History Main / TrainTopBattle

* ''PaperMario: the Thousand-Year Door'', against the GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Smorgs. To simply ''reach'' the boss fight itself, you also have to hammer your way through a veritable horde of them on top of the Excess Express first.
* The Mole Train boss fight in''DonkeyKongCountryReturns''.
* ''RatchetAndClank: Going Commando'' had a fight atop a hover train with jumps from car to car. The first game featured a short train top battle, as well.

* ''SonicTheHedgehog'' seems to like this trope. In ''Sonic Heroes'' there is an entire act with a railway system. Mostly you just "grind" down the rails, but a tunnel area has you doing exactly this trope, fighting off minor enemies on the train that try to push you off.

* In ''WarioLand: Super Mario Land 3'', there's a level or two taking place in or on a train, alternately. Falling onto the rails while the train is in motion is instant death.

* ''{{The Emperor of the North}}'' is nothing ''but'' one long brutal train-fight between a determined hobo and a sadistic conductor.

* ''MegaManX 5'' had Grizzly Slash/Crescent Grizzly's stage, which I think was technically centered around trucks but it's the same idea.

[[Film/{{Spider-Man}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/traintop_battle_2711.jpg]]
[[caption-width:420:[[TheWindyCity Where else?]]]]

A staple of Westerns, but still seen in plenty of action films and series, the traintop battle is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Often the result of an aborted TrainEscape.

The StandardSnippet for a Train Top Battle is Suppe's "Poet and Peasant Overture".

May feature the CoolTrain, but doesn't have to. May be the result of a TrainJob and could in theory be apt for a ThrillerOnTheExpress but in practise they prefer to keep to the tense atmosphere. A subtrope of InterestingSituationDuel.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''[[{{Baccano}} Baccano!]]'' had a massive 3-way one, plus another featuring [[CowardlyLion Jacuzzi]] and the Lemures' leader Goose.
* ''BoboboBoBoBobo'' had a fight against "the Number-One Train Fighter" that eventually jumped the tracks and smashed through an amusement park.

* Franky and Nero fight on top of a train in ''OnePiece''.

* [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Yugi.]] Weevil Underwood. Traintop card dueling. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Seriousness.]]

-->'''Joey:''' So you dueled this guy on top of a moving plane?
-->'''Kaiba:''' Maybe I did. [[{{Jerkass}} Don't you geeks have someone else to annoy?]]

* [[CowboyBebop Cowboy Bebop's]] MushroomSamba episode.
-->'''Ein:''' Thanks!
-->'''Cow:''' Oh, it's no problem!

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* JamesBond gets to do this a fair bit; the scenes been used in ''{{Octopussy}}'', ''FromRussiaWithLove'', ''LiveAndLetDie''...
** The latter of the two had the fight IN the train.
** ''LicenceToKill'' however had the battle on top of trucks.
*** The videogame adaptation of ''QuantumOfSolace'' includes a flashback level set during the unremarkable train ride to the eponymous ''CasinoRoyale''. It now includes a traintop gunfight.

* The finale of the ''MissionImpossible'' film.
** This is at least partially Subverted: They do have a traintop battle, but its on the high-speed TGV. They can barely move because of the enormous wind resistance.
*** What '''should''' have happened is that they got fried by the overhead wires which the TGV shouldn't have been able to move without. But hey.
**** Wasn't it a Channel Tunnel Eurostar Though. at the time the film was made they ran on Third Rail power in England.

* ''{{Film/Spider-Man}} 2'' had a fight on top of the train, on the side of the train, trailing behind the train, and briefly ''in'' the train. Sounds like Kama-Sutra, only with rampaging violence instead of sex.

* Parodied (with knobs on) in ''[=~Top Secret!~=]''. The bad guy fails to duck for a low bridge, ''and shatters it'' -- but he's unharmed!

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* The SherlockHolmes tribute novel ''The Seven-Percent Solution'' features a train-top SwordFight between Holmes and the villain.

* Alistair [=MacLean's=] ''Breakheart Pass'' is set around an American train in indian country in the late 1800's. It has a couple. For that matter, the same author has a top-of-the-gondola fight in ''WhereEaglesDare''.
* AffinityBridge

[[AC:LiveActionTv]]

* The [[{{Recap/Ptitle63khpqyv}} second]] ChristmasEpisode of ''{{Community}}'' has one. Did I mention it was [[StopMotion stop-motion]] [[BeyondTheImpossible animated]]?

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* The ''DungeonsAndDragons'' setting {{Eberron}} has a magic train for two purposes. To get the characters to places quickly, and [[RuleOfCool for them to have climactic fights on top of it]].

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* The escape from the Boiling Rock in ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' involved one of these on a gondola lift.

