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[Hellraizah]

1. Gunstar Heroes
2. Metal Slug 3
3. Contra : Hard Corps
4. Adventures Of Batman And Robin (Genesis)
5. Contra : Shattered Soldier

I get the feeling Alien Hominid will soon be in that list.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

1) Metal Slug 3

2) Metal Slug 3

3) Metal Slug X

4) Contra SS

5) Metal Slug 3

 

[XS+]

Contra III
Metal Slug 1-3
Gunstar Heroes
Shattered Soldier
Batman and Robin is considered a run n gunner? OK!

Vectorman
Shock Troopers
Alien 3 Genesis
Does Cannon Spike count?

 

[BenT]

1. Contra III
2. Gunstar Heroes
3. Contra
4. Super C

Depending on the day #1 and #2 can switch places.

 

[Ronin]

1. Gunstar Heroes
2. Contra Hard Corps
3. Contra III
4. Metal Slug 3
5. Batman & Robin

 

[Buffy4ever]

1. contra
2. Gunstar Heroes
3. Metal slugs ( I can't put 3 beucase I have never played 3)
4 Contra 3: alien wars
5. Midnight resistence

 

[Shompola]

1. Contra Hard Corps
2. Gunstar Heroes
3. Abuse
4. Robocop Vs Terminator
5. Metal Slug

 

[radios shipping overview]

Gunstar Heroes
Super C
Metal Slug X
Contra
Alien Soldier

...in order? You ask too much!

 

[Oh! My Car!]

01 Contra III: The Alien Wars
02 Contra: Shattered Soldier
03 Super C
04 Contra
05 Contra Hard Corps

 

[DJ Demon J]

1. Contra III: The Alien Wars
2. Super Contra
3. Contra
4. Rolling Thunder
5. Rush N' Attack

(Although Halo 2D, if ever finished and completed, could rank #1)

 

[Ronin]

Alien Soldier kicked the shit out of me back in the day.

 

[Lyte Edge]

1. Contra (Arcade/NES)
2. Metal Slug (Neo)
3. Gunstar Heroes (Genesis)
4. Metal Slug 3 (Neo)
5. Metal Slug 2/X (Neo)

I get the feeling I'm forgetting some games...

 

[WarPig]

The comedown from Shattered Soldier has been pretty bad for me. After the nostalgia rush wears off, IMO it's pretty boring. Lemme think...

1. Gunstar Heroes
2. Super C
3. Metal Slug 3
4. Metal Slug (a sentimental fave)
5. Gunforce (old Irem arcade game)

EGM used Gunstar as one of the games in their second "Child's Play" feature (you know, where they have young kids play classic games). I dunno when the issue with the feature is gonna hit, but it's gonna be worth checking out, their reactions were really interesting.

DFS.

 

[gunstarhero]

<---- 1. GunstarHeroes!

The rest in no order:

2. Contra Shattered Soilder
3. Rolling Thunder
4. Metal Slug 3
5. Target Earth

 

[Baron Aloha]

I'm gonna limit myself to 1 game per series...though I haven't played much outside of Contra and Metal Slug.

1. Contra III
2. Metal Slug X
3. Gunstar Heroes
4. Gunner's Heaven
5. Heavy Barrel

 

[XS+]

5. Target Earth

OMG! Assault Suit series rox! How'd I overlook that?

 

[boutrosinit]

1 - Contra Spirits

2 - Gunstar Heroes

3 - Super Metroid

4 - Metal Slug (I'm not arsed which one)

5 - Alien Homminid

 

[Hellraizah]

5 - Alien Homminid

Have you played it ??? I'm dying to get this game.

 

[dark10x]

No particular order...

Metal Slug 3 (I'm now a believer)
Contra III
Gunstar Heroes
Contra Hard Corps

Scratch that, Alien Soldier is my final choice. Totally forgot about that!

 

[drohne]

1. metal slug 3 (i'm only going to mention one metal slug game, or the list would be inundated)
2. shock troopers
3. alien soldier
4. contra: ss
5. gunstar heroes

 

[The Faceless Master]

Alphabetical Order

Bionic Commando
Bloody Wolf
Contra (Series)
Metal Slug (Series)
Midnight Resistance

 

[Matlock]

1. Astro Boy: Omega Factor
2. Gunstar Heroes
3. Super C
4. Contra
5. Alien Hominid (flash)

 

[evil ways]

1. Guerrilla War
2. Contra III
3. Metal Slug X
4. Ikari Warriors
5. Sunset Riders

 

[Drinky Crow]

DFS: GUNFORCE?? I hope you mean Gunforce 2, which was an excellent proto-Slug take on Contra, and not the first Gunforce, which redefined ass for an entire generation of shooter fans.

My list:

1. Gunstar Heroes
2. Heavy Barrel (arcade, not NES)
3. Metal Slug 3 (like drohne said, this title's also proxy for X and other MS titles)
4. Midnight Resistance (arcade, not Genny)
5. Shock Troopers

Ranger X, Alien Syndrome, Alisia Dragoon, Revenge of Shinobi, Contra 3, Contra: Hard Corps, GODS, Jackal, Iron Tank, Time Soldiers, Strider, Gunforce 2, and the first half of Magician Lord all deserve nods as well.

EDIT: GOD, we need a Data East (and oldschool pre-Geo SNK) classics compilation. Jackal, Heavy Barrel, Gondomania, Iron Tank, Midnight Resistance: TEH AWESOME.

