History Main / TrainTopBattle

** ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' had Grizzly Slash/Crescent Grizzly's stage, which was technically centered around trucks, but it's the same idea.
** Slash Beast in ''VideoGame/MegaManX4''. His entire stage was composed of several trains, barring a small section between the areas, when the first one crashes.

* The entire shtick of ''VideoGame/IronHorse''.

** The Solar Sailer battle in [[Film/{{Tron}} Space Paranoids]], in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', could count as well, though the sailer looks more like a flat boat than a train. And unlike the one in The Grid, it's an actual battle with a weight limit.

** Which more or less is how the Super Smash Bros. 3DS game's Spirit Tracks stage is. While it is one of the constantly moving and changing stages featured in Smash Bros., the fighters do battle on the Train from the game the stage is based on and it's constantly changing train cars that it pulls throughout the fight, so its stage based off it in Smash Bros. 3DS is this trope as well.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'' had a stage where the second portion was on and in a train and the boss was inside the engine.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' had Grizzly Slash/Crescent Grizzly's stage, which was technically centered around trucks, but it's the same idea.

* Buckfire in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'' starts out as a fight on top of the train, but Buckfire likes to use his MeteorMove to destroy the footing, resulting in him and Grey/Ashe duking it out inside the train once the ceiling is wrecked beyond any hope of standing on it.
* Of course, Charge Man in ''VideoGame/MegaMan5'' beat them all to the punch, and even resembles a steam locomotive himself for added fun.
** This is reaching OncePerEpisode status for the series. The first real boss battle of ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'' starts out on top of a train car, then falls inside it as the boss slowly demolishes the roof.

* The third stage of the PSX and PC versions of ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' takes place on top of the Supertrain. This is actually rather convenient as it allows you to knock the (few) enemies off of it to win much faster.

* The SNES adaptation of ''Film/BatmanReturns'' has one.

* The Mole Train boss fight in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''.

* Sauron Multiball in ''Pinball/{{Deadpool}}'' depicts Deadpool and Sauron fighting on top of a train.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/SpiderMan2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/traintop_battle_2711.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb "You knew we’d]] [[LampshadeHanging end up here eventually, right?"]]]]
->'''M:''' What happened?\\
'''Eve:''' They're on the train, ma'am.\\
'''M:''' What do you mean, on the train?\\
'''Eve:''' I mean they're on top of a train!\\
'''M:''' Well, get after them, for God's sake!
-->-- ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''

* In chapter 6 of ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', the DuelBoss battle between Catie and Tyalie takes place at night atop a moving train.

* Happens during the mid-game climax of ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' where Artyom leaps aboard a moving train full of enemy soldiers and slaughters his way to the front to rescue [[spoiler: the baby Dark One.]] Downplayed with several other points in the game - since it's set in [[UsefulNotes/MoscowMetro the Moscow Metro system]], gunfights can take place in stationary subway cars that have been repurposed as living quarters.
* In ''VideoGame/ESPRaDe'', Stage 4 takes place in a subway tunnel where enemies will either attack on top of train cars or ''are'' trains.
* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'': During Week 4, you [[BattleRapping sing against]] Girlfriend's mother, [[FearlessFool Mommy Mearest]], atop a limo driven by one of her demon henchmen. Despite the battle taking place on a busy highway, there aren't any signs, tunnels or other hazards to dodge... though this ''was'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned]] during development, as there are unused sprites of Mearest's backup dancers getting blown away.

* This happens in an episode of ''WebAnimation/DrHavocsDiary''. And of course, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
-->'''Dr. Havoc:''' ''(to Brock)'' Well, well, well, what do we have-''(the train bumps a bit)'' woah! [[LampshadeHanging This is really fucking dangerous.]]
* ''Website/TheOnion'': [[http://www.theonion.com/audio/fight-on-top-of-moving-train-not-looking-good-for--13929 Fight On Top Of Moving Train Not Looking Good For Area Villain]]
* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Happens with Bill and Kayla versus their Darkness counterparts in [='VRcade'=].

* In the third episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', Spidey fights The Lizard on top of a moving subway.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had this happen during the season 1 final.
* Done twice in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''.

