Man, I look back at my life and realize that I have spent a lot of money being a gamer, so much lost in games that are just collecting dust and another fortune lost in those wooden cabinets containing such sweet sweet escape from real life for a few minutes for just a couple of quarters.

Tonights list will attempt, like this list, to list a top 10 arcade cabinets of a different genre. I'm speaking of those games where you rarely get to see your character and were probably responsible for the advent of the First Person Shooter. Tonight is the Top 10 Arcade Gun Games, see you at the end.

Honorable Mentions

Carnevil
Ghost Squad
Police Trainer
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Ocean Hunter
Jurassic Park
Area 51
GunBlade NY
Police 911
Police 24/7
Gogol 13



Any American Laser Games Game




Ahh, the masters of live-action shooter games. Actually most of these were generally pretty shitty games, but they do get an 'A' for effort. You had gems like Mad Dog McCree, Mad Dog McCree II, Space Pirates, and Who Shot Johnny Rock? The company was pretty ahead of its time and were one of the first companies to have their light games ported to the PC. Not great, but purely for nostalgia reasons it tops the list at #10.


Alien 3: The Gun



The only reason this game made it on the list at all: Pulse Rifle. The gun that was in the arcade mimic-ed the pulse rifles that were shown in Aliens, and the only movie prop that I would ever buy. Not a bad game really, but it was fun as hell playing a Marine trying to clean the planet from Alien 3 up along with Weyland Yutani Corp. troops.


Virtua Cop Series



Sega's attempt to enter the 3-D Light Gun generations was well received by arcade patrons, so much so that there were 2 sequels for the series. Sure, it had the usual on the rails type gameplay and the exploding red barrels so prevalent in shooter games, but it introduced the a timer that zooms in on the next enemies that shows how much time you have to blast the bad guy before he blasts you.


Point Blank Series



Dr. Don and Dr. Dan are on a mission, to shoot shit up. This great arcade game was one of the only games that I ever did the "one hand holds the gun while the other hand uses one finger sticking straight out moving rapidly" trick to try to shoot as many targets as possible. Sure it was an easy game and what seemed like a collection of mini games, but it had what many games didn't, FUN!


Operation Wolf Series



Oh man, I get to re-live the days of being back in Vietnam? This game was so fucking cool when I was a kid, it had that shitty stationary Uzi that rattled when you shot it and the little red button that launched a grenade. Holy crap I want to track down this game to play it in the arcade again! Isn't amazing that the difficulty of the game increased as you panned along the peaceful jungle village?


Lethal Enforcers Series



The beginning of the pink and baby blue guns in the arcade. Another of the live action type game, except this had no actual "live action" but a whole bunch of pictures of characters popping up in static environments. It was just the best when you picked up the shotgun, then you really got to blast them criminals.


House of the Dead Series



How fucking cool was it being able to blow holes in zombies and other types of baddies all the while gore splashing across the screen? The only bad part is that the bosses were really cheap and they all had glowing/flashing weak points, which we've all learned are just too cliche.


Silent Scope Series



Dude, sniper rifle. I shouldn't have to say more than that. X-ray Scope, and Thermal Scope = ulitmate win.


Lucky & Wild



I bet there are a whole bunch of you out there just did a double take, a wha-wha-what? That's right, it's my list and Lucky & Wild (the cheap man's Tango & Cash) is one of my all time favorites. In the deluxe arcade cabinets, you had a bench/faux-car that you sat in. Player one, got the wheel and the first pistol, player 2 did nothing but shoot at shit. Though if you played with me, player one did the driving, player 2 got both gats. Though many would argue that it's more of a driving game, how many driving games did you play that had a gun you could point and shoot? The cool part is that you could see your character in the rearview mirror of the car the whole time. Great damn game.


Time Crisis Series



The game that flipped the shooter game series on its ear, with the simple addition of pedal to pop in and out of cover, Namco captured the hearts of a new generation of arcade gamer. The faster you plugged the baddies in the area, the better the time bonus is. Its named Time Crisis mainly due to the fact that to die in this game you don't necessarily need to have your health taken away, but if you'd run out of time. A great concept that is annoying, but addicting at the same time. It seems the minute that you put the words "Time Trial" in a game, you get immediate fanboys. Oh yeah almost forgot that the Guncon was the most solid arcade gun I ever used, it was great when you fired and the gun slide would kick back.


Revolution X



Aerosmith + Video Game = What the fuck was Midway thinking? The game takes place during a dystopian 1996, against an enemy that is fairly boring. You got a gun that shot CDs! You're fighting the Gubment to save the right to rock! Wow! Oh, Aerosmith is not a Gen X band, they're from the early seventies for christsakes! Seriously, this game is going to make it to the list of worst games ever...



Many thanks to Hoygeit for submitting the idea for tonight's list.

That wraps up another edition of A Weird Kid's Top 10. I hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed putting tonight's list together. As always, let me know if you have a particular top 10 that you'd like to see, and I'd be happy to oblige. And for all of you that have submitted ideas, I promise I'll eventually get around to yours. Thanks for reading!!!