Whats the best Run 'n Gun ever?

[The Sceneman]

I started playing Hard Corps Uprising again because I never mastered it, and it's totally frickin awesome.

Which got me thinking - what are the ultimate games in this genre? I know Gunstar Heroes, Metal Slug 3 and Contra 3 are all badass. Am I missing any classics?

[Cerveza mas fina]

Probotector

[iconoclast]

I liked:

Metal Slug 1, X, 3 (XX on PSP/XBLA is also decent)
GunForce 2 (The Metal Slug team made this before MS)
Contra: The Hard Corps (Lots of bosses, each character has a unique set of weapons, multiple routes through the game with different endings, great music. Only downside is that the stages are really short because of the focus on bosses. Probably the best game I've played on the Genesis/MD)
Contra: Shattered Soldier (Similar to HC in the sense that bosses are the main focus. Lacks variety and freedom in comparison to HC/HCU, but it's still a great game)
Hard Corps: Uprising (Best Contra)
Demon Front (Shameless Metal Slug clone)
Psychic Killer Taromaru (The controls are a little awkward and the game definitely isn't worth the million dollars it goes for, but it's fun.)
Assault Suit Valken & Leynos 2 (robuts)
Gigantic Army (spiritual successor to Valken by a doujin developer)
Sunset Riders (Loved this as a kid, not sure if it still holds up)

And Alien Soldier looks good. I haven't played it, though.

[magus]

this was one of the first psx titles i owned,it's not that great but i have fond memories of it and it has a trio of wacky villains doronbo trio-like,like every japanese game should



3 wonders is a capcom game that i don't think a lot of people known, it comes with a side-scrolling shooter, an auto-scrolling ship shooter (which is the sequel to the side-scrolling shooter) and a pengo like title puzzle game (because... reasons?) here's a video of the shooter



konami has released tons of other arcadey shooters, including this one based upon some old-ass cartoon on cowboys... cows



and uh... alternatively wander around some more on MAME?

[Takao]

why is contra rebirth exclusive to wiiware

[tiesto]

Gunstar Heroes is my favorite, although there's some revisionist history with some of the more arcade-minded types that think the game isn't good (wtf???).

Also for overhead run and guns, I'm quite partial to Mercs and Jackal (drive and grenade?)

[Himu]

Gunstar isn't good? What?

[tiesto]

Gunstar isn't good? What?

Go into a Treasure-themed thread on GAF and you'll inevitably see a number of people (Tain and andymcc are 2 names that come to mind) that are quick to claim the company as "overrated", with GH, RS and Ikaruga being their 3 most overrated titles.

[Himu]

Gunstar isn't good? What?

Go into a Treasure-themed thread on GAF and you'll inevitably see a number of people (Tain and andymcc are 2 names that come to mind) that are quick to claim the company as "overrated", with GH, RS and Ikaruga being their 3 most overrated titles.

No, Treasure *is* overrated. But Gunstar is a pretty fantastic game.

[DCharlieJP]

people still will always offer them up as a perfect choice for reviving some 2D series or another.

i am pretty sure a huge chunk of that comes off Gradius 5 though so.....

[Himu]

GV is their best game.

[The Sceneman]

Cool recommendations magus

I remember playing 3 Wonders in the arcade, I remember it being pretty enjoyable - I guess it was Capcom's answer to SNK's coin-ops, which generally offered a variety of genres on the same machine, like you'd see Ghost Pilots with Metal Slug and Puzzle Bobble.

I actually vaguely remember the cowboy cow cartoon lol, the game looks like a re-skin of Sunset Riders

[Himu]

people still will always offer them up as a perfect choice for reviving some 2D series or another.

i am pretty sure a huge chunk of that comes off Gradius 5 though so.....

sure, but that's one time.  they couldn't even do decent sequels to their own games, and lord knows they've tried.

gunstar super heroes.

