Just when you thought they were gone, they come roaring back. The genre that's plastered all over Virtual Console, the shoot'em-up, is examined in two ways this week. Community Manager Mike Gamin looks back at an NES game he fondly remembers from his youth, while new staffer (and crack news writer) Lukasz Balicki presents the facts about a Genesis game that loves acronyms.

Are these shooters worth your time? Are you annoyed that I mentioned Shining Force II and StarTropics II weeks, maybe even months ago, and they're still not up? Well, one might be up next week and the other one remains on the backlog. Guess which one.

It's been a while since we made an "Ugh, another shooter on VC" joke. Well, maybe it hasn't been long enough. Regardless, Life Force, the fan favorite, co-op, scrolling shoot'em-up, was released recently on Virtual Console. Developed by Konami and known as Salamander in Japan, it's a slight variation of the classic Gradius formula. It added a two-player cooperative mode and varied stages between side and vertical scrolling, both of which were relatively new to the genre at the time. The first stage of the game is often remembered by fans for its relatively strange setting. You are flying your ships inside some sort of alien being and the level culminates in a boss battle against a giant floating brain with two arms and one eyeball.

Mostly due to its cooperative gameplay, Life Force will always have a place in my heart. It spent many an hour in my NES while my sister and I struggled through it. Honestly, I'm not sure we ever beat the second level. How good does a shooter have to be if merely the first two levels can hold the interest of two kids? Pretty damn good, and it still holds up. The music is top notch as well. To this day, when my sister calls me my phone blares out the music from the first level of the game. The only reason not to pick this game up is if you've become burned out on shooters thanks to the VC's shooter glut. I'm not about to let that possibility hurt its recommendation though.

M.U.S.H.A., which stands for Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor, is an excellent lesser-known Sega Genesis vertical scrolling shoot'em-up developed by the now-defunct Compile. It is regarded as one of the best of its genre on the Sega Genesis.

M.U.S.H.A has all the power-ups and alternate weapons you would expect in a shooter game. Its graphics and audio are fantastic for a Genesis title. Fans of classic 16-bit shoot‘em-up games should definitely give M.U.S.H.A. a try, as it makes a fantastic addition to the Virtual Console collection of any lover of the genre.

Special thanks to the Video Game Museum for the screenshots