Story:
The story starts out in a typical Double Dragon/Final Fight style setting at 64th Street with two protagonists: Rick (Anderson), a calm and intelligent, 35-year old professional private detective and manager of the detective agency; and Allen (Tombs), a 19-year old, reformed delinquent trained by Rick, who is "short-tempered and violent when angry". In the beginning of the plot, an evil corporation known as the Legacy organization, kidnapped the daughter of a mid-aged rich man and left him a letter explaining why they kidnapped her.

Gameplay:
Each private detective uses different fighting styles, attempt to solve cases by beating up each criminal they encounter. Lots of special items can be found by throwing enemies into the background and breaking things, typical of this popular genre in the 1990s arcades. Along the way they are harangued by all manner of thugs and toughs, whose costumes range from 1980s hip-hop wear to stereotypical pirates. The bosses are tough by way of strange special attacks.

Your best girl Annabelle has been kidnapped by the evil Gordon, the "gangster king of Bourbon Street", and as Bayou Billy it is your job to get her back! Bayou Billy as an arcade action game with three different types of gameplay: fighting, shooting, and driving. The fighting sections take place in both swamps and cities, where you can punch, kick, and jump kick the numerous enemies (and swamp creatures!) you will encounter. The shooting section can be played with either the Nintendo Light Zapper or the controller. You have a limited amount of ammo to get through the level, and if you run out you lose a life. In the driving section your jeep is armed with machine guns and grenades to help get past the many enemy vehicles on the way to your destination. There is a total of nine levels, or you can play in the practice mode which lets you choose to play a fighting, shooting, or driving round individually.

A side scrolling fighting game.
Fight your way through the post - apocalyptic streets of New York.

Story:
A homicidal alien race is invading Earth, and the only thing that stands between them and world domination are a special forces team known as the "Alien Busters."

Gameplay:
Alien Storm is a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The game resembles Golden Axe, with a similar artistic style, three playable characters (a man, a woman, and a novelty character) and pick-up or power-up special attacks. All of the Busters are playable from the beginning of the game. There are 6 missions to complete with several stages, and each mission has the player blasting aliens, from the streets to the mother ship, where the mother of all aliens can be found. This task becomes increasingly difficult with each new mission, and the aliens are capable of hiding inside objects such as plants, postboxes, trashcans, drums, and other items. Each mission has an objective such as rescuing people or destroying a UFO.

Shapeshifting alien scum take over your city. Fry the slimy horrors and smash their bid for global conquest. Blast into action with fire blazers, electric whips and more!

The aliens are invading Earth, and it's up to the "Alien Busters" to wipe them out and destroy their creator. The Busters consist of Karla, Gordon, and Scooter. Each one of them have their own weapons and special attacks.
When you start the game, you can select any one of these characters to play as. There are six missions to complete (eight in the Genesis version) with several stages, and each mission has you blasting aliens all the way to the end, from the streets to the mother ship where you'll meet the mother of all aliens. Unfortunately, blasting these aliens will not be an easy task, as they get tougher in every mission, and are capable of hiding into objects such as plants, postboxes, trashcans, drums, and several others. Each mission has an objective such as rescuing people destroying an UFO.

When you deal with a few aliens, flying heads will appear, which you can shoot to collect life or energy (by the way, life is important to you, since if yours get empty, you're dead). However, rather than using your ordinary weapons, you can use the special attacks that are enough to kill aliens you currently see. These types of attack vary depending on the character you choose at the start of the game. For instance, Gordon summons a U.S. Air Force Jet that drop bombs across the street, while Scooter is able to teleport out of his present location, and leave a series of bombs that will blow up aliens on sight, he will then re-appear. However, using your character's special attack uses up a lot of energy, and if you have little or no energy, you can't use it.

At the end of some missions is an alien boss, which you must destroy in order to complete the mission. Also, at the end of every one, you have to enter buildings where you participate in a shooting gallery. The object is to kill aliens popping up from several locations with the building.

Massive 'save the human race' game, with cool visuals, but a bit easy. A sort of Golden Axe in the 21st century.

Save the humans from the mean nasty aliens in this side-scrolling blastathon ported from the arcade game.

Golden Axe in a semi-futuristic setting, with an Operation Wolf section bolted on. Passable action, but pales next to Streets of Rage.

