Action - General category for side scrolling adventure, fighting, or other arcade games.

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Most Popular Action Games

Temple Run 2

Run for Your Life from the Clutches of the Temple's Demonic Ape!

Temple Run

See How Long You Can Survive in this Panic-Inducing Game of Speed!

Dumb Ways to Die

Swipe and Tilt Your Smartphone to Keep People from Dying Stupidly!

Subway Surfers

Get On a Hoverboard and Ride Atop the Trains Forever!

Despicable Me: Minion Rush

Test Your Minion's Resolve in these Fast-Paced Obstacle Courses!

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Bring All of Your Favorite DC Heroes Together into a Single Deck!

Zombie Highway

Shake Off Those Brain-Eating Hitchhikers with Your Favorite Kind of Car.

BADLAND

Gather a Flock and Navigate Through a World that Wants You Dead.

Big Time Gangsta

Take Over the Streets in this Deadly Game of Strategy!

Bud Redhead

Travel through time with Bud Redhead searching for his abducted girlfriend Rachel!

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All Action Games

  • 10.0 = DFG Review Score

  • NA = Not Reviewed Yet

  • New! = Games listed in the last 30 days

  • Mobile = Mobile Games

Score Game
NA

101-in-1 Games   Mobile

Play over 100 addictive handheld puzzle, racing and action games!

NA

Fishing action at two lakes in 3D

NA

Enjoy minigolf on 50 courses!

NA

The first-ever action-adventure game without video!

8.5

Side-scrolling kitty mischief! Explore a mysterious tower.

NA

Enjoy more brick-busting action in this electrifying sequel!

NA

Die...Retry...and die again in this frantic arcade runner!

NA

Defend your base from the waves of enemies at any price!

NA

Grind your way through Angelo's world!

6.0

Angry Birds 2   Mobile

Experience the next step in the evolution of Angry Birds!

NA

Ant Smasher   Mobile

Protect your food from the encroaching army of ants!

NA

The popular show is now a great game!

NA

Welcome to mage academy...class is about to begin!

NA

Carry as many stones as you can to build the Tower of Babel!

8.0

Bacon Escape   Mobile

Bacon Escape does auto-running, and ragdoll crashes, pretty well

NA

Help the heroine find her family! in this brand new arcade runner full of interesting levels!

NA

BADLAND   Mobile

Gather a flock and navigate a world that wants you dead.

NA

Do clowns scare you? It's time to take revenge!

9.0

Ballz   Mobile

Despite the SNES-era name, Ballz is actually a load of clever fun.

NA

Benji Bananas   Mobile

Swing from tree to tree and go absolutely bananas!

NA

Big Time Gangsta   Mobile

Take over the streets in this deadly game of strategy!

NA

Help Blon fight monsters and explore an unknown world in hopes of rescuing your family.

NA

Collect candies and bring them to Luna to win her heart in Boon Boon!

NA

This Classic remake game is about a diamond chase underground with many obstacles

9.0

Manipulate time and help Tim save his beloved Princess!

NA

Time travel with Bud to find girlfriend Rachel!

NA

Travel the globe while you build, buy and flip houses for big profits!

NA

Earth has been attacked by aliens - Time to save the day!

NA

Join the courageous Captain Goose and his crew as they set off on a perilous adventure!

7.0

Card Wars Kingdom   Mobile

Card Wars Kingdom Gets Almost Everything Right!

NA

Become a fearless knight in Cardboard Castle!

NA

Construct a tower for the ambitious King Harold!

NA

Help a feline exploroer to vanquish a dragon and take all of his treasure

7.0

CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars is enjoyable but a little too hands-free.

9.5

Great little side scrolling adventure, a must try.

NA

Me Rudi...me must find fire!

NA

Enjoy Charlie II a classic platform game. Run through levels, collect coins and explore!

NA

Deluxe chicken action!

NA

Get your piece of the chicken!

