Jackal (video game)

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Jackal
Image:Jackal game flyer.png
European arcade version sales flyer.
Developer(s) Konami
Publisher(s) Konami
Platform(s) Arcade, NES, Famicom Disk System, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, IBM PC
Release date 1986
Genre(s) Run and gun
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer (simultaneous)
Input methods 8-way joystick, 2 buttons
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Modified Double Dribble hardware
Display Raster, resolution: 224x240, 512 colors, vertical orientation

Jackal (特殊部隊ジャッカル Tokushu Butai Jakkaru?, lit. "Special Forces Unit Jackal"), released in North America as Top Gunner, is an overhead run and gun arcade game released by Konami in 1986. The game is most popularly remembered for its port to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. Players take the role of soldiers in jeeps trying to rescue POW'S. The game supports two players simultaneously, much like Konami's own Contra.

The NES version of the game retained the original title of Jackal for its release in North America (in contrast to the arcade version's retitling of Top Gunner) and in the PAL region. The Famicom Disk System version of the game however, was retitled Final Commando: Akai Yōsai (ファイナルコマンド　赤い要塞 Fainaru Komando Akai Akai Yōsai?, lit. "Final Commando: The Red Fortress").


Contents

[edit] Story

As stated in the beginning of the game:

"Your brothers-in-arms are hostages behind enemy lines, and you're their only hope for freedom. But the firepower you'll face to rescue them is awesome. Rescue the pow's in the buildings. You'll need a pocket full of miracles, and the ferocity of a wild JACKAL."

The player is part of the Jeep squad and is sent to rescue prisoners in an undisclosed country (Vietnam according to the manual of the NES version). The first player jeep is driven by Col. Deckar and gunned by Lt. Bob. The second player jeep is controlled by Cpl. Grey and Sgt. Quint respectively. If the single player mode is selected, then the two players share the same jeep, with one player controlling Lt. Grey, and the second player controlling Lt. Bob.

[edit] Gameplay

In Jackal, the player(s) controls an armed jeep, which must venture through several enemy strongholds(要塞) to rescue comrades imprisoned by the enemy. In each of the six levels, the goal is to rescue prisoners of war from various buildings and then transfer them to helicopter dust-off locations. Once the soldiers are secure, the player(s) must then proceed to defeat the boss at the end of each level. In the last level, there are two bosses that must be defeated.

As with most run and gun games, there is a point system which can grant the player extra lives depending on the score attained. Rescuing more prisoners gives yields a higher point bonus at the conclusion of the level. If a collission occurs with an enemy vehicle, or the jeep is hit by one enemy bullet, a life will be lost. If death ocurs while four or more prisoners are in the jeep, only four will be available to be picked up again, as the rest will disappear. Some buildings contain one flashing prisoner; if this man is rescued, the jeep's primary weapon will be upgraded. In addition, if enough prisoners are rescued, a weapon upgrade will be yielded during the unloading process to the rescue helicopter. Each jeep can hold a total of eight prisoners and will not accept any more once capacity is reached. A common strategy is to fill up with only seven prisoners to keep room for the flashing prisoner.

[edit] Weapons

Initially, the primary weapon is a supply of pineapple grenades, and can be upgrade four times. The first weapon upgrade is to a missile launcher, inaccurately called "rockets" in the game. The second upgrade will increase the range of the missiles. A third upgrade will yield shrapnel-producing missiles. This produces area damage to the left and right of the point of impact. The fourth level missile changes the shrapnel such that it travels in all four directions). In some areas, the destruction of buildings or enemies will reveal a star icon. This serves as an instant full weapons upgrade, giving the player the shrapnel-producing missiles.

The grenade can be thrown over walls, but the missile will explode when it hits any obstacle. However, the shrapnel from the upgraded missile will pass through all obstacles. The jeep's secondary weapon is a machine gun. The machine gun can be fired only upward, has a limited range, and lacks the power of the grenade or missile. The machine gun, however, has significantly faster rate of fire than the other weapons. Since it always fires upward, the machine gun can be effectively used to damage enemies while simultaneously dodging their attacks. The machine gun, however, is ineffective against houses and other structures.

[edit] Enemies and bosses

[edit] Enemies

There are many different enemies in the game. These are a few:

