Run & Gun Computer Games
Run and gun or run n gun computer games are shoot 'em ups in which players control a single unit that can move, aim and fire in four or eight directions on fixed-screen, flip-screen or scrolling playfields.
Most run and gun games revolve around the concept of a One Man Army going against all odds.
Run and gun games include:
- Berzerk-likes (maze)
- Robotron-likes (open-slather)
- Commando-likes (scrolling playfields)
This article is only concerned with run and gun games that appeared on Western computer game machines. The run and gun games are presented chronologically.
Attack Force TRS-80 1980
Bill Hogue & Jeff Konyu of Big Five Software coded Attack Force in 1980 for the TRS-80. Attack Force is a run and gun shoot 'em up based on Exidy's Targ coinop of 1980. Attack Force features 4-way variable-rate movement and firing over block-grid mazes guarded by ramships and flagships.
Robot Attack TRS-80 1981
Bill Hogue & Jeff Konyu of Big Five Software coded Robot Attack in 1981 for the TRS-80. The difference between Robot Attack and Attack Force of 1980 is that in Robot Attack you have 8-way movement and firing (diagonal) instead of just 4-way. A clone of Stern Electronics' Berzerk of 1980, Robot Attack also features over one dozen speech-sounds and a text-scroller intro that evokes Star Wars.
Wizard of Wor Commodore 64 1982
Midway's Wizard of Wor coinop of 1981 was ported to the C64 in 1982 by Jeff Bruette for Commodore. A Berzerk-like (Stern Electronics, 1980), Wizard of Wor is a highly playable fixed-screen run n gun maze-shooter featuring 2-player coop, smooth sprite-shifting and 4-way movement and firing.
Berzerk Atari 8 Bit 1983
Berzerk was ported to Atari 8-bit line in 1983 by Carlos Smith & Mike Horowitz of Atari. It employs 8-way movement, 8-way fire and sampled speech aka speech synthesis.
Robotron 2084 IBM PC 1983
The Vids Kidz Robotron coinop of 1982 was ported to i808x by Atarisoft in 1983 in 4-color CGA 320x200. A multi-directional shoot 'em up, Robotron's 60 kbytes executable requires an IBM PC compatible with 128 kbytes RAM.
Robotron features 8-way movement and 8-way firing of the controlled sprite, Robotron Hero. In order to clear a stage players must destroy the Robotrons as they converge on the hero.
Robotron 2084 Commodore 64 1984
Robotron 2084 was ported to Commodore 64 by Tom Griner of Atarisoft in 1984.
Commando Commodore 64 1985
Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 was ported to C64 in 1985 by Chris Butler of Japan Capsule Computers for Elite UK.
Paradroid Commodore 64 1985
Commando IBM PC 1986
David Steffen of Quicksilver Software Inc. ported Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 to IBM PC Booter in 1986. Commando displays in CGA 320x200 (224x128 playfield).
Gauntlet Commodore 64 1986
Atari Games' Gauntlet coinop of 1985 was ported to C64 by Bob Armour of Gremlin Graphics for US Gold in 1986. Gauntlet is an 8-way run n gun and hack n slash game that features smooth scrolling and a max of 50 on-screen sprites with no slowdown.
Gauntlet 2 was ported to the C64 by Stuart Gregg in 1987; the isometric Gauntlet 3 was ported to C64 by Martin Howarth in 1991.
Rambo Commodore 64 1986
Platinum Productions' Rambo: First Blood Part II on the Commodore 64 was impressive in 1986. A run and gun game, Rambo featured 8-way scrolling, movement and firing as well as six weapons, good music and 2-stage destructibility of trees and buildings. You can basically just flatten everything. And that's fun.
Ikari Warriors Commodore 64 1986
SNK's Ikari Warriors was ported to the C64 by John Twiddy of Elite Systems Ltd. Ikari Warriors features good presentation and is much harder than the PC-Booter version; it often displays a dozen on-screen soldiers and several bullets simultaneously, clogging the playfield with action.
Ikari Warriors IBM PC 1986: Rambo Run n Gun
SNK's Ikari Warriors run and gun coinop of 1986 was converted to IBM PC Booter by Quicksilver Software. Ikari Warriors runs in 320x200 EGA graphics mode, but its vertically-scrolling playing field is only 208x132px, and its audio consists of naught but bleeps and blurps.
