Beat 'Em Upril 2026

I created a month-long drawing challenge for myself for the month of April 2026, celebrating the venerable Beat 'Em Up. Growing up in the 80s, I was a big fan of martial arts media so I felt a natural pull to games in the genre.

1: Kung Fu. Since this was supposedly based on the movie Wheels On Meals, I tried to draw Jackie Chan as the 'Thomas' the player character.

2: Double Dragon. The elbow is this game's ultimate weapon.

3: Final Fight. Roxy and Billy, her replacement in the American SNES version

4. Golden Axe. I wish the sound effects in this game were less 'squishy'

5: Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari / River City Ransom. One of the first games to add a level of depth to the genre thanks to some of its RPG-inspired systems. I'm also a sucker for the 80s Japanese deliquent theme.

6: Streets of Rage 2

7: Captain Commando. This game was more gory than I expected.

8: Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja. A lot of these games are from the 80s, but this game is probably the most 80s.

9: X-Men The Arcade Game. Magneto says the thing.

10: Ninja Gaiden. I love the flip-throw mechanic.

11. Alien Vs. Predator. Only played this once, but I remember it being kinda difficult.

12: Knights of the Round

13: Crime Fighters. A personal favorite. I love how this game encourages you to fight dirty.

14: Night Slashers. The level of gore in this game kinda shocked me when I first saw it.

15: Avengers / Hissatsu Buraiken. One of my first encounters with the genre. When I learned there was a comic book called The Avengers, I was super disappointed to find out it wasn't about martial arts.