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Devastators is an early third-person shooter. Up to two players can take control of Rambo-style mercenaries with mullets.
Help Chelnov defeat the Deathtarians and rescue his sister, as he runs inexorably to the right in this side-scrolling shooter.
Bionic Commando follows hero Rad Spencer as he fights through enemy territory to rescue fellow commando, Super Joe.
Released in 1987, War of the Dead is considered to be the first true survival horror game. SWAT officer Lila must rescue survivors in the demon-infested small town of Chaney’s Hill. It also featured open-world gameplay and RPG elements.
Super Contra, also known as Super C, is the sequel to Contra. In addition to side-scrolling levels like its predecessor, Super Contra introduces top-down levels, which replace the third-person segments of the original. The NES version, uses the same gameplay engine as the NES version of Contra, with some levels not featured in the arcade version.
A run-and-gun starring a cyclopean protagonist.
Animal Attack Gakuen is a NES run-and-gun shooter that uses the Z-axis, similarly to Sega's Space Harrier. It was only released in Japan, on December 26th 1987.
Swinging side scrolling run-and-gun by Capcom that would start an entire franchise. Ported to many of the computers of the day.
A Konami run-and-gun famous for its fast-paced, gritty, old-school action.
Alien Syndrome is a cooperative, top-down, run & gun shooter with aliens developed by SEGA as an arcade game in 1987. Compared to other shooters at the time, Alien Syndrome introduced a horror atmosphere in an isolated space station, along with some exploration and survival elements.
Released for the Fujitsu FM-77 AV computer in 1986, this game was an early 3D first-person shooter. It was notable for its advanced 3D graphics engine, which processed 3D polygons at high frame rates for its time. It was the first FPS to use 3D polygons.
A top-down shooter where one or two bandana-wearing commandos fight enemy forces in a jungle. It is notable for allowing the player to pilot various vehicles including a tank and a helicopter.
In Jail Break, players control a policeman authorized to use deadly force in subduing escaped criminals.
Play as a flying dude holding a large cannon as he takes on giant mechs, flying mushrooms, and fire-breathing dragon skeletons.
One of the earliest side-scrolling run-'n'-gun games, Hover Attack is a game for Japanese computers in which players control a mechanized "Attacker" that can leap with jet thrusters, fire a barrage of missiles, and dock with a companion hovering Carrier to refuel.
Rookie police detective James must rescue his partner Stacy from the villainous Specter organization (yes, really) in this 1985 comedic run-and-gun from Nichibutsu.
In this side-scrolling action game, up to two players infiltrate enemy bases armed initially with only their knives. As they move from left to right they will find "power up" weapons like bazookas, grenades, and flame throwers. Defeat the bosses at the end of each level to win. Also known as Green Beret, this was one of the first side-scrolling, run & gun shooters.
Descend further and further underground to destroy the alien force Octy and save Planet Paccet! Released in 1985, it was an early side-scrolling, run & gun shooter, and featured a female protagonist, Toby Masuyo. It also bears a striking resemblance to Metroid, in terms of both its gameplay system and female protagonist.
DESTROY THE ENEMY ARMY as Super Joe in this influential top-down shooter.
An action shooter game featuring a giant robot which can transform into a jet. Trapped within a mysterious facility, the goal is to navigate 16 maze-like levels and stay alive long enough to destroy the central computer.
A run & gun shooter arcade game released by Sega in 1985, also known as Sega Ninja or The Ninja.
A single-screen shooting game for two players written by John P. Shay and published by Solar Software for the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 16.
An early run & gun shooter designed by Hiroshi Ishikawa in the summer of 1983 and published by Enix in October 1983.
Walk forward and take out the opposition in this early arcade run & gun shooter from Taito.
An Egyptian themed arcade game released in 1982 from Konami, where players control an explorer/treasure hunter raiding the ancient catacombs of King Tut's tomb. It was the first maze-shooter action-adventure, predating games such as Gauntlet and Time Bandit.
Space Dungeon is an early dual-joystick shooter, first an arcade game and later ported to the Atari 5200.
A tactical maze shooter released by Sega in 1981. It has a mixture of vertical scrolling run & gun shooting and maze digging.
Released by SNK in 1980, it was an early shoot 'em up that featured human characters on foot instead of vehicles, spacecraft, or aliens. The player character faces off against multiple shuriken-throwing ninjas and along the way faces several bosses, such as a flame-shooting shinobi.
1979 arcade shooter by Nintendo where the player must fight sixteen surrounding desperadoes. A precursor to Donkey Kong, it was designed by Genyo Takeda, with assistance from Shigeru Miyamoto, working on his first video game. Possibly the first run & gun shooter, it also introduced the damsel-in-distress trope to gaming as well as continuous background music.
Gun Fight, also known as Western Gun, is a 1975 arcade shooter. Set in the Wild West, Western Gun was the first on-foot shooter, introduced human combat, was the first open-world action-adventure video game, and the first real-time tactical cover shooter. Gun Fight was also the first microprocessor video game.
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