That said, this is a great port of the Ikari Warriors coinop in that it employs screen-draw tricks and compression techniques in order to maintain a colorful scrolling viewport, 8-way firing and two firing modes (gun / grenade) on a mere i808x with 256 kbytes of RAM.
The port features keyboard control or 2-button joystick input.
Exolon Commodore 64 1987
Nick Jones ported Exolon to the C64 in 1987 from Raffaele Cecco's original ZX Spectrum version of the same year. Flip-screen run and gun.
Into the Eagle's Nest Atari ST 1987
Pandora / Mindscape released Into the Eagle's Nest for 8- and 16-bit micros in 1986-87. Kevin Parker programmed the ST/Amiga versions.
Andrew Challis coded the C64 version whereas Kevin Parker coded the ZX Spectrum version:
Gauntlet Atari ST 1987
Adventure Soft ported Atari Games' 32-color Gauntlet coinop of 1985 to the 16-color Atari ST in 1987. Atari ST Gauntlet was programmed by Graham E. Lilley and drawn by Teoman Irmak with assistance from Angus Irons and Simon Lucy. Gauntlet sound was converted to the Atari ST by 2 Bit Systems Replay. Note how the Atari ST version of Gauntlet lacks the cool character selection screen that practically every other version of Gauntlet featured. In addition, the scrolling is choppy and the game slows down when the sprite-count increases.
Garrison Amiga 1987
Digital Dreams released Garrison for the Amiga/C64 in 1987/88. Garrison is a Gauntlet clone that is much better than the Gauntlet ports. The Amiga version was programmed by Andreas C. Hommel whereas Jörn Galka handled the C64 conversion.
Alien Syndrome Commodore 64 1988
Tim Rogers ported Sega's Alien Syndrome coinop of 1987 to the C64 in 1988.
Rambo 3 Commodore 64 1988
Ocean ported Taito's Rambo 3 coinop to most 8 and 16 bit micros, but I prefer the C64 version. Rambo 3 is a three-stage top-down flip-screen run and gun game that features a separate inventory screen and one dozen items and four different weapons. Movement and firing is 8-way. There is also a sprite-scaling, OpWolf-style level.
Robocop Commodore 64 1988
Data East's RoboCop coinop of 1988 was ported to C64 by John Meegan in 1988. The RoboCop movie came out in 1987.
Robocop ZX Spectrum 1988
The ZX Spectrum port of RoboCop was handled by Mike Lamb. RoboCop sold like hotcakes.
Zamzara Commodore 64 1988
Released in 1988, Jukka Tapanimaki's Zamzara is one of the best run and gun games on the Commodore 64. Zamzara features precise controls, silky-smooth parallax scrolling and H.R Giger-like sprites and backdrops. In addition, the soundscape is solid.
C64 original.
Contra IBM PC 1988
John Siegesmund of Banana Development ported Konami's Contra coinop of 1986 to IBM PC in 1988. Contra is displayed in 4-color CGA or 16-color CGA+ 320x200. Choppy scrolling. The in-game setup menu is displayed in 640x400.
Cabal IBM PC 1989
Wesley Hildebrandt of Interactive Designs ported TAD Corporation's Cabal coinop of 1988 to IBM PC in 1989. Cabal is a 3rd-person, fixed-screen run and gun game that displays in 16-color EGA. Graphics by Jennie Lee, music by Scott Etherton.
Cabal Amiga 1989
TAD Corporation's Cabal coinop of 1988 was ported to ST/Amiga by Ocean Software Ltd. in 1989. Offering 2-player simulatenous action Cabal is basically a third-person Operation Wolf. And just like Operation Wolf and Thunderbolt, Cabal is nowhere near as fun to play as the coinop.
Cabal and the Op. Wolf ports were overrated back in the day. Put it this way: even if you bought all three you would still go to the arcades to play the real deal.
Cabal Commodore 64 1989
Robbie Tinman of Ocean Software ported TAD Corporation's Cabal coinop of 1988 to C64 in 1989.
Commando Amiga 1989
Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 was ported to 8 and 16 bit micros from 1985 to 1989 by Elite. This is the 1989 Amiga version whose graphics are bland, washed-out and lack the basic details of the original coinop. The Amiga is capable of so much more than this:
Rambo 3 IBM PC 1989
John Siegesmund of Banana Development ported Taito's Rambo 3 coinop of 1989 to IBM PC in 1989. Rambo 3 is a three-stage top-down flip-screen run and gun game that features a separate inventory screen and one dozen items and four different weapons. Movement and firing is 8-way. There is also a sprite-scaling, OpWolf-style level.
