Happyfragger

Tag: Run and Gun

  • Metal Slug Review — Is SNK’s 1996 Neo Geo Run-and-Gun Classic Still Worth Playing in 2026?

    Metal Slug Review — Is SNK’s 1996 Neo Geo Run-and-Gun Classic Still Worth Playing in 2026?

    Title Metal Slug
    Developer Nazca Corporation
    Publisher SNK
    Year 1996
    Platform focus Neo Geo MVS / AES original release
    Genre Run-and-gun
    Score 9 / 10

    Metal Slug still answers a very practical retro question in 2026: if you want a side-scrolling shooter with instantly readable chaos, ridiculous sprite work, and just enough arcade cruelty to keep your palms honest, is SNK’s 1996 Neo Geo classic still worth your time? I think yes. Very yes, actually. This is one of the cleanest recommendations you can make to anyone searching for the best retro run-and-gun that still feels alive the second it starts moving.

    What strikes me now is how playful it is. Plenty of old action games are technically impressive, but Metal Slug still feels animated in the broader sense: tanks wobble, soldiers panic, explosions bloom with real personality, and every screen seems delighted that it gets to be a little louder than the last one. Where Contra III still sells raw pressure and aggression, and Gunstar Heroes turns excess into a full design philosophy, Metal Slug lives in the sweet spot between them: sharp enough to stay tense, silly enough to stay charming.

    Why Metal Slug Still Hits So Hard

    The immediate answer is presentation. The hand-drawn sprite animation remains absurdly good. Not “good for 1996” good, just good. Enemy soldiers flail, vehicles crumple, backgrounds bustle, and the whole thing carries a cartoon war-film energy that makes even repeated runs fun to watch. Retro players regularly search for games that have “aged well,” but that phrase often really means “still pleasant enough to tolerate.” Metal Slug clears a much higher bar than that. It still looks joyous.

    The action helps too. Movement is simple, weapons are readable, and the famous Metal Slug tank is still one of arcade gaming’s great power-up rewards. The SV-001 does not just make you stronger; it changes the mood. Suddenly the same battlefield that felt hostile a second ago feels briefly conquerable. That swing from vulnerability to swagger is a huge part of why the game remains so replayable.

    I also still love its sense of mischief. POW rescues, hidden bonuses, weird visual gags, the occasional camel-mounted nonsense in later entries — this series always understood that military action games could be funny without losing bite. The first game is slightly leaner than its sequels, but that focus works in its favour. It wastes very little time before throwing you into another collapsing bridge, tank duel, or screen-filling mess. If you have any affection for the Neo Geo era as a collector or spectator, our earlier Evercade NEOGEO roundup touches the same enduring appeal: bold art, short-form intensity, and games that still know how to make an entrance.

    Where the Age Shows

    The obvious caveat is length. Metal Slug is an arcade game first, and you feel that in the way it burns hot rather than long. A good run does not take forever, and if you are coming in with modern expectations about campaign size, you may briefly wonder where the rest of it is. The answer, of course, is that the replay loop is the rest of it: score-chasing, cleaner routing, fewer deaths, more style.

    It is also unapologetically old-school about failure. Some deaths still arrive with that classic arcade sting where the mistake is technically fair but emotionally rude. Weapon loss after a slip-up can be brutal, and the final stretch is happy to remind you that spectacle and mercy are not the same thing. If you want frictionless comfort, this is not really that. If you want energy and commitment, it absolutely is.

    Why It Still Matters in 2026

    Metal Slug still matters because it shows how much personality can live inside a straightforward action template. The controls are not complicated. The premise is not complicated. Yet the craft is so rich that the game still feels distinctive in a crowded field of retro revivals and pixel-art tributes. Plenty of newer indies borrow its visual language. Far fewer capture the same snap, humour, and sense of cheerful destruction.

    It also remains a brilliant answer to a collector-minded search: what Neo Geo game should I actually play, not just admire from a shelf photo? This one. The original Metal Slug is compact, spectacular, easy to understand, and still excellent at turning five spare minutes into half an hour of “one more go” optimism.

    Verdict

    Metal Slug remains one of the purest arcade recommendations in retro gaming: gorgeous, explosive, funny, and still precise enough to stay exciting after the nostalgia wears off. Its short runtime and sharp difficulty are part of the deal, but the craft is so strong that they feel like boundaries, not weaknesses.

    9 / 10. If you want a retro run-and-gun that still looks spectacular and plays with real bite in 2026, Metal Slug is still an easy game to love.

