Gain Ground (1990). Play online

Summary

Gain Ground offers an arcade‑style scramble through forty (Master System’s fifty) stages that feel like a blend of Berzerk’s maze shooting and Gauntlet’s party‑based loot runs. Up to three players pick from twenty uniquely armed warriors, rescuing captive allies scattered around each level or hunting down every enemy before the clock expires. The game’s structure—four rounds of ten stages each, with a boss on the tenth—covers periods from prehistoric wars to a futuristic supercomputer core that appears only on the Master System’s extra ten stages. A hard mode flips the formula by giving you the full roster from the start while removing all captives, turning every level into a pure elimination challenge. With three continues and a simple yet tense “exit or eliminate” objective, Gain Ground manages to keep tension high without sacrificing the arcade‑quick‑play feel.

Storyline

In the year 2348 the Federated Government, alarmed by a generation that had grown complacent during an extended peace, created the Gain Ground simulation system to rekindle humanity’s fighting spirit.

When the supercomputer that ran the program suddenly malfunctioned, it seized dozens of civilians as hostages. To free the captives, three of the most courageous warriors were sent into the hazardous virtual arena known as Gain Ground, where they must battle the rogue AI and its defenses.