Purple Heart

Purple Heart is a game who control the mercenaries Cobra and Striker, respectively. The characters are described in an elaborate introduction, but in-game they are identical: both are bare-chested with headbands, differing only in the color of their clothing. The action scrolls vertically upward or horizontally left or right, depending on the area.

Characters can run and shoot in all eight directions. Weapons can be changed by picking up supplies found on the ground: shotgun (fires a double stream of buckshot), machine gun (available at the start of the game), rocket launcher (creates a rotating flame where it explodes), and flamethrower. All weapons except the rifle have limited ammo, represented by a decreasing bar, and when they run out, the rifle automatically switches to the rifle. You have five lives, and every time you are hit, you lose one, but the action doesn't interrupt and the character continues without a death scene.

There are six levels to play through, each with different settings (enemy camp, jungle, ruined city, swamp, snow, pier) and enemies of varying appearances. Enemies move along predefined paths, and the most common are infantrymen, who can shoot and throw grenades and are dangerous even on contact. You'll also encounter indestructible vehicles, including bomb-dropping aircraft. Each level has a final boss, which can be an artillery emplacement or vehicle. After a final defeat, you can restart the game from the previous level.