Air Fortress is one of those weird, underrated NES games that mixes two totally different playstyles—and somehow makes it work. You start off blasting through space in a side-scrolling shooter section, dodging bullets and taking down enemy ships. Then, out of nowhere, you land inside these massive floating fortresses, and it turns into this tense, almost Metroid-like exploration thing where you're low on oxygen, searching for the core to blow the place up.

The controls take a second to get used to—your guy moves a little stiffly inside the fortress, but once you adjust, it's surprisingly satisfying to navigate those maze-like corridors. And the music? Classic HAL Laboratory—haunting and atmospheric, especially when you're down to your last few oxygen ticks. Not gonna lie, some of those later fortress layouts will make you want to throw your controller, but in that good, old-school NES way.

If you're into obscure action games with a weird mix of genres, this one's a hidden gem.