Bitmap Books: Run ‘N’ Gun - A History of On-Foot Shooters 📖📚 @bitmap_books #RetroGaming

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From Dave Cook - the mind behind the awesome Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’em-Ups - comes this history of run ‘n’ gun shooters (think Contra, Metal Slug etc. and definitely think about Mercs and Rambo III on the Mega Drive, which are a couple of my personal faves), a genre of videogames that – to me at least – almost feels like the very essence of gaming itself.

The requirements of concentration, quick reflexes and (usually) saucy multiplayer action are timeless, and these quintessential essential ingredients allow for quick dip in ‘n’ out gameplay for blasts of fun, whilst requiring the players to lose themselves in the flow and design of the game to really get the most out of it…and the most 10p’s out of your pocket, natch!

As this is a Bitmap Book, I knew exactly what to expect in terms of presentation and packaging. As always, Bitmap Books are at the top of their game, and the package arrived in mint condition, ensconced in protective covering that could survive a nuclear blast. Run ‘N’ Gun is presented in landscape format as opposed to the portrait style of Dave Cook’s previous book with them (Go Straight), which works well here in terms of layout and really captures the in-action screenshots of the hundreds of titles contained within.

An almost 500-page behemoth, Run ‘N’ Gun begins with an introduction and preface by author Dave Cook before moving onto forewords from both the main man of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, and Chad and Jared Moldenhauer - who will be familiar names to lovers of this particular genre due to their creation of the incredible Cuphead. Beyond these sections, there are a few pages that deal with what a run ‘n’ gun game actually is as well as covering the initial history and creation of how the run ‘n’ gun genre came to be. From then on, it’s over four hundred pages focused purely on covering games in the genre.

Some of the key titles have double-page spreads, whilst most games have single page entries, and the titles on the periphery have smaller, half-page articles throughout. The book is set out chronologically, and each section is split into decades – Dave Cook writes about each entry, which are also accompanied by screenshots, as well as developer and platform release information (I was especially a fan of the moments scattered throughout where Dave Cook suggests stand-out tracks and themes from certain games, quite often I found myself pausing my reading to slip a Cook-proven kickass track on YouTube!). The layout is very crisp and clear, making for easy reading and digestion.

Some brief guides and tip pages are included on certain titles, for instance – Mega Man breaks down the bosses, and states the best order in which to play through the game whilst Contra breaks down weapons etc. All the way through the book, the editing is completely on-point, whilst the text is breezy to read, clearly coming from a person that has a rich history with this genre, and has done their research, ensuing that each entry smashes to the point, discussing whether a game was impactful, successful, unfair, timeless etc.- all whilst being informative, and quite often lightly amusing (I always get tickled when the extreme unfairness of certain games was brought up – mainly to munch your coins!). That said, there’s a focus on imparting information that means it never feels too ‘matey’ to read, it may be breezy – but this book exists to celebrate and dive into the genre, not as a vehicle for the author’s personality.

SUMMARY

With Run ‘N’ Gun: A History of  On-Foot Shooters, Dave Cook has written the perfect companion piece to Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-‘em-Ups, these genre-specific books are a highlight of the Bitmap Books catalogue, rich as they are with fascinating insights into each genre catalogue - and so it’s a huge thumbs-up from us here at GF!

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