Rambo 3 runs in 16-color VGA 320x200 (not 256-color), 16-color 320x200 EGA, 16-color 320x200 TGA or monochrome Hercules 720x350. It supports IBM, Adlib, CMS and Tandy 3-channel audio.
Robocop IBM PC 1989
Data East's RoboCop coinop of 1988 was ported to IBM PC by FACS Entertainment Software Inc. in 1989. The RoboCop movie came out in 1987.
Alien Syndrome IBM PC 1989
HSP of SEGA Enterprises Ltd. ported Sega's Alien Syndrome coinop of 1987 to IBM PC MS-DOS in 1989. The port is coded well and displayed in EGA graphics mode. Audio-visuals by Tahir Rashid.
Smash T.V. Amiga 1989
The 1989 Amiga port by Probe of the Smash T.V. coinop are passable. Indeed, playable. Especially with a friend in 2-player coop mode.
RoboCop 2 Amiga 1990
Special FX and Ocean Software released RoboCop 2 for the Amiga in December of 1990.
Midnight Resistance Commodore 64 1990
Robbie Tinman of Special FX / Ocean Software ported Data East's Midnight Resistance coinop of 1989 to C64 in 1990. This is another solid port with good gameplay, audio-visuals and presentation. Midnight Resistance is a run and gun game that scrolls both horizontally and vertically. It features 8-way movement and 8-way firing as well as climbing, crawling and jumping. You collect keys to unlock different weapons and specials.
Graphics by Ivan Davies. Sound & music by Keith Tinman.
Navy SEALS Commodore 64 1990
Navy SEALS was coded for the C64 by John Meegan of Ocean Software in 1990.
Turrican Commodore 64 1990
The Killing Game Show Amiga 1990
Coded by Martyn Chudley of Raising Hell Software in 1990, The Killing Game Show is a slick multi-directional run and gun shooter that features climbing, jumping and rising water levels. The rising water even reflects the action. The Killing Game Show has good controls, presentation and audio-visuals on both ST and Amiga platforms. The Killing Game Show was drawn on the ST and coded on DevPac 68k assembler on the ST.
Super Contra IBM PC 1990
Eric Freytag of Distinctive Software Inc. ported Konami's Super Contra coinop of 1988 to IBM PC in 1990. Super Contra is displayed in 16-color EGA 320x200. Choppy scrolling. Graphics by DSI Art Team.
Midnight Resistance Amiga 1990
Special FX Ltd. ported Data East's Midnight Resistance run and gun coinop of 1989 to ST/Amiga in 1990. Midnight Resistance turned out to be one of the few decent ports of shooter coinops to 16 bit micros. However, the ST version was much brighter and clearer than the dimmed Amiga version. But the ST version employed awful "catch-up" scrolling and lacked in-game music. Here is the Amiga version with the WHDLoad brightness fix:
While the (fixed) Amiga version is a solid port of the original, Midnight Resistance on the Amiga could have been much, much better. And the WHDLoad fix basically saves the port's legacy because no one is going to play a 34 year-old dimly-lit computer game in 2024.
Robotz Atari ST 1990
Scott Williams of Project X coded Robotz for the Atari ST in 1990.
RoboCop 2 Commodore 64 1991
Ocean Software and Painting by Numbers released RoboCop 2 for the C64 in 1991.
War Zone Amiga 1991
Better than Commando and Mercs, War Zone is a fairly good ST/Amiga run and gun game developed by Core Design in 1991.
Llamatron 2112 Amiga 1991
Llamatron 2112 was designed and coded by Jeff Minter of LlamaSoft in 1991 for ST/Amiga. Llamatron is a king-tier Robotron-like with psychedelic graphics. While its audio-visuals and presentation are unconventional, its gameplay is as classic as it gets.
Best played with 2x micro-switch joysticks suction-capped to the desk: mad.
