METAL SLUG

Does humour belong in music and games? It certainly does as it distorts and makes fun of a canon developed around an approach. Metal Slug is no exception - instead of coming up with an entirely different concept of a side-scrolling shoot 'em up, the game makes fun of our  herd-mentality understanding of wars that others fight somewhere in some developing countries. The comedy is implied in derision, in the awkward movements of the characters, their fear of losing lives in a battlefield that gets masked by their love for carnage and war toys, the thin storyline that cartoonish bodycount scenes try to make up for, the background that resembles a HOPA game that supports the bodycount approach - it's all hillarious and works incredibly well. The gameplay itself is addictive, the controls are just smooth enough to keep you glued to your seat while being sluggish enough to irk you. It is also one of those games that become even more interesting in a 2-player session as you  can now both recreate your childhood dominated by cultural heroes of cheap animations and movies (wrestlers,MOTUs,Cover Ups, Rambos, Commandos and all those other moments in popular history of the 80s that other games had immortalized as well). Every bromance naturally has to  include jumping on boats, wearing machines and wreaking havoc upon a made-up world. Another few thousand coins and your muscle memory reclaimed and you're there.

KUNG FU MASTER

Whether a particular movie served as inspiration for this legendary game or the whole  king fu action movie genre lent its cliches to it, there could be no doubt that Kung Fun Master changed the face of gaming and set some basic standards for side-scrolling beat-em-ups for good.
Lee is a classic kung fu hero who allows the player  to immerse themselves in a genuine kung fu experience as portrayed on big screens of the time. He displays a deliberately limited number of moves (3 kicks, 2 punches and 1 stiff jump) that require restraint, precision and patience and some getting accustomed to the game's rhythm in a player to fully appreciate it. Many contemporary kung fu/karate movie cliches crept in as well -The Caucasian girlfriend of a Caucasian fighter feeling neglected and left out due to his daily routines; a fight scene where many attackers kidnap the girl despite fighter's effort; a mysterious impotent man named after a letter who's  probably a bit too much into muscles and muscular physique and autoeroticism for  someone trying to play the role of an alpha-male; fighting inside a temple with one floor too many where fighters are literally swept off the floor; villains laughing for no reason; energy-draining Holders and little people who know kung fu; fire-breathing dragons released out of cracked spheres and poisonous snakes coming out of pots; butterflies sucking you dry and female kung fu bosses (evil disguised as beauty); enemy jams the fighter has to free himself from that are entertaining on the eyes. Add an excellent backing track,  impressive fx and graphics for a 1984 game to it all and you can easily understand why the experience of playing it in the arcade was truly magical. This  game scores high on playability and replay value with the kids of today that have tried it, and it only goes to show how good the game was.

CANABALT

This  free flash game with a man running from a world crumbling behind him, trying to escape death/apocalypse  jumping buildings was ported to a plethora of systems, and rightfully so. Running games were already in abundance at this time in gaming history, but the key to Canabalt's brilliance was its simplicity, both in terms of playability and the bleak urban surroundings  moving rapidly on the screen that seem to be reminiscent of  a nasty dream. It reminds me of those  easy-to-play-hard-to-finish games that reigned the 80s gaming universe, and the ease with which it successfully translated to c64 only proves my point further. It'a a game that would have been a smash whenever it appeared. This title is a personal favourite among endless runners.

You can download the c64 version at c64.com or wait until RGCD have made more cartridges.