Ninja Spirit

My favorite tactical strategy/pinball simulator OF ALL TIME:

Legend of Kage

I didn't see any pics of Samurai Shodown, yet- but I didn't look too thoroughly ;)

Yesssssssssssssss.

Me too, man. Me too. The first time I realized how to do team attacks in that game is one of the defining gaming memories of my childhood :)

One of my favorites, BTW. Let's hope they do a "show us" list for run 'n gun arcade games next :)

I think it got buried at the bottom of the discussions because I posted it right when the article went up. It's still a classic, and I always thought it did a great job of bringing the look of the TV show to the arcades :)

Good call. Giant Venom was a really impressive boss when I was a kid :D

NARC is more of a run n' gun sidescroller shooter than a beat 'em up. It has certain elements in common (you can walk up and down between foreground/background) but I don't know if it belongs on this particular list.

Amazing game. I'm not sure it looked as impressive in 1993 as the original did in '89- but I'll never forget the delight I had when I first summoned this guy:

The arcade version looked amazing in 1989. If you compare it to games that came out on newer hardware from Capcom in following years, it doesn't look so great- but you're probably just thinking about the Genesis version. Or you're under 30.

Altered Beast looked amazing in 1988. It's older than just about every other game mentioned in this article/comments.

They've both been thoroughly documented in comments :)

I know it's kind of a hyrid between a beat 'em up and a run n' gun, but I think Alien Soldier deserves mention on this list.

Ninja Gaiden arcade version

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

Moonwalker

The Simpsons Arcade Game

Magic Sword