In the time before bullet hells, shoot 'em ups featured sharp level design and more deliberate gameplay. Konami's Gradius is undoubtedly one of the finest shoot 'em up series of the 1980s and 90s. Players will finally be able to enjoy many of those games on modern hardware thanks to GRADIUS ORIGINS. The upcoming compilation collects 7 arcade Gradius titles, most with multiple versions to choose from. What's more, four of them will support 2-player local co-op!

As loyal readers know, Earth Defense Force 6 is one of my very favorite games. My wife and I have collectively put hundreds of ours into it, mostly on the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device. Many of those hours were spent in online co-op, a key selling point of the EDF series. Sadly, however, we can no longer play together fro...

PowerWash Simulator is a sleeper hit (other than the unfortunate VR version), so it makes sense that other developers would draw inspiration from it. That's clearly the case with Spray Paint Simulator from North Star Video Games and Whitethorn Games. As the name implies, this one involves painting environments instead of washing them. It will support 2-player online co-op, and it's due out in May.