  • Ground Troop: These are basiclly the grunts of the game. They pose very little threat to an experienced player. These also are some of the easiest enemies in the game because they can be killed by just one regular machine gun shot. They come in several variants:
    • Walker: They just walk around.
    • Shooter: These are stationary guards that shoot small bullets at the player(s). The bullets will kill a player on contact, but can be easily be avoided. When a Shooter is about to fire a bullet, it will flash yellow several times before releasing the round.
    • Patroller: These are a combination of Walkers and Shooters. In order to shoot a bullet, they have to stop first.
    • Paratrooper: These troops appear out of certain enemies (such as the boss of level three). When they hit the ground, they turn into Patrollers. They take a while to hit the ground, so you can position yourself in time to kill them all when they come.
    • Flamethrower Trooper: These soldiers behave exactly like the regular soldiers, except armed with flamethrowers. They appeared only once, in Level 5.
  • Turret: These are stationary gun implacements that are almost everywhere in the game. They fire in bursts; three consecutive shots and a short pause. They take three to four machine gun shots to kill, or just one grenade/rocket. There are several types of them, too.
    • Regular: These can rotate 360 degrees around their central point.
    • Forward Gun: These are exactly the same as the Regulars, except they only fire in 90 degrees to the south. Their shots are red and travel a longer distance than Regulars, which is how some people can tell the difference between the two (they look identical).
  • Jeep: These things are replicas of you, so you imagine that they are kind of tough. Well, they are tough if you don't have a strategy against them. They drive toward you and stop to launch grenades at you before continuing to follow you. They can easily be defeated by lobbing a grenade over a wall at them. But if you decided to get powerups from the flashing POWs, then you wont be able to shoot over walls, so you'll have to lure it into an open area and either shoot it with a missile or hit it several times with the machine gun.
  • Truck: The least threatening enemies of the game, even less so than the soldiers. They can't independently attack, and hence harmless on their own own. However, they can unload squads of soldiers who can protect it. Trucks may also be protected by more able enemies.
  • Tank: The tank is similar to the jeep in some ways, but is slower and shoots faster bullets that are longer ranged. There are a couple of variants:
    • Red Tank: This is the general tank used on this game, but is just as effective as any other enemy in the game. Generally, they will appear in spots that are about as annoying as possible, such as when you are at the top of the screen and going up, they pop up right in front of you and collide-with/shoot-at you. They can be killed with around three machine gun rounds or just one grenade/rocket. Possibly a BMP-1 or BMP-2 in real life.
    • Silver Tank: These babies are tougher than the red tanks, and about twice the size. They also fire a longer ranged black bullet. They pop up generally in the between some Turrets and drive toward the player while under heavy cover fire from the Turrets. But every now and then, one will come out of a house that a POW should be in. These take twice as much fire power as the red tanks take to kill, or two rockets. A flamethrower variant appears in Level 5. Possibly T-54 tanks (if you look closely, it has the disguishing feature of Soviet tanks, such as a rear-mounted fuel drum).
  • Launchers: These things can be extremely annoying when you're not patient. They come in three different styles:
    • Rocket: There are only a few of these in the game, but they are deadly. They shoot a homing rocket up in the air that travels to you. They really don't pose much of a threat since the rockets can be shot down with the machine gun, and because they have no defences. Watch out for ones that are guarded, though. There are also two of these.
      • Outside: These are basically Rocket Launchers above ground.
      • Popup: These things pop up out of the ground and shoot before going back under ground. But that doesn't mean you can kill the things while they are under ground...
    • Wave: They are called the Wave Launchers for a reason. These things fire an arc of about five black bullets and are placed in small canyons, which make it very difficult to take them out without losing a life in the process. Generally, there is a gap between the bullets, so you can use this to get close enough to kill the thing. However, if player acquired the full missile upgrade, killing it will be much more easier. These enemies cosmetically resembled the Katyusha rocket trucks on Level 4, whereas in Level 5, they are pop-up turrets.
  • Submarine: Appear only in Level 3. These subs will surface to launch a missile at players. More annoying than dangerous.
  • Bomber: These aircraft will usually come from behind or front of the screen, dropping grenades in a straight line. Surprisingly, they resembled the A-10, USAF's ground attack craft.
  • Train: This train is armed to the teeth, but it's actually very easy to defeat. Just hit the locomotive (the front) with a grenade or missile and the rest will destroy itself. Appears in Level 4 only.
  • Attack Helicopters: The game's other airborne enemy, strongly resembling the Mi-24 Hind D.

[edit] Bosses

  • Blue Tanks: The toughest tanks to be encountered in the game (up until the last boss), these blue-colored T-72 tanks are the bosses of Level 1. They appear from the top and the sides of the screen and move all over whilst firing at the player. They change from blue to brown color as they take damage.
  • Bronze Medusa Statues: Bosses of Level 2. Unlike the blue Medusa statues encountered earlier on, these are tougher and spit out heat-seeking missiles.
  • Frigate: The boss of Level 3, this Frigate is armed to the teeth with several multi-shot pop-up turrets. Destroy all turrets to defeat it.
  • Assault Helicopter: Level 4's boss, and the game's only airborne boss. This giant Mi-8 is able to dispatch paratroopers to aid in battling the player, in addition to firing its own weapons.
  • Fortress Gate: The gate guarding the fortress (Level 6) at the end of Level 5, this boss is formidable. It's most distinguishing feature is the electrifed gate, which is guarded by turrets and hangars that open up to dispatch silver tanks.
  • Command HQ: The boss of Level 6, defended primarily by a pair of formidable plasma cannon turrets. As it takes damage, the lights of the building will blink faster and faster.
  • Giant Tank: The final boss, a gigantic T-72 tank that reveals itself after the Command HQ is destroyed. Armed with a giant, but short-ranged, flamethrower cannon and a giant machine gun. Changes to red as it takes damage. A shocking surprise to those facing it for the first time, thinking that they had beaten the game by destroying the Command HQ.

[edit] Versions

Some bootleg Top Gunner boards allow a rotary style Ikari Warriors controller to be used that allows aiming of the machine gun. Normally, as stated previously, the machine gun is fixed shooting upwards. The game was later ported to the IBM PC in 1988. In Japan, the game was ported to the Famicom Disk System under the title Final Command: Akai Yousai.

[edit] External links

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