What are your favorite run 'n guns?

[1upsuper]

Hello and welcome to 1upsuper's latest "Your Favorite" thread.

I'm currently riding that Cuphead high and I'm itching to play some more run 'n guns. So I'd like to hear about your favorites in the genre, or maybe some obscurities you'd like to thrust into the daylight for all to see.

Aside from Cuphead, I've really enjoyed what I've played of the Contra series, though I have only played Contra 1, Super C, and 4, IIRC. Is Hard Corps considered the best?

I'm also a big fan of Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes -- pretty much anything Treasure, really. I still need to play through Alien Soldier, which I hear was an inspiration for Cuphead. It looks fantastic!

Would you guys count Mega Man or Shinobi as run 'n guns? If it counts, Classic, X, and Zero are some of my favorite game series of all time, but that pretty much goes without saying.

Do you guys consider multi-directional aiming a requirement for this genre?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Bonus points if you can think of any more boss-rush-y games like Alien Soldier or Cuphead.

Are there other great, recent additions to the genre?

[GamerL]

I love Metal Slug, though the only one I've played any significant amount of time of is 3.

I also unfortunately have very little experience with Contra, I think the only one I've played a significant amount of time with is Shattered Soldier on the PS2.

So it's a genre I like but definitely need to play more of, especially Contra.

But I'm loving Cuphead of course and what this one reminds me of the most of is Alien Hominid, with it's Metal Slug esque gameplay and "like playing a cartoon" graphics, of course Alien Hominid, as cool looking as it is too, looks like a Newgrounds flash animation (which is actually how the game originated) compared to Cuphead.

[aaa]

I'll refrain from posting a huge list. Gunstar Heroes is one of the best, if not THE best run n gunner ever. Colorful graphics and fx, sweet tunes and explosions, and deceptively deep gameplay. It's one of the showpiece games for the Genesis.

Never cared for Contra: Hard Corps. It has some nice special fx but the graphics are so murky and like great grains. It does have some rockin music though. And some branching paths, different characters with different traits/weapons, and multiple endings if you're into that. It's too hard though, unless you play the Japanese version. The Browny character is best.

Multi-directional shooting is not a requirement. The Turrican series didn't have them and they're pretty fondly remembered. Super Turrican 1+2 and Mega Turrican are the best in my eyes. The first 2 games just lack polish and suffer from that "Euro-difficulty". There's Rendering Ranger: R2 that's made by the same guy, I believe. That has shmup levels too.

Megaman and Shinobi are considered more as action-platformers.

Biomechanical Toy if you want obscure and oddball.

[ZenithianHero]

Gungrave series, as the rare 3D example played straight.
I am a fan of Metal Slug. I like 1-3 more than the later ones but that is just out of sameness they became.
You know what one I also like that nobody talks about? Elevator Action Returns. Pretty cool, the home version on Saturn is rare but you can get it on Taito Legends 2.

[ommadawnyawn2]

80s:
Super C (ARC, 1988/NES, 1990)
Contra (ARC, 1987/NES, 1988)
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (ARC, 1988/PCE CD/MD)
Rolling Thunder (ARC, 1986/NES, 1989)
Sly Spy (ARC, 1989)
Mirai Ninja/Cyber Ninja (ARC, 1988)
Mr. Ghost/Yuureikun (MSX, 1989)
Mr. Heli (ARC, 1987/PCE, 1989)

Top down:
Valkyrie no Densetsu/Legend of Valkyrie (ARC, 1989/PCE, 1990)
Jackal (ARC, 1986/NES, 1988)
Gun.Smoke (ARC, 1985/NES, 1988)
Undead Line/Undeadline (MSX, 1989/MD, 1991/X68K)
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters (AXL/ARC, 1989)
Märchen Maze (ARC, 1988/X68K, 1991)
The Ninja (SMS, 1986)
Red Alert (PCE CD, 1989)
Bloody Wolf (ARC, 1988/PCE, 1989)
Rush & Crash/Speed Rumbler (ARC, 1986)

