Crime Fighters 2

The best original Konami beat em up game. This one is on par with Final Fight and SoR.

Agreed completely. This game plays the way I always expect beat-em-ups to, and I'm always let down when they don't. Everything in this game is so satisfying and full of character. Gorgeous backgrounds with a lot of interactable elements (special note goes to the sheer amount and diversity of the wall graffiti), some bursts of terrific sprite animation, loads of personality and detail all over the place, and an incredibly gratifying play feel. Some of your attacks come out pretty slow, but so do those of the enemies, so the combat feels way more deliberate and thoughtful than a lot of other games where enemies can grab or knock you down on a dime. Doesn't lose its challenge, but it feels significantly more fair than others in the genre. Just an absolute blast to play through.

I still find new things about it. Recently I learned while playing in the last stage, that you can kick the whiskey drinking bum in the background and he does a cringe move. Stuff like that shows how much they cared about the little things. That and the music is amongst my favorite of any video game.