Run 'n' Gun: A History Of On-Foot Shooters Takes You From Contra To Cuphead

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We've already seen UK publisher Bitmap Books team up with acclaimed writer Dave Cook for a book about scrolling beat 'em ups, so the news that the pair are reuniting for a weighty tome focused solely on run 'n' gun shooters was certainly cause for celebration.

Bitmap Books was kind enough to send us a copy of the book ahead of its launch later this month, and we've spent the past few days leafing through its 496 pages. Divided into time-based segments, it covers the early examples of the genre – such as Gun Fight, Castle Wolfenstein and Berzek – right up to modern-day interpretations, such as Blazing Chrome, Xeno Crisis and Cuphead.

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Run 'n' Gun: A History Of On-Foot Shooters naturally covers some of the most significant entries in the genre, such as Contra, Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes and Mega Man, but it's just as comfortable shining a light on the lesser-known examples, including Abuse, Ruff 'n' Tumble and Eduardo the Samurai Toaster.

Cook may be most famous now for his comic books, but he's a former games journalist who really knows his stuff, and the resultant text is packed with trivia, critical analysis and sprinkles of humour. We especially like the two-page segments which are rolled out for key titles, such as a breakdown of all of the weapons in Midnight Resistance or the many forms of the iconic Gunstar Heroes boss Seven Force.

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If you like the run 'n' gun genre, then this is pretty much essential reading; it covers all of the notable games (and a few duds, which the book is happy to label as such), and it even has a foreword by Kenji Inafune, famous for his work on the Mega Man series.

Run 'n' Gun: A History Of On-Foot Shooters launches on July 29th.

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