Shatterhand NES

Shatterhand is Natsume’s action game, published by Jaleco in December 1991 in the West. In Japan it launched the same year through Angel/Bandai as a licensed tie-in to the live-action tokusatsu series Tokkyū Shirei Solbrain, though the Western release strips out that connection and reframes the story as a standalone sci-fi plot about stopping the villain General Grover’s Metal Command army.

You fight through eight-directional scrolling stages using Shatterhand’s cybernetic fists as his main weapon, while up to eight collectible hovering satellite robots each grant a different auto-firing weapon whenever he throws a punch. That combination of melee combat and rotating ranged support gives it a distinct rhythm from other late-era NES action platformers, and it’s since developed a dedicated cult following.