Rendering Ranger R2

1 Player

Stand out versions - SNES

Made by Manfred Trenz of Turrican fame, Rendering Ranger went for a more linear, action orientated stance as opposed to the exploratory nature of it's predecessors, this, coupled with a big change in art style led to a very different feel here compared to his earlier series. Rendering Ranger is a very playable title, and is honestly one of the most impressively programmed games on SNES, but unfortunately due to a limited release in Japan its now going for extortionate prices on Ebay.

Robocop

1 Player

Stand out versions - Spectrum

One of the most famous and successful Spectrum games, Robocop managed to stay at the top of the UK software charts for well over a year when it was originally released. The game was polished, playable and had a lot of variation throughout, with the run n' gun stages alternating with a variety of minigame sections. Those from the US may know this from the Game Boy port, which was relatively accurate apart from an increase in difficulty.

Robocop Vs Terminator

1 Player

Stand out version - Mega Drive

Robocop Vs Terminator was a welcome return to form for Robocop (after some less than stellar games better left unmentioned). The gameplay is very solid and fun, there's some great weapons and bosses and the whole graphics style and bloodyness help to give it some unique edge.

Rolling Thunder 3

1 Player

Stand Out Version - Mega Drive

Rolling Thunder games are a bit under-appreciated really, I'm not sure exactly why this is as the whole series has been consistently good, with the first game obviously having some level of influence on the industry (maybe the fairly faceless protagonists never managed to catch the public's imagination?). Either way the games are full of solid shooting action, with you taking out the bad guys one minute, and ducking bullets and dodging into rooms for cool weapon upgrades the next..

Super Star Wars

1 Player

Stand out versions - SNES

The first Super NES Star Wars game was the closest the series ever came to having a vanilla run n' gun game (subsequent games seemed to veer more towards other genre's and somewhat diluted the shooting aspects). The game is fun and full of variety with some memorable use of mode 7 effects. A great use of the Star Wars licence.

 

Sunset Riders

2 Players

Stand out versions - SNES

Konami's wild west shooter made a nice change in theme from many of the other shooters out there, playing kind of like Contra in the wild west. The level design is good, the presentation level high (with some great use of voice samples), there's some nice variety, and generally the whole thing is simply a lot of mindless action-packed fun.

Super C/Probotector 2

2 Players

Stand out versions - NES

Great sequel that doesn't exactly do a hell of a lot new but manages to still be a great experience in it's own right with it's new level layouts and bosses. This one also decided on a more standard top down shooter style to it's secondary gameplay mode which turned out a more popular idea than the originals run-into-the-screen style and so was adopted for subsequent releases.

Toki

1 Player

Play it on - Amiga, Atari ST

Nice arcade game which has you playing as a man who's been transformed into an ape by an evil magician. Its a fairly difficult game with some platforming undertones to go with the shooting action, and some interesting enemy designs. The NES port is faster, easier, and a little more accessible than the original version due to the addition of an energy bar, but is watered down in some areas, and lacking in presentation in comparison to the 16-bit computer ports. There's also a Mega Drive sequel/re-imagining which is good, but falls more into the platformer category.

Vectorman

1 Player

Stand out versions - Mega Drive

With its impressive graphics and art design, and perfectly flowing level layouts Vectorman has to stand as one of the best run n' gun games of its time. Every level works well and has a unique feel of it's own, there's some interesting exploration, and adventuring aspects, and the level designers never stop trying to add new ideas from start to finish, even adding some pseudo 3D style levels.