MAME Retrospective

[A Black Falcon]

Yes, some of the basics were there from the start, but that doesn't negate my point. Gunforce 1 feels much more like a standard run-and-gun shooter. Even Contra 3 had vehicles, like the tank from the first level.

Gunforce 2 jacked up the formula to a level of insanity that not many run-and-gun games ever reach, even the Metal Slug games pulled it back a little bit, but still retain much of the over-the-top feel. Gunforce 1 just doesn't have that feel.

GunForce was released in the arcades in 1991, and on the SNES in late 1992. The original arcade version came out before Contra III for the SNES, which was released in 1992 in all regions. So if you say "even the first level of Contra III had a tank", well, no, GunForce had vehicles first. :)

Of course though, the first Ikari Warriors had tanks, so it's not like it was the first ever shooting game with vehicles... though Ikari Warriors is topdown and not sidescrolling, I don't know what the first sidescrolling run & gun/action shooting game with vehicles is. Anyway though, GunForce had vehicles before Contra, and the game is pre-Contra III, which is a relevant point I think, though even if it was post Contra III I'd still like it. :)

It is a bit more standard, with how it doesn't have the distinctive Metal Slug art style at all but instead has a much more generic style, and the bosses, while large, aren't Metal Slug crazy, but when you look the origins of it are there, I think, and even though it's certainly less "extreme" and not as great (and certainly not as polished) as the Metal Slug games, I do still like the first game and have fun with it. Really, the short length and somewhat easy difficulty levels are its biggest problems... perhaps that's one reason why Metal Slug dropped eight way firing, it makes the game harder. Whatever the reason though, it was an annoying decision, I love Metal Slug a lot but that you can't naturally shoot diagonally is sometimes annoying.