Overhead run-and-gun games

[Anonymous No.732394]

One of my favorite retro genres is overhead run-and-gun games. And one of my favorite overhead run-and-gun games is C-Dogs, which you can get the latest version at http://cxong.github.io/cdogs-sdl/ I'm the developer

Anyone else like overhead run-and-gun games? What's your favorite? What do you like about it?

[Anonymous No.732396]

Jackal

[Anonymous No.732401]

Crimsonland

Technically not retro but if you like it, be sure to vote for its inclusion into GoG - http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/crimsonland
(it failed the steam greenlight)

[Anonymous No.732403]

Smash TV

[Anonymous No.732402]

Mercs / Commando series

[Anonymous No.732405]

Tapan Kaikki

[Anonymous No.732406]

Assault Trooper

[Anonymous No.732408]

Alien Breed

I've been meaning to check this out, as well as its remakes (which look very nice). Has anyone here played any?

[Anonymous No.732413]

Teleglitch

Every now and then one of these retro-style games in this genre comes out and I'm very happy. Hotline Miami is another one of these.

[EnJOY killer No.732434]

>>732408

Shit's classic. I killed 3 joysticks while playing Tower Assault. I still have a huge notebook with self drawn maps of all locations including keys, additional lives, terminal positions, exits etc. AB:TW had like 200 routes to the final boss. Shame that this title had some locations bug that freezed the game. Anyway i still love to play sometimes with my friends.

[Anonymous No.732447]

I liked Shock Troopers 2

[Anonymous No.732459]

>>732408
I've got Alien Breed 2, which Steam literally gave away a couple of years ago. Shit sucks.

[Anonymous No.732463]

As far as pick up and play co-op it'd be Super Smash TV and Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

[Anonymous No.732482]

>>732408
First things first: You should be playing the Amiga versions if at all possible, and since this is the internet it absolutely is. They all stand head and shoulders above the DOS ports.

The best starting point is Alien Breed Special Edition '92. It's the budget-priced re-imagining of the original Alien Breed that Team 17 put out during the wait for AB2 and it fixed some of the big problems with the original game, tweaked the difficulty curve, and generally added a bunch of polish. You could call it an expansion pack, I suppose, but it's standalone and is widely regarded as the best in the series. If you enjoy that then by all means go back to the original Alien Breed 1 as you'll enjoy it, but start with '92.

From there? Alien Breed II is next. Brutally fucking difficult with possibly the most sadistic first level in gaming history but it's doable, especially with two players. Improved the graphics, threw in more variety and selectable characters but somehow didn't seem to reach the heights of '92. AGA Amiga version (A1200/4000) is the best, closely followed by the OCS one.

Tower Assault is the last in the trilogy and the first to add branching paths and retreat mode. Slightly less brutal than AB2 but still hard as balls once it gets going. Opinions are usually divided between this and '92 for where the series peaked. For me it'd be a toss-up. The first version to get a truly solid PC port (the CD-ROM version NOT the floppy one which was completely gutted) but still best played on an AGA Amiga.

>>732459
Completely different game and Alien Breed in name only. The games on Steam are the modern reboot.

[Anonymous No.732492]

>>732408
As for what to expect from the AB series? Difficulty. These are some fucking hard games and they're made all the more difficult by their love of exploding decks and timed races through maze-like corridors to reach the deck lift. Screw one up? It's an instant game over, no matter how many lives you have.

They can be deliberately vindictive, arbitrary, and contain some examples of truly wrong-headed anti-player game design. At some point you WILL accidentally trigger a permanently closing fire-door and have to restart the game.

That said they've played host to some of the most amazing multiplayer moments I've had in a lifetime of gaming and it's entirely because of how evil they can be. Just be aware of what you're getting yourself in to and don't play with anyone punchy.

[Anonymous No.732497]

>>732394
I played the hell out of this game through DOS when I was a kid. I had totally forgotten the name of the game. Been looking for years. Thanks for this

[Anonymous No.732504]

>>732497
Hey thanks; make sure you check the C-Dogs SDL port, which works natively in Windows or Linux and contains a number of nice enhancements such as high resolution support.

