Flawed games that you love anyway

[Leynos]

Target Earth/Assault Suit Leynos

Early Genesis run-gun game. Masaya is one of my favorite 16-bit-era developers. Langrisser. Assault Suits games. Hellfire. Gynoug. Cho Aniki. Gleylancer and more. It's nowhere near as polished as a Contra or Gunstar Heroes. It was a bit stiff and punishingly difficult but there is something lovely about it, from the stellar OST to some cool secrets. Finish the first level by only killing the boss and no other enemies? Unlock every weapon in the game.  For every level, you choose a loadout.  Future games were polished great games like Cybernator/Assault Suits Valken or Assault Suits Leynos 2. The first game is my favorite and it even got a great remake on PS4/Steam. It's often on sale for a couple of bucks if you like a good run-and-gun. The remake is better than the original.