Your Top 3 Genesis Run & Gunners

[Curryman123]

Right, because dull overhead maze levels are the cornerstones of all truly great run 'n' gun games.

I find them challenging especially the later ones. Try them on hard.

[gio]

I haven't play run'n guns so far, but I really love Adventures of Batman & Robin (if it is a run'n gun).

[OverDrone]

Alien Soldier has the most advanced play mechanics of all the RnGs on Genesis, so I'll go with that one, followed by Contra and then finally Gunstar Heroes, as I find some of the level design is starting to wear a bit thin after all these years, like the dice maze, as cool as it was at the time.

Contra has alternate routes through the game and a large assortment of weapons courtesy of the 4 playable characters. The graphics admittedly in a fair few of the areas look shit, yet the game manages to bring it home with sick boss fights and tons of FX.

Not to mention you can lock your fire in this on the fly, unlike GH.

[A Black Falcon]

1. Mega Turrican
2. Contra: Hard Corps
3. MERCS (this counts as a run and gun, yes, even though it's all topdown?)

Honorable Mentions: Universal Soldier, Granada if you count it (topdown-action is its own thing sort of, but I guess this genre fits it best?), Adventures of Batman & Robin, Demolition Man

Vectorman would probably be #3 if you count it as a run & gun, and MERCS would go into the Honorable Mentions category.

Ranger-X isn't on my list because yeah, it's not really a run & gun. It's more of a mission-based sidescrolling shooter, or something. It is an outstanding game though. Gunstar Heroes isn't on my list because I've never loved the Genesis version... it's good, but ... eh, I'd rather play something else, like Contra Hard Corps or the Turrican games. I actually liked the GBA one more...

So Undeadline and Elemental Master are run 'n' guns then? :P

They're in between, really. Can fit in either category, probably, but most call them shmups. If it's autoscrolling, it's a shmup for sure. If it's not... then it's harder to decide. If it has free-roam movement like Granada, though, I think it really shouldn't be considered one. But those two are railed.

Yes it can in terms of Contra III.

Contra Hard Corps is better than Contra III, though. So are all Metal Slug and Turrican games, only excepting the first Turrican, which is good but not quite as good as the rest... (Yeah, I'm not that much of a Contra fan.)

[Curryman123]

Contra Hard Corps feels like a spin off, while Contra III feels like a sequel as it retains the Contra feel or atmosphere. IMO. Contra Hard Corps it good, but it just ain't contra.

[OverDrone]

Mercs is for sure a top down RnG, but tell me, whats stopping Undead Line and Elemental Master from being pure shmups (and not RnGs) Surly not the walking element? In these games thats just an asthetic. The fact you have forced scroll suggests they are shooters.

Twinkle Tale is another example of a top down RnG, Shock Troopers etc.

[j_factor]

Contra Hard Corps feels like a spin off, while Contra III feels like a sequel as it retains the Contra feel or atmosphere. IMO. Contra Hard Corps it good, but it just ain't contra.

In this case the spin-off is better than the main series.

[Kamahl]

1. Gunstar Heroes
2. Alien Soldier
3. Contra Hard Corps

Honorable Mentions:
1. Mega Turrican (too much platforming for it to be on a top R&G)
2. Ranger-X (only the first stage is R&G, the rest a very different kind of thing)
3. Adventures of Batman and Robin (lame weapons bring it down a lot)
4. Earthworm Jim (too much platforming)
5. Vectorman (too much platforming for it to be on a top R&G)
6. Robocop vs The Terminator (so badass... but really isn't that great, not a lot of running either)

Hall of Shame:
1. Midnight Resistance (Unforgivable slowdown and shitty controls)

Barely played them but might be good:
1. Dinosaurs for Hire (too much platforming to be on top anyway)
2. Demolition Man (music is horrible, but my god the sound effects are glorious, gameplay is badass too)

[profholt82]

Demolition Man (music is horrible, but my god the sound effects are glorious, gameplay is badass too)

IDK, this tune always got me in the mood to go on a good killing spree.

[A Black Falcon]

Mercs is for sure a top down RnG, but tell me, whats stopping Undead Line and Elemental Master from being pure shmups (and not RnGs) Surly not the walking element? In these games thats just an asthetic. The fact you have forced scroll suggests they are shooters.

Twinkle Tale is another example of a top down RnG, Shock Troopers etc.

I think the most important difference is whether the game's autoscrolling or not. If a game is not autoscrolling, it probably isn't a shmup. There area few non-autoscrolling games tossed in the shmup genre, but I think they should have asterisks... In the Hunt is a perfect example of that, it's not autoscrolling. Twinkle Tale isn't either if I remember right, which means I don't think it's a traditional shmup, no. Run & gun though... not sure. Maybe? If it isn't a shmup, then I guess it has to be. I guess the holdup is that apart from the lack of autoscrolling, games like Twinkle Tale and In the Hunt feel a lot like shmups, more like shmups than something like MERCS or Ikari Warriors... but still, they're definitely not autoscrolling, which is one of the most important defining traits of the shmup.

And yeah, MERCS is in the same genre as Ikari Warriors, Shock Troopers, etc. - top-down run & guns, I guess. I like that genre quite a bit.

Contra Hard Corps feels like a spin off, while Contra III feels like a sequel as it retains the Contra feel or atmosphere. IMO. Contra Hard Corps it good, but it just ain't contra.

That's an important part of why Hard Corps is my favorite Contra game -- it doesn't play like the first three! It's quite a bit better.

2. Demolition Man (music is horrible, but my god the sound effects are glorious, gameplay is badass too)

I have the Sega CD version, the CD audio's not bad...

[TmEE]

(too much platforming for it to be on a top R&G)

Haha, for me the more platforming the better, as it means more stage. Fuck boss rushes without some stage inbetween...

[Solkia]

Does Vectorman count?

[j_factor]

Does Vectorman count?

To me, Vectorman counts as a "platform shooter", rather than a run and gun.

[JAFP78]

An easy pick:

Probotector (Contra Hard Corps)
Alien Soldier
Gunstar Heroes

[Kollision]

To me, Vectorman counts as a "platform shooter", rather than a run and gun.

Now you've got me confused.