Solar Wars is one of those NES deep cuts that feels like a fever dream if you stumble onto it. You're thrown into this chaotic space battle right from the start—no tutorial, just lasers flying everywhere and these chunky pixel ships that somehow feel weighty when they explode. The controls take a second to click (why is the B button rotate?!), but once you get the hang of banking turns while dodging asteroids, it's weirdly satisfying.

There's something charming about how the screen just keeps scrolling vertically forever, like the devs forgot to program an end. I kept waiting for a boss fight that never came, just wave after wave of those little triangle fighters. Honestly, half the fun is trying to decode what the heck is happening in the garbled story text between levels.

It's janky, it's loud, and I'm pretty sure the power-up icons are just smiley faces for no reason. But I couldn't stop playing.