Beat 'em ups (also known as brawlers) are a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and an improbably large number of underpowered enemies. ;xNLx;;xNLx;The First Age is comprised of traditional beat 'em ups that took place in side scrolling levels with limited color palettes. This age is noted for its simple gameplay; a source of both critical acclaim and derision. Two-player cooperative gameplay and multiple player characters are also hallmarks of this age.;xNLx;;xNLx;The Second Age began with a marked increased in mechanical sophistication and nuance. Every aspect of the beat 'em up experience was improved by a substantial margin. Most of this select handful of high quality games were created by Capcom on their CPS2 hardware.;xNLx;;xNLx;Unfortunately, the very promising Second Age was cut short by the advent of 3d gameplay on the home console. The brief Dark Age is comprised of a few remarkably poor titles that were produced and marketed on the excitement of early 3d gameplay.;xNLx;;xNLx;The Third Age was ushered in by Devil May Cry 1 and put the beat 'em up back in the spotlight with 3d gameplay that finally looked and felt good. The third age has been a 10+ year renaissance, only losing momentum in recent years.;xNLx;;xNLx;The greatest threat to the beat 'em up has now appeared in the form of "Watch 'Em Ups", a genre of games that looks like beat 'em ups but are actually a wholly different experience.