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/501313 The Ballad of Cripple Kane]] starts out with of course, a saloon brawl, a horse chase, but it ends up on a ''train''. Oh wait you knew that, reading the trope and all. It's still ''''awesome''''!

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<<|FightScene|>>
<<|VehicleTropes|>>

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]

** Also there's Ed and Alphonse fight with the terrorist Bald in the first anime and manga/brotherhood
* [[spoiler: Mustang sets up Ed on the train which Bald's crew planned to attack to help him get into the State Alchemist exam]]

* [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Yugi.]] Weevil Underwood. Train top card dueling. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Seriousness.]]

--->'''Joey:''' So you dueled this guy on top of a moving plane?
--->'''Kaiba:''' Maybe I did. [[{{Jerkass}} Don't you geeks have someone else to annoy?]]

--->'''Ein:''' Thanks!
--->'''Cow:''' Oh, it's no problem!
* {{One Piece}} has a couple of these taking place atop a train that runs ''on the ocean''.
* In SoulEater, Death the Kid gets into a three way battle with one of the various Mizune rat witches and a fat fisherman assassin while on a train that's zooming through the desert.

** ''CrisisCore'' had a cutscene involving this

[[caption-width:420:Where else?]]

* The [[Recap/Ptitle63khpqyv second]] ChristmasEpisode of ''{{Community}}'' has one. Did I mention it was [[StopMotion stop-motion]] [[BeyondTheImpossible animated]]?

* Alistair MacLean's ''Breakheart Pass'' is set around an American train in indian country in the late 1800's. It has a couple. For that matter, the same author has a top-of-the-gondola fight in ''WhereEaglesDare''.

** Don't forget ''MegaManLegends'' where Mega has to fight two out of three of the GoldfishPoopGangs on top of one train while shooting across at another train outfitted with bombs, turret guns, lasers, and missiles.

* ''{{Timesplitters}}: Future Perfect'' in the Bond parody level. The second part is on a train. After you apply the emergency brakes, the camera PoV cuts between the train and your partner's girlfriend, making it look like she's about to be run over. As the train grinds to a halt, the camera pans out... [[spoiler:showing several dozen feet of track between her and the train.]]

* The second stage of ''{{Time Crisis}} 2'' has this where you fight along not one but ''two'' speeding trains (the first the the passenger compartment and the second alongside an adjacent train). After fighting off the mooks you deal with the boss who takes you on with a gun turret, swings a missile around at you (no, really) and lastly tries to take you down with a rail gun while holding onto a helicopter before you blow him up. Likewise in TC3, the end of the second area has you fighting atop a speeding train. The difference here is at the end of the stage, the bridge is blow out from underneath, resulting in the heroes being forced to climb their way up from the still attached dangling compartments.

* ''{{Timesplitters}}'' in the Bond parody level. The second part is on a train. After you apply the emergency brakes, as the train is about to run over your partner's girlfriend, the train pans out and reveals it wasn't even close.

* ''RatchetAndClank: Going Commando'' had a fight atop a hover train with jumps from car to car.

May feature the CoolTrain, but doesn't have to. May be the result of a TrainJob. A subtrope of InterestingSituationDuel.

** ''Mega Man Zero 2'' had an entire stage that was a train, with the boss pulling up on another train at the end and the battle involving both of you jumping between the trains.
** ''[[MegaManX Mega Man X5]]'' had Grizzly Slash/Crescent Grizzly's stage, which I think was technically centered around trucks but it's the same idea.
** Slash Beast in ''Mega Man X4''. His entire stage was composed of several trains, barring a small section between the areas, when the first one crashes.
** Of course, Charge Man in ''MegaMan 5'' beat them all to the punch, and even resembles a steam locomotive himself for added fun.
** This is reaching OnceAnEpisode status for the series. The first real boss battle of ''Megaman ZX Advent'' starts out on top of a train car, then falls inside it as the boss slowly demolishes the roof.
** Don't forget MegamanLegends Mega has to fight two out of three of the GoldfishPoopGangs on top of one train while shooting across at another train outfitted with bombs, turret guns, lasers, and missiles.

* [[{{YuGiOh}} Yugi.]] Weevil Underwood. Train top card dueling. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Seriousness.]]

* [[Spoiler: Mustang sets up Ed on the train which Bald's crew planned to attack to help him get into the State Alchemist exam]]

* One of the earliest examples in BusterKeaton's ''TheGeneral''.

* One of the earliest examples in Buster Keaton's ''The General''.

* No mention of [[CowboyBebop Cowboy Bebop's]] Mushroom Samba episode? I'm disappointed in all of you. Most hilarious Traintop Battle ending EVAR!