* AnticlimaxBoss: The first game's final boss, which only requires you to hit any of the turrets surrounding it ''once'' to kill it. It's not at all uncommon for a gamer to arrive at the boss, only to discover that they accidentally managed to destroy it with a stray shot or grenade before it even appeared on-screen, leaving them wondering what exactly the pile of decaying flesh and broken machinery was doing there. Tellingly, the NES port instead turns this into the boss of the penultimate level, with a new, much harder final boss added in.
* HilariousInHindsight: During the events of ''Victory Road'', Ralf and Clark were sent to the distant future dealing with the alien problems. Cue their appearances in ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' fighting the alien invasion.
* MemeticMutation: Two from Victory Road (the sequel):
** "Warriors, show some guts!! You can't escape me! Come get me if you can! [[EvilLaugh AHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!]]"
** "Come on, let's fight!"
* PolishedPort: The Platform/{{NES}} version of ''Ikari III: The Rescue'', due to not even bothering to simulate the rotary controls, which in its arcade release, made things harder due to {{Creator/SNK}} [[GenreShift essentially making the game from the run-and-gun of the first two to a beat-em-up]]. As a result, it actually turned out to be better than the {{Porting Disaster}}s of the first two games on the same console, and a decent game in its own right.
* PortingDisaster:
** The Platform/{{NES}} versions of the first two. It didn't help that all data of the original game [[http://shmuplations.com/snkgoldenage/ was lost soon after release]], requiring the port's developers to just wing it by playing it manually while taking notes.
** The first one on the Platform/{{Atari 2600}}.