Double Dragon II: The Revenge — Two Players, One Couch
Finally, you and a friend could brawl side by side.
Paul Hitt
Gradius — Build Your Ship, Bar by Bar
Konami's seminal shmup and its iconic power-up meter.
Metroid — Alone on Zebes
Atmospheric isolation, nonlinear exploration, and a famous reveal.
Licensed to Thrill (or Kill) — NES Movie & TV Tie-Ins
Which way it landed came down to who made it, not whose face was on the box.
Bubble Bobble — Two Dragons, A Hundred Rooms
Trap, pop, and chase the true ending with a friend.
Super Mario Bros. 2 — The Beautiful Mistake
Pluck a vegetable, float as Peach, and meet the oddest Mario.
Orbital Mechanics in Julia: Solving Kepler's Equation
Recovering the true anomaly from an orbit, in a few lines of Julia.
Mega Man 4 — The Charge Shot Arrives
One new mechanic quietly reshaped the whole series.
The Legend of Zelda — The Gold Cartridge and the Open World
Battery saves, a gold cart, and a world that let you wander.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — That Damn Dam
Beloved, infamous, and unbeaten in a thousand living rooms.