Dan The Man Game

Dan the Man grew out of Studio JOHO's YouTube web series, a Super Mario parody that started in 2010 and eventually became popular enough that Halfbrick Studios built a full game around it. The result is a retro-styled side-scrolling brawler: you punch and kick your way through waves of enemies, pick fights with bosses at the end of each stage, and pick up coins and weapons along the way instead of just running and jumping past everything.

The tone leans on the source material's humor more than most beat-'em-ups — the story between fights is played for laughs — but the combat itself is a straightforward arcade brawler. Enemies come in waves that get tougher as you push further into a stage, so landing hits cleanly and not getting boxed in matters more than speed.

Controls

• A / D or Left / Right arrows — move
• W, Up arrow or Space — jump
• C — punch

Tips

• Grab any weapon an enemy drops — a gun or thrown item clears a crowd faster than fists alone.
• Jump to dodge incoming hits rather than trying to punch through a group head-on.
• Keep moving forward between punches; standing still is how you get surrounded.

It's a good pick for a short session when you want a beat-'em-up that doesn't take itself too seriously — quick to pick up, funny in the gaps between fights, and playable straight in the browser with nothing to install.