5.  Guwange - Atlus, 1999 - Arcade

You've never heard of this one unless you've spent a lot of time in Japanese arcades. But through the magic of emulation - and our "hellacious amount of carnage" radar - we happened upon this oddball coin-op and fell in love with it's unique approach to medieval Japanese ultraviolence.

Picture a vertical shooter like 1942 or Raiden, replace the airplane with a flying samurai, change all the enemy tanks to enemy cavalry, people, and ox carts and destroy destroy destroy. Those mounted warriors and the horses they rode in on simply explode in clouds of red only to leave a splotch of gore behind.

Above: Yeah, the explosions in Guwange actually look more like red fireballs than blood, but give 'em a break - it was 1999.

The "bad" guys also give up hundreds of levitating coins for reasons that aren't really clear, but we have to admit that slaughtering enemies and taking their money just feels that much more satisfying than merely slaughtering them.