Side scrolling action games (Rastan, etc.)

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:34 pm

Can anyone suggest some classic arcade titles in this genre? I remember playing tons of them as a kid but they all kind of blur together in my mind.

Rastan and Tiger Road are two exampels that stick out. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Altered Beast as well. Slashers, not shooters.

Also not the ubiquitous 3/4 beat-em-up games, though that is also a cherished genre from my youth.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:37 pm

Strider of course!

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:39 pm

CIT wrote:Strider of course!

Ah! Good call.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:42 pm

CIT wrote:Strider of course!

I like Strider 2 as well.

gavin19 · Post by **gavin19** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:45 pm

Rygar is an absolute must. Absolutely.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:56 pm

Splatterhouse.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:12 pm

Taito's own Thunder Fox. It plays smooth as hell, with a nice move library which lets you kick ass in style (along with trusty knife 'em up action). The Genesis port is pretty good (I grew up with it, and moved over to the arcade version quite easily). But the arcade version moves much quicker and has extra vehicle sections, which are actually pretty good.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:24 pm

Ninja Warriors (arcade) and Ninja Warriors Again (SNES, known just as "Ninja Warriors" in the US) are both great.

In the SNES one, Kunoichi plays most similar to the original arcade but with some extra moves. The blue Ninja is now a grappler similar to Zangief, and the newcomer Kamaitachi has some blades that shoot out for a reach advantage. Rather than being a sequel, it's instead supposed to be a reboot of the NW franchise- hence the Japanese title "Ninja Warriors Again". You don't have shurikens here, but the Blaster weapon and the added moves make up for it.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:34 pm

Osman/Cannon Dancer

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:39 pm

Konami's Aliens arcade game.

An incredibly underrated masterpiece, and one of the best Aliens movie licences ever.

SockPuppetHyren · Post by **SockPuppetHyren** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:32 am

Shinobi III for the Genesis.

It's purified awesome.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:57 am

I believe Ceph made a thread a few years ago (several pages long) which includes scrolling and non-scrolling platformers. You should search for it.

My Mame favorites:
Rastan
Strider
Canon Dancer
Dyna Gears
Chiki Chiki Boys

Others
Little Ralph (PS)
Keio Yuugekitai Katsugekihen (Saturn)

EDIT:
HERE

dpful · Post by **dpful** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:57 am

Magic Sword
and........the arcade game with the morphing bio robot guy that fights the giant snake wrapped around the naked lady at the end of the first level.

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:01 am

Osman/Cannon Dancer

Osman! I saw this Strider-esque game in a mall in Seoul and never found out or could remember what it was. Excellent.

Magic Sword

Oh man, loved that one.

EDIT:
HERE

Didn't use that search function so well, now did I.

ARCADIA · Post by **ARCADIA** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:05 am

dpful wrote:and........the arcade game with the morphing bio robot guy that fights the giant snake wrapped around the naked lady at the end of the first level.

Act Fancer? (Shoot 'em up?)

and The Astyanax.

Alec · Post by **Alec** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:51 am

Magician Lord

8-MAN

boagman · Post by **boagman** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:28 am

Skykid wrote:Konami's Aliens arcade game.

An incredibly underrated masterpiece, and one of the best Aliens movie licences ever.

Granted. Konami's Aliens was a good piece to play a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race pace at, and it worked with the theme well enough. It's also one of the few games that I've ever *seen* that (and this could be settings-adjustable), when you have a full life bar, and you pick up more health, you receive a *new* life with the correct amount of collected health. Not a full new life, mind you, but a small amount. Still it allows you to die again quite quickly, and doesn't waste health where you *just* happened to get killed before picking it up.

The game did eventually get frustrating (a couple of the later bosses I just couldn't figure out how to avoid getting hit by), but it still didn't seem to be an unfair quarter-muncher, as some were in that day.

Nevertheless: Aliens vs. Predator by Capcom was, and is, my favorite use of the Aliens license in any video game. What a terrific, terrific game.

boagman · Post by **boagman** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:32 am

Alec wrote:Magician Lord

8-MAN

Still own, and love, Magician Lord. If I have one complaint with that game, it's that certain parts of the game are just inaccessible due to the imposed time limit, and it just seems like a big old waste to have them in the game, but make them kill the player if you happen to go that way.

8-Man I borrowed from a friend, and I'm glad that I did just that. It was...functional, but that's all that it was. I wouldn't want to own that game. Don't get me wrong: it's not as bad as The Super Spy or anything like that, but still, it left me underwhelmed.

D · Post by D » Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:35 am

Shinobi and shadow dancer

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:18 am

GaijinPunch wrote:I believe Ceph made a thread a few years ago (several pages long) which includes scrolling and non-scrolling platformers. You should search for it.

EDIT:
HERE

Ah yes, that was long before starting 2DGaming.net ; I've always liked sidescrollers.

GaijinPunch wrote:Little Ralph (PS)

This is going to be szycag's Game of the Week in two weeks. Beautiful platformer, deserves a wider audience. You should also check out the the current Game of the Week, Ruff 'n Tumble.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:27 am

It's no slasher but half platformer and half shooter: Wonder Boy III. It has a decent genny and PCE port but the arcade (available on PS2 sega retro collection) is a must

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:27 pm

Magic Sword
Cadash
Ninja Gaiden

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:13 pm

Bill wrote:Taito's own Thunder Fox. It plays smooth as hell, with a nice move library which lets you kick ass in style (along with trusty knife 'em up action). The Genesis port is pretty good (I grew up with it, and moved over to the arcade version quite easily). But the arcade version moves much quicker and has extra vehicle sections, which are actually pretty good.

I have to second the Thunder Fox rec. I've been playing this a bunch on Taito Legends.

jp · Post by jp » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:35 pm

GaijinPunch wrote: Keio Yuugekitai Katsugekihen (Saturn)

No mention of Taromaru?

Its only 6 times the price of your typical Keio Flying Squadron 2 (JP version anyways, PAL version is a good bit more pricey).

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:16 pm

Don't want to turn him off from the genre due to the high price. I do quite dig the game. Need to play it on hard.

OmniGLH · Post by **OmniGLH** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:25 pm

MR_Soren wrote: Cadash

Good game.

GaijinPunch wrote: Chiki Chiki Boys

What is difference from the Genesis version?

Chiki Chiki Boys is great on Sega Genesis.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:35 pm

Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2
Panzer Bandit
Guardian Heroes
Shinobi III
Keio Flying Squadron 2
Alien vs Predator

I guess a few of those could be cosidered beat em ups but still.

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 1:06 am

I love 2d melee action games.

some great "lesser known" games have been mentionned here. like Cadash, Thunder Fox, Osman/Cannon Dancer.

yet noone mentionned:

Ninja Spirit by Irem (check this one out)

Mystic Warriors by Konami (1993!)

Kuri Kinton by Taito

and Hagane on the SNES

all of the above are totally worth checking out.

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:31 am

Great amount of info. Been reminded of some classics for sure.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:19 am

meant to add this to this thread.... added it to the wrong thread earlier.

Elevator Action returns.... highly overlooked little game. Such an awesome game, if you like rolling thunder at all you'll LOVE this. Super fun. I suppose this is a shooter and not a slasher now that I look at the original post closer.