One of the more harder video games of the eighties...unless you know what to do and have a friend. This proves it's one of the first games with a two-player mode, playing as Bill Rizer and Lance Bean having to stop an evil terrorist group called the Red Falcon from taking over the world and destroy the alien forces controlling them.
Strongly influenced by the Aliens franchise and other 80s action films like Commando, Rambo or Lethal Weapon, the smooth and fluent controls, flawless hit detection, and impressive graphics for the time make this one of the NES at its very best. It made the Konami code famous along with Gradius. It is challenging, but otherwise rewarding. In addition to the graphics there are two stages using a 3D perspective, which was pretty innovative at the time.
There are several power-ups, with the Spread Gun widely regarded as the best. Unfortunately, the bullets are extremely tiny and can blend in with the tiles and backgrounds. The laser is also a bad weapon, it disappears as soon as you press the fire button.
This is a must-have for all NES fans.