Twin-joystick control aka two-joystick control aka dual-joystick control is when you use one joystick to move and another joystick to control the direction of fire. Thus, one can move in one direction while firing in another, aka strafing. Twin-joystick originated in Taito's Gun Fight coinop of 1975. It was also famously employed in Vid Kidz's Robotron 2084 coinop of 1982, of which Llamatron is a psychedelic clone.
Dual-stick is a god-tier shoot 'em up control system that could easily have been employed in more 8 and 16 bit micro shooters, but wasn't.
Llamatron 2112 IBM PC 1991
Llamatron 2112 was ported to IBM PC 808x in 1992 from the original ST/Amiga versions of 1991. Supporting 2 joysticks for Robotron-style action, Llamatron is one of the best fixed-screen shoot 'em ups ever coded.
Alien Breed Amiga 1991
Mercs Amiga 1991
Then, in 1990-91, Tiertex ported Capcom's sequel to Commando, Mercs, to 8 and 16 bit micros. Again, here is the 1991 Amiga version which lacks the smooth scrolling and responsive controls of the original coinop, as well as many of its details:
Both Commando and Mercs are top-down run and gun games that failed to impress me back in the day, let alone in 2024.
Revenge of the Mutant Camels Amiga 1992
Cannon Fodder Amiga 1993
Sensible Software's Cannon Fodder is a mouse-driven point-and-click run and gun game originally coded for the Amiga. Cannon Fodder employs a modified engine of Sensible Software's English Football Computer Games.
As one the highlights of the Amiga-games catalogue Cannon Fodder features smooth scrolling, precise controls, great graphics and excellent music and sound effects.
Cannon Fodder was designed by Jonathan "Jops" Hare and coded by Jools Jameson. Its graphics were drawn by Stoo Cambridge and its audio was assembled by Richard Joseph and Allister Brimble.
Cannon Fodder was ported to ST, MS-DOS and Archimedes. Offering more of the same, Cannon Fodder 2 was released in 1994 on Amiga and MS-DOS only.
The Chaos Engine Amiga 1993
Walker Amiga 1993
After the likes of Blood Money and Lemmings DMA Design would develop Walker in 1993. Walker is a side-scrolling mech shooter with simple left-right keyboard-controlled movement and on-screen mouse-controlled targeting via crosshairs that can also lock-on to targets.
As in FASA's BattleTech the Walker AG-9's cannon can overheat and its shield can be depleted.
Walker is notable for its innovative kb/m controls, gritty graphics and sampled sound effects and speech. However, its scrolling is "interval-based", horizontal-only and non-parallax. In addition, its weapons system is cannon-only.
Ruff n Tumble Amiga 1994
Wunderkind's Ruff n Tumble of 1994 is a prime example of a poorly designed and coded run n gun game on the Amiga. Yes, the pixel art is excellent but who cares when the scrolling and controls are sluggish? Even the sound is poorly employed: there are no gunfire sound effects for the standard weapon and no footstep, jumping or landing sound effects. Moreover, the music is annoying. And when you disable the music the lifeless soundscape is laid bare. Overall, Ruff n Tumble would be a terrible Amiga game if it came out in 1990, let alone 1994; it shows no mastery of Amiga hardware; such a waste of good graphics.
cf.
- History of Shoot 'em Ups 1976-2000
- TRS-80 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- Amiga Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- Commodore 64 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- IBM PC Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- Invader-likes: clones and ports of Taito's Space Invaders 1978
- Galaxian-likes: clones and ports of Namco's Galaxian 1979
- Asteroids-likes: clones and ports of Atari's Asteroids 1979
- Defender-likes: clones and ports of Williams' Defender 1981
- Scramble-likes: clones and ports of Konami's Scramble 1981
- Galaga-likes: clones and ports of Namco's Galaga 1981
- Robotron-likes: clones and ports of Vidz Kidz's Robotron 1982
- Xevious-likes: clones and ports of Namco's Xevious 1982
- Gravitar-likes: clones and ports of Atari's Gravitar 1982
- Gyruss-likes: clones and ports of Konami's Gyruss 1983
- Gradius-likes: clones and ports of Konami's Gradius 1985
- Commando-likes: clones and ports of Capcom's Commando 1985
- Salamander-likes: clones and ports of Konami's Salamander 1986
- R-Type-likes: clones and ports of Irem's R-Type 1987
- Western Computer-game Machines
- History of Computer Games 1976-2024
- History of 1990s Computer Games
- cRPG Blog (Master Index)
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