[magus]

honestly speaking, as much as i love treasure, they do tend to be overrated.  i feel like radiant silvergun is really, *really* overrated.  ikaruga gets about as much love as it deserves.  i mean, gunstar and guardian heroes are great, but the rest of the games they've made run the gamut from shit to interesting to good-but-not-great.  their good-to-not worth playing ratio is probably nearing 50-50 by now.  but people still will always offer them up as a perfect choice for reviving some 2D series or another.

well they made the best N64 game ever

[Positive Touch]

astro boy gba

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

why is contra rebirth exclusive to wiiware

I would just like to point out that M2 made a significantly better Contra game for the Wii store then Arc System Works made for PSN/XBLA.  More people would have noticed had they released it for a more popular platform, say, Texas Instrument calculators.

[Himu]

Astro Boy gba IS pretty good. Mischief Makers isn't that great.

[demi]

ONE for PSX

[Joe Molotov]

Jetpack Joyride

[Himu]

The trend of Treasure not making good sequel has a massive exception: Bangai-O Spirits. One of the best DS games and best Treasure games. I also enjoy Sin and Punishment 2 more than 1.

[Himu]

Anyways, on topic. I'd say any Contra does the job, Metal Slug 1-3, and by extension Hard Corps Uprising - which is hard as shit, Alien Soldier is fantastic, and my heart still goes out to Gunstar heroes on expert difficulty.




I've always preferred beat em ups over run and gun. FOr some reason I find run and gun one of the hardest genres.

[DCharlieJP]

they couldn't even do decent sequels to their own games, and lord knows they've tried.

Then maybe letting them do one extra one off of a previous series is -exactly- what they are suited to - just don't let them do a second one

also - i don't particularly think RSG is overrated - to me it feels more like a puzzle shooter than a pure shooter, but i think a lot of the detraction comes from a lot of "hardcore" gamers disliking the fact that it was the poster-child game for people who first get into collecting lesser known games. I guess that's from the dark depths of hell that is the HARDCORE IMPORT GAMER scene from the late 80s - early 2000s which , really, there's not a place in satans ass deep enough for them.

[benjipwns]

Gunstar was god-tier at the time. The one GameFan review that lived up to the hype.

[DCharlieJP]

fine, it's not overrated.  RSG is the greatest shooting game ever made.  you're right, i'm wrong.

again, it's fringe voices who think it's the greatest shooting game ever, general opinion - and certainly Shmup communities don't put it in that bracket.

My point is that the noise of it being "the greatest (shooting) game ever" came from people who were getting into collecting XX years ago. The backlash was then disproportionate - you then get people saying it's utter crap, garbage, terrible game etc.

Ultimately it's overrated/underrated beyond it's actual worth by two sets of noisy people. In the end - it's a very good game - that's about it. It's overrated by a bunch of people who don't know any better, basically. Anyone with any knowledge of the genre will be unlikely to stick it at the top of the tree

[Himu]

Imaruga is much better than RSG. Saturn has so many better 2d shooters than RSG. I think a lot hype for RSG was due to its scarcity and rarity. I'm personally not fond of how how many buttons are in RSG. it makes the game too overly complex for the sake of complexity especially for a 2d shooter. Darius Gaiden, Battle Garegga, Striker 1942, Donpachi, Dodonpachi, Raystorm, Parodius, Fantasy Zone, Thunderforce V are all better games. Even after the xbla release I still don't get the RSG hype and I love Treasure.

[DCharlieJP]

that's generally the case when we're talking about "overrated/underrated" though, isn't it?  by definition, the loudest voices (or the largest groups) are the ones that count for that metric, since "rating" is a measure of popularity.  and this conversation in particular referred back to GAF and/or the gaming community in general, where i think it's pretty safe to say both RSG and Treasure are overrated.  That doesn't mean they're not good.

in RSG's case it's exasperated by it's rarity and it's being previously somewhat of a collectors item but yes.

