Action - General category for side scrolling adventure, fighting, or other arcade games.

Learn About Action Games

What are Action Games?

An action game is a video game in which the player controls a character, or avatar, through various challenges or obstacles, generally while fighting enemies and collecting objects which increase the avatar’s power or the player’s score or number of extra lives. Typically, action games are divided into levels. The primary challenge of action games arises from the coordination and quick reactions necessary to maneuver the avatar. Time limits and simple puzzles are other common characteristics.

The History of Action Games

Action games have diversified into a number of subgenres. These include:

Platform Games

Platform games require the avatar to frequently jump on platforms of various levels while navigating around obstacles and fighting enemies. Nintendo’s 1981 Donkey Kong is generally considered the first true example of this subgenre. It featured a character called “Jumpman” who had to rescue a captive woman from his angry pet gorilla. Jumpman starts at the bottom of the screen and works his way up by climbing or jumping. Nintendo later resurrected the character, renamed him “Mario,” and created one of the most enduring franchises in video game history. The Super Mario Bros. line of games were all examples of more complex platform games. They inspired many imitators and were for a time the most popular kind of video game. More recent examples of this subgenre have abandoned 2-D side-scrolling for 3-D worlds offering a much wider range of movement and more challenges.

Beat-Em-Up Games

Beat-em-up games feature players advancing through a level while engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a series of opponents. Early beat-em-ups, such as Kung Fu Master and Renegade, began to appear in arcades during the mid-1980s, but it was only with 1987’s Double Dragon that the subgenre truly matured. Double Dragon allowed two players to fight together in cooperation. The two characters move through a dangerous urban jungle doing battle with a street gang. The game was ported onto many home systems and inspired numerous sequels. Final Fight (1989) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (also 1989) are considered two high points in the field, which went into decline as the 1990s began. Though less popular today than in the late 1980s, beat-em-ups are still produced, and classic examples remain enduringly popular.

Fighting Games

Fighting games require the player’s avatar to face a series of opponents in one-on-one fighting matches in an arena. Karate Champ (1984) was the first such game to attain mass popularity. Street Fighter (1987) followed. It was not until after 1990, however, that the popularity of fighting games began to explode, just as that of beat-em-ups started to wane. Street Fighter II (1991) vastly outperformed its predecessor both in arcades and in home versions. Mortal Kombat (1992) offered similar gameplay in some ways, but pushed the envelope in terms of graphic and sound quality as well as violence; this last quality stirred up controversy. These games typically included special moves unlocked by button combinations as well as standard attacks such as punching and kicking. Throughout the early and mid-1990s, fighting games dominated the video game market. This subgenre, like that of the beat-em-up, is not as popular as it once was. Nonetheless, new games are being created and finding success, including the Super Smash Bros. series, in which characters from various video game franchises face one another in battle.

Maze Games

Maze games force the avatar to maneuver through a maze. By far the most prevalent example is the Pac-Man series of games. First released in arcades in 1980, Pac-Man has inspired countless sequels, clones, and ports to various home formats. There are, however, other types of maze games as well, including games from a third-person overhead perspective or the first-person point-of-view.

Breakout and Arkanoid Games

Breakout-style games require the player to destroy a wall or other barrier. Breakout, first released in 1976, evolved from a desire to create a single-player version of Pong. This simple but addictive game required the player to maneuver a paddle in order to hit a ball, which flew across the screen, where it demolished part of the wall and bounced back. The most popular Breakout-style game is probably Arkanoid (1986). Despite, or perhaps because of, their simplicity, these games continue to be made; one example is the Smash Frenzy series for PC.

Who Would Be Interested in Action Games?

The common quality uniting all action games is the need for quick reflexes and good hand-eye coordination. Action games tend to emphasize those skills at the expense of strategy or problem-solving. Any player looking for such an experience will find it in an action game.