As my first go-to choice for a retro review I decided to opt for Double Dragon in order to see if it lives up to its challenge seeing as, back in the day at least, I only played through Mission 1 and actually gave up on the game because it was relatively easy. Of course, I was a dumb kid back then with too much time on my hands so what could I possibly know? And yet answer provided is not as straightforward as you would imagine.

To get some scant narrative basics out of the way first – your girl gets FALCON PUNCHED gut punched and kidnapped by some rough looking dudes. Your time to shine has come as you embark on a journey to save her across four missions. Really, that's it. Unless you go into equally as brief manual that's all you'll get and is everything you need in a beat 'em up. Said manual provides information on enemies, moves and even spoils upcoming levels and who the final boss is. In fact, it's where you learn our protagonist's name is Billy Lee.

Actual gameplay is where Double Dragon will throw a curve ball at you. At its most basic Double Dragon discourages mashing attack buttons and rather wants you to get technical and pull off moves because you get points for doing so. Accumulating 999 of those will increase your proficiency level represented by hearts and subsequently unlock even more moves. So what does that translate to in practice? Basically, you want to keep enemies alive for as long as possible and pull off your spin kicks and uppercuts whenever you can. Which becomes somewhat difficult as you face more challenging types later on and realize cheesing it with jump kicks is the easiest way to deal with them, especially when you max out your level. And then... there are platforming sections with controls too stiff and requiring two button presses to execute required jumps and avoiding falling stalagmites. These sections, most likely meant to vary the game up a bit, were the worst parts of it and I lost count how many replays they forced on me. That is until you get to the final boss. Or should I say final gauntlet because you'll first fight everything game has to throw at you before facing off with /cue dramatic drum-roll your brother. Fighting your mirror should be tricky until you realize it's the only instance in the game where MASHING will work. He is faster than you and there are no weapons to help you in the arena so corner his ass and pray those spin kicks/back elbows come out fast enough.

So where does Double Dragon fall in terms of my expectations? It's a very solid game in its own right with some minor pacing issues notwithstanding. Real problem is you get two lives with no chance to acquire more. Ever. Health bar is mercifully replenished between zones, of which there are multiple in four missions game offers, but what you see is what you get. There are probably ~20 minutes of game in Double Dragon and it took me under three hours to finish with my last life to spare. Hard sell unless you're into embracing frustration. There is also mode B which turns Double Dragon into a fighting game for two players to face-off, but I think that's hardly the seller here. Two-player co-op may hold more appeal.

Using your surroundings to eliminate enemies is tempting, but you're also saying goodbye to those sweet technical points you'll need.

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What have I learned having finally finished Contra veritable decades after its original release back in 1988? Definitely an iconic game for the system and one of those titles forever brought up, with a title jingle now ingrained in my brain, I would hesitate to make the call on whether it genuinely falls under “Nintendo hard” list of games. It's certainly nowhere near easy, but I found that most levels only really tripped me good couple of times. From then on it was just about proper execution... pun intended.

So what is it? Conventional wisdom would call it a scrolling shooter, but I think aptly coined “Run and Gun” fits perfectly here. I say that because Contra isn't married to horizontal scrolling and varies it a bit with perspective switches for couple of [notably easier] levels where it goes for... I'm not sure what to call it. Fixed perspective? In any case it has you firing up and simulates the character moving forward through a corridor. This still stays within the game's genre of choice and isn't jarring once you're used to it. On the story front – it's the late '80s and something horrible from outer space has landed in South America. It falls up to our burly Special Forces hero to save the day. Bring a friend if you have a P2 controller ready.