* This is how Rainbow Dash of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' first meets Little Strongheart in the episode "Over a Barrel", during a chase on top of the train that the main characters were riding.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'' episode "Homecoming, part 2", Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow fight on top of the train, while TheBaroness takes out soldiers within the train.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' episode "The Limited" has ISIS escorting a radical Nova Scotian separatist back across the Canadian border via train. Archer keeps talking about how it's been, like, his life-long dream to fight on top of a train. And in the show's [[DeconstructiveParody semi-deconstructive]] spirit, when the time comes, he finds it's not all it's cracked up to be.
-->'''Archer:''' Oh my God. This is going to be aaAH SHIT! (''gun gets ripped out of his hands by the wind'') Aah! The dust! It's like being shot in the eyes by a... glitter gun!
** Not to mention the protracted discussion about how, unless you've coordinated rescue via a helicopter or something, you're ultimately still ''on the train'', therefore it's a kind of pointless endeavour.
* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': Taz, Wendal and Thickley at the end of "To Catch a Taz".
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamKnight'': In the final segment Batman fights Deadshot on a moving train.
* The ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' episode ''High Code'' features an epic train battle between Bob and the insectoid creature Lens the Reaper inside a Wild West computer game.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}'': Mike Chilton and the Burners have one against "Red" in "Like Father, Like Daughter"
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Lampshaded in the episode "Sidetracked". Dr. Doofenshmirtz is being chased on a train by Perry and a Canadian agent when he has the idea to go to the top of the train. At which point he [[AsideComment turns to the audience]] with a grin and says "You knew we were going to end up here eventually."
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama World Tour]]'', Alejandro and Heather have a literal train top battle, with the [[EvilVersusEvil two villains struggling to get ahead in the race, whilst attempting to sabotage one another]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Finn and the creepy conductor have one in "Mystery Train".
* ''WesternAnimation/BigTopScoobyDoo'' climaxes in a fight between Scooby and Shaggy and the villain atop the circus train.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' loves this trope, with many fight scenes taking place on the tops of speeding trucks.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'': In "Next Stop: Armageddon", Fillmore chases the perp of the week across the roof of a miniature train.
* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': In "Planet of the Toilets", Danger Mouse battles Doctor Loo-cifer atop a bullet train in Japan.
* ''WesternAnimation/BooBoomTheLongWayHome'': The series finale takes place on top of a moving train, with Jack, Aurelia and even [[LovableCoward Christopher]] attacking 4 German soldiers in order to give Boo-Boom and Viola more time to unhook the carriages.

* ''WesternAnimation/StretchArmstrongAndTheFlexFighters'': In "Ninja and the Ghost", Stretch and Blindstrike engage in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK4MwPVQ5dI this]] after Blindstrike's commander, Dr. C, discovers Stretch stalking her onto a train.
* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': The episode "The Chasing Paper Caper" climaxes with Carmen tracking down Paper Star onto a train. During the resulting fight, she leads Paper Star onto the roof of the train, where the high-speed winds blow away all her [[ImprobableWeaponUser paper weapons]].
* The end of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoon, "Hare Trigger" has WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam having a scuffle on top of a train.
* This was also done in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015'' episode Railroad Rage. Here, the primary Autobots had to prevent the Stunticons from attempting to rob a train of its power core.

* The second stage of ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis 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 gatling 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.

** Which more or less is how the Super Smash Bros. 3DS game's Spirit Tracks stage is. While it is one of the constantly moving and changing stages featured in Smash Bros., the fighters do battle on the Train from the game the stage is based on and it's constantly changing train cars that it pulls throughout the fight, so its stage based off it in Smash Bros. 3DS is this trope as well

