Story-wise, Dead Eye is meant to be a representation a gunslinger's quick reflexes. Obviously John and Arthur don't slow down time or see an enemy's vital organs, but it's meant to be a representation of their skills. If we go with the "it's just game-play, it doesn't count" logic, then whose to say John is taking on hundreds of guys alone in-universe? As far as we know, he could've canonically killed only 60 people during the entire story.

And if you say "Arthur has usually has skilled allies backing him up during big gun fights" couldn't that exact same logic apply to John? In the New Austin Chapter, John usually has experienced lawmen backing him up. In the Mexico Chapter, John has backup from Mexico Army, then later the Revolutionaries. In the West Elizabeth Chapter, John usually has backup from the Bureau Agents and U.S Army. John killing almost everyone during gunfights is unintentional due to, again, the run-and-gun nature of the first game. The AI in Red Dead Redemption 1 is, well, not very good. Canonically speaking, John isn't doing most of the fighting alone during these skirmishes.

I don't recall any gunfight where John is left to his own devices and is then killing multiple enemies on his own without any advantages (Sniper Nest, Machine Guns, and/or Backup), except the second half of American Venom, Man Born Unto Trouble, and The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed, which I will admit are impressive feats.

But if we go by "Who's the best One-Man army" then that would be Red Harlow. Unlike Arthur or John, Red very rarely has anyone backing him up during gunfights. Even as a pre-teen, he was killing hordes of people like there was no tomorrow.

> Story-wise, Dead Eye is meant to be a representation a gunslinger's quick reflexes

That’s definitely to be disputed. I’d say it’s for ease of gameplay, and not really a fact that it’s about story.

Anyway, regarding the one-man army situation, I’d say it’s fairly even, and while the help Arthur has in gunfights is generally from a fairly competent gang member, John’s is more varied. Yes, John sometimes has assistance from people like Abraham Reyes, Espinoza and Ross’ men, but he is also accompanied by people like Seth, Irish and West Dickens. With the latter, he fends off a lot of enraged customers chasing them, and with Irish (or, not with him, which is the point), he finds the machine gun inside Gaptooth Breach will little support at all, fighting off the Treasure Hunter gang. He also survives the suicide mission with Espinoza, and slaying many US Army soldiers with help from only Uncle and Jack (neither of whom would be very good around then, for different reasons) is virtually unrivalled in how impressive it is, I’d say. Especially as professional soldiers are about the most difficult foes out there.

Speaking of one-man armies, though, one very notable moment is against Micah’s gang in 1907. While Charles and Sadie are both forced to rest, John continues on, slaughtering anyone in his way. That’s a moment which Arthur never quite had, and what’s more, I feel like John eventually gets back to that level (a level which, as stated, surpasses Arthur in my opinion), as evident from his last stand.

In terms of duels, John manages to defeat “the Stranger” in Chuparosa, even when he holds Luisa in front of him as a human shield, which requires immense accuracy, along with very quick hands, as there’s little time to correct his aim. Arthur is by no means bad in duels, but I think John is quicker and generally the better gunslinger. A small difference, though.

Goddamit i picked jack

"The AI in Red Dead Redemption 1 is, well, not very good."

The NPCs in the first game are way more accurate and devastating in gunfights than those in the second game.

@Petkoholic

Do you mean Enemy NPCs or Allied NPCs? Because if you mean the latter, then I find that extremely unlikely. I tried to do "A No Kill Run" in once play-through of Red Dead Redemption 1 and I got as far as "Political Realities in Armadillo". If you try to let the NCPs fight on their own, they'll die fairly quickly.

Enemies. What I meant by that was the chance to die in the first game was much bigger than in the second game, especially if you have maxed out health. So technically John had to deal with much harder enemies to take down, although this is just a gameplay detail not to be taken into consideration here.

@Petkoholic

My original point was that the allied NPCs aren't very useful, which would force John to kill all the enemies himself. This would give the impression that John is fighting alone and is much more of a One-man army then he was intending to be.

@Equivalent-Ambition My original point is that you seem to be ignoring much of John’s more significant feats, and using Dead-Eye as an all-important piece of evidence overruling feats and exposition, despite it being a game mechanic and nothing more. If it had any meaning, you would also have to take into account other arbitrary differences in gameplay, such as how John is invincible while in Dead Eye in 1911, or has infinite stamina, which are equally meaningless. Also, as mentioned before, John is rarely truly alongside a group all the way. Even when he is, his allies are usually much lesser in both skill and numbers, compared to Arthur’s grizzled bunch of gunslingers and army veterans.

Also, John rarely had any allies in New Austin outside of the Leigh Johnson missions, because Seth, Irish and Nigel West Dickens are not involved in gunfights. Not to mention how John held off an entire assault in Mexico from an incredibly disadvantageous position in We Shall Be Together in Paradise (no, El Rato does not count).

Arthur and Red harlow are by far the most killed gunslingers in the Series, if weren't for Arthur John wouldn't be skilled in the same level as him thanks to the advices, teachings and life lessons that Arthur gave him.

Arthur didn’t teach John anything to do with shooting; they were both taught by Dutch. By 1899, Arthur certainly would’ve been better due to more experience, but I think John reached if not surpassed that level later in life. John’s skill with a gun has little to do with Arthur.