6 Best PS1 Beat ‘Em Ups That Still Hold Up Today

Videos by ComicBook.com

Here are six beat ’em ups that, against all odds, still hold up today.

6) Gekido: Urban Fighters

Gekido: Urban Fighters has a few things working in its favor. Most notably, Marvel comic book artist Joe Madureira contributed some art to the project. He later went on to work on Darksiders, which is an excellent hack-and-slash game. Gekido also had Fatboy Slim and Apartment 26 create some music. That could be a negative for non-fans of those artists, but it works for this very 2000s video game.

The Urban Fighters mode is where you’ll find the Streets of Rage-like gameplay. You can also jump into the various other modes, which are more like a traditional fighting game, but the main story mode is where you’ll spend most of your time. Gekido doesn’t break much new ground, but it’s a solid take on the classic genre.

5) Captain Commando

Captain Commando hit arcades in 1991. The Super Nintendo got a port in 1995, which introduced several limitations to get it to run on the 16-bit systems. Thankfully, the PlayStation received a port in 1998. It doesn’t bring back everything, but it is much closer to the original arcade release.

The only bad news, depending on where you lived at the time, is that Captain Commando‘s PS1 port only came out in Japan. That makes it slightly less attractive for modern audiences because it’s now pretty easy to pick up the arcade version for your PC. Still, it was a great beat ’em up for the PlayStation, so it deserves a spot on this list.

4) Crisis Beat

Bandai’s Crisis Beat takes place on a cruise liner, which is a fun setting that we haven’t really seen in many other beat ’em ups. The ship has been hijacked by terrorists, and you have to jump into hand-to-hand fisticuffs to save the day. There are four different characters to pick from, and you can add a friend to the mix if you’re lucky enough to have one.

What’s really working in Crisis Beat‘s favor is that it only uses two buttons for combat. That makes learning its combos relatively simple, so almost anyone can pick it up. It did get a 2013 re-release on the PlayStation Network, but it still isn’t the easiest game to get your hands on these days.

3) Fighting Force

Fighting Force was one of the first games that developer Core Design announced after the success of its Tomb Raider series. It was originally pitched to Sega as the fourth entry in the Streets of Rage series. However, Sega decided it wanted to keep that series in-house, so Core decided to move over to Eidos and put out its own beat ’em up.

The first Fighting Force isn’t the best beat ’em up you’ll ever play, but it’s neat to see how much of the environment you can destroy. It’s also weird how much it feels like a 2D side-scrolling game in 3D form, making a neat time capsule for genre fans. Core Design released a sequel in 1999, and if you want to check either game out, a new collection dropped in early 2026.

2) Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster

Stuntmaster is a joyous blend of beat ’em up and platforming action. You play as the titular Jackie Chan as he tries to rescue his grandfather from evil kidnappers. The adventure takes you all over New York City, where you’ll use the solid combo system to beat up all your enemies.

The reason Stuntmaster ranks so highly is that Jackie Chan came into the booth to do mo-cap and voice acting. Not only do you hear Chan voicing all of the combat barks, but his attacks look as close to true-to-life as you can get on the original PlayStation. It’s obviously a little dated, but there isn’t a better representation of a great Jackie Chan movie on the PS1.

1) Panzer Bandit

Unfortunately for players outside of Japan, the PlayStation’s best beat ’em up never left the country. In fact, we couldn’t even get this gem when it was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2011. Still, if you can get your hands on this one, it’s worth diving into.

Panzer Bandit is a gorgeous-looking PS1 game, featuring a two-button attack system. However, you can use the shoulder buttons to switch between the foreground and background to let off special attacks. There’s plenty of depth in Panzer Bandit, including a combo counter and elemental attacks that you can guide into your enemies. Bandai Namco took over publisher Banpresto in 2008, so hopefully, this one will come to the West in a collection in the near future.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!