 

[Ristamar]

Heavy Barrel was the shit. I poured so much money into the machine at the mall...

 

[Drinky Crow]

I used to spontaneously scream HEAVY BARREL and annoy my parents.

 

[XS+]

Ranger X, Alien Syndrome, Alisia Dragoon, Revenge of Shinobi, Contra 3, Contra: Hard Corps, GODS, Jackal, Iron Tank, Time Soldiers, Strider, Gunforce 2, and the first half of Magician Lord

Half of those games aren't run n gunners.

 

[nitewulf]

shinobi 3
gunstar heroes
rolling thunder 3
metal slug 2
shinobi
i expect the home release of alien hominid to be in this list once its out.

 

[Drinky Crow]

If it ain't forced scrolling, if the platforming takes a back seat, and if you launch sprites from your character to hit enemies, it's run-and-gun to me. Bullets, magic, shurikens: it's all just different art to me.

 

[XS+]

What you described is commonly called action-platforming. What most people listed in the thread is a sub-genre of action-platforming, where tossing and avoiding projectiles from a long-distance takes a backseat to close-quarters attacking. You can cross games like Shinobi or Alisia or Strider or Mag Lord off the list.. or you can stick to your rule and include stuff like Castlevania or Ghouls n Ghosts, which barely makes any sense.

 

[BlackSalad]

Elemental Master is all I needed

 

[Drinky Crow]

Alisia is ALL SHOOTING and little/no platforming, and there ain't much melee in Magician Lord.

Either way, arbitrary geek genre definitions make my teeth hurt.

 

[WarPig]

DFS: GUNFORCE?? I hope you mean Gunforce 2, which was an excellent proto-Slug take on Contra, and not the first Gunforce, which redefined ass for an entire generation of shooter fans.

I should have added a footnote to the effect that I was basing that entry on bowling-alley memories from...oh, round about 12 years ago. It may well have been crap, but I remember being able to jump in a jeep and shoot shit and having a great time doing so. It's also subtitled BATTLE FIRE ENGULFED TERROR ISLAND, which fucking rules.

I echo your support for a Data East comp, but wasn't Jackal a Konami release?

DFS.

 

[Drinky Crow]

Yer right, Jackal was Konami. D'oh!

 

[XS+]

Then a great game like Alisia is one weak-ass run n gunner. But believe what you wanna..

 

[WarPig]

Yer right, Jackal was Konami. D'oh!

It's not like we don't need a good Konami comp as well.

DFS.

 

[D2M15]

Did somebody say Jackal?

 

[radios shipping overview]

Jackal is good stuff. Throw Granada and Metal Stoker in there for more vehicle-based goodness.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Strider...? Maybe, although it comes off as more vanilla 'action' than 'run and gun'.

Targer Earth? No... Too slow paced to be considered IMO.

 

[Quartet]

1 Metal Slug 3 (all other MS would fit here)
2 Gunstar hero, would be 1st as a neogeo game
3 Outzone, it's top down but still fit the category (after all contra have many level like that)
4 midnight resistance
5 Atomic runner aka shenov or something

honorable mention
Bayroute
Jim power
The data east game that have a morphing character (bio mecha) when you get balls

 

[Dave Long]

Gunstar Heroes
Bangai-O <-- This should count IMO
Ranger-X
Atomic Runner!
Contra III

 

[bobbyconover]

Sunset Riders, though I guess it'd also kinda apply in the beat-em-up thread.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

1) Gunstar Heroes - Gen
2) Target: Earth (Assault Suit Leynos 1) - Gen
3) Contra: Hard CORPS - Gen
4) Metal Slug X - NeoGeo
5) Rolling Thunder - Arcade

 

[WarPig]

Sunset Riders, though I guess it'd also kinda apply in the beat-em-up thread.

Nah, I'd say that's a shooter. A beat-'em-up doesnt involve ranged combat, whereas Sunset Riders is nearly all ranged combat. Pretty good game, too.

DFS.

 

[drohne]

if only to make drinky's teeth hurt, i'd say that the distinction between run and guns and action-platformers lies in pace and rate of fire. both should be high in a run and gun. if you replaced the character in an archetypal run and gun with a spaceship, it would pretty seamlessly be a shmup. so something like megaman or shinobi, that's relatively downtempo and isn't entirely focused on shooting, has more in common with castlevania than it does with contra. there are some borderline games, though...i wouldn't know where to put silhouette mirage or cybernator.

 

[The Main Event]

1- Contra III: Alien Wars
2- Super C
3- Gunstar Heroes
4- Cabal
5- S.C.A.T.

 

[Forgotten Ancient]

I'm missing out on a lot of games in this genre.

My 5:

1 - Contra III
2 - Super C
3 - I'm gonna have to say Cybernator even though it might not fit.
4 - Contra
5 - .....

Damn, I really need to get in the loop.

 

[djtiesto]

1. Gunstar Heroes
2. Contra III
3. Jackal
4. Metal Slug series
5. Alien Soldier

 

[LAMBO]

I can't believe no one mentioned cadillacs and dinosaurs:

 

[XS+]

That's always been my understanding of run n gunners.. they have the action and pace and firepower of shmups, but you're in a platformer environment and have platformer-like control over the main character.

My writing is horrible btw.