Video Game Collecting

Please take notice of the ad for Ikari Warriors – the arcade game. Notice that it says Greatest Two Player Game Ever! But guess what? SNK Playmore finally ported the game to the PSN but it’s crap. You know why? Its one player only. But I suppose I shouldn’t feel too bad right? They screwed up the XBOX version as well: http://digitalchumps.com/video-game-reviews/35-ps3/7908-ikari-warriors-ps-mini.html

I played Socom: Combined Assault for the first time yesterday. After what seemed like an eternity to load I started out with the training mode. I shout some targets tossed some grenades and accidently on purpose killed myself.

I then started the regular game and attempted the first mission. Something about a downed helicopter I needed to find and ‘demo’. I couldn’t figure out how to load my damn weapon. I pressed everything. My soldier would squat then lay down then stand up and talk on the mic. But he never loaded his weapon!

Aggrevated, I shut it off and fired up Ikari Warriors for Nintendo NES. I pressed start and instantly my bomber’s engines were on fire! They made a nasty noise and thick grey smoke filled the sky as the plane was ditched into the thick of the jungle.

I had barely left the title screen when enemies were already charging towards me! No time for a training mode soldier -you’ll learn on the way! I fired my rifle and took down an enemy combatant, the one behind him took a bullet in the sack. and three more felt the wrath of my grenades.

It wasn’t long before I hopped into a tank and started blasting away the enemy. I’m no SEAL! I’m an Ikari Warrior! My mission is to jump into the thick of battle and kill!

What’s a Socom anyhow?

I finally received Rambo III for SEGA Genesis.  Actually I received it about a week ago, but I really haven’t had much time to play it.  I like the Rambo movies.  Especially the first one, and it just so happens that the 3rd movie is my least favorite.  Games and movies never work well together so I was ready to be let down. 

In this case I wasn’t let down at all.  I actually enjoyed this game for what little I got to play of it.  It’s loosely based on the 3rd movie and even includes digital stills from it.  It plays similiar to Ikari Warriors (which was obviously inspired by the 2nd Rambo movie)  but resembles Heavy Barrel more and could be considered a precurser to Shock Troopers on Neo Geo.

Unlike many top-down war games Rambo III does have one feature that would have made those other games much more interesting: RAPID FIRE.  Not only does Rambo have unlimited ammunition, if you hold the button down and leave the D-pad alone Rambo will start moving the gun back and forth, effectively spraying the bullets everywhere.  THATS AWESOME!

You can also shoot arrows, which is very much Rambo-esq, but you can also set time-bombs, which I don’t recall in any Rambo movie but I could be wrong.  Now on to the best part:

The box art is beautiful.  It isn’t a promo picture from the movie either, or if it was, it certainly wasn’t for the American audience.  I’d like to believe it was unique for the game(s).  The reason I say this is look at the Commodore version:

Notice anything missing?  Where are his arrows and bows?  It seems the Genesis version is unique to the arrows and bows, but it also proves that it must be a painting and not a still from the movie, because… what is holding the arrows and bows in the Genesis box art?  Are they stuffed into his back pocket?  Who knows, the point is that this is a good game for SEGA Genesis.

Ikari Warriors is a badass game. A plane goes down in the jungle and suddenly you are in a war zone. You have a supply of ammo and grenades. You can steal a tank. The plot should have been left at that. But nooooo.. Victory Road (Ikari Warriors 2) has some convoluted space theme, where by you start out by killing robot spiders or some garbage. That monstrosity should have ended the franchise. But nooooo! Ikari Warriors 3 comes out which has an awesome opening cut scene with some artistic effects like seeing the reflection of the convoy in the main character’s eyes. By the time the gameplay starts you wonder if the programmers should have focused less on the artistic acheivement and more on the gameplay. Everything starts out with kicks and jumps. Where are the weapons? On site Procurement? That’s over played! This isn’t Metal Gear!

Anyways enough of the rant. Lets focus on the orignal. Have you listened to that music? The NES version isn’t as good as the arcade’s but it gets the job done. And what exactly is the job? Killing. And plenty of it. Put a bullet into the enemy and they’ll dance around like spastics before giving up the ghost. Steal a tank and squish those sons of bitches. War has never been so colorful with a sixteen color palette. SNK did a fantastic job. The arcade game was perfect. The rotary joysticks made the killing easy. The NES version is presented at a lower frame rate. Similar to Ghosts N Goblins. I believe a 3rd party made both of those titles. But it still gets the job done. And remind me again what the job is- oh that’s right: killing!

If you could pinpoint the most significant contribution the Nintendo Entertainment System had done for the video game industry it was clearly the influence of color and style in the characters you played. Especially if it was a two player game. For instance….

POW: Prisoners of War. Two players. Two Bandanas. One wears Red, the other wears Blue…

The Ikari Warriors. Two players. Two Bandanas. One wears Red, the other wears Blue…

Guerrilla War. Two players. No Bandanas. One wears Red, the other wears Blue…

POW: Prisoners of War. Two players (VS Mode). Two Bandanas (on the box art only). One wears Red, the other wears Blue…

Contra. Two Bandanas. One wears Red, the other wears Blue…

And on a completely unrelated topic, I knew the boxart to Contra (and well, part of the story of the game) was loosely based on Predator, but in looking at the game and the poster the only difference is the face. However the face on the dude on the Contra box looks more fitting for a Kool, New Port, or some other fruity cigarette brand’s ad as featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

Although I felt it took way too long I finally received the Ikari Trilogy in the mail. The games worked perfectly, but there was extensive label defacement. Especially on III. I’m probably going to have to replace the back. There is also a gentle nick on the label near the top which is motivation for me to see how difficult it would be to reproduce a label. But being in the middle of a move I’ll have to save that project for later.

I’m still waiting for Mario Bros. and I purchased Felix The Cat last night. Neither of these games are as badass as Ikari, but they are both worth adding to my Nintendo Collection.

Ikari Warriors is a badass game. SNK had a habit of releasing badass games in the arcade and translating them to the NES. I should be receiving the Ikari trilogy either tomorrow or the day after. But I’m so hyped up about it I wanted to mention a few things about them.

Look at these mofos. They are ready to rip you a new one. Don’t even dare look at them cock-eyed. 80′s videogames were the best. These guys could have been Spike and Hammer:

That’s right. NOT BILLY AND JIMMY! Their street names are Spike and Hammer. See the resemblence? Nevermind lets move on.

The Ikari Warriors are not limited to killing humans. They don’t even need guns. That guy with the sword is gonna cut one of those aliens sack’s off and feed it to them. They should have just changed them to apes and made this a Planet of the Apes game. Get your hands off me you damn dirty APE! Voice and Morse Code? What the…?

By now the Ikari Warriors are so famous that SNK doesn’t need to hire a professional artist for the box art. The Ikari Warriors are so tough now that they don’t need guns. They’ll just toss you around. Why is the dude in blue standing on the girl’s leg who’s about to give the evil guy a ******? Nevermind. Come up with your own conclusions.

Seriously though, SNK made some really badass games. Despite the weird boxart, you can tell they really cared about their craft. In the coming weeks I’m going to demonstrate exactly what I mean. Gosh, I can’t wait for tomorrow or the next day.