PALGN writes: "Golden Axe may not have been the most cerebral of games around, but we'll be darned if it wasn't fun at the time. While age may not have been kind to this venerable beat-em-up, the fact remains that there's nothing quite as satisfying as smashing, crashing, and bashing one's way through hordes of enemies of lesser intelligence - there's a time and a place for our good friend Professor Layton, but as enjoyable as it is to calculate exactly how many return trips it'll take a ferry to cart a bunch of brainless sheep and hungry wolves across some river, it's not quite the same emotional release as generally whacking things for the sheer fun of it.
Sadly, like many things in life, a good beat-em-up is hard to find. For such a simple genre, it's apparently surprisingly difficult to design an enjoyable game. However, fans of the beat-em-up genre rejoice - mindless good-humoured, high-coloured violence is back, and thy name is Castle Crashers. Created by the same team that did Alien Hominid, the game is a refreshing step away from the otherwise generally bleak, brown, and grey world of the modern console into a lighter time, one filled with rainbows of colours, simplified gameplay, and woodland animals that, shall we say, display their fear in rather visceral ways."
Andrew M writes: "To celebrate the mini renascence of brawlers we've had recently, we came up with a list of 4 more classics we hope to see get a revival soon."
How much you want to bet a Simpsons game remake wouldn't have Marge wielding that vacuum?
Brawlers saw a sharp decline in popularity in the mid-1990s for several reasons. Then in the mid-2000s, the genre saw a resurgence which is still going strong today. So, don your armour and unsheathe your swords as we investigate what led to Brawler's initial downfall and the games which brought the genre back from the brink.
The Best Couch Co-op Games make you laught, rage and can be a lot of fun. Here are the ones that you should check out if you have not done so already.