    • Play tip: Use grenades aggressively against clustered vehicles; hoarding them usually just turns into wasted panic.
    • Play tip: When you lose the tank, slow down for a few seconds. The game punishes the immediate revenge sprint.
    • Authority link: Wikipedia overview of Metal Slug
    • Authority link: MobyGames entry for Metal Slug

    When you go back to Metal Slug now, is it still the king of hand-drawn arcade mayhem for you, or does another run-and-gun take that crown?

  • Contra III: The Alien Wars Review — Is Konami’s 1992 SNES Run-and-Gun Classic Still Worth Playing in 2026?

    Contra III: The Alien Wars Review — Is Konami’s 1992 SNES Run-and-Gun Classic Still Worth Playing in 2026?

    Title Contra III: The Alien Wars
    Developer Konami
    Publisher Konami
    Year 1992
    Platform focus SNES original release
    Genre Run and gun / action shooter
    Score 8 / 10

    Contra III: The Alien Wars still answers a very evergreen retro question in 2026: if you want a loud, difficult SNES action game that gets straight to the point, is this one still actually worth playing? I think yes — with a small warning label attached. Konami’s 1992 run-and-gun classic is still a tremendous adrenaline hit. It is fast, nasty, inventive, and completely uninterested in wasting your time. The catch is that it also expects you to meet it on its own terms, and those terms are often brutal.

    That tension is exactly why the game still matters. Contra III is not polished into modern smoothness, but it has a kind of arcade honesty that plenty of newer action games never quite manage. Every stage feels built to escalate pressure rather than show off bloat. Where Gunstar Heroes turns 16-bit chaos into a playful fireworks show, Contra III feels sterner and meaner. And where Mega Man X is all about precision and momentum, Contra’s thrill comes from surviving a battlefield that seems actively offended by your existence.

    Why Contra III Still Feels So Good

    The first thing that still lands is commitment. Contra III never half-steps into its premise. The explosions are huge, the bosses are absurd, the screen is constantly busy, and the soundtrack does its best to bully you forward. It feels like a game built by people who understood that action needs rhythm as much as spectacle. Stages shift between straightforward side-scrolling firefights and the famous overhead sequences, and even when those Mode 7 sections divide opinion, they stop the campaign from feeling mechanically flat.

    I also still love how direct the whole thing is. There is no fluff between the good parts because the entire game is the good part, or at least that is the design intent. Weapons matter immediately, enemy patterns need reading straight away, and boss encounters are memorable because they feel like tests rather than cutscenes with health bars attached. The ability to carry two weapons and swap between them gives the game just enough tactical texture without slowing its pace down.

    Where the Age Shows

    The obvious problem is difficulty. Contra III can absolutely feel exhilarating, but it can also feel punishing in a way that narrows its audience. Some deaths teach clean lessons. Others feel like the game reminding you that memorisation is part of the deal whether you like it or not. If you come in hoping for a relaxed nostalgia replay, this thing can swat that idea out of your hands very quickly.

    There is also some old-hardware strain visible in the presentation. The slowdown can get noticeable when explosions, enemies, and projectiles all pile up together, which is fittingly dramatic but not always ideal for a precision action game. The overhead stages remain the most awkward part of the package too. I admire them more than I love them. They add variety and technical flair, but they are less elegant than the side-scrolling material, which is where the game’s real magic lives.

    Why It Still Matters in 2026

    Contra III still matters because it is one of the cleanest examples of the SNES being allowed to act vicious rather than merely charming. So much retro conversation ends up orbiting comfort-food classics, but this game reminds you how exciting the era could be when it wanted to feel aggressive. If you are searching for the best hard SNES action game, one of the strongest retro co-op tests, or a run-and-gun that still feels genuinely intense, it absolutely deserves to stay in the conversation.

    It also works as a useful contrast piece next to other 16-bit greats. Shinobi III is smoother and more graceful. Streets of Rage 2 is more generous and immediately social. Contra III, by comparison, is a stress test. That is exactly why some players will bounce off it and others will adore it.

    Verdict

    Contra III: The Alien Wars is still one of the SNES library’s most ferocious action games: thrilling, memorable, and refreshingly free of dead air. Its harsher difficulty spikes, occasional slowdown, and less graceful overhead experiments stop it short of true all-timer perfection for me, but the core side-scrolling action still rules.

    8 / 10. If you want a retro shooter that still feels intense rather than merely historic, Contra III is easy to respect and, with the right mood, very easy to love.

    When you go back to Contra III now, does the difficulty still feel electrifying, or does it finally cross the line into old-school punishment for you?

  • Gunstar Heroes Review — Is Treasure’s 1993 Mega Drive Run-and-Gun Masterpiece Still Worth Playing in 2026?

    Gunstar Heroes Review — Is Treasure’s 1993 Mega Drive Run-and-Gun Masterpiece Still Worth Playing in 2026?