Contra is a blast even today. It will bust your balls, but once you have that Spread gun you better hold onto it like your life depends on it because it does. By far the best screen clearing weapon of the select few you'll find in capsules and bunkers you shoot down – laser is far too slow and I haven't really found flamethrower often enough to make it a worthwhile substitute, for example. You will want as much coverage as possible to keep blasting away as you platform among enemy gunfire and other obstacles. Which is good because other than handful of gear options you can find and ability to gain more lives, this game does not give you a lot to work with. Toolset is basic which in turn means mastering it becomes instrumental to victory. There is no health bar so every hit equals a lost life and you will burn through pitiful three lives you start out with incredibly fast. Keep in mind there's also no password save system in Contra meaning it's jungle time whenever you GAME OVER and you begin to see where infamous difficulty comes from, but I would argue that's because you activate a death spiral once you die. Getting that Spread gun and losing it upon death in later levels means you might as well restart the game and play smarter this time. I do wish game had more enemy variety to throw at you, though. It's all variations of soldiers and turrets who will, naturally, open fire at you. Only in the very last level when aliens get thrown into the mix do you get to see some variety, but even than it becomes more about breaking muscle memory because you now have to evade melee enemies. Which may be why I died more than I should have at the final boss considering he likes to spawn these purple bozos to throw at you.

So yeah, game gets a thumbs up from me. Contra is still a title that's eminently playable because of how responsive it manages to be decades later. Directional shooting is taken for granted and reduces difficulty in that aspect if you don't rush. I think the fixed camera corridor levels could've been expanded upon a bit, but I also saw them as breaks from the main game.

Jungle? Check. Destroying computers in rage? Check. I think we know who our protagonist may be.

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People have the weirdest nostalgic games that sometimes defy those conventional “these are the best games available on the system” lists out there. For me one of those is undoubtedly Gyruss in its simplicity and days I spent on it as a kid must have been great. Even though all I remember was a space ship going around the screen in circles and creepy opening track. What I was actually surprised to find out in the present is the game really was sort of a lightweight.

There are two story screens in the game – about how mankind is under attack and finale screen where you save the day. Not that manual provides those usual tidbits we've come to expect. What you'll be doing in practical terms is flying from the edges of our Solar system towards the sun itself where a great mystery awaits. Game's map will show you passing to and past other planets in our system as each journey consists of three warps aka stages, third always ending with a boss battle. I remember this blew my mind back in the day and probably kickstarted a brief obsession with all things space related. With bonus stages accounted for, and you will want to because those are where you'll get extra stuff to keep you alive considering this is one of those “any contact kills you” kind of games, there's a total of 39 stages which is impressive. They're short, but game does vary it up by introducing new enemy types and making things spicy with how much more chaotic game becomes.

Speaking of which what do you actually do? Well, Gyruss is one of those relatively uncommon “tube shooters”. Which means your ship rotates clockwise and counter-clockwise, with unusual controls that will probably get you killed until you grow accustomed to how they work seeing as you need to actually make a circle with your gamepad to perform a full 360 rotation aka merely holding LEFT or RIGHT will not rotate you fully in either direction because UP or DOWN need to get involved as well, as enemies come at you in weird arcs and rotations of their own from beyond the screen. Truly weird aspect is they're harmless to you and considering they come in very neatly arrayed manner if you position yourself correctly and hammer the laser button you can take them out for a score bonus. This way you also rid yourself of the real issue enemies present – if you fail to destroy them as they move inward toward the center of the screen they will nestle there, become much smaller targets to acquire and open fire on you or throws asteroids. That's the basic mechanic involved, but Gyruss varies it up with enemy offering as it goes on up to including some especially vicious like one that teleports right in front of your ship and you have a second to react, rotating enemies where one side is invulnerable so you need to time your shots, enemies that break off into shards and create cover for everyone else, etc. Pretty breathtaking variety for very simple base idea. You'll be glad to hear your little ship is not entirely useless against all of the above, though. Basic laser can be upgraded to firing two shots and is absolutely invaluable in keeping you afloat and in addition you also have cannons which will one-hit kill everything except bosses. This is deemed enough to go and save the galaxy with so good luck. No shields or anything, but game is fortunately pretty generous with how it dispenses extra lives and spare cannon ammo so I never really found myself saving the later. It is handy to have a few for later bosses.

In all honesty this may be a case of strong nostalgia overtaking actually taking a critical look at a game. Is it a bad title? Hell no and you will still die until you figure out the gimmick of all the enemies game throws at you in seconds you have to react. I think it just depends on how much you're into the genre already and Gyruss never managed to hook me in the first place. Supposedly an improved port if that's a deciding factor in which version you play. I still had a great time playing through and even a good playthrough after you become proficient will take almost an hour or so. You'll have to get there, first.

In space no one can hear you scream. Or sneaking up on them, for that matter.