* The third map of ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' took place on a Cabal-owned train, which ends up crashing into a carnival when Caleb blows up the engine.
* Both ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' and ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'' have Assault maps with this sort of premise, though the ''2004'' map isn't so much "trains" as "gigantic trucks". Falling off is possible, and leads to instant death.
* Every other level of Creator/DataEast's ''Express Raider'' is a traintop BeatEmUp.
* Stage 2 and 5 of another Creator/DataEast game, ''VideoGame/BadDudes''. Respectively, on trucks and a train.
* The fourth stage of ''Super VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' is a truck-top battle, which may be a ShoutOut to the second level of ''VideoGame/BadDudes''.
* Two [[DirectContinuousLevels back-to-back levels]] of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter 2'' have you racing to the front of a train to stop it before it reaches a blown-out bridge. You fail to stop it, but jump onto a chopper stolen by Lian just before it falls through.
* One of the bosses in Stage 6 of ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishmentStarSuccessor'' takes place on top of a train. To damage the boss you have to knock the trains back and make sure they hit it. Also, try not to stay in the air for too long or you'll be blown off.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Spinmaster}}'', the second half of Stage 1 takes place atop a jet plane taking off.
* The end of the second chapter of ''VideoGame/ShiningForceIII'' ends with a large battle on top of a moving train that is heading towards a broken bridge. Oddly no matter how long you take, or even if you quit the battle and go do some shopping from one of the passengers underneath, the train won't reach [[TakeYourTime the bridge until you finish the fight]]; and then it's [[AlwaysClose just in time]].
* In ''VideoGame/McDonaldsTreasureLandAdventure'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, you fight the [[RepulsiveRingmaster Ringmaster Wolf]], who earlier captured your friend, Birdie the Early Bird, in the middle of the second world. [[spoiler:After the battle, the train crashes into a set of buffers and you and he both fall. Birdie catches you [[IOweYouMyLife to return the favor for saving her]], while the Ringmaster Wolf [[DisneyVillainDeath continues falling until he lands into a pile of boxes]].]]
* Stage 7-1 in ''VideoGame/ViceProjectDoom''.
* The entire shtick of ''VideoGame/IronHorse''.
* The Megadrive version of ''VideoGame/PsychoPinball'''s Wild West table had this for its bonus game.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'', Jodie when escaping the police because she's a wanted CIA. And you know, has [[GuardianEntity Aiden]].
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' has one of these in the mission "The Last Train To Cairo," in which the player has to stop an [[ReligionOfEvil Atenist]] freight train and retrieve the dirty bomb they're transporting. It features several fights on top of railcars, a number of segments that require the player to shimmy along the side of the train to bypass impassable obstacles, a tunnel section that involves dodging overhead lights and beams, and a final boss fight that concludes with the player kicking the ArcVillain off the train.
* The [[VideoGame/SpiderMan2 Spider-Man 2 video game tie in]] recreates the battle with Doc Ock on the train.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', you can actually fight some Dream Eaters onboard a Solar Sailer in [[Film/TronLegacy The Grid]]. Like in the film, the sailer takes on the appearance of a freight train with the cargo, not present in the game fortunately, being [[spoiler:deactivated programs being shipped to be [[BrainwashedAndCrazy rectified]]]].
** The Solar Sailer battle in [[Film/{{Tron}} Space Paranoids]], in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', could count as well, though the sailer looks more like a flat boat than a train. And unlike the one in The Grid, it's an actual battle with a weight limit.
* ''VideoGame/LowGMan'' has this in the first hidden level, Cyber Express.

* ''[[Anime/DragonBallZ Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury]]'' features one during a segment where Goten and Trunks are searching for the dragon balls. One of the passengers aboard said train has it, but the problem is it's also being held up by bandits, forcing the kids to fight them off.
* While drastically different games, both versions of ''[[VideoGame/BatmanSunsoft Batman: Return of the Joker]]'' for both the NES and Game Boy feature stages where Batman fights on top of a train.
* ''VideoGame/TheRevengeOfShinobi'': Level 6 takes place on top of a train. It's famous for being the level where Franchise/SpiderMan and Franchise/{{Batman}} were bosses in the original edition.
* The third level of the first ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' game for the game boy takes place on top of a series of moving trucks.
* ''VideoGame/SpiderManVsTheKingpin'' has several levels where Spidey fights on top of a subway car. The boss fight with the Vulture occurs at the end of one.
* The boss battle with Xi-Tiger in ''VideoGame/AlienSoldier''.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' In one trailer, it has Noctis and gang face off against several soldiers, and Noctis performs a Warp Strike to catch the helicoptor nearby.
* The Armored Train level in ''VideoGame/WildGuns''.
* The third stage of the PSX and PC versions of ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' takes place on top of the Supertrain. This is actually rather convenient as it allows you to knock the (few) enemies off of it to win much faster.
* Stage 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Einhander}}'' involves a battle against a series of armored trains.

