Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX is basically the GBA version of Contra III, but don’t let that fool you—it’s still brutal. You start off with a basic pea shooter, but within minutes you’re grabbing spread guns and lasers while dodging bullets from alien freaks. The screen gets so chaotic you’ll accidentally jump into enemies at least twice before getting the hang of it.

Boss fights are ridiculous in the best way—giant mechanical worms, floating brains, the works. And yeah, it’s hard. Like, "throw your GBA across the couch" hard if you’re not careful. But that’s Contra for you. If you’ve got a buddy for co-op, even better—just try not to steal each other’s power-ups.

It’s not the prettiest port, but the action holds up. You’ll either love it or rage-quit before the second level.