I'm personally not fond of how how many buttons are in RSG. it makes the game too overly complex for the sake of complexity especially for a 2d shooter. Darius Gaiden, Battle Garegga, Striker 1942, Donpachi, Dodonpachi, Raystorm, Parodius, Fantasy Zone, Thunderforce V are all better games. Even after the xbla release I still don't get the RSG hype and I love Treasure.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... RSG -is- different and that's part of the attraction. It's also a bit of a Marmite game in that either you click with it and like it or you just flat out hate it. I'd also say that Battle Garegga takes a while for it to totally click as well (but in a different way), i've seen a few people go from "what? is that it?!" to "this is the greatest shooter of all time" once the game slots into place.

[chronovore]

I had friends scouting out copies of Radiant SilverGun for them in the early- to mid-2000s ; there was a brief time when Nipponbashi shops were not keeping up with the prices of items on Yahoo Japan auctions, and there was money to be made. I didn't mind helping friends, but could foresee that it was not a sustainable model.

It is likely that I'll get laughed out of the thread for this, because it hasn't even been brought up, but where does Alien Hominid sit on the run-n-gun ratings chart?

I picked it up again for the first time in years the other day, managed to become a little less sucky at it, and finally finished it, 8 years or so after starting it.

It's such a frantic, difficult to read game. The controls seem fine, it's just impossible to get a read on what's going on onscreen.

[DCharlieJP]

'd peg alien hominid as like a 6-7/10 example of the genre.  it's a little bit too janky and rough to hang with the big boys, but it's definitely a lot of fun.

lol - i basically made this statement one time on a heavily "Japan <3" retro board and i was pelted with figs.

"lol - it's not even Japanese!" sort of levels of idiocracy.

But yeah - it's not at the head of the genre, but it's solid enough to be playable though has it's quirks.



Actually, when i moved to Japan in 2000 i had noted that RSG for Saturn was running at silly money,  i ended up buying a Titan and the STV-cart for 8000 yen which was significantly less than the Saturn version . Yes, it's missing the extra mode but hell... don't mind if i do.

Also - in terms of best run and gun - whilst it's a boring answer : Metal Slug 3

[Shaka Khan]

astro boy gba

I picked up this game without prior knowledge of who made it or whether it was good or not, and played the shit out of it back in the day. I turn to the internet, as if I discovered some hidden gem, and get laughed at to the following day. Fucking nerds.

[Himu]

Metal slug mobile

[The Sceneman]

yeah i didn't really answer the question because the first post covered all three games i'd even think of putting forward.  and slug 3 is the king of them all.

I thought that I had shocking taste? 

lol j/k, yeah I thought I pinned down the genre apex but was trying to source some also-rans.

[Shaka Khan]

Thanks to this thread (and PS+) I downloaded Hard Corps, a game I genuinely confused for a shitty game I once tried at a friend's house. This is some good stuff.

[larrydavid]

I like the original Metal Slug the best for some reason.

Gunner's Heaven is a pretty fun Gunstar clone too, it's available on Japanese PS+ if you can nab a free trial still.

[chronovore]

I really love the look and attitude of Metal Slug, but that game hands me my ass.

[magus]

I like the original Metal Slug the best for some reason.

Gunner's Heaven is a pretty fun Gunstar clone too, it's available on Japanese PS+ if you can nab a free trial still.

i like the original metal slug better too, the music is really amazing



the psx version also came with an art gallery that was awesome

[Positive Touch]

Thanks to this thread (and PS+) I downloaded Hard Corps, a game I genuinely confused for a shitty game I once tried at a friend's house. This is some good stuff.

 

[chronovore]

No mention of Abuse makes this thread fail hard.

Lazy drive-by insult. Try more harder.

(There's your abuse! Happy? Now tell us why you like Abuse.)

[a slime appears]

ONE and Astro Boy are hidden gems, faaa sho. The king is still MS3 though.

Batman & Robin would've been cool if it wasn't stupidly hard.