Military Madness - Turbo Grafx 16 Game

The isometric hex-grid maps make you actually think about positioning instead of just blasting everything, and the difficulty ramps up nicely by the later lunar missions. Cartridge booted up first try on my Turbo Grafx with no cleaning needed.

The Axis Powers lunar takeover storyline pulled me in right away, and the isometric battlefield view makes every unit move feel tactical instead of mindless. Still tough after all these years, but that's exactly what I wanted.

The lunar colony maps in this one get genuinely tense once the Axis reinforcements start dropping in, and the two-player mode kept my brother and me up way too late. Cartridge fired up first try on my original console with no cleaning needed.