A Treasure for Gaming Fans – Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups Review

Video games have received mixed representation in physical print media over the years. Many books were made as references for hardcore fans, but many of these were filled with inaccuracies and incomplete information. In recent years, however, there has been a massive increase in print books about video game history and individual video games. From the NES and SNES Omnibus books to books covering Sega and Nintendo and the arcade scene, there has been a large demand for more books to document games.

Bitmap Books has set out to do its part in covering gaming history. With books about RPGs, Unreleased Games and platform histories, the company has a goal of celebrating not just video games, but also the people behind the games whether they be developers, coders, writers, and so on.  We have covered Bitmap Books’ A Guide To Japanese Role-Playing Games in the past, and now we turn our attention to Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups.

When people think of the arcade scene, there are a few things that come to mind, and one of the first is always beat ‘em ups. The genre’s history is a long and storied one and the games have come in a variety of variations, inspiring many fans who have since become developers themselves. From humble roots in the form of Kung Fu Master to sprawling epics like Dragon’s Crown the genre has so much on offer that there is a beat ’em up for everyone, even those who find classics like Final Fight to be boring. The genre has had ties to multiple famous franchises in the form of adaptations and multiple series that would have been forgotten are well remembered today for having had a beat ’em up adaptation.

With so many games in the genre, it is easy to get lost trying to find information on all of them and that is where Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups enters the picture. This book covers over 4 decades of gaming and multiple developers and the games they made while having a lot of insight into what made the games work. As this book is from a European perspective, many games that would have been ignored in North America such as the Renegade sequels by Ocean are given attention here, and that provides a much more complete experience. The book in general offers something that needs to be in every collection had, as it is a 456-page hardback with a sewn binding designed to be opened and laid flat without damage to the spine.  The pages are glossy, using acid-free paper and the vast trove of screenshots used in the text are all high-quality with brightly coloured images.

This is a book for connoisseurs of the genre and the additional bits of artwork and material some games are given as highlights shine here, with pages that fold out to show off a wide page spread of artwork and information. It must be noted that Bitmap Books provides some of the best packaging in the book market, with the books being packed in multiple containers for secure shipping and special care given to ensure the corners are not dinged at all. Considering this arrived from the UK to Canada, this means a great deal as so much care was put into shipping this. Considering that the book will cost you almost $60 plus shipping, Bitmap Books has set out to prove they deserve every cent they charge.

This book goes through the games on a chronological basis and goes by a decade-by-decade case, starting with Kung Fu Master, the game that started the genre according to most and ending with Streets of Rage 4, a fitting end to the history in this book. While not every game is given a full page, with some pages covering multiple titles, others are given multiple pages and the aforementioned foldouts. What is noteworthy, is just how many games are covered. Games you will likely never have heard of, from obscure publishers in countries like Italy are given attention alongside classics like River City Ransom and each game has the developer, though not the publisher, listed along with the platforms the game came out on.

There is a wealth of text here, covering not just the games, but giving background on the decades they were released in as well. While there is some bias given to preference of certain games (looking at you Streets of Rage 2), overall, this is a book that is passionate about what it talks about. The authors took the time to highlight that even in the 2000s when beat ‘em ups were supposedly at their nadir, there were many great games in the genre still, with special mention to games on the Game Boy Advance such as TMNT and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, while highlighting why the devs were so important.

Another important thing about Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups is that it talks about why certain games are so important and loved and does not just talk about them in a clinical manner. Games like Alien vs. Predator are highlighted for their greatness, as are games like The Simpsons, while titles like the Dungeons & Dragons Mystara games are praised for how they pushed the genre forward by incorporating RPG elements. Indeed, some you come to appreciate while reading Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups is just how diverse the genre was and how many developers tried their hands at it.

While it would have been nice for every game covered by the book to be given an equal entry, the fact is that some games are more significant than others, and some simply do not have much to talk about. There is also the fact that some games have been left out, including some in the Kunio series, which does lessen the completeness factor of this book. Still, there is the potential for an expanded version of the book to come, which can cover these games and additional Beat ‘em ups to have been released since, such as Final Vendetta and of course Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge, which would be a nice touch since the author lavished praised on the TMNT game boy advance game the same team worked on.

As mentioned, games like Alien Vs Predator are especially highlighted, as are games such as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, for their influence on the genre. When it comes to games that brought RPG elements to the gameplay, more than just Dungeons and Dragons are highlighted, as titles like King of Dragons, River City Ransom, Treachery in Beatdown City, Guardian Heroes, Code of Princess and more are given a fair share of the spotlight, culminating in Dragon’s Crown, a game that is considered the largest beat ‘em up ever and blurs the line between beat ‘em up and action RPG. Games such as Mug Smashers, an obscure Italian title are given a chance to shine, as are obscure American titles like Ninja Clowns, a game most have never heard of.

One of the best parts about Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups is the detailed introduction each decade is given. We are clearly given a picture of how the ‘80s were the beginning of the genre and laid the groundwork while the ‘90s built on that foundation and made truly memorable experiences with new ideas. The 2000s are described as the lean years but still having many great beat ‘em ups, especially on the game boy advance, while the 2010s are the revival years that saw the genre return to prominence. The last decade discussed is the start of the 2020s and how the genre is truly back and with new developers bringing back both classics and new games that everyone can enjoy, and it is all laid out in a very compelling set of reads.

By now you probably have an idea of the scope of this excellent volume, and you can see why this is an essential read for anyone who is a fan of classic arcade gaming. At the end of the book, there’s even an index where you can look up any entry by game, allowing you to pick and choose what you want to read about as you see fit, and each game is mentioned with the page number whenever discussed in another entry.

For the price point, it’s hard to argue that Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups is anything but an outstanding offering that is a must-own volume in any gaming fan’s personal library.  The coverage and detail are amazing, the information is fascinating, the photos are excellent and the design of the book itself is nothing short of magnificent.  And on top of everything else, Bitmap also provides a full PDF of the book itself so you can also use it as a digital reference (albeit with a limited number of downloads allowed).

For $60, this is more than just a coffee table book, it’s a peek under the hood at almost the entire history of beat ‘em ups mixed with a functional and informative volume that is as much reference material as fan service.  Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups is the book on beat ‘em ups that you never knew you needed, and you must have!

This review is based on a physical copy of Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups es provided by Bitmap Books.  The book is available to buy here, so don’t hesitate to check it out because it is absolutely worth your time.  Most photos are directly from the book and have been cropped.