Belt scroller

Belt scroller is a genre of side-scrolling beat 'em up game and was the predominant style of beat 'em up through the 80s and 90s. Inspired by the conveyor belt style of screen progression, the term belt scroller was popular in Japan, while these games have usually simply been called beat 'em ups in the West. The slanted, side-scrolling perspective is the biggest distinguishing factor of belt scrollers, but they further differentiate from other 2D beat 'em ups by allowing some movement in and out of the foreground, as opposed to being on a single plane, such as in games like Kung-Fu Master [スパルタンX]. Some of the most influential examples of the belt scroller include Double Dragon, Streets of Rage [ベア・ナックル 怒りの鉄拳], and Final Fight.