Maze:
Ai Senshi Nicol (FDS, 1987)
Meikyuu Jiin Dababa (FDS, 1987)
Dungeon Explorer (PCE, 1989)
H.E.R.O. (A2600, 1984/SG1000)
Rambo III (MD, 1989)
Nazo no Murasame Jou/The Mysterious Murasame Castle (NES, 1986)
Crack Down (ARC, 1989/MD, 1990)


90s:
Contra: Hard Corps (MD, 1994)
Gunstar Heroes (MD, 1993)
Alien Soldier (MD, 1995)
Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES, 1992)
Metal Slug X (ARC, 1999/PS1, )
Mystic Warriors (ARC, 1993)
Metal Slug (ARC/NG, 1996/SAT, 1997)
Metal Slug 2 (ARC/NG, 1998/)
Sunset Riders (ARC, 1991/SNES, )
Aliens (ARC, 1990)
Rolling Thunder 3 (MD, 1993)
Rapid Reload/Gunners Heaven (PS1, 1995)
Rolling Thunder 2 (ARC/MD, 1990)
Cyber-Lip (NG, 1990)
J.J. Squawkers (ARC, 1993)
The Adventures of Batman & Robin (MD, 1995)
Blue's Journey (ARC, 1990)
Silhouette Mirage (SAT, 1997/PS1, 1998)

Top down:
Pocky & Rocky (SNES, 1992)
Twinkle Tale (MD, 1992)
Mercs (ARC/MD, 1990)
Pocky & Rocky 2 (SNES, 1994)
Purikura Daisakusen (ARC/SAT, 1996)
Shock Troopers (ARC/NG, 1997)
Out Zone (ARC, 1990)
Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad (ARC/NG, 1998)
Trax (GB, 1991)
FixEight (ARC, 1992)

Maze:
Smash TV/Super Smash TV (ARC/SNES, 1990)
Arcus Odyssey (X68K/MD/SNES, 1991)
D/Generation (PC/AMI, 1992)
Virocop (AMI, 1995)
The Chaos Engine/Soldiers of Fortune (AMI/SNES/MD, 1992)
Operation Logic Bomb/Ikari no Yousai (SNES, 1993)

3D (need to play more of these):
Bulk Slash (SAT, 1997)
MDK (PC, 1997/PS1?)
Ghost in the Shell (PS1, 1997)

[GamerL]

Hey, I just remembered, whatever happened to that guy here who was absolutely obsessed with Metal Slug?

[X-pert74]

The Contra series is one of my favorite things in all of gaming. Choosing a favorite in that series is tough, but lately I've considered Contra: Hard Corps to be my favorite. It's packed full of content and offers much in the way of replay value. I'm also proud to say that I've beaten it without dying before

Aside from that, I think Metal Slug is neat, with 1 and 2 being my favorites of that series. I feel like Metal Slug in general leans a little heavily toward bullet-spongey enemies though, and seems more like the kind of game that is best experienced by pumping a bunch of quarters in and not caring how much you die. It doesn't feel as serious to me as Contra does.

I've honestly never been much a fan of the Gunstar Heroes series, but I've beaten both the Genesis and Game Boy Advance games. In some ways I kinda prefer the Game Boy Advance game - probably because of its controls.

I recently really got into the Turrican series, and I love that too. Turrican and Turrican II on the Amiga are both absolutely incredible. I've also played Super Turrican for the Super NES, which is neat, but doesn't quite match up to the first two games. I still need to get around to play the other games, like Super Turrican for the NES or Mega Turrican for the Genesis.

Also, I've tried a bit of Super Cyborg, which seemed neat. I have yet to beat it though; I last left off in stage 4 or something. I should get back to it. In the meantime though, I really wanna play Cuphead; I bought it the other day, and look forward to digging into it <3

[1upsuper]

Thanks, all! Turrican has definitely been on my radar for a while, it looks like a great series.

Oct 2, 2017 17:18:32 GMT -5 GamerL said:

I love Metal Slug, though the only one I've played any significant amount of time of is 3.

