Space Invaders (Japan) on NES is the granddaddy of arcade shooters—simple, brutal, and weirdly hypnotic. You’re just a little laser cannon at the bottom of the screen, staring down rows of pixel aliens that inch closer with every pass. The sound design alone is iconic: that eerie marching noise speeding up as they descend, the frantic pew-pew of your shots. Mess up, and they’ll swarm you fast.

It’s one of those games where the tension sneaks up on you. At first, picking off aliens feels almost leisurely, but by stage 3, you’re sweating as gaps in their formation turn into dive-bombing suicide runs. The NES version keeps the arcade’s crisp controls, though I still panic and overshoot my shots half the time. Classic for a reason.