If there's other old DOS overhead run-and-gun games that you remember playing but forgot the names, please mention it because I've played quite a few too.

[Anonymous No.732512]

>>732403
Jesus, this game. I can't even get past the snake boss. Who has even seen this screen?

[Anonymous No.732526]

Pocky and Rocky is a definite must.

A more recent example that I've enjoyed was Hyper Princess Pitch, which was a throwback to Operation Carnage, also a good game.

Can't forget Robotron 2084 either if we're gonna mention Smash TV.

[Anonymous No.732535]

The Firemen. I love the setting in this game, it was quite peculiar back in the day, considering that most similar games were a combination of all the tropes in 80's and 90's action flicks.

[Anonymous No.732546]

>>732504
I remember this game having a different title.
Was is something like Dogs of War?

[Anonymous No.732553]

>>732546
There was a game before C-Dogs called Cyberdogs. They look and play similarly - C-Dogs was a cross between a rewrite and sequel of sorts - but the gameplay had important differences. In Cyberdogs you can buy/sell weapons and ammo; in C-Dogs there are deathmatches and campaigns.

[Anonymous No.732557]

>>732553
I see. Cyberdogs was the one I played when i was young. Love that game.

[Anonymous No.732571]

(Alien) Phobia 1-3 should be mentioned since they are pretty much Crimsonland's models (mouse aim and perks were the "only" new things it introduced).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWGAd1dAPwQ

Another one would be BOFH: Servers Under Siege. Terrorists have attacked your school and taken computers as hostages. Defuse the bombs and kill any terrorists that get in your way.

Funny fact: this genre was pretty popular in the Finnish indie gaming scene in the late 90's and early 2000's (including >>732405, >>732406, >>732401 and both my recommendations).

[script writer kibe No.732616]

>Ikari Warriors
>Twinkle Tale
>Undead Line

I also think you could call Gauntlet a run and gun game, though it is probably stretching it a bit

[Anonymous No.732653]

since we're on the topic

heres an overhead r&g game I made on gamemaker a few years ago
http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/games/174945-city-mission

[Anonymous No.733229]

>>732653
And why did you stopped development?

[Anonymous No.733454]

>>733229
was just a hobby

[Anonymous No.733970]

>>733454
i want to be you

[Anonymous No.734040]

>>732394
Here's another badass over head RnG game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqOxMpN_zXo
Shorter link in case you can't get the video to play here:
http://youtu.be/cqOxMpN_zXo

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nitroball/nitroball.htm

[Anonymous No.734054]

>>732405

I came here to post this. Glad someone beat me to it.

[Anonymous No.734102]

Guerilla War for the NES is an underrated classic in this genre

[Anonymous No.734123]

>>732402
>>734102
Bad ass games


Here's my contribution,

Soldiers of Fortune/The Chaos Engine
True Lies
Alien Syndrome
Outzone
Gun.Smoke

I could probably just keep going...

[Anonymous No.734128]

TOTAL CARNAGE NIGGAS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e7lJ_b0VBY

[sage No.734187]

>>734128
I had this game on the SNES but it was impossible

[Anonymous No.734213]

>>732394

I forgot all about this game, my best friend and I spent so much time on this back in the day.

[Anonymous No.734229]

>>732553

I remember playing a game that sounds like Cyberdogs, but definitely isn't. I remember the default names are vulgar in some way, and you have to buy your guns and ammo as you go along mission by mission, but I think you can also find things during missions to help. I remember it was 2 player as well, and it was freeware.

[Anonymous No.734235]

True Lies on SNES

[Anonymous No.734246]

HOLY SHIT MAJOR FLASHBACK - I totally fucking remember cyberdogs!!! Shit, I haven't even thought about this game in 15 years holy shiiiit

that said, is it possible to play on win 7?

[Anonymous No.734257]

Trying to play TK Bloodshed on win7, but I'm getting fucked up colors. Tried the conventional fixes like compatibility, runasadmin, etc. Anyone have any advice? The website for the game isn't up anymore, so I'm lost on options.

