This would get a sequel in 1988 called Ghouls’N Ghosts and both games garned a wide reputation not just for the fun play but also for the high degree of difficulty. While not a R’NG game in the sense of carrying a gun, the similarity in play but with a medieval theme is just as fun and effective as games that did feature explosive armaments. 4 years later Namco would produce Rolling Thunder 2 although it’s uncommon to see outside of Japan.Īlso before we get too far off from 1985, it’s worth noting Ghosts ‘N Goblins. You could duck into doors for bonuses or to avoid enemy fire and the overall experience is quite fun. This let players step into the boots of a well-armed secret agent, who is in charge of eliminating hordes of purple hood wearing thugs, rescuing the girl and defeating the head criminal boss. One of those twists happened to be Namco/Atari Game’s Rolling Thunder (1986). Rush N’ Attack demonstrated the viability of the the whole concept in a sidescroller format for arcades and within a short time many other games would follow suit with their own twists on the idea. RNA received an arcade sequel in 1989 with Missing In Action. You mainly deal with melee attacks until you punch someone out who is carrying a gun. With the popularity of sidescrollers starting to catch on in 1985 we begin to see some of the first sidescrolling run ‘n gunners such as with the cleverly named Konami’s Rush’ N Attack (Get it? Rush’N…hahanah). I doubt many would consider this much of a run ‘n gun game since you generally spend more time in the air than running on the ground but it’s still an excellent game that’s close enough to satisfy me. One game that found it’s own way to be different as video game technology improved would be Sega’s Space Harrier. Ikari would not only spawn a couple of sequels ( Victory Road and Ikari 3) but it also would inspire similar run n’ gun games such as Heavy Barrel (Data East, 1987), Time Soldiers (RomStar, 1987) and in a way Xybots (Atari Games, 1987). Ikari added an interesting aspect by using joysticks where the tops could twist, causing your character to face that direction. Down the road there were a few arcade games which carried this style along with them – Commando (Capcom, 1985) Ikari Warriors (SNK, 1986). The game also gave the player grenades to use against targets and you could even climb into tanks to wreak some havoc (sound familiar in a Metal Slug sense?). There is plenty of running and gunning involved in this game from a top down view. Among the first would be Front Line by Taito, released in 1982. For many, games like Contra and Metal Slug defined what it meant to be a run n’ gun game but they aren’t the only games to have inspired in this field.īefore sidescrollers really became the “in-thing” due to Super Mario Bros., run n’ gunning had it’s place in a slightly different form of the angled top-down view- a precursor to the many third person action games so prevalent in today’s gaming world. In some ways, they share common traits with shmups. These kind of games found a nice spot in arcades which thrive off of fast moving action titles of this nature. By these guidelines it’s doesn’t have to strictly be a 2D game or even a sidescroller but for the most part that is what we will be looking at. ![]() They essentially boil down to games that focus upon factors such as copious amounts of destruction, constant movement and a high degree of difficulty. Usually that firepower is at the end of a gun but often they include grenades and/or melee attacks to enhance the destruction. Typically it’s a 2D sidescrolling game that has the player(s) running from point A to point B and in-between they face a nearly insurmountable amount of enemies that they need to gun down using gigantic amounts of fire-power. So let’s get startedįirst let’s define run ‘n gun. Today I’m going to look at one genre that still manages to show up on earnings reports every now and then, the Run ‘N Gun type game. Take a look at previous MIA articles: Space Games Puzzle Games Scrolling Fighters Tank/Planes/Mechs and More Adventure/RPGs On The Defense. ![]() They are genres that I believe with the right game concept could still be both viable and profitable in today’s market. I take a look at a particular genre of games that used to have a strong presence in arcades but in recent times have gone to the wayside for various reasons. Given the recent slow news cycle, it’s given me some time to sit down and continue upon my editorial series I call “Missing In Action”.
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