Pang / Super Pang

Bursting bubbles that want to kill you. Pang is one of those arcade games whose principle you grasp in a second and which then swallows a whole afternoon. Big colourful balls bounce around the screen and your task is to shoot them apart with a harpoon. The catch? Every ball you hit splits into two smaller, faster and nastier ones, so the screen fills with chaos before you can blink.

The magic lies in the geometry of movement. The balls bounce according to fixed physical rules, and you have to learn to predict where they'll land so you're not standing under the smallest, fastest ball just as it's hurtling toward you. The little character at the bottom can't jump, only move and shoot upward, which turns it into a nerve-wracking dance of dodges in an ever more cramped space.

Super Pang pushed the concept further. It added new game modes, a panoramic mode with a scrolling screen and a puzzle mode with pre-set situations that must be solved with limited means. Various weapon and bonus types are available, from a double harpoon to a rope that stays stuck to the ceiling and destroys everything that touches it.

Visually the game travels around world landmarks and destinations, which gives it a whiff of adventure like a postcard from a holiday. That, together with an excellent two-player co-op mode, makes Pang an ideal title for sitting down with a friend, where desperate laughter alternates with victorious shouts.

Simplicity and instant clarity earned Pang a place among the classics that work on any platform and in any era. It's pure arcade essence: no story, no frills, just you, a harpoon and an endless rain of bursting balls.

Why play: For a perfectly simple idea with devilishly rising difficulty and for great two-player co-op that will test your nerves and your friendship.