7.5

Experience the fun side of physics & save the Chromes.

NA

The ultimate 2D Physics War Game!

9.0

Clash Royale   Mobile

Assemble a heroic deck and fight players across the world!

NA

Help Copperbell defeat the demon that has settled in the nearby forest

8.0

Crash Club is a simple but enjoyable bit of car combat

NA

Solve exciting criminal cases on the mean streets as a member of the autobahn police force!

NA

It's time for the Interstellar Soccer Cup! Lead your team to victory in Crazy Soccer Football Star

8.0

LifeAfter is a rich Mobile survival strategy-MMO packed with imagination and detail

NA

Destroy as much of the city as you can!

NA

DAMN the machines!

NA

Trip into history and help a professor deal with hordes of dinosaurs!

9.0

Dead Effect 2   Mobile

Use Your Super-Soldier Abilities to Fight Your Way Out of the Meridian!

NA

Defend Egypt from the Roman Empire!

8.5

The free mobile app based on the movies is despicably good fun!

9.5

Disney Crossy Road   Mobile

Cross the road with all your favorite Disney characters.

NA

Inspired by John Carpenter's 'The Thing'

NA

Doodle Jump   Mobile

Use a variety of power-ups to bounce up to untold heights!

NA

Duck Shooting is a fantastic shooting game inspired by amusement parks.

7.5

Breakout lovers will enjoy this brick breaking clone.

NA

Destroy the bricks and stay alive!

NA

Strap on your jetpack and prepare for chaos!

NA

Find treasures, fight ghosts, and escape from the temple!

NA

Break your way out of the tombs!

NA

The goblins are coming!

NA

Play an exciting Mahjongg adventure in the land of these lovable but strange creatures!

NA

Help Mia unlock the truth of her real identity.

8.0

Evil Factory   Mobile

Evil Factory can be frustrating, but it's a cool mash-up of ideas.

NA

Travel through time watch your gameplay evolve as you move along the storyline

8.0

Race to the finish line at over 100 miles per hour!

7.0

Fastlane: Road to Revenge is a pretty okay vehicular SHMUP.

7.0

Eat fish and grow to be the big one at the top of the food chain

8.5

Eat small fish to grow big and track down the shadow fish!

8.0

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is one solid Final Fantasy mash-up!

NA

The long awaited Fish Tycoon sequel is here!

6.0

Fortnite   Mobile

Choose your favorite soccer teams and lead them to victory in National Leagues or even the 2018 World Cup

NA

Collect the packages and try to survive the intergalactic delivery!

NA

Gal-X-E return to a classic old-school shoot em up!

3.0

Gangstar: New Orleans might be free, but the official GTAs are much better

NA

Travel around the world alongside Jill and Mike as they become international TV superstars!

NA

A challenging puzzler that's sure to have you coming back for more!

NA

Prepare yourself to face the most fun army of darkness ever seen!

9.0

Help this ball of tar find his girlfriend and save the day!

NA

Help a strange creature find his creator!

NA

Distinct-looking spy game like no other!

7.5

Embark on a crazy adventure with Gumboy!

NA

Dive into the fantastic world of magic and mysteries!

NA

Deckbuilding comes to life in Hand of Fate!

6.0

Happy Racing is basically a better looking Happy Wheels with less stuff.

7.5

An exciting side-scrolling treasure hunt game!

NA

Hardest Game Ever 2   Mobile

Master every hard challenge that comes your way in record time!

NA

An amazing arcade game about a robot running out of energy!

NA

If you liked Castlevania, there are plenty of laughs for you!

7.0

Hero Hunters   Mobile

Assemble a team of heroes and blow your enemies to pieces!

NA

Travel through the 4 valleys to save the kingdom from the ancient evil. In Hero of the Kingdom III

NA

Embark on a dangerous quest to save the city from the dragon threat.

