Step into a whirlwind of pixelated punches and time-warped tales with Beat ‘Em Up Collection (QUByte Classics), a seven-game anthology that dives deep into the golden age of side-scrolling brawlers. From the mystical swordplay of First Samurai to the dystopian food fights of Gourmet Warriors, this collection is a curated chaos of 16-bit fury, now enhanced with modern comforts like rewind, cheats, and CRT filters. Whether you’re reliving forgotten legends or discovering cult classics for the first time, this is a nostalgic knockout that demands exploration.

Beat ‘Em Up Collection (QUByte Classics) Review Pros

• Decent graphics. 
• 716.2MB download size. 
• Platinum trophy. 
• Own in-game trophy list. 
• You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game, so you can potentially earn two Platinum trophies. 
• Seven games in one – First Samurai, Second Samurai, Gourmet Warriors, Iron Commando, Legend, Water Margin, A Tale of Clouds and Wind, and Sword of Sodan.
• Each game has its own huge manual showing the controls with images. 
• The games each have an extras menu with a jukebox, gallery of concept art and curiosities, which is a bit of the history of the game. 
• Screen settings – screen mode (fit/fullscreen/4:3), background choice, and filter (pixel perfect/smooth/scan lines/CRT/CRT without slippage) 
• Mirror mode option in the other settings menu. 
• You can remap each game’s controls on its menu. 
• Each game has a rewind feature, which is a shoulder button press. 
• I like that each game has its own set of cheats you can toggle on and off. Saves me having to plug in my Game Genie or type in passwords or button sequences. 
• Save and load when you want. 
• Four save slots per game. 
• A lot of effort has gone into the collection, and it shows from the history sections to the cheat menus, manuals, and save when you want. 
• It is a fantastic set of games. 
• Beat ’em up gameplay that ranges from side scrollers to more 2.5D games. 
• The tutorial is the game manual, and this is how it should be. 
• First Samurai is an awesome 2D action game where you have a samurai sword as standard, but can pick up new throwable weapons. The game has waypoints and text pop-ups as you play, accompanied by low voice shout-outs. You can collect items to change the game world, climb walls, and it has ghosts and all sorts of things. 
• At any time, you can use the d-pad or the analogue stick for movement. 
• Each game feels really good to play and is what I like to call modern retro or retro modern. I like to say two things. 
• For the record and in the name of research, I turned some cheats on and still got trophies.
• In the pause menu, you can go back to the main menu for game selection. 
• Five games – Gourmet Warriors, Iron Commando, Legend, Water Margin, and Second Samurai offer local co op play. 
• Second Samurai has game options for lives, difficulties, music, sound test, and where the woman is (front or back). 
• Password support for Second Samurai. 
• Second Samurai is a huge step up over the first game, it’s bigger sprites, better music, and it’s still a 2D fighting game, but the combat is more like a Final Fight as enemies take more damage, you can pick up and throw them, etc. Still use the story beats of the first game like force abilities for your sword and throwable, etc. 
• Gourmet Warriors has three characters – Bonjour, Mademoiselle, and Tres Bien. Three difficulties – Mild, medium, and spicy. The game is a Side-scrolling beat ’em up in the same vein as Streets Of Rage or Final Fight. 
• It feels good seeing these splash screens of old game companies no longer around, I mean, it’s sad, but seeing their logo is cool. 
• Two playable characters and fmv cutscenes in Iron Commando. 
• Iron Commando has three game difficulties, and you can choose whether you share lives in co op. 
• To me, Iron Commando is the most Final Fight from its appearance to the movement and enemy health bars, even the locations look like it. If you don’t know FINAL Fight, it’s a 2.5D fighting game with a wide stable of combos and attacks. 
• Fast loading times. 
• Legend has 3 game difficulties, game speed, and you share lives in Co op. 
• I find it funny (I’ve never played it), but Legend is just Final Fight Medieval edition in every way. Instead of fists, it’s pitchforks and swords. 
• Water Margin has 3 game difficulties and player lives amount options. 
• Three playable characters in Water Margin each have unique stats for attack, defence, agility, and jump. 
• Water Margin is a fast-paced arcade variant of Legend; it’s all a lot snappier and over the top, and the music is fantastic, as are the cutscenes and story segments. 
• Sword of Sodan has 2 game difficulties, and player lives are among the options. 
• Two playable characters in the Sword of Sodan game. 
• Sword of Sodan is a 2D beat ’em up side-scroller game that has combos and plenty of enemies. It’s a much slower pace than the previous games. 

Beat ‘Em Up Collection (QUByte Classics) Review Cons

• You cannot remap the controls at the front end. 
• No accessibility options. 
• Doesn’t mention of cheats disable trophies or anything. 
• There are no leaderboards or score-based models in the game. 
• I know it sounds picky, but the menus are too bright and clean, and it’s a retro collection, I dunno it’s just me but it’s just off-putting. 
• The boss fights in First Samurai are spongy and not that fun to play. 
• No online Co op support. 
• Second Samurai uses a horrible system of you hit these gems to then have the contents fall out; it just doesn’t play smoothly like that. 
• Despite being a bigger game in all aspects, I found Second Samurai to just feel claustrophobic. 
• Gourmet Warriors was released not that long ago as a standalone game. 
• Legend solo play doesn’t let you pick which character to play as. 
• I found the weakest game to beat the Sword OF Sodan game, maybe it’s because it’s older, but the sprites are not great, the combat and general movement are slow, and it’s a real kick back after the other games. 

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Beat ‘Em Up Collection (QUByte Classics)

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Developer: QUByte Interactive

Publisher: QUByte Interactive, Bleem.net, Piko Interactive LLC

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