* Just after the first chapter in ''VideoGame/DarkCloud 2'', you have to throw bombs at a car with two mooks in it firing a machine gun at the train. Fail and the game ends from the train derailing.

%%* The Ord Mantell Junkyard hovertrain in the video game of ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
** The original game had a series of battles on top of a train.
** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'': The opening cutscene involves Zack jumping from a helicopter onto the roof of a speeding train and fighting off attackers.
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'' has two train-related heists. The one from the Armored Transport DLC is more of a simple TrainJob, the train in question being robbed while stopped at a station, but the second version falls neatly within this trope. It's Day 2 of the Biker Heist, in which you fight on top of a moving train to get to the loot, which is located at the front of the train. Even the helicopter pilot, Bile, knows what they're doing is badass, and opts to play ''Music/RideOfTheValkyries'' on the helicopter radio in the intro of the heist. Bile even goes one step further and acts all cowboy in the intro too, and sometimes points out that what they're about to do looks like it's belongs in a western movie.
-->'''Bile:''' Yeeehawww!\\
'''Bile:''' All right cowboys, I'm dropping you off here!\\
'''Bile:''' Wow, looks like something out of a western movie!
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' doesn't have an actual battle, but it has a (kinda) traintop stealth mission.
* The battle against Janus and crew in the Prologue of ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 3}}''.
* Terry Bogard's stage in [[VideoGame/FatalFury Fatal Fury 2, Special, Garou: Mark of the Wolves]] and [[VideoGame/SNKVsCapcomMatchOfTheMillennium Capcom Vs SNK 1]] is on top of a train.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastExpress'', which is set entirely on board a train, could hardly escape a scene like this.
* ''VideoGame/SunsetRiders'', essentially a side-scrolling Wild West shoot-em-up, has the requisite moving train level. Depending on the version, it can either take place on top of the train where you shoot both at enemies coming in from the sides as well as the ones poking up from the windows below and where not jumping over the quickly-approaching girders in time means [[OneHitPointWonder instant smashy death]] or riding alongside of one, where you need to jump over logs dropped from a wagon so your horse doesn't trip over them and cause you to die in a similliar way.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' has a train battle level, both inside and out. Eventually, Vyse and co. are tracked down by ImplacableMan Galcian, and have to head toward the front of the train while he chases after them...''very...slowly.''

* ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'':
** ''Shattered Soldier'' has a level that involves chasing a train down on motorcycles, attacking the weaponized caboose, and heading to the engine. At which point a mecha attacks the train, leaving the player to wonder why our OneHitPointWonder heroes had to bother.
** Before that was ''Contra: Hard Corps''. The boss was a HumongousMecha that pushes the train to a halt and climbs onto it, which was the inspiration for the boss in ''Shattered Soldier''
** ''VideoGame/HardCorpsUprising'' likewise has one taking place on an underground railway, with another set of tracks running along the ceiling as well and cars being destroyed left and right either by having either track end prematurely, taking too much damage from enemy fire, or being used as projectiles by yet another HumongousMecha running along the tracks. And that's before you get to the actual boss, which takes place in a vertical tunnel with both trains now moving straight up and subject to be destroyed entirely by the boss's [[{{BFG}} huge laser]]. Thankfully there's a [[OffscreenVillainDarkMatter neverending supply of train cars]], which proceed to roll in from offscreen and attach themself to any of the remaining ones whenever one is destroyed.
* The entire final act of ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' takes place on a train, with the members of Delta Squad fighting their way to the front car to activate a superweapon.
* The second mission in ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'', complete with BilingualBonus (the train is in Africa; the guards speak Swahili).
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'', Psylocke's stage is on top of a moving train through what looks like Hong Kong (or a Chinatown somewhere else, maybe even Madripoor, the game doesn't state where).
* In a similar example, in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf Hard Battle'' for the Super NES, Shampoo's stage is on top of a moving train.
* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse apparently has trainlike vehicles that allow for this, just going ''really fast''.
** One mission of ''VideoGame/JediAcademy'' centers around this.
** A sequence in the ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' game uses the trope.
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has a flashpoint that takes place partly in and atop a moving train. It's often considered ThatOneLevel.

