Top-Down Run-and-Guns (without the guns)
Shoot-em-up-adjacent gameplay contextualized without the use of a firearm: ✅
Top-down third-person perspective: ✅
Free control over player movement, aiming direction, and screen scroll: ✅
No roguelikes!!!! ❌❌❌
Top-down third-person perspective: ✅
Free control over player movement, aiming direction, and screen scroll: ✅
No roguelikes!!!! ❌❌❌
88 Games
Once again, some characters use guns but not all.
Similar caveat to Daikaijuu no Gyakushuu, a few characters use guns but they are clearly not the focus. Most playable characters and NPCs are without guns, enough that this game could not be qualified as a "gun game."
Another technicality entry, since the perspective is horizontal rather than top-down, but the movement and stages are designed like a top-down run-and-gun rather than a horizontal shoot-em-up. The horizontal perspective also limits shooting exclusively to the left and right, but multi-directional shooting is not technically part of the criteria (mostly because it was always taken for granted...)
Do the proton packs count as guns? For our purposes, let's say they're fantastical enough to pass.
The kaiju does not use any firearms but all the enemies do, being militaristic forces. Only counts by technicality of the rules I've established for this list.
This game bounces around different flavors in the shooting game genre, but it returns to the top down run-and-gun frequently enough to warrant a spot on this list.
