G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor is the title of a NES video game developed by KID and published by Capcom in the United States in 1992. The game is a sequel to the G.I. Joe video game released for the NES by Taxan in 1991.
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[edit] Storyline
Cobra Commander somehow survived the last time he fought the G.I. Joe team and this time he is plotting to use the long lost powers of the Atlanteans in his bid to rule the world. The game's format is similar to that of Capcom's Bionic Commando series with an overhead map of the various sub-stages, and bosses (Overkill, Cesspool, Firefly, Major Bludd, Destro) located at Cobra bases sprinkled throughout the game. Cobra Commander is the final boss at the end of the game once again.
Unlike the previous game, you are not given orders from General Hawk, but instead a strangely different Stalker is your Commander for the duration of the game. He never becomes playable, unlike General Hawk does in the last mission of the previous game.
You start the game with General Hawk and a weak weapon, but you can locate (and thus switch between) Wet-Suit, Storm Shadow, Duke, Snake-Eyes, and Roadblock. You can also discover more types of weapons (Laser, Wave, Bazooka) as you progress through Atlantis. During the game Gung-Ho, Spirit, and Big-Bear make cameo appearances to offer temporary help or advise. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses. You can collect various ingame icons to power up your character's weapons, obtain ammo, gain special items, as well as restore and increase your maximum health. The game is tough to complete for beginners. There is a password feature. However, it is, in itself, more complicated to write the password down. Plus, there is no way out of the password screen once you've accessed it other than resetting the console.
[edit] Game characters
There are several playable characters in the game, each with his own unique style and abilities. Once players have discovered a character, they can 'decide' which characters will come with them, and alternate between them during gameplay by pressing the “pause” button and accessing the pause menu. Each character has their own agility, stamina and strength rating, although they are not shown unlike the previous game.
- General Hawk - Your starting character. He has overall balanced skills and a high maximum stamina rating, but no special ability. When levelled up, he gains an extra punch in his punch combo, the ability to kick, and a 'knee drop' attack.
- Wet-Suit - Your first ally after completing the first stage. He is very similar to General Hawk, but does not jump as high, and can dive underwater, due to having SCUBA gear. When levelled up, he too gains an extra punch and a kick, as well as a knee drop.
- Storm Shadow - You must first save Storm Shadow from Firefly. Storm Shadow has the second highest agility of the group and the second lowest stamina. When levelled up, he can fire fireballs from his sword, do a dashing slash which cuts through an enemy, and a downward stab.
- Roadblock - Roadblock prefers his fists to his feet and may be the least agile member of the team. His special ability is that he can crawl low to the ground. He has the strongest hand-to-hand skill, though. He too gains an extra punch in his punch combo, the ability to kick, but his 'downward attack' is a body slam.
- Duke - Duke will appear on one of the paths later in the game. His skills are very similar to his appearance in the previous game. Unlike all the other characters in the game, he can aim above himself, and in the air he gains the ability to aim below him. Standing his gun is just the same as everybody else's but his bullets are fired in a stream when aiming upwards or downwards. His levelled up hand-to-hand combat skills are no different than those of other characters'.
- Snake-Eyes - Perhaps the most difficult character to obtain, you must bear the maze of Major Bludd to discover the antidote to clear Cobra Commander's brainwashing/. He has the lowest maximum stamina but the highest jump of all the Joes. His skills are nearly the same as Storm Shadow's, aside from a sliding-tackle move that can be performed by pressing Down + A. It is easily possible to perform a glitch by switching weapons while this move is executed.
[edit] Miscellanea
- Unlike the first NES G.I. Joe video game, you can not find and control Cobra vehicles.
- Snake-Eyes does not retain his Ki ball attack unlike the previous game.
- Looking through the tile data on a ROM dump can find that General Hawk has his jet-pack graphics from the previous game, although they are not used as the Cobra Commander battle does not require its use.