* The 1800s level of ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTurtlesInTime'' was set on a moving train of flatbeds. Other than Foot Soldiers riding up on horses and boarding, it could have been a ground level and not changed the essence of the gameplay.
* In an inversion of TheProblemWithLicensedGames, the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToons'' game for the NES (The one with the Amusement park setting) has Hampton Pig on top of a Train Ride, having to fight several enemies, avoid getting stranded on disengaged cars, and fight [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Arnold the Pit Bull]].
** The SNES game also has a battle taking place on a train, except it's Buster Bunny doing the fighting in this case. It even uses the above-mentioned Standard Snippet as background music in one part.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' has a fight ''in the train's boiler.'' Old King Coal (a Grubby Boiler Monarch who's not the jolly old soul Kazooie thought he was) won't let you use his train until after you beat him into submission.
* ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' 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.]]
* ''VideoGame/NinjaCombat'' has a stage atop a subway train going through a tunnel where you fight off enemy ninjas and mooks.
* In ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden II'' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}, Ryu is in a hurry to get to the Lahja mountains. His solution: climb onto the top of a train and fend off the enemies that attack him as he makes his way to the locomotive.
* At least two of the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' games have fights on moving trains, including trains as bosses or subbosses.
* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' for Answer features a fusion of this and the BattleshipRaid trope with the Arms Fort Great Wall, GA America's ultimate AF. Your objective is to get inside it and blow it sky-high. I don't think anyone's been dumb enough to attack it's outside other than to get into the damn thing.
* The second stage of ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis 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 gatling 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.
* The N64 ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' game features a level where Spidey has to hold off hordes of lizard men while atop a subway car.
* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation'' has one of these. With {{ninja}}s.
* An action-adventure game for the first Playstation, ''Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn'' (known also as ''Chase the Express''), has a few of these due to taking place onboard a high-speed train-The Blue Harvest. Three boss battles included. The first boss fight has you shooting a bosses' Mooks and jumping over to his freight train to finish him off. After you jump to the other train, The Blue Harvest speeds ahead, leaving you behind. After you kill the boss, you have to line up the freight train with the Blue Harvest and jump back to it before the freight train hits a disused bridge.
* One of the stages in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'' has the fighters standing atop a speeding monorail.
* The Creator/{{Sega}} shooter ''Confidential Mission'' 2nd stage is set on a train which not surprisingly forces the heroes on top of the train in few occasions
* Luis in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony'' jumps aboard an El Train in order to steal one of the cars. He has to shoot his way past half of the [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops LCPD]] to reach the front.
* ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'' has two entire chapters take place in a moving train. Nathan Drake works his way to the front one car at a time, alternating between gunfights and crawling along the sides of the cars while dodging passing signal lights -- and then a helicopter gunship shows up and starts ''blowing cars off the train'' behind him. Nathan lampshades and complains about how the mooks continue to attack him and don't seem to notice the helicopter about to kill them all.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' features a train-top battle as part of the final boss fight.
** Which more or less is how the Super Smash Bros. 3DS game's Spirit Tracks stage is. While it is one of the constantly moving and changing stages featured in Smash Bros., the fighters do battle on the Train from the game the stage is based on and it's constantly changing train cars that it pulls throughout the fight, so its stage based off it in Smash Bros. 3DS is this trope as well
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' opens up with one of these.
* The SNES adaptation of ''Film/BatmanReturns'' has one.
* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' has a mission where Cole has to rescue a bunch of hostages on a train. Unusually, Cole himself provides the train's motion, powering it with his electrokinesis to move it somewhere safe while zapping enemies from the top.
* This happens in ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'', in which Sean has to rescue a defecting scientist from a Nazi train before the train reaches the bridge that Sean has rigged to blow. There are also hijackable turrets every couple of cars that can be fired at any Nazi installations the train happens to pass.
* The final mission of ''VideoGame/TotalOverdose'' is along the top of an old steam locomotive.
* Dynamix game ''VideoGame/HeartOfChina'' has a battle atop the Orient Express. He's armed with a sword. You're armed with a piece of metal you ripped off the train. Don't forget to duck when the tunnels show up (the only way you know to duck is that he ducks first; he's facing the direction the train is moving).

