The story behind my “80’s Beat Em’ Up’s” design

Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, my brothers and I spent a lot of time playing video games and reading a lot of comic books (Marvel, DC, Image and Manga) I’m not sure if it drove my parents crazy but when the homework and chores were finished, these were our rewards. Our brother Albert was a huge gamer at a young age. He was an ace at games like “Super Mario Bros.” and “Sonic the Hedgehog” but the older he got he’d discover RPG games like “Final Fantasy” and spent long hours completing these adventures. Basically he loved playing everything and even turned his love for video games as a career. My youngest brother Andrew started with simpler games but found himself beating the older kids at “Street Fighter 2” by simply mashing on the buttons, lol.

Where do I fit in all of this? As a kid I was a huge fan of “Beat em’ up’s” and “fighter” video games. Primarily beat em’ up games because they were easy to play in such little time and it was fun as hell. Games like “Double Dragon” and “Final Fight” (to name a few) were considered classics to me. Complete 8-10 side scroll mission with various “heroes:” choose from a street savvy kid rescuing his girlfriend or the city plagued by street gangs! Throw in your teammates - a martial arts expert or even a “big guy” with wrestling characteristics! Throw everything you got at me… Punks with knives, broken bottle glasses, Juveniles with dynamite ready to explode, big ass (yet slow) villains in between the little ones and a kick ass boss at the end of each stage. That’s what it was all about! Those are the memories I had growing up in a video game family.

For about a year, I had plans to do a “lists” shirts with the “&” at the end of each word but couldn’t think of anything got me all warm and excited. In December I had purchased “Final Fight” on Xbox Live and had a blast reminiscing each level completed. The idea came about to do the shirt and what you have here are my favorite “80’s-90’s beat em’ up” games I grew to enjoy or are considered all time classics.

You can pic up my newest design “80’s Beat Em’ Up’s” at my on-line store. Enjoy!