Jackal (1988 on the NES, 1986 in arcades as Top Gunner) puts you behind the wheel of an armed jeep in an overhead-scrolling run-and-gun, blasting through enemy territory to rescue POWs and ferry them to evac choppers.

The jeep is what makes it. Konami split your firepower in two: the front-mounted machine gun points whichever way you're driving and handles the road ahead, while grenades lob sideways and are the only thing that opens buildings. So the moment-to-moment is a steering problem. You have to be facing the thing you want to shoot and side-on to the thing you want to blow up, which means most of the game is spent turning the vehicle rather than aiming a gun.

Rescue is the scoring loop, and it's tied to your upgrades. Freed prisoners ride on the back of the jeep, up to eight at a time, and they're vulnerable the whole way to the helicopter. Deliver enough of them and your grenades upgrade to a forward-firing rocket, then to a spread. Lose the jeep and you lose the passengers, which means the safe play is short runs and the fast play is a full load across open ground.

Co-op is the heart of it. Two jeeps means one player can hold the grenade duty while the other clears the road, and the smart pairs split the POW ferrying so somebody is always covering the chopper.

The bosses are enormous for the hardware: tanks that fill a third of the screen, gun emplacements, a battleship. They're pattern fights, and they're where a two-player run either shines or falls apart.

Pure Konami arcade energy, fast and loud and best on the couch with a friend. An underrated gem in a library full of bigger names.