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. With the sheer amount of train-time in that thing, it had to happen some time. "Some time" was, in this case, pretty early in.
** There's also Ed and Alphonse's fight with the terrorist Bald early on (though the chapter is cut from ''Brotherhood'').
** Kimblee and Scar once fight on a train.
** The first level of the [=PS2=] game is based on this part of the series with combat both inside and on top of the train.
* The first mission in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'' involved a battle that started inside a train and ended on top of it.

* The first episode of ''Anime/MyOtome0Sifr'' has this as part of the main action.
* The fight that eventually led to Pissard's death in ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' moved to several locations, one of them being the roof of a train.

* ''Anime/TekkonKinkreet'' Features a fight with Black and White against the Aliens move to the top of an elevated train
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': The "Waking the Dragons" filler arc has two such examples.
** "Yami" / the Pharoah. Weevil Underwood. Traintop card dueling. [[MundaneMadeAwesome Seriousness.]] This is the one that ends with Weevil pissing Yami off so much that he keeps attacking even ''after'' Weevil's life points hit zero. It just wasn't his day.
** And then topped by Kaiba (oddly enough) when he and Alister battle ''on top of a private jet''. Even [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] for its ridiculousness.
-->'''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?]]

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop''':
** The MushroomSamba episode.
-->'''Ein:''' Thanks!\\
'''Cow:''' Oh, it's no problem!
** Spike's first battle with Vincent in TheMovie occurs in one.

* In ''Manga/MaidenRose'', after Klaus and Azusa jump on top of a train Azusa asks why they will be going in through the last car and fighting their way to the engine room rather then running across the top straight there. Klaus {{lampshades}} the impracticality of this trope, mentioning their footsteps would give away their location and they'd just be target practice.
* An episode of the ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite'' anime had Meowth pretend to reform and join the main characters, saying that Team Rocket fired him for messing up one of their evil plans, but it is then revealed that he joined them as part of a trap set up inside one of Team Rocket's trains, and that Meowth was never fired at all. A battle between Ash, Pikachu, and Co. and the Subway bosses Emmet and Ingo and Meowth, [[TookALevelInBadass Jessie, James]], and an elite Team Rocket member follows shortly afterward, and ends with the elite Team Rocket member carrying off the Team Rocket trio with his helicopter.
* This happened a few times on ''[[{{Literature/Anpanman}} Sorieke! Anpanman]]''. Whenever SL Man is paired up with Naganegiman, Hamburger Kid, or Yakisobapanman, they'll fight against Baikinman on top of the train cars. This also happened in a few of the film shorts.
* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' New Testament Volume 8, Touma ends up fighting Freyja on a moving train. It leads to scenes like Freyja using her SummonMagic while the train is passing through a tunnel and [[WeHaveReserves not caring]] when Touma knocks her minions into the walls or ceiling. Eventually, Index and Mikoto jump on the train to help Touma out, and the three eventually convince her to surrender peacefully.
* Panty of ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' battled the speed demon in the episode "Death Race 2010." For a time, the speed demon merged with a tractor-trailer, which compelled Panty to stand on the trailer's roof and shoot the cab with assorted mortal firearms, which had minimal effect. Stocking, standing atop the hood of her vehicle See-Through, used her AbsurdlySharpBlade to slice through the entire demonic tractor-trailer.
* Episode 5 of ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal'' has an extended one between the team and Assassins.

* In ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheAnimation'', Seijuro Kamiyama, Lancelot and Elise thwart the the white-haired demon's attempt to kidnap Klara M. Ruzhkova and White Cape on the top of a train car in Europe.
* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'': The first battle between Kenichi and Natsu Tanimoto (when the latter reveals himself as Hermit) leads them both to end up having to fight on top of a moving bus. Kenichi himself wonders how he ended up that way.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender - The Lost Adventures'' has "Combustion Man on a Train" where Aang fights "scary big explosion guy", while a little girl and all the other passengers learn to meditate as the train gets destroyed around them.
* ''ComicBook/TheTwilightAvenger'': In #3, the protagonist gets involved in a traintop battle with a gang of hypnotised hobos. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* ''ComicBook/RobynHood: I Love NY'': Robyn's final showdown with Alina Rose takes place atop a subway train.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'', Dick Grayson takes Tim Drake to train his balance by practicing standing on one leg blindfolded on a train while they chat. They're ambushed by gangsters and fight them off while still atop the train. Dick only removes his blindfold when Tim's slow to answer a question to find his "brother" glaring at him as he works his way back to the front of the car.