Based on the arcade game, Alien vs. Predator is a fun, though run-of-the-mill side-scroller from Activision. Taking the role of the Predators, you must destroy Aliens that are inhabiting Earth as you hunt them down through city sewers, streets, and buildings that contain the deadly creatures and their queens. Both the Aliens and the Predators are well-animated and easily useridentifiable, and the music and sound effects are suitably creepy (if not overly-repetitive). Boss levels could use a dose of adrenaline, while a two-player mode and the ability to play as the Alien would have boosted replay value. Like the Predators in the game, Alien vs. Predator blends into the genre's background when it should be leading the pack.

Two Space Marines and two Predators go after hordes of H.R. Giger's most fearsome creations! Each character has special projectile weapons in addition to the standard super moves.

The Date: 2593 A.D.
The Planet: Alpha Centauri 3, 8.6 Light-years from Earth.
Background: Originally settled by human colonists for the purpose of mining the rich ore deposits and shipping them back to the resource-depleted Earth.
Recent Events: A predator drone ship placed alien eggs onto the planet, which hatched and produced a fine crop of alien prey. The human population was eradicated in the process. A predator hunting party then arrived to hunt the aliens, but the number of aliens was underestimated and all the predators were, in turn, wiped out.
Theory: An alien queen is present, which would explain the larger-than-anticipated population of aliens.
Mission: It is now up to you, the last of your clan, to regain the predators' honor. And your own.

You control the Predator, who must proceed through a warehouse-like area to eventually find and defeat the Alien queen. Each level is laid out like a maze with a series of platforms and ladders. The Predator must find a key located somewhere in the level and use it to pass the exit door for the level (presented as a thick black block). A map is drawn at the top of the screen and is filled in as the player explores the level to aid in navigation. The Predator has an energy meter that starts at 50 and gradually decreases over time. Once the meter has emptied, the Predator's map will slowly be completely cleared. Some levels feature an energy power-up that will refill the energy meter.

A side scrolling shooter based on the 1986 movie featuring some 3D perspective driving stages.
You are Ripley, geared up and going in to rescue Newt, and nothing will stand in your way.

Altered Beast is a side scrolling, platform, beat 'em up game. The player controls the centurion, fighting undead creatures and monsters in a setting resembling Ancient Greece, with originally five levels, in a graveyard, the Underworld, a cavern, Neff's palace and base at the city of Dis. One of the enemies, a white two-headed wolf (blue in the Mega Drive version, and a blue ox in the DOS version) upon defeat releases a Spirit Ball, a power-up orb which increase the strength and size of the player character.

Altered Beast is a side scrolling, platform, beat 'em up game. The player controls the centurion, fighting undead creatures and monsters in a setting resembling Ancient Greece, with originally five levels, in a graveyard, the Underworld, a cavern, Neff's palace and base at the city of Dis. One of the enemies, a white two-headed wolf (blue in the Mega Drive version, and a blue ox in the DOS version) upon defeat releases a Spirit Ball, a power-up orb which increase the strength and size of the player character. Three orbs turn the centurion into a beast, which in the original version were a werewolf, a thunder weredragon, a werebear, a weretiger, and the more powerful golden werewolf. Each beast has its own abilities, such as the dragon's flight and lightning, and the bear's petrification. After becoming the beast, the character can face the end-level boss, which upon defeat causes Neff to appear and remove the transformation orbs.

The goddess Athena has been abducted by the Lord of the Underworld. Her father, the great god Zeus, searched for a brave warrior strong enough to save her. He chose a brave warrior who died with honor & courage on the battlefield. Zeus raised the warrior from the grave and granted him the power to morph into a powerful, holy beast in order to do battle against the unspeakable horrors of the Underworld.

Altered Beast is a 1-player sideways scrolling beat-em-up. The game begins with the player controlling the human form of the resurrected warrior. During the levels the warrior will be attacked by a number of flashing animals. Destroying these creatures will result in an orb being dropped. If the player picks up an orb, he will begin his transformation from human into 'Beast'. Once 3 orbs have been collected, the transformation is complete. In beast form the player's character is much faster and stronger than in the human form, and also has the ability to throw fireballs at the enemy. At the end of each stage, after the boss fight, the player's special powers are taken from him and he once again reverts to human form.

The action in Altered Beast is untypically slow-paced and sedate for a game of this nature, but the game's premise and graphical flair helped to separate it from other rivals of the genre.

