Gain Ground

In Gain Ground, players control one of several characters at a time. There are twenty characters, each with different weapons. To complete a level, players must reach the exit with at least one character or destroy all enemies in the level before time runs out. Scattered throughout the level are trapped characters that can be rescued by going to them and then escorting them to the exit. When a character controlled by a player is killed, it becomes a trapped character. However, it disappears when the next active player-controlled character dies, leaves the level without it, or the player has no more characters in his party. The game is over when all controlled characters in the party are killed without any reaching the exit. However, there are three continuations that allow the player to restart the level with their original three characters. In the arcade version of the game, there are 40 levels. On the Master System and the Genesis/Mega Drive, there are 50 levels in the game.