I also unfortunately have very little experience with Contra, I think the only one I've played a significant amount of time with is Shattered Soldier on the PS2.

So it's a genre I like but definitely need to play more of, especially Contra.

But I'm loving Cuphead of course and what this one reminds me of the most of is Alien Hominid, with it's Metal Slug esque gameplay and "like playing a cartoon" graphics, of course Alien Hominid, as cool looking as it is too, looks like a Newgrounds flash animation (which is actually how the game originated) compared to Cuphead.

I forgot to mention Alien Hominid in my opening post. I spent tons of time on Newgrounds during its heyday and I really enjoyed the expanded Alien Hominid on consoles -- the PDA level creator was also quite cool.

[ommadawnyawn2]

Oh we're counting action platformers? Then these too:
Mega Man 2 (NES, 1988)
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (ARC/MD, 1988/SGX/X68K/PS1/SAT)
The Revenge of Shinobi (MD, 1989)
Mega Man (NES, 1987)
Ninja Spirit (ARC, 1988/PCE/GB)
Toki (ARC, 1989/AMI, 1991/NES)
Legend of Hero Tonma (ARC/PCE, 1989)
Shinobi (SMS, 1988/ARC, 1987)

Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)/PS1)
Metal Storm (NES, 1991)
Mega Man X2 (SNES, 1994)
Mega Man X (SNES, 1993)
Mega Man 5 (NES, 1992)
Elevator Action Returns (ARC/SAT, 1994/1997)
Mega Turrican/Turrican 3 (MD, 1994/AMI)
Mega Man 4 (NES, 1991)
Mega Man 6 (NES, 1993)
Bucky O'Hare (NES, 1992)
Mega Man: The Wily Wars (w/ codes & overclocking)(MD, 1994)
Alisia Dragoon (MD, 1992)
Vice: Project Doom (NES, 1991)
Mega Man IV (GB, 1993)
Super Turrican 2 (SNES, 1995)
Bionic Commando (GB, 1992)
Liquid Kids/Mizubaku Daibouken (ARC, 1990/SAT, 1998)
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon (SNES, 1991)
Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru (SAT, 1997)
Mega Man V (GB, 1994)
Ranger X (MD, 1993)
Mega Man 8: Anniversary Collector's Edition (SAT, 1997)
Mega Man X4 (PS1/SAT/PC, 1997)
Mega Man 7 (SNES, 1995/PC Demake, )
Little Samson (NES, 1992)
Cybernator (SNES, 1992)

[spanky]

Sunset Riders is a favorite of mine. That thing was ubiquitous in arcades in the 90's and I know lots of non-gamer types who love the game.

[1upsuper]

Has anyone played Alien Soldier on Steam? I haven't played any of those Sega classics on Steam, but it looks like the emulator they use might be crap. Otherwise I'll just get it on Wii VC.

[ommadawnyawn2]

Only tried it briefly as I got some MD games in a bundle. It seems fine except for the sound being harsher.

[alphex]

Turrican games with their vast and open levels are closer to the Mega Man X games than to Contra in my opinion. Especially the first two. Mega and the SNES titles are more straightforward, though. Still, stuff like Ghouls & Ghosts feels more like a run & gun game than Turrican does.

As for the thread, Metal Slug 3 and Gunstar Heroes are the most obvious ones for me. Metal Slug 1 & 2 and Gunstar Heroes on the GBA as well.

And as far as PC games go, I think Duke Nukem 2 is more of a run & gun game than Turrican is. Not as good (and not as good as Manhattan Project, which - in vanilla state - is probably the most enjoyable Duke Nukem game today, since 3D lacks mouse aiming) as Turrican, mind you, but well worth a try.

[1983parrothead]

What about any pre-Contra run 'n' guns like this one from Nichibutsu?



And pre-MegaMan action platformers like this one also by Nichibutsu?

[r0ck3rz]

^You just want to plug that one company, don't you? 

I go with Alien Soldier myself. If you think about it, it's kind of the run 'n gun answer to Punch-Out! Large enemies with a discernable pattern, that you have to learn to dodge and counter-attack.