* ''Fanfic/FriendshipIsMagicalGirls'' has Pinkie's fight with [[MadeOfIron Bellosto]] in Loyalty 6. It starts inside the train car, but quickly gets taken up top once both take on their battle modes.
* ''Fanfic/EmbersVathara'' contains a Traintop battle in Ba Sing Se between [[spoiler:Zuko and Shirong vs Azula and Ty Lee]].

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', between Woody and Mr. and Ms. Potato Head in the FakeActionPrologue.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'' parodies this in a scene where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick get attacked by Dennis, the PsychoForHire who has been sent after them, while riding Creator/DavidHasselhoff through the waves. The ensuing fight scene takes place on top of Hasselhoff's legs, and is complete with dramatic jumps from one leg to the other. Dennis is eventually defeated when he hits his head on an overhanging catamaran.

* In ''[[Literature/TheTomorrowSeries The Other Side of Dawn]]'', Ellie jumps onto a goods train from a bridge and ends up fighting an enemy soldier atop the train and inside one of the carriages.
* Alistair [=MacLean's=] ''Breakheart Pass'' is set around an American train in InjunCountry in the late 1800's. It has a couple. For that matter, the same author has a [[CableCarActionSequence top-of-the-gondola fight]] in ''Film/WhereEaglesDare''.

* Fitting of its Western influence, ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'' includes a gunfight atop a moving train, which continues despite the protagonist being thrown off the top (he uses magic to save himself).
* Parodied in Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/RaisingSteam''. A fantasy world where a bright inventor discovers what steampower can be harnessed to. Of course there has to be a traintop battle. The narrative dictates it.
* Happens in Kenneth Oppel's novel ''The Boundless.''

* In "Literature/TheManWhoGotOffTheGhostTrain", Richard has to battle the Gecko and its human revenants on the outside of the Scotch Streak to prevent from uncoupling the carriages and causing a wreck.
* The bullet train version also occurs when Literature/TheExecutioner visits Japan in ''The Invisible Assassins''. It's no less dangerous for Mack Bolan in the 1980's than it is for Wolverine in the 2010's, even if the trains were slightly slower then.

* Partially invoked in the pilot of ''Series/HumanTarget'': there isn't a fight on the roof of the train, but there are several go-rounds in the cars, and one in the air ducts at the top of the cars.

* Part of the fight against the trainjackers in ''Series/DueSouth'' "All The Queen's Horses" turns into this. It ends with a [[{{Fanservice}} traintop kiss between Fraser and Thatcher]].

* The videogame adaptation of ''VideoGame/QuantumOfSolace'' includes a flashback level set during the unremarkable train ride to the eponymous ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}''. It now includes a traintop gunfight.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', 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.
* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'', Larry Koopa is fought on top of the Sunset Express after he hijacked it.
* The Mole Train boss fight in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''.

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' had a fight atop a hover train with [[spoiler:Giant Klunk]]. [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 The first game]] featured a short train top battle, as well. [[NostalgiaLevel In the same city, in fact.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MusashiSamuraiLegend'', there's an entire part of a level in which you stand on a train and fend off robots, including some that are in another train behind you!
* Just after the first chapter in ''VideoGame/DarkCloud 2'', you have to throw bombs at a car with two mooks in it firing a machine gun at the train. Fail and the game ends from the train derailing.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** In ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' 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.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogTripleTrouble'''s Sunset Park Act 3 takes place on a train, with the boss apparently being the engine.
%%** ''VideoGame/SonicShuffle'' has the Riot Train board.
* The video game UrExample is probably the first stage of Creator/HudsonSoft's ''VideoGame/StopTheExpress''. The second stage goes inside the train.

%%* Yet another game with a train-battle level: ''VideoGame/{{Bubsy}}''. Though that one's probably forgettable.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has a massive three-way one featuring [[KnifeNut Chane]], [[AxCrazy Ladd]], and [[OneManArmy Claire]], plus another featuring [[CowardlyLion Jacuzzi]] and the Lemures' leader Goose.

* The finale of the ''Film/MissionImpossible'' film. This is at least partially Subverted: They do have a Traintop Battle, but it's on the high-speed TGV. They can barely move because of the enormous wind resistance.

