Although there are over a thousand beat 'em up games in existence - only about a dozen companies managed to build careers in the genre. I've narrowed it down to 10 developers who in both classic and modern era - have become the pillars of the brawler niche. These companies signify the best and most influential titles of the related style of game-play.

While Tecmo doesn't have a very large history of beat 'em ups (Wild Fang is its only non-franchise brawler), it does have a very popular series - Ninja Gaiden. The original arcade title had a legendary continue screen, and was ported to the Atarti Lynx and may have had some semi-sequel in development for the Japanese Sega Megadrive. The NES games were platformers - but the beat 'em up aspects of series were revived with the modern Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and Ninja Gaiden 2. Tecmo and Team Ninja (the creative procees behind their namesake) are in a fued right now - but perhaps it will resolve and give Tecmo more time to pump out brawler titles under the Ninja Gaiden franchise.

"The President has been kidnapped by ninjas - are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?" I find it ironic that Data East's weakest beat 'em up is probably the company's most well-known game. Bad Dudes, its higher quality spirtual sequel Two Crude Dudes, and a few other titles (Night Slashers, Edward Randy, Trio the Punch: Never Forget Me!) were what this developer contributed to the golden age of side-scrolling brawlers. Like several other companies on this list, they are now defunct with the fates of their products unknown.

Although SNK is more known for their versus-fighter franchises - they did produce a number of beat 'em up titles for their arcade and home consoles. The Sengoku trilogy, Mutation Nation, Robo Army, and about a half-dozen other titles were present on their revered (although pricey) hardware. SNK eventually folded due to internal strife - but managed to crawl out of the grave as SNK Playmore and is currenly releasing both compilation discs and downloadable ports of their games onto modern consoles.

Responsible for the modern beat 'em up (Dynasty Warriors 2), Koei and Omega Force have worked together for the expansive Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warrior series - as well as a handful of other brawlers(Crimson Sea, Gundam Musou, Bladestorm). Although there have been some complaints of how similar many of the games are - the two companies have several original properties being created in the near future. While they weren't making brawlers during the "golden age" - I consider both Koei and Omega Force major players in the current era of the genre.

Taito was another old-school company in the service of dispensing beat 'em ups into the craze. Although many of its titles weren't household names (The Ninja Kids, Growl, Dungeon Magic, Sonic Blast Man 1 & 2, Pu-Li-Ru-La) - they still have a cult following of their two Ninja Warrior titles. As with Capcom and Sega - Taito released several compilation discs of their games, including a good portion of their brawlers. As of recent - Taito was absorbed into the growing Square-Enix empire - so the fate of their products and any remakes or re-releases remains uncertain.

Irem basically invented the beat 'em up genre with its 1984 hit Kung Fu Master. The company's roster also included Vigilante, Hook, Ninja Baseball Bat Man, and Undercover Cops. Although it gave birth to such a wonderous genre of gaming, Irem hasn't made a brawler in fifteen years and may never dabble in its creation again.

One of my favorite companies - Konami was no stranger to the brawler frenzy that lasted from the late 80's to the mid 90's. It dealt strong hands like The Simpsons (arcade), X-Men (arcade), Violent Storm, and various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles. Although we lucked out and got a port of TMNT 1989 on the Xbox Live Arcade Market - several of their beat 'ems ups will probably never see a re-release due to licensing issues.

Despite its constant state of war with various rival consoles - Sega managed to spawn a wide array of quality software titles, including beat 'em ups. Highlights include, but are not limited to: The Streets of Rage and Golden Axe trilogies, Die Hard Arcade, Dynamite Cop, Zombie Revenge, and cult classics like Alien Storm and Altered Beast. I honestly wish they would abandon their blue anthropomorphic mascot's sinking series and go back into designing brawlers.

One of the earliest developers of the beat 'em up genre - Technos was on a rampage of must-have brawler titles for some time before going defunct in one of the most tragic losses to the videogaming world. The Kunio series (released in the US in titles like Renegade and River City Ransom) was a great companion to their other major franchise, that of Double Dragon. Other, non-related titles, included Combatribes and Shadow Force.

No contest, Capcom was essentially God when it came to the genre - with a flood of titles like Alien vs. Predator, Final Fight, Captain Commando, The King of Dragons, Knights of the Round, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and Armored Warriors helping mold the golden age of beat 'em ups. Although they still some brawling elements in their modern titles (ex: Devil May Cry), Capcom - like most companies - has left the genre to remain in the memories of fanatics like me.

There you have it - ten companies, several of which are no longer with us - who made beat 'em ups an opiate of the masses and brought the genre to a peak. Although less prolific than in the 90's - the brawler niche exists today and perhaps some of these developers will continue to grace us with their esteemed product.

List by xenodolf