I have a soft spot for beat'em ups, I played a lot of them, and yet, I have a craving for more. As I played through some of the best, and obscure, I defiantly notice reoccurring elements in most beat'em ups. No matter what the setting is: Urban, fantasy, or Sci Fi themes, the one thing I notice is a elevator scenes. Those scenes do pop up in some of the games that I have played.
The beat'em up starts out with you moving to the right (or sometimes to the left), you end up on a platform that all of a sudden moves upward and you're surrounded by a group of enemies where the area is cut in a smaller sizes. On regular ground, you have enough space to move around and dodge enemies attacks, but in a elevator, with a bunch of sprites surrounding your character and hoping that you have enough health to use your special attack to temporarily bring down some of your enemies, or bring them for good if they don't have enough health to survive the attack, it can be the most chaotic scene; other than a boss fight.
We do see other common elements like certain enemies types: Fat guys and acrobatic ladies. But it's those elevator scenes that is something that sticks out the most for me. I always felt like a beat'em up has to have a elevator scene; if a beat'em up doesn't have it, it seems like a omission, like a Contra game without the spread-gun. I don't know if Final Fight was the first beat'em up that had a elevator scene, but it was the first for me. Not quite sure if Double Dragon had it, got to play those Double Dragon games one of these days. Anyways, the SNES version of Final Fight cut out Rolento's stage, the Industrial Level, that had the elevator scene. It was a scene that prep you up for the boss fight against Rolento. You're going upwards with Andores, Poison, Roxy, and El Gato surrounding you, and you have to beat them in time or you are going to face Rolento with those undefeated enemies. It was probably the most memorable part of Final Fight, that scene was also featured as a stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2, and for Capcom to take that out was a slap in the face for people that bought the SNES game (Why didn't they take out the Bay Area level instead?).
Undercover Cops
Since Final Fight, Final Fight 2 and Final Fight 3 had the elevator scene. Final Fight 2's elevator scene was a bit of a retelling of the original game's elevator scene, as a bit of a make-up for people that felt sadden by missing part of the SNES game. Other games had their own take with it, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, the elevator would stop until you take out all of the enemies in that game. In Mighty Final Fight, the game doesn't provide any types of barriers to prevent you from falling down, yep, if you jump too far, you'll fall and lose a life. In SNK's Burning Fight, there are extra areas on the right and left for you to roam around and take out the enemies and then move on up. Even in games like Astro Boy: Omega Factor, which is part beat'em up, part shoot'em up, also has a elevator scene; it's take is you can jump out of the elevator and perform air-combos on enemies that are on the far right or left before you dash back in the elevator.
The Beat'em Ups With Elevator Scenes (The ones I played)
Final Fight - Most memorable by far. It was a great build up for the fight for Rolento
Final Fight 2 - It was a pretty much a retelling of the first game, mainly because Rolento was the boss of the level.
Final Fight 3- You're thrown into a elevator with Joes, roller-blading midgets that latch onto to you and damage you like how Blanka grabs you in the Street Fighter games.
Streets of Rage 2 - This one has you pinned up against Kenpo fighters and jumping fat guys that laugh at you when you get hit (i forgot the names of those characters :P).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time - Foot Clans, and robotic puppies that bite your hands as a stun you. Though the elevator does stop for you to take your time and defeat your enemies.
Burning Fight - Not a great beat'em up, but one thing I will say that it does something original for the elevator scene. . .. I think. You can move to away from the elevator to ftake care of your enemies.
Mighty Final Fight - No walls to keep you from falling off the elevator. You best be careful when jumping around, or you'll get hit and accidentally fall off and lose a life.
Battle Circuit - You can move from elevator to elevator. . . ! Okay, not quite original.
Viewtiful Joe - This was the one game that was the most toughest elevator ever. The enemies were a challenge to get through, and more enemies pack the elevator over time.
Undercover Cops - Very common elevator scene, nothing more, though it's not really a bad thing.
Brawl Brothers - You get to chose which floor to explore in this game, but you don't fight enemies while you're in the elevator.
So there was a hand full of games that use the elevator scene. Maybe some developers don't see it as vital for a beat'em up, because some games don't have it. But for me, it just seems something like gives me a obvious feeling when encountering that part of a level. Maybe we'll see more elevator scenes in future beat'em ups, if we ever get them, but who knows.
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