8.0

Hungry Shark World   Mobile

Become the biggest shark in the ocean one bite at a time.

7.5

Jump higher up the tower without letting Harold the Homeboy slip

NA

Pac Man style game play for this generation!

8.0

Illusion Connect   Mobile

A new world awaits in this Bishoujo collecting strategy RPG

8.0

Illusion Connect   Mobile

Anime RTS Illusion Connect Launches with a Host of Rewards and In-Game Events

5.0

Injustice 2   Mobile

'What were they thinking?' sums up Injustice 2 pretty well.

NA

Bring all of your favorite dc heroes together into a single deck

NA

Crush the steel legions! Don't let the enemy enslave humanity!

6.5

Jewel Quest for Cash is a familiar match-3, but you play for money.

NA

Show your style on the runway!

NA

Follow a trail of coins and save Jack's family from the demons!

Score Game
NA

Quick hands and light feet will get you far in Kleptocracy!

NA

Get ready to enter the fantastic and moody world of Knytt

NA

Bring back law and order to the Lawless West!

NA

Experience the entire star wars story envisioned in LEGO!

NA

Lifeline is a playable, branching story of survival against all odds!

9.0

Punch and kick your way to victory!

NA

Explore the fate of a family and try to correct the mistakes of the past

NA

Get to the finish line before everyone else!

NA

Experience the marble craziness!

NA

Help Marcus who is trapped inside a Video Game in Marcus Level

8.5

Train, fight and win with Marvel's best heroes and villains!

NA

Explore the dark dungeon that is the hallowed Orcus Dome

NA

Help Miko grab every last gem!

7.0

Bring Down the Global Conspiracy in this Thrilling Shooter!

NA

A unique pinball game where you bounce a flying squirrel through different levels

NA

Thrill to the roaring engines and crushing action of Monster Jam

NA

Clean the World of Trash in MOP: Operation Cleanup

6.5

A side-scrolling mash-up in the vein of Super Smash Brothers!

NA

Utilize your portal-making abilities to escape the mountain lair

NA

Let's fix the railroad and build a new city!

NA

Fast, challenging, and will test your skills like no other game has!

NA

NinJump   Mobile

Run, slice and dice your way vertically!

NA

Embark on a journey to understand what happened to OIO's people

6.0

One Piece Thousand Storm will likely make fans happy

NA

Can you stop a puzzle-loving killer?

NA

Out the Window is a nostalgic car trip sim in which you can relive the long drives of your youth

8.0

Official version of the classic arcade game - not a remake!

NA

Guide two brothers on a quest around the world to save humankind from a massive alien invasion!

NA

Paper Toss   Mobile

Shoot hoops in this clean edition of wastepaper basketball!

NA

Avoid fiendish traps and make it out of the dungeon alive!

NA

Save the chickens from the evil crow that stole them!

8.0

PinOut!   Mobile

For those that love Pinball and endless style arcade games!

NA

Train up a champion steed!

7.0

Planet of Heroes   Mobile

Planet of Heroes is a simpler MOBA, but that's okay

8.5

Plants vs Zombies 2   Mobile

Grow a garden of anti-zombie plants all across time!

9.5

Mow down the undead with a variety of zombie-zapping plants.

9.0

Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is more Than Just Another Card Game

7.0

Pokemon Go   Mobile

Catch 'Em All - If You Can Deal with the Server Issues

7.0

Power Rangers: Legacy Wars can be fun, when it works.

NA

Plunge wholeheartedly into a poetic and deep story!

NA

A modern take on the Breakout genre!

NA

Waves of various DUMB ZOMBIES want to be your best friends!

NA

RD's Adventure Mini Golf - Chip and Putt Edition comes packed with 3 x 18 hole courses

NA

Retro Pinball is a collection of pinball tables based on the great machines of the early 1990s!

8.5

Ricochet Infinity is the ultimate sci-fi Breakout game!

NA

Awesome powerups and amazing modern graphics!

