| Ikari Warriors | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Developer(s) | SNK |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) | Koji Obada[9] |
| Designer(s) | Koji Obada[9] |
| Programmer(s) | Daimajin |
| Artist(s) | Tama Keiko Iju |
| Platform(s) | Arcade,Apple II,Amiga,Atari 2600,Atari 7800,Atari ST,Acorn Electron,Amstrad CPC,BBC Micro,Commodore 64,NES,MSX2,IBM PC,ZX Spectrum |
| Release | Arcade NESCPCMSX |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
Ikari Warriors, known asIkari (怒, "Fury") in Japan, is a vertically scrollingrun and gun video game released for arcades bySNK in 1986. It was published in North America byTradewest. At the time there were manyCommandoclones on the market. What distinguishedIkari Warriors wererotaryjoysticks and a two-player cooperative mode.[10] The rotary joystick controls were in turn based on SNK's earlierTNK III (1985).Ikari was originally intended to be an official licensed adaptation of the filmRambo: First Blood Part II (1985), but SNK were initially unable to acquire the rights to the film.
The game was a major commercial success in arcades. It was Japan's second highest-grossingtable arcade in 1986, and London's third highest-grossing arcade game that year. It was also a major breakthrough US release for SNK, ranking among America's top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games for two years in a row, in 1986 and 1987.
The player takes the role ofcommandos named Colonel Ralf Jones (red) and Second Lieutenant Clark Still (blue), who must try to reach the village of Ikari. Enemy units attempting to kill the player include tanks, enemy soldiers and helicopters. A number ofpower-ups along the way help the player achieve victory.
Players must proceed from the bottom of the screen upwards, towards the village of Ikari. Trying to prevent them from reaching the village are enemy soldiers and other units. Along the way, players may commandeer enemy tanks and helicopters (NES version) to help fight their way through the enemy personnel. The tanks are immune to enemy bullets, but have a limited supply of fuel and will sustain damage when it runs out or the tank is caught in an explosion, taking the player with it unless he can exit the tank and get clear before it blows up. The helicopters have two different weapons, a spread gun and a cannon, and may fly over water.
Rotating the joystick changes the direction the character faced independent of the direction the character was moving, as controlled by pushing the joystick. This gives the player freedom to attack or walk in eight different directions. No shot is fired from directly in front of the player; the warrior uses the machine gun in his right hand, and throws grenades with his left. If a player character takes too long moving up screen, the computer starts using "call for fire". A red spot appears below him, which is tracking fire to speed up the game.
Ikari Warriors uses SNK's model LS-30 joysticks, which contain a 12-way rotary switch box. The joysticks can be rotated in addition to being pushed in eight directions. The less successfulTNK III, released in 1985 and also from SNK, is the first to have used such joysticks.[11][12][13][14] There are also two buttons: one for the standard gun and another for lobbing grenades.
Ikari Warriorsprinted circuit boards (PCBs) were manufactured in two different versions: SNK pinout andJAMMA pinout. Most SNK-pinout units were put intoIkari Warriors cabinets, while most JAMMA-pinout units were supplied as conversion kits. The SNK-pinout boards have a 22/44-pin edge connectors. The JAMMA-pinout PCBs have a 28/56-pin edge connectors. Both types consist of a stack of three boards, with interconnects.
The game was developed by SNK, where it was designed and directed by Koji Obada. He had previously designed SNK'sTNK III (1985), known asT.A.N.K. in Japan and Europe, a vertical tank shooter inspired byTaito'sFront Line (1982) that used rotary joystick controls. The same year,Capcom's vertical run-and-gun shooterCommando (1985), known asSenjō no Ōkami ("Wolf of the Battlefield") in Japan, had become a major global arcade hit.Ikari combined the run-and-gun shooter gameplay ofCommando with the rotary joysticks and tank vehicles ofT.A.N.K.[9]
The game was also inspired by theaction filmRambo: First Blood Part II (1985), released asRambo: Ikari no Dasshutsu ("Rambo: The Furious Escape") in Japan. Obada had originally intended the game to be an official licensed adaptation ofRambo, but SNK were initially unable to acquire the rights to the film. This resulted in the game's title being shortened toIkari, referencing part of the film's Japanese title. After the game made its North American debut at an arcade game expo, they got in touch with the film's starSylvester Stallone, who was friends with SNK's president, about acquiring the rights to the film, but it was too late by that point, as the game had already become popularly known by its Japanese titleIkari among arcade players in Japan and North America, leading to the game being officially released asIkari Warriors in North America.[9]
In addition to changing the names of the main characters from Ralf and Clark to Paul and Vince, the military commander the player rescues at the end of the game is named General Kawasaki in the Japanese version (named after SNK's founder Eikichi Kawasaki) and Colonel Cook in the US/Euro version (named after Tradewest's founder Leland Cook). General Kawasaki's name was unchanged in the NES version. The enemies in the game were actually Neo-Nazis, as evidenced by the presence of a swastika at the middle of the final room.
