Good AND easy beat'em ups

[marurun]

I think River City Ransom is my favorite beat 'em up. The SD style and the crazy attacks and antics, not to mention great interactions with thrown items, make it a blast. Plus, it's pretty easy for retro-gamers to get their hands on.

The original NES version is great and not particularly rare.

There was a JPN-only release for the PC Engine on Super CD under the JPN title of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari that improves the graphics and sound and adds a CD soundtrack. I think this version might add other stuff, too, but it's been a while since I played it.

There's also a fantastic Game Boy Advance release which adds expanded moves and items, though it does make it harder to get the good ending by adding a morality system that makes it so using your best powers, juggling, and taking advantage of enemies who are down hurts your karma.

[keogamer]

I recommend Phantom Breaker Battle ground for the Xbox 360, and PS vita.

It game with elements borrower from guardian heros, where you can level up your states as well as unlock mechanics or commands. its up to 4 player cop and controls are relatively easy.

[Gunstar Green]

I think River City Ransom is my favorite beat 'em up. The SD style and the crazy attacks and antics, not to mention great interactions with thrown items, make it a blast. Plus, it's pretty easy for retro-gamers to get their hands on.

The original NES version is great and not particularly rare.

There was a JPN-only release for the PC Engine on Super CD under the JPN title of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari that improves the graphics and sound and adds a CD soundtrack. I think this version might add other stuff, too, but it's been a while since I played it.

There's also a fantastic Game Boy Advance release which adds expanded moves and items, though it does make it harder to get the good ending by adding a morality system that makes it so using your best powers, juggling, and taking advantage of enemies who are down hurts your karma.

Don't forget the Famicom sequel to River City Ransom, Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki da yo Zen'in Shūgō!

Yeah, I'm not even going to pretend I didn't use Wikipedia to copy-paste that mouthful of a title.

It's a really great game with a more feudal Japan theme. I think in the story they're supposed to be acting out a play or something.

[Nyukki]

^ Didn't know about the River City Ransom sequel, thanks for that!

Not really a big fan of beat em ups but enjoy fighters. I've always enjoyed "Force Mode" in Tekken 3 on PSX. "CHICKEN"

[KalessinDB]

Old thread, but I always thought the Dynasty Warriors series was easy and basically just a next-gen beat em up. I played the everliving CRAP out of 3/3xl.. have since went back to newer iterations and been like "Yep. Same game" and never gotten into them as much. But that first one we played, my best friend and I had to sink 100+ hours into it. Was our go-to game for an easy 6 months.

My buddy just picked up Dynasty Warriors 8 XL Complete Edition.

I've only played Ambition Mode with him a little, and I haven't paid attention to any of the other stuff, just went in and absolutely wrecked people. They have not changed the formula at all, and that's not a bad thing at all in my eyes.

[Gamerforlife]

Can't say I agree with some of the choices in this thread. Arcade beat'em ups = no. God Hod = no. Those are NOT simple games. Most arcade beat 'em ups are BRUTAL and so is God Hand. If one is going to go with arcade games though, Konami beat'em ups are generally simpler to play than Capcom beat ' em ups. Most of them are no more complicated than an attack button and a jump button. Here are my suggestions(some of these are even easier with friends):

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV on the SNES

The ground slam is the only move you need(hold up or down + attack near an enemy right after you hit him the first time). It breaks the game. I can play through hard mode on one life with it

Foul Play - Xbox360

Learn to counter, followed by doing an air combo. Counters are easy because it's a one button move and enemies telegraph their attacks. The air combo keeps you in the air where enemies rarely hit you and only requires that you keep mashing the attack button. Spam that strategy for the whole game, and play with a friend to make things even easier.

Streets of Rage 2

Forget the first one, Streets of Rage 2 is MUCH easier. On normal difficulty, the game takes it pretty easy on players. There's plenty of moves to use, but you don't need to learn them all. If you use Axel, you're pretty much set with just his grand uppa move (forward, forward, punch button). It DESTROYS people

Dynasty Warriors series

While these can eventually get very hard as you enter later levels or start trying to unlock things(not to mention the higher difficulties), in the early goings you can just spam the attack button and unleash musou attacks when your special bar fills up. If you level up your character enough, even later levels are pretty easy

Shinovi Versus

This is getting localized later this year, but you can import the original on the Vita. Fairly easy game if you focus on leveling up your Dark form (the game gives three styles to choose from). It gives you a MASSIVE attack boost and you can level it up pretty fast by replaying levels in each character's individual story mode

Three Dirty Dwarves

It's not necessarily an easy game, but it requires little in the way of complicated moves or combos. Gameplay mostly boils down to simple attacks and jumping

Rocksteady's Batman games, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Sleeping Dogs

Enemies always signal their attacks in these games. You can win a lot of fights by just hitting the counter button when this happens. Also, in the Batman games, you can easily jump over enemies to interrupt all their attacks while also allowing you to move around. It also keeps your combo meter up. Honestly, just abuse the jump(or you could call it the vault over move) to makes a lot of fights simple

Castle Crashers

Pretty easy game to get into, ESPECIALLY if you play with three other people. There are a few tough spots, but your friends can always bring you back to life if you die. Dad n Me is by the same developers, and doesn't seem too tough from what I've seen of it

Fist Puncher

I thought this was a fairly easy game to learn and play

Batman the Brave and the Bold

If you like Wii motion controls, try this. It's not a hard game

Other suggestions:

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks - Play it with a friend!
Marvel Ultimate Alliance or X-Men Legends - Have a lot of beat 'em up elements to it
Gaunlet Dark Legacy - See above
Thor God of Thunder By Wayforward for DS
Lollipop Chainsaw - The games gets fairly simple once you acquire certain upgrades and combos. Nick tickets are overpowered and using your star power when it's available makes you invincible and triggers one hit kills.
Golden Axe (arcade) - Most arcade beat 'em ups are hard, but Golden Axe isn't too bad if you stay on an animal as much as possible
X-Men Origins Wolverine - Wolverine is kind of overpowered in this game

[jfrost]

Since no one is going to remember it, I would suggest Fighting Force for the PlayStation 1 (also for the Nintendo 64, if memory serves). Fairly easy and people seem to enjoy it nowadays more than when it was released.