NA

All new brick-breaking levels devoted to maximum FUN!

NA

Discover your equilibrium in motion to become the finest BMX rider.

NA

Rin: The Last Child is a dark fairytale. What secrets will you discover?

8.0

Ride, Capture, Wrangle and Display Wild Animals in Your Zoo!

NA

Everything you love about classic pinball!

9.0

Rolling Sky   Mobile

Experience a challenging and artistic runner like no other!

NA

Defend Rome in this exciting tower defense game!

NA

Lead the heroes who are part of ancient history, on the final chapter of the great prophecy.

NA

Don't get trapped in the box - fight your way out!

NA

Find out how fast you can go with a dragon chasing after you!

NA

Yarr! Splice the mainbrace and sail to victory!

NA

Help the woolen warrior beat the wolves and secure all the zones!

8.0

Second Galaxy   Mobile

A new galaxy awaits in this open world MMO Sci-Fi adventure

NA

Sky Dancer   Mobile

Defy Death and Face Oblivion in this Artistic Runner!

9.0

slither.io   Mobile

Even the little guy has a chance to shine in slither.io.

NA

Creative brick breaking fun with new animal, nature scenes in 3D

8.5

Blast away at pirates, outlaws, and wizards!

NA

You are the last man standing. One soldier against a swarm of violent aliens!

NA

Help Sonic and company stop Eggman's latest scheme!

NA

Sonic Dash   Mobile

Collect rings, crush badniks, and run with the fastest hedgehog!

NA

Follow the ray of hope in a world of darkening silhouettes

NA

Help Speedy Eggbert find eggs and treasure!

NA

Splasher is a fun and challenging 2D Platformer filled with humor and surprises!

NA

Build your team of Squid heroes for epic turn-based battles against corrupted crabs and shrimps

6.5

Stack   Mobile

Kill time with this relaxing but challenging game of timing.

NA

Battle Street Fighter champs in throwback to classic Mega Man!

7.5

The most spectacular 3-D Breakout game ever!

8.0

Subway Surfers   Mobile

Get on a hoverboard and ride atop the trains forever!

NA

Gun your way to those crates in this old-school arcade game!

NA

Collect coins and stomp enemies in this old school platformer.

NA

Grab your go kart and race on 20 tracks!

NA

An action packed dual-stick shooter!

NA

Tank Assault X is a hardcore, classic tank arcade game!

NA

The search for the ultimate bathroom cleaner goes awry!

NA

Eat all you can as you travel through time!

NA

Go into battle with shotguns, laser rifles, and ninja swords!

7.5

Temple Run   Mobile

See how long you can survive in this panic-inducing game of speed!

8.5

Temple Run 2   Mobile

Run for Your Life from the Clutches of the Temple's Demonic Ape!

NA

Ready to paint the town red, blue, and green?

NA

Help Esteban, Zia and Tao escape from Zares and his henchmen!

NA

Help Penelope find Ulysses throughout the galaxy!

NA

Defeat the evil Frontier Corp. with a team of heroes.

NA

Have fun with this fast-paced 3D capture the flag game

NA

Tired of all the new boring shooting puzzle games?

7.0

Join Lara Croft on her greatest adventure!

NA

Lead a diamond-mining mission to the planet Ziberium.

NA

An old school vector style game!

NA

Perform daring heists and help this master theif make his name!

2.0

Trump on the Run   Mobile

Stuff Trump's face full of tacos while he runs from Mexico!

NA

Embark on a fantasy adventure!

NA

Uncover the history and secrets of Fonts & Characters !

NA

Your mission: destroy the robot death army!

NA

You're the newly appointed CEO of Vostok Inc!

NA

A young prince searches for a lost god

NA

Save the Earth's oceans from alien bugs.

NA

Call upon the gods of Olympus to help you rescue your beloved!

7.0

Slow and Steady Wins the Day!

