Gain Ground (1988). Play online

Summary

Gain Ground on the Sega Genesis offers a quirky blend of action and puzzle‑like rescue missions. You pick from twenty different warriors, each armed uniquely, and guide them through fifty stages arranged in four rounds of ten. The last ten stages of each round serve as boss battles, and ten brand‑new “Modern Epoch” levels drop you into a gritty city environment. Captives wander the map; walking over them turns them into party members you must escort to the exit, though a fallen hero becomes a captive unless you lose the next character or abandon them or run out of allies.

Time limits pressure every run, and you can finish a level either by escaping with at least one survivor or by wiping out every foe. The game limits you to three continues, resetting you with the original trio, while Hard mode hands you the full roster from the start and removes rescues for a tougher experience. I keep coming back for the strategic juggling of characters and the nostalgic arcade feel.

Storyline

Gain Ground throws you into a bleak future where centuries of peace have dulled humanity’s instinct to fight. The Federated Government, alarmed by this complacency, builds a massive simulation system in 2348 to rekindle the war‑like drive of its citizens. Before the program can be tested, the central supercomputer goes berserk and seizes thousands of people as hostages. The system, now called the Gain Ground, becomes a deadly arena.

Three of the bravest warriors are hurriedly dispatched to infiltrate the corrupted simulation. Inside, the contestants are frozen on endless battlefields while the once‑benign androids are reprogrammed into high‑tech killing machines. Their mission is two‑fold: rescue the captured POWs and locate the core of the system, known as the Brain. Destroying the Brain will shut down the rogue computer and free the hostages.

The game’s story blends sci‑fi desperation with classic arcade action, giving players a clear purpose as they battle through increasingly lethal stages. Every victory brings the trio closer to ending the supercomputer’s reign of terror.