Side-scrolling action/Fighting games

[SAMAS]

My all-time favorites:

Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom/Shadow over Mystaria -- A perfect blend of action and RPG-style combat.

You play as a Fighter, Dwarf, Cleric, and Elf(SOM adds Magic User, Thief, and alternate characters for all classes). The buttons are Attack, Jump, Item/Magic, and Select Item/Magic. The Attack button has a pretty decent combo system attached to it, and don't forget to try different combinations of stick movements for more moves. Items/Spells range from favorites such as Hold Person and Throwing Hammers, to Healing potions, Magic Missile, and daggers. The Clerics can even use Turn Dead at any time in battle. They even manage to stick a few RPG rules in the game. When fighting the Troll boss, unless you flame the body with an Oil flask, it gets right back up and keeps going. You can even choose your path through the game, adding great replay value.

Aliens vs. Predator -- Simplistic play, but fun as hell.

You can choose to play as one of a pair of Predators, or a pair of Cyborgs, including Dutch Schafer II, the grandson of Arnold's character from Predator, and Linn Kurosawa, one of the most underappreciated Capcom characters ever. The two Predators play similarly at first, but as you learn their moves and attributes, they turn out to be rather unique. Dutch and Linn are completely different. While Dutch is massive and mostly landbound, Linn is fast, and can spend half a fight airborne without touching the ground.

The game uses three buttons: Jump, Attack, and Shoot. The Predators' shots are the same, a single powerful shot that auto-aims at enemies and sends them flying into the air in flames. Dutch and Linn fire a spray of bullets, creeping from the ground up, from their arm-rigged smartgun and pistol, respectively. At the bottom of the screen is a gun meter, showing how often your fighter can fire. While Dutch and the Predators' meters recharge slowly over time, Linn's is fixed, and when she runs out, she has to pause to reload. This leaves her open, but is the fastest of them all.

The story deals with a Xenomorph infestation of a California city, and takes our heroes through ruins, military bases, and of course an Alien hive battling the Xenomorphs, Zombie-like Infectoids, Human Soldiers, Power Loaders, and even an insane Predator or two. All leading to a final showdown with the Alien Queen.

This is one of my favorite games of all time, and I play it wherever I find it.


Guardian Heroes -- One of the greatest games ever for the Sega Saturn.

The Translation is a little incoherent, but what I can tell is this: A group of Human wizards assisted the Sky Spirits(Heaven) in a battle with the Earth Spirits(Hell). The wizards were victorious, but the forces of Heaven became afraid of the Wizards, and banished them to Hell with the Earth Spirits. One Wizard battled his way free, and, striking a deal with the Earth Spirits, took over a kingdom and forged an army of mechanical soldiers.

But in the time of the Wizard's absence, humanity developed many fighting arts, and created powerful swords to defend themselves. One Such sword, wielded by a long-dead warrior, was of particular concern to the Wizard, and he sent soldiers out to find it.

Naturally, it falls into the hands of your heroes first. The battle begins as the Guardian Heroes are viseted by a msyterious woman, and are then suddenly attacked by enemy troops as the Inn burns around them. After the fight leads to a graveyard, a battle with a powerful robot unleashes an unholy force, and the sword's undead owner rises from his grave to reclaim his weapon.

Now, with a massive armored zombie on your side, you battle soldiers, robots, and some very odd bandits in your quest to save the kingdom.

This game's stongest point is in it's gameplay. Not only does each character have a massive number of moves, but they also have powerful magic spells to cast in battle as well. Character and enemy attacks range from teleport dashes and firey dives, to giant energy beams, Ice Floor Traps, screen-clearing explosions, and, would you believe, an eight-foot falling smiley face? And you use these moves on increasing numbers of enemies. One of my overall favorite battles is a totally insane melee featuring you, the woman, the baddest enemy in the game, and an entire gang of mountain bandits in a three-way battle royale. You find yourself attacking wildly just to survive, then you remember to set Tall, Dark, and Decomposing to "Berzerk," and twenty seconds later, everything is sorted out in one screen-clearing blast of undead rage.

In addition, the game branches through several paths, through over fourty stages, to a total of eight endings. Will you help the Resistance, crush Kanon's Robot army(ending in a suprising battle against a classic Treasure boss), or take the cause of Heaven or Hell?

The second best part of the game is the Arena Battle Mode. As you beat the game, and defeat different enemies, they become availiable in the Arena Mode, where up to six fighters can have it out at any level. Heroes, Bosses, Cannon Fodder, even the Civilians are playable. With fighters all the way up to Level 100, battles can get real chaotic real fast.

[Slartibartfast]

Captain Commando

It didn't get any better than that.

Please mean the NES version...the arcade just was blech and evil(no real skill just pump quarters until you win)

Pump quarters? I've finished it with two or three.

[SAMAS]

Captain Commando

It didn't get any better than that.

Please mean the NES version...the arcade just was blech and evil(no real skill just pump quarters until you win)

Pump quarters? I've finished it with two or three.

I think he might be mistaking it for Bionic Commando. Captain Commando didn't come out until around the SNES era.

[Iceberg]

Guardian fucking Heroes.

A Sega Saturn game released by Treasure in 1995. Some seriously ass-kicking shit. If you have a Saturn/know someone with a Saturn/have access to a Saturn you are morally obligated as a human being to find and play this game.

Oh yeah! Guardian Heroes was the whole reason why I bought a Saturn! I feel proud to be one of the few (it seems these days) that owns 2 Saturns and a huge collection of Saturn games (domestic and imported)!!

Is Guardian Heroes a sequel to Gunstar Heroes?

*grin* Bangai-O (another Treasure game, this time for the Dreamcast) rips off my leg and kicks my ass with it.

[SAMAS]

Guardian fucking Heroes.

A Sega Saturn game released by Treasure in 1995. Some seriously ass-kicking shit. If you have a Saturn/know someone with a Saturn/have access to a Saturn you are morally obligated as a human being to find and play this game.

Oh yeah! Guardian Heroes was the whole reason why I bought a Saturn! I feel proud to be one of the few (it seems these days) that owns 2 Saturns and a huge collection of Saturn games (domestic and imported)!!

Is Guardian Heroes a sequel to Gunstar Heroes?

Probably not. Guardian Heroes is fantasy-oriented.

But there's a slight chance that it's a prequel to Gunstar. One of the story paths has Golden Silver as the final boss.

[Ghost Rider]

Nah just a homage.

Wish Treasure would make more games like Guardian Heroes...dammit one of the reasons I have my Saturn hooked up(Panzer Dragoon Saga and SFA1&2 being the others)

[SAMAS]

Nah just a homage.

Probably(like Seven Force's appearance in Alien Soldier), but the possibility is still there. After all, GS and Silver(Basically GS without the gems.), the prototype, are actually written into the story as Kanon's creations, and Golden Silver's origins were never explained in Gunstar.