* ''Fanfic/{{Embers}}'' contains a Traintop battle in Ba Sing Se between [[spoiler:Zuko and Shirong vs Azula and Ty Lee]].

* One GoldenAge Franchise/{{Batman}} story climaxes in a battle between Batman and ComicBook/TheJoker atop a moving train. A punch from Batman sends the Joker off the edge of the train and over a cliff in a NoOneCouldSurviveThat moment.

* The Twilight Avenger gets involved in a traintop battle with a gang of hypnotised hobos (ItMakesSenseInContext) in ''ComicBook/TheTwilightAvenger'' #3.
* Robyn's final showdown with Alina Rose in ''ComicBook/RobynHood: I Love NY'' takes place atop a subway train.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'' Dick takes [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] to train his balance by practicing standing on one leg blindfolded on a train while they chat. They're ambushed by gangsters and fight them off while still atop the train. Dick only removes his blindfold when Tim's slow to answer a question to find his "brother" glaring at him as he works his way back to the front of the car.
* In one Golden Age story the cover depicted Franchise/WonderWoman fighting Nazis on the exterior of a train passenger car. In the comic itself the confrontation with the Nazi spy takes place inside the train.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Di fights a bulletproof alien disguised as Billy the Kid atop a high speed train he's trying to rob. The disguise, and target of his attack, are essentially due to him finding it hilarious.

* A {{Filler}} episode of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' has the [[TrueCompanions Kenshin-gumi]] ride a train to go sightseeing to Yokohama, but bandits take it over. Kenshin gets knocked overboard, then finds himself a horse that earns the FanNickname of "Super Horse" for the [[HorseJump improbable jumps]] that it pulls off.

* In ''Filn/SpiderManNoWayHome'': a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange ends up on a train top, where Strange pulls the fight into the Mirror Dimension where he can distort reality including duplicating the train and making it fly!

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' seems to like this trope.

** ''VideoGame/SonicShuffle'' has the Riot Train board.

* Yet another game with a train-battle level: ''VideoGame/{{Bubsy}}''. Though that one's probably forgettable.
* The Ord Mantell Junkyard hovertrain in the video game of ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' had a series of battles on top of a train.

* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'': During Week 4, you battle The Mom on top of a limo, driven by a demon who presumably works for either her or The Father.

** This is reaching OnceAnEpisode status for the series. The first real boss battle of ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'' starts out on top of a train car, then falls inside it as the boss slowly demolishes the roof.

** ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has a flashpoint that takes place partly in and atop a moving train. It's often considered a ScrappyLevel.

* In an inversion of TheProblemWithLicensedGames, the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToons'' game for the NES (The one with the Amusement park setting)) has Hampton Pig on top of a Train Ride, having to fight several enemies, avoid getting stranded on disengaged cars, and fight [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Arnold the Pit Bull]].

* In ''VideoGame/McDonaldsTreasureLandAdventure'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, you fight the [[RepulsiveRingmaster Ringmaster Wolf]], who earlier captured your friend, Birdie the Early Bird, in the middle of the second world. [[spoiler:After the battle, the train crashes into a set of buffers and you and he both fall. Birdie catches you [[IOweYouMyLife to return the favor for saving her]], while the Ringmaster Wolf [[DisneyVillainDeath continues falling until he lands into a pile of boxes]]]].

* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'', Jodie when escaping the police because she's a wanted CIA. And you know, has [[GuardianEntity Aiden.]]

* Film/JamesBond gets to do this a fair bit; the scenes been used in...
** ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''
** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie''...

** While CardCarryingVillain Kamal Khan attempts to flee with ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' in a prop airplane, he sends his dragon Gobinda outside the airborne craft to dispose of Bond, who is clinging to the outer fuselage in a rescue effort. Gobinda and Bond face off while belly-crawling atop the fuselage. Earlier in the film, Bond and Gobinda have a fight atop Octopussy's circus train.
** ''Film/LicenceToKill'', however, has the battle on top of trucks.

* In ''Film/AntMan1'', befitting with the size-changing gimmick, part of Ant-Man's battle against Yellowjacket is a ''toy'' traintop battle, atop a Bachmann model of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'', no less.