Midnight Resistance 1989

Is it still worth playing?

Data East's 1989 arcade run and gun game, in which you fight through stages to rescue your family from a villain. It scrolls sideways, and the arcade joystick rotates so you can aim in almost any direction while moving or jumping. Defeated soldiers drop keys, and at the end of each stage you spend them in a weapon storage room on guns such as a spread launcher, a flamethrower, a machine gun and a shotgun. Special guns run out of ammo, and backpack weapons fire with up and the shoot button. Losing a life drops your weapons and keys, which you can pick up again if they have not fallen off screen. There are nine stages, and the keys you gather late in the game free your relatives, so how many you save decides the ending. Choosing which gun to buy before every stage still gives each run a plan to make and revise.