NA

Challenge players online with your very own Yu-Gi-Oh deck.

NA

Race adorable hamsters on crazy tracks.


Learn About Action Games

What are Action Games?

An action game is a video game in which the player controls a character, or avatar, through various challenges or obstacles, generally while fighting enemies and collecting objects which increase the avatar’s power or the player’s score or number of extra lives. Typically, action games are divided into levels. The primary challenge of action games arises from the coordination and quick reactions necessary to maneuver the avatar. Time limits and simple puzzles are other common characteristics.

The History of Action Games

Action games have diversified into a number of subgenres. These include:

Platform Games

Platform games require the avatar to frequently jump on platforms of various levels while navigating around obstacles and fighting enemies. Nintendo’s 1981 Donkey Kong is generally considered the first true example of this subgenre. It featured a character called “Jumpman” who had to rescue a captive woman from his angry pet gorilla. Jumpman starts at the bottom of the screen and works his way up by climbing or jumping. Nintendo later resurrected the character, renamed him “Mario,” and created one of the most enduring franchises in video game history. The Super Mario Bros. line of games were all examples of more complex platform games. They inspired many imitators and were for a time the most popular kind of video game. More recent examples of this subgenre have abandoned 2-D side-scrolling for 3-D worlds offering a much wider range of movement and more challenges.

Beat-Em-Up Games

Beat-em-up games feature players advancing through a level while engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a series of opponents. Early beat-em-ups, such as Kung Fu Master and Renegade, began to appear in arcades during the mid-1980s, but it was only with 1987’s Double Dragon that the subgenre truly matured. Double Dragon allowed two players to fight together in cooperation. The two characters move through a dangerous urban jungle doing battle with a street gang. The game was ported onto many home systems and inspired numerous sequels. Final Fight (1989) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (also 1989) are considered two high points in the field, which went into decline as the 1990s began. Though less popular today than in the late 1980s, beat-em-ups are still produced, and classic examples remain enduringly popular.

Fighting Games

Fighting games require the player’s avatar to face a series of opponents in one-on-one fighting matches in an arena. Karate Champ (1984) was the first such game to attain mass popularity. Street Fighter (1987) followed. It was not until after 1990, however, that the popularity of fighting games began to explode, just as that of beat-em-ups started to wane. Street Fighter II (1991) vastly outperformed its predecessor both in arcades and in home versions. Mortal Kombat (1992) offered similar gameplay in some ways, but pushed the envelope in terms of graphic and sound quality as well as violence; this last quality stirred up controversy. These games typically included special moves unlocked by button combinations as well as standard attacks such as punching and kicking. Throughout the early and mid-1990s, fighting games dominated the video game market. This subgenre, like that of the beat-em-up, is not as popular as it once was. Nonetheless, new games are being created and finding success, including the Super Smash Bros. series, in which characters from various video game franchises face one another in battle.

Maze Games

Maze games force the avatar to maneuver through a maze. By far the most prevalent example is the Pac-Man series of games. First released in arcades in 1980, Pac-Man has inspired countless sequels, clones, and ports to various home formats. There are, however, other types of maze games as well, including games from a third-person overhead perspective or the first-person point-of-view.

Breakout and Arkanoid Games

Breakout-style games require the player to destroy a wall or other barrier. Breakout, first released in 1976, evolved from a desire to create a single-player version of Pong. This simple but addictive game required the player to maneuver a paddle in order to hit a ball, which flew across the screen, where it demolished part of the wall and bounced back. The most popular Breakout-style game is probably Arkanoid (1986). Despite, or perhaps because of, their simplicity, these games continue to be made; one example is the Smash Frenzy series for PC.

Who Would Be Interested in Action Games?

The common quality uniting all action games is the need for quick reflexes and good hand-eye coordination. Action games tend to emphasize those skills at the expense of strategy or problem-solving. Any player looking for such an experience will find it in an action game.