Ikari Warriors was initially ported to theApple II,Commodore 64 andIBM PC byQuicksilver Software and published byData East USA in the US in 1986.[15]Elite Systems acquired the licence for Europe releasing theAmstrad CPC version in late 1986.[6] A version for theZX Spectrum byDavid Perry was scheduled for November 1986[16] but was never released.
In 1988 Elite published a second Commodore 64 port (by John Twiddy, programmer ofThe Last Ninja), a new ZX Spectrum port (by David Shea, author of the Amstrad version) along with versions for theCommodore 16,Amiga andAtari ST.[15]
SNK released their own port for theMSX in 1987. The NES version was developed by Micronics. Both theAtari 2600 andAtari 7800 ports were released in 1990 as one of the final published games for those systems during their initial eras. The game was also included on theSNK 40th Anniversary Collection for various modern consoles andWindows (throughSteam).
| Publication | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atari ST | C64 | NES | PC | ZX | |
| Crash | 76%[17] | ||||
| Computer and Video Games | 89%[18] | 37/40 (CPC)[6] | 84% | ||
| Dragon | 4/5[19] | ||||
| Famitsu | 24/40[5] | ||||
| Sinclair User | 7/10[20] | ||||
| Your Sinclair | 8/10[21] | ||||
| Atari ST User | 9/10[22] | ||||
| Computer Entertainer | 4/4[4] | ||||
| The Games Machine | 84%[23] | ||||
In Japan,Game Machine listedIkari on their March 15, 1986 issue as being the most-successfultable arcade cabinet of the month.[24] It remained at the top of theGame Machinetable arcade cabinet charts through April[25][26] and early May,[27] before returning to the top in June 1986.[28] It went on to become Japan's second highest-grossing tablearcade game of 1986.[29][30] In the United Kingdom, it was one of the top three highest-grossing arcade games of 1986 inLondon, appearing at number-three on the annual 1986 Electrocoin chart.[31]
In North America,Ikari Warriors was the second top-grossing arcade game on the monthlyPlay Meter charts in July 1986.[32] It went on to be one of the top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1986 according to AMOA,[33] and the year's eight highest arcade video game according toRePlay.[34] It was also among the top five dedicatedarcade games of 1987.[35]
In 1996,Next Generation listed the arcade version ofIkari Warriors as number 61 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", lauding the innovative joysticks, play balance, and power-ups which offer an invigorating boost to the player character's capabilities without taking away the game's challenge.[10]
Computer and Video Games enthusiastically reviewed the "classy"Amstrad personal computer conversion, calling the graphics "simply brilliant" and the gameplay "awesomely addictive". They said that players "won't see better ... probably for quite a while" because "the Amstrad graphics are as close as dammit to the arcade machine and the playability goes off theC+VG scale".[6]
The IBM PC version of the game received 4 out of 5 stars inDragon.[19]
Ikari Warriors spawned the sequelsVictory Road (1986) andIkari III: The Rescue (1989).
SNK released anIkari Warriors clone in 1987 calledGuerrilla War (known asGuevara in Japan). The game features communist fightersChe Guevara andFidel Castro as its heroes.
Sylvester Stallone, whose role asJohn Rambo had an influence on the game, owned anIkari Warriors arcade cabinet in the 1980s. The futuremixed martial arts (MMA) championKazushi Sakuraba (later famous for defeating theGracie family ofBrazilian jiu-jitsu fighters) was also a fan ofIkari in his high school years.[9]
The characters Ralf and Clark appeared again as playable characters inMetal Slug 6 and7, as well as in theKing of Fighters series. Their names were used for two minor unrelated characters inCrystalis, and they were featured as cameos inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate as background characters in the King Of Fighters Stadium stage.
