Two things are remarkable about this otherwise standard
beat'-em-up: First the use of the overhead perspective and the
portrait screen, which was sometimes used for various
shooters (Ikari Warriors is
an example), and then the complete lack of a damsel in distress
story, which had become standard for the genre ever since
Renegade. In Downtown, you beat up
criminals not to save your girlfriend, but to clear yourself from
a false accusation. Not that it matters much for the gameplay.