. Sometimes i regret selling my C64 with all disks/equipment. But i needed the money to buy an Amiga ;-)

Great list. Some of my favorites from back then. Thanks!

First 3 are on point! I would add Express Rider, Barbarian 2 and in the first Usagi Yojimbo. I didn't play the c64 version but Altered Beast looks like a good conversion. All and all maybe you should drop the "scrolling" and do just beat'em ups (not fighters). That way you have a lot more games to cover. Cheers.

Wow!!! So much nostalgia in this video. I was absolutely obsessed with TMNT arcade on my C64. Renegade was a close second for me. Thanks for uploading.

Never realised how good The Simpsons conversion was, looks a top game packed with fun.

I was sure this was the list and the order when watched the trailer and I agree, great stuff as always.

Street Hassle doesn't get enough love!

Bop n Rumble featured a wrestler, in Street Hassle's instructions he's called Gorgeous Gregg after Beam Software programmer Gregg Barnett. (The Gorgeous Gregg character had also appeared in Rock 'n Wrestle/Bop 'n Wrestle.) Good list. The presentation of The Simpsons is fantastic, and I was really impressed the first time I played it. Not the biggest fan of C64 Renegade, graphics are really chunky and the control method makes it trickier than it needs to be.

Always look forward to your genre retrospectives. Nice work! Good inspiration for the weekend 😃

I couldn't wait for this video after seeing the trailer! I really enjoyed most of these when they came out. 😂 Glad to see Final Fight didn't make the list 😂 Double Dragon 2 was fantastic, what a step up from the first game! Another great video as usual! Loved every minute

I usually played Int.Karate or IK+ when I played fighting games but Bop'n Rumble was my only beat'em up I played. It was so funny! I especially liked the wringing of the ears. 😆😆😆

Fun fact: Kung Fu Master was originally based on the Bruce Lee movie Game of Death but they didn't get the license so the game was rebranded. You can still see the story elements from the movie. Most notably: The fight against the giant is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - yes, the basket ball player: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8ic2k2P_FG0.htmlsi=w7MNBoB6wGlOa3ua

That's a great list man! The Simpsons conversion really must've been a labor of love, done by a Hungarian programming team I believe? Must play that one again soon. I understand not including (Target) Renegade, as the first one needs the keyboard + joystick if I remember correctly... pretty weird. Target Renegade I found very repetitive mainly and annoying when getting caught between two enemies, who use cheap tactics. The game does look absolutely fantastic and has an amazing soundtrack with pumping tunes. Wish they had put a little more effort towards making the game play more like the excellent Spectrum and Amstrad versions. Any fan of those systems will likely want to bore you to tears with how their version of the game is like the best beat 'em up ever! I only played the Speccy game but have to admit, it's (much) more fun.

Yeah I absolutely love the genre, but I'm hard pushed to think of any classics on the 64. Another quality upload mate.

Crazy to think the simpsons intro is included in the c64 game! And the Tmnt game looks like a much better conversion than the amiga.

Simpsons looks mega! Thanks for sharing.

I played "The Simpsons C64" about a month ago. Played it on 2 player with my brother and I was a fan. He didnt like it. Really ambitious port that plays fine, only let down by blocky sprites and slightly dodgy hit detection.

Thanks bashb great work Sir

Work is over, time for 64K!

I love Target Renegade, Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja and Double Dragon 2. Usagi Yojimbo is also good. Don't know how i never played the TMNT game

There is quite few under this category, could have also mentioned: renegade 3, ninja warriors, shinobi, shadow warriors , last samurai, etc

I realize I am in the minority but I loved Golden Axe. Yes it was limited in a lot of ways and probably too easy but I fell in love with it!

I played and enjoyed all of these and then some more that today people say are terrible: The Last Battle and Double Dragon 3. As bad as they might have been, for some reason they clicked with me (also I owned legitimate copies of them so they couldn't go to waste!). I didn't also mind Dynamite Dux, eventhough at times it feels more like a shooter.

Simpsons game looks awesome, gonna have to play it

No Target Renegade on the 1st place?! It's one of the best games on C64 in general. For me it has the most arcade-like experience on Commodore, with smooth and detailed gfx/animation, beautiful color scheme, satisfying fighting experience, original characters...and of course the music - a SID masterpiece

They did a good job with DD2, considering only one fire button! I managed to pull off all the moves as desired. NES version still king for me, but c64 definitely enjoyable 👍 need to some how try out the TurboGrafx version...

Street Hassle is the best game of all time.

I really dont remember Target Renegade being that hard?!? That was the last game i bought for my c64 and i have only fond memories of it. 😅

I never found Bad Dudes / Dragon Ninja to be that hard of a game on the C64. Definitely easier than some of the other ones on this list. I wonder if they spiked the difficulty in the European version vs the US version?

Oh, and you missed Golden Axe as an honorable mention :)

You forgot the best - Shinobi

To be frank, the HW of the C64 just isn't the best for decent beat'em'up. You will simply run out of memory very soon. If you have space shoot'em up you need 1 or 2 sprites or so for an enemy. But for a decent beat'em up you have lots of moves, need several sprites to have a decent size for the players etc. To make things worse, you only have 16K of RAM that the graphic chip can see at a time. This makes things even more complicated. Maybe you can do some cool stuff with modern HW that you multiplex sprites like crazy and DMA-copy via easyflash or a REU into the sprite buffers.

For some reason, you forgot about Shinobi and Usagi Yojimbo!?

did you not like or forget about vigilante

Kung Fu Master had a Pistol? I've spent so much time trying to beat this game, often failing at the final boss only to repeat it all over again, or to just turn off the Commodore, insulting it all the way out of the room. ......... and now you're telling me ... there was AN EFFING PISTOL IN THIS STUPID EFFING GAME I HATE YOU! lol

There were actually two ports of the original Double Dragon on the C64...and both were god awful. The only good thing about it was the music. The less said about Double Dragon 3, the better. of course that game was awful, even in the arcades.