[Anonymous No.734293]

>>734040
Wow, that was amazing! Never seen that one before. It'll hurt yer hand, it's such a masher.

[Anonymous No.734302]

>>732394
>I'm the developer
Sage for viral
not really, thank you so much for making this game

[Anonymous No.734378]

if you for real are the developer I gotta say man, great job. This was a fantastic game back in the day. I would play some Harvest Moon, then when my friend would come over I'd break out the game pad and we'd play.

[Sage01 No.734667]

>>no gremlins 2
>>no jurassic park for the NES

Seriously negroes?


>>732406
That's 2d Isometric, if we're talking about 2d Isometric Crusader 1&2 take the cake. Those games are very well polished, only Scurge Hive can compare and it's a 2d Isometric Metroid inspired game. Those are then shortly followed by the PC Exclusive Army Men games.

[Anonymous No.735408]

>>732394
dude if you're the developer congatufuckinglations, this game was the shit, you're the kind of people that knows what games are about, im so fucking glad i could thank you personally for doing cdogs

[Anonymous No.735559]

>>732512

BIG MONEY

BIG PRIZES

[Anonymous No.735563]

[Anonymous No.736113]

>>734229
Was it tapan kaikki?
>>732405

[Anonymous No.736127]

>>734246
You can play C-Dogs SDL on Windows 7 no problems - check the link in OP.

>>734302
>>734378
>>735408
Oops I should clarify that I'm not the original developer. Only started maintaining it a few months ago. I'd say I'm responsible for less than 10% of what it is today. The original developer is like 45 and works in IT/finance I think; it'll be nice to get in touch with him and say thanks.

[Anonymous No.737002]

>>732616
Guerrilla War was here!
Ikari Warriors is a loser!

All the Rambo action without the sluggish controls or plodding pacing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4JmBDVWV-0

And you also play as Che Guevara!

[Anonymous No.737009]

Berzerk is my favorite arcade game ever.

I also was impressed by Ikari no Yousai 2 on GB. No language barrier at all so feel free to try it.

[Anonymous No.737079]

Hm, maybe you guys could help me. I used to play a overhead run-and-gun game on an old Apple II (not sure if it were available on other systems) during my early school years, but I can't remember the name of it.

You played as a toy soldier, and I think the intro involved a toy store aisle with the chump you playing coming to life or whatever. The game then featured a candy level, a dinosaur level, and other similar themes, with a very colorful aesthetic.

I even remember the guy going "fire in the hole" when you used some ability (might just have been a grenade, actually).

Lots of guns, lots of enemies, I think you needed key items to progress in the levels... Oh, and batteries were health pickups. Pretty sure you got hiscore as well. Anyone remember it?

[Anonymous No.737107]

>>737002
Unfortunately, the Arcade versions sountrack kinda sucks. The NES versions though fucking rocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbrW71_Ohxg&list=PL768F21567BC1C931&index=2

[Anonymous No.737136]

Twinkle Tale is fun. It's not perfectly balanced, but it's fast paced and I like the weapon switching mechanic.

[Anonymous No.737148]

>>736113
Yeah, I somehow missed it when I went down. This is me >>734257 Do you have any suggestions on that issue? Since you know the game, I'm hoping you may have tried to play it on Win7

[Anonymous No.737179]

Man I played the shit out of this game in the 90s on a 99 in 1 shareware disc, and had completely forgotten the name. Thanks OP for keeping it alive, we should totally contact the dev and tell him thank you for the good times. That was a true vidya game. That, commander keen, jazz jackrabbit, and some spaceship shooter made by I believe psygnosis made up my late childhood big time.

[Anonymous No.737182]

>>737079
Too easy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Men

[Anonymous No.737207]

>>732394
Hey man, I played C-Dogs a lot back then, great job!

[Anonymous No.737286]

>>737207
Same, 2-player co-op was great fun, sadly it was a shareware version like everything back in the 90's, RAGEEEEEEEEE!

[Anonymous No.737381]

>>737182
No, it's not Army Men. :( You're an action hero rather then a soldier (my bad), with a battery slot in your back and all. It's also a lot more cartoony then the Army Men series.

