Super C

Super C is the sequel to the legendary Contra, and it reached the PC in 1990 courtesy of Konami, the series' publisher. The series grew up in arcades and became a household name on the NES console; that is where most players know this second installment from, but the version here is its lesser-known DOS incarnation. The premise is unchanged: you are a lone commando against the armies of the alien Red Falcon, one hit means death, and movement is your only armour.

The recipe still works. You run, jump and never stop shooting while the game pours soldiers, turrets and increasingly grotesque biomass at you. Weapon power-ups are the currency of survival — the crown jewel being the spread shot, which blankets half the screen — and you memorize what leaps out from where, because improvisation is punished instantly. The notable change from the first Contra: the pseudo-3D base corridors are gone, replaced by overhead stages that pleasantly shift the rhythm. The finale, as tradition demands, descends into pure biology as you carve through the alien nest.

The difficulty is merciless but honest. The game kills you with patterns that can be learned, and every attempt visibly carries you further. That loop — die, understand, run deeper — is what has kept the series alive for decades.

About the DOS version the truth must be told: it is the visibly poorer sibling of the console original. Graphics and sound wear a humbler coat on a 1990 PC, and the smoothness is not what console owners remember. Its value lies mainly in having existed at all — and in carrying the core over faithfully: an honest action game about precision, memory and nerve.

If you fancy another run with the spread gun, Super C plays on oldgame.cz right in the browser, nothing to install.