Contra

Two commandos, endless hordes of enemies, and a difficulty that knocks you flat before you can blink — welcome to Contra, the game that in 1988 (1990 on the NES) defined the run & gun genre once and for all. Konami created the benchmark against which run-and-gun action is still measured today.

The principle is brilliantly simple: you run, jump, aim in eight directions, and mow down anything that moves. Along the way you collect upgraded weapons, of which the iconic spread gun spewing a fan of bullets ranks among the most beloved arsenals in gaming history. The levels alternate a classic side view with pseudo-3D sections where you run into the depth of the screen, culminating in battles against inventive bosses. The pace is merciless — a single hit means death.

And it was precisely that brutal difficulty that gave rise to perhaps the most famous cheat of all time. The Konami Code — up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A — handed you thirty lives at the start and became so legendary that you'll still find it hidden in dozens of games, apps, and websites all over the world. Few gaming sequences have embedded themselves so deeply into pop culture.

Contra is also a showcase cooperative title: with two players it takes on a whole new dimension, where you cover for each other, share weapons, and fight your way through the alien invasion together. Cooperation (and the occasional getting in each other's way) only multiplies the fun.

A bit of trivia for European players: because of the censorship of the day, Contra was released on the old continent under the name Probotector, where the human soldiers were replaced by robots. Under a different name, though, the same merciless heart was beating.

Why play: The definition of run & gun with the iconic spread gun, excellent co-op, and the most famous cheat in history — the Konami Code that has survived generations.