Alex and Stella from "Alex Kidd" are declared dead in the first stage of this game (Alex and Stella stones).

The small tail swinging gryphon that appears often in this game makes a comeback in "Golden Axe".

You were once a Roman Centurion. You died bravely in a battle. Now, a hundred years later, you have been called back from the grave by Zeus, God of Thunder. Even as he grants you new life he gives you a mission. You must rescue his daughter Athena from the eveil clutches of Neff; Lord of the Underworld.

From the surface to the very heart of the Underworld you must journey, fighting Neff's undead army every step of the way! Zombies, demons, gargoyles, three-headed Wolves.

But in this life you have been given an edge... the power to transform into magical beasts of awesome power! From a man to a superman... to a werewolf, were-drageon, were-tiger and the ultimate... a Golden Wolf! Each form has supernatural abilities. You'll need them all... for Neff is a fearsome enemy.

Fail, and Athena's fate will be unspeakable. Win... and you may take a place in the Pantheon of Immortality! Remember... Never say die!

Converted from the popular Sega arcade game.

Destroy all enemies to rescue the fair maiden. Your powers increase when you destroy certain enemies and take their energy; once you achieve a certain energy level, you can alter your shape into that of a beast, with additional abilities. At the end of each level is a "boss" monster that you must defeat to travel to the next area.

In Amazing Spider-Man, you take the role of your favorite web-slinging super hero. In typical beat-em-up style, you have to punch, kick, and web your way to Mary Jane if you ever want to see her alive again. Avoid bullets, falling objects, and defeat all the classic villains from the comic books.

AKA The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin,

It had the same basic format and storyline as the 16-bit version, with redesigned levels, cutscenes (that included a cameo from Doctor Strange) and even on the easiest setting was seen as being difficult to complete. In this version Mary Jane wouldn't be kidnapped but still appear at the end of the game if players attain the best ending.

An up-to-4 players beat'em up game with 4 selectable warriors who battle hordes of soldiers and mythical beings. Plenty of sprite-scaling action from foreground to background.

A side scrolling beat em' up.
Call upon the power of the mighty Genie to help you defeat your enemies!

The player controls the short and mustached Gaul who has to progress through levels located all across Europe, fighting Romans and various aggressive animals along the way, to rescue his friend Obelix before Caesar throws him to the lions. The gameplay takes place in 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. One small Gaulish village continues to defy the occupying forces, thanks to a magic potion which makes them invincible. But now Obelix has vanished. The Romans have confirmed his capture and taken him to an unknown destination.
~courtesy of Wikipedia

Avengers, sometimes known as Avenger, and known in Japan as Hissatsu Buraiken , is a 1987 overhead-view vertically scrolling beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Capcom. The game was directed by Takashi Nishiyama, who later co-planned the original Street Fighter and a few of SNK's early fighting games.

Gameplay:
The game takes place in Paradise City, where the villain, "Geshita", has captured 6 girls from the city. The player's objective (as Ryu or Ko) is to banish "Geshita" from Paradise City once and for all. During the game, the player can pick up powerups like the "Speed Up", the Super Punch, Grenades, Shurikens, Nunchaku and extra health. The player's character has 3 normal means of attack: Punches, which are quick with short range, Kicks, which are slower with longer range, and the Roundhouse, which hits in a 360 degree motion.

What makes this game outstanding, is the mixture of RPG and Action elements. Instead of going through lots of menus, you just have to slay down the enemy. And take a look at the sprites. Yes, that are sprites that you are very familiar with, if you're a fan of the side-scrolling Golden Axe series. The handling is a bit tough sometimes, because the bats are really fast and your first hit has to kill the enemy. But after a few minutes you'll get the hang on it. Make sure to read as much dialogs as possible, since some of them are just too funny to skip.

A side scrolling beat'em up. 3 characters, one on a skateboard, one on a bike and one on rollerskates fight various enemies. Features a large amount of sampled voices and several rap songs.

The President - KIDNAPPED?! But the really bad news is that the Dragon Ninja is responsible - and you alone can rescue the President from his clutches. The Dragon Ninja has a helicopter waiting to spirit the President away. If he makes his getaway before you can stop him, the world will never see the President again. The Dragon Ninja will be ready for you. You can expect to face - at the very least - wave after wave of ninja henchmen, samurai, and super warriors as you make your way through city and forest, atop moving big rigs and freight trains.

Remember - the nation is counting on you!