The hits keep coming! I’ve got another one from your list, @NeoKarnage (plus its sequel).
Contra (Konami – 1987)
Contra is perhaps best known for its NES port, one of the first games to include the famous “Konami code,” but the arcade version was a groundbreaking game in its own right. A two-player run-and-gun game that combined exciting shooting action with multiple perspectives and platform-based levels, Contra brought an action movie sensibility to the genre – the heroes somersault when jumping, the explosions are plentiful, even the game art has gleaming photos of the Stallone-esque protagonists. If you’re more familiar with the home ports, you should definitely spend some time with the more sophisticated arcade version. The MAME version includes two screen sizes.
Super Contra (Konami – 1988)
Action heroes Bill and Lance returned a year later for another assault on the alien menace in Super Contra, with upgraded graphics and some new mechanics, including new weapons and top-down even-numbered levels rather than the quasi-3D perspective of the original. Super Contra amps up the visual style and the challenge of the original, requiring fast reflexes as the levels and the boss fights get more and more complex. The MAME and RetroArch versions both include two screen sizes (seen below).