    Title Gunstar Heroes
    Developer Treasure
    Publisher Sega
    Year 1993
    Platform focus Mega Drive / Genesis original release
    Genre Run-and-gun / action platformer
    Score 9 / 10

    Gunstar Heroes still feels like one of the best answers to a simple retro question in 2026: what 16-bit action game delivers pure joy the moment you press start? Treasure’s 1993 Mega Drive showpiece is loud, messy, inventive, and almost absurdly energetic, but that chaos is exactly why it still works. This is not a museum piece you politely admire for historical reasons. It is a real, living recommendation for anyone searching for the best Mega Drive run-and-gun, or just a retro game that still knows how to hit the gas.

    What grabs me first is how aggressively creative it is. Plenty of old action games give you enemies, jumps, and bullets. Gunstar Heroes gives you mine carts, collapsing dice palaces, multi-phase robot duels, screen-filling bosses, and weapon combinations that feel like a toy box designed by caffeine addicts. Like Shinobi III at full sprint, it understands how much momentum matters. Like Streets of Rage 2 at Sega’s most swaggering, it still sells impact better than plenty of newer throwback games.

    Why Gunstar Heroes Still Rules

    The big reason Gunstar Heroes holds up is that it never settles into autopilot. Even when you understand the basic move set, the game keeps twisting the rules just enough to stay surprising. The famous weapon-combine system helps: fire, laser, chaser, and force are all useful on their own, but mixing them turns the game into a small strategy experiment. You can play safe, play loud, or play like a complete menace. That flexibility gives repeat runs genuine flavour.

    The boss design is also still sensational. Treasure’s best work always feels half action game, half fireworks display, and Gunstar Heroes might be the purest version of that. Fights are theatrical without becoming unreadable. Huge mechanical monsters, weird screen tricks, and sudden tempo changes make each battle feel memorable instead of interchangeable. If someone lands on Happy Fragger looking for “is Gunstar Heroes still worth playing?” the easy answer is yes, partly because so many of its set-pieces still feel fresher than modern retro pastiche.

    I also love the co-op energy baked into it. Even solo, the game has that arcade-adjacent sense of shared chaos, as if it expects you to shout at the screen when the room fills with projectiles. In two-player mode it becomes even better: not elegant exactly, but gloriously alive. That rough-edged excitement is part of the appeal. Gunstar Heroes is not trying to be cool and composed. It wants to overwhelm you, then make you laugh about surviving it.

    Where the Age Shows

    For all its brilliance, the game is not frictionless. Some visual clutter can make first-time runs feel more confusing than fair, especially during the busiest boss encounters. The physics also have a slightly floaty looseness compared with the razor-clean precision of some other 16-bit action classics. Once you adjust, it mostly clicks, but there is a learning curve if you are coming from modern games with stricter readability and more generous checkpointing.

    The pacing can be a touch exhausting too. That sounds like praise, and mostly it is, but Gunstar Heroes is so eager to top itself that it occasionally sacrifices breathing room. Not every player wants nonstop escalation. Some will prefer the more measured rhythm of games built around cleaner pattern recognition and less sensory overload.

    Why It Still Matters in 2026

    What makes Gunstar Heroes special now is that it still feels brave. It comes from a period when big 16-bit action games were competing on spectacle, but Treasure pushed beyond spectacle into personality. The animation is exaggerated, the bosses are borderline ridiculous, and the whole game radiates confidence. That kind of design ages well because it is not chasing realism or fashion. It is chasing delight.

    It also remains an important recommendation because it shows how much variety the Mega Drive could deliver at its peak. When people reduce the system to a handful of usual suspects, Gunstar Heroes is a reminder that some of its finest games were the ones willing to be a little unruly. In 2026, with retro players constantly asking which 16-bit games genuinely deserve their time, this is still near the front of the queue.

    Verdict

    Gunstar Heroes remains one of the most exhilarating action games on the Mega Drive: inventive, explosive, and still packed with ideas that feel bolder than they should for 1993. A bit of clutter and some old-school chaos stop it short of absolute perfection, but the highs are outrageous.

    9 / 10. If you want a retro run-and-gun that still feels thrilling, playful, and gloriously over-the-top in 2026, Gunstar Heroes is an easy recommendation.

    • Play tip: Try the homing chaser mix on a first run. It sacrifices some raw punch, but it makes the game’s busiest fights far easier to read.
    • Play tip: Use the fixed-shot stance when bosses crowd the screen. It turns frantic movement into something much more controlled.
    • Authority link: Wikipedia overview for Gunstar Heroes
    • Authority link: MobyGames entry for Gunstar Heroes

    Where does Gunstar Heroes land for you: all-time Mega Drive top tier, or just a brilliant chaos machine you admire more than love?