[Anonymous No.737415]

>>732394
Woah, I'm your all time fan. You defined and refined my tastes in gaming genres more than once.

Those were great games back in the 90's, beside Molez and Flying Tigers.

[Anonymous No.737418]

>>737415
Fuck, read through the thread and now I feel bad and sad. Though thanks for maintaining these fuckawesome games.

[Sage01 No.738078]

>>737079
Are you sure you're not thinking about Toy Pop? It's not an Apple 2 game however but it's relatively close to what you're talking about. Do you remember the name of a level within the game?

>>737182
Nah, Army men takes place in the "real world" and "plastic world" it's not like toy story.

[Anonymous No.738220]

>>737381
Could it be Small Soldiers? I know nothing of the game, but the movie sounds a bit like what you're describing.

[Anonymous No.738232]

>>738220
That was an RTS right? Solid game.

[Sage01 No.738248]

>>738220
Just googled that shit, I think that might be the game he was talking about.

[Anonymous No.738268]

>>738248
Eugh, the main hero looks like a cave man instead of a soldier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x7pYAfHu0Q

[Sage01 No.738276]

>>738268
He's supposed to be some sort of furry thing. Regardless it's a shitty movie and a shitty game. It's probably the OP's nostalgia that made him have fond memories of this game.

[Anonymous No.738393]

>>738078
>>738220
Wasn't Toy Pop or Small Soldiers. It was 2D, isometric / top-down, really cartoony graphics. I think I was playing it around 1998-1999, now that I try to count back... So most likely on a Mac G3? Not sure where I got Apple II from.

[Sage01 No.738424]

>>738393
Can't find shit on it on wikipedia, time to pull out google fu.

[Anonymous No.738468]

>>732394
>stupid vision system

>no mouse support

>no modern resolution support so the game looks like anus

OP please.

[Anonymous No.738504]

>>738468
>>no modern resolution support so the game looks like anus
>OP please.

>Not playing VGA games in glorious 31KHz the way they were intended

[Anonymous No.738523]

>>738468
>mouse support
>for a grid base movement shooter

Anon pls stop this joke is not funny.

[Anonymous No.738541]

>>738523
>grid base

Oh ok sorry, I only played it for a few minutes so I didn't realize it was garbage.

[Anonymous No.738552]

>>738504
>hurr scanlines are the way things were intended to be played!

>let me shit all over the hard work the graphical artists did for a false sense of nostalgia since I'm not old enough to realize those things still looked like shit back then!

[Anonymous No.740652]

>>737148
Sorry; it looks like you'll have to try dosbox. I can't find a windows compatible version either.

[Anonymous No.740662]

>>738468
>stupid vision system
I actually agree that it can be improved. I'm thinking of adding fog of war (instead of just having everything out of vision blacked out) and improving the vision system to be more accurate, like this: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2011/12/12/shadowcasting-in-c-part-one.aspx

>no mouse support
Not much point; you could make the mouse emulate joystick controls but it'll still be clunky. If you mean mouse aim then it won't be the same game; I may as well make a crimsonland clone. If you mean mouse in the menus, that would be nice but it's a far off goal for me since it's not that big of a deal.

>no modern resolution support so the game looks like anus
You can change the resolution up to 800x600, and the scaling up to 4x (for a total of 3200x2400). No widescreen support though; I'd like to add that eventually too.

[Anonymous No.740670]

>>740662
here you go, C-Dogs in high res

[Anonymous No.740703]

Rambo 2- First Blood (C64)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I5GxGlSCOw

[Anonymous No.740816]

[Anonymous No.740815]

[Anonymous No.740852]

>>737079
>>737381
>>738393

Yesssssss! Found it! http://macintoshgarden.org/games/power-pete-aka-mighty-mike

Now excuse me while I take care of my nostalgia boner.

[Anonymous No.740861]

>>740852
Forgot the image...

[Anonymous No.742054]

>>740861
Haha, glad you found it eventually :D

Still got one plain-silly-3D-weird-open-area-deer/elf sniper hunting game in vision but no name, not sure if pre 2000