Jackal

Hello fellow g1s, MisterBo here to give you another review of the...

MISTERBO RETRO COLLECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Ahem* Anyway...

Metal Gear 2 - Theme of Solid Snake, Zanzibar Breeze, Unnoticed, First Instruction, Frequency 140.85

 

Well, time for another review of another retro gem. I actually did this review a while back on v4, but lost the back-up due to a break-in and robbery. Now, I bring to you the REMAKE of the review of Jackal on the NES!!!

An accurate representation of actual events.

History & Backstory:

Back in the days of 80s arcades, shoot 'em ups were everywhere. If there was an arcade, there was probably some sort of shoot 'em up whether it be the primitive Space Invaders or a game like Gradius.

"Incoming projectiles!!" Where? "EVERYWHERE!!!!!!"

These fast paced games excited players as well as frustrating them with the constant bombardment of enemies and projectiles. The bosses on the either hand were inconsistant with their difficulty by either being hard as fuck or easy as shit.

What most shoot 'em ups of the period are also characterizd by though are their power ups. Gradius, R-Type, 1942, Contra, and many other titles from the genre had power ups to ease gameplay and help you advance through levels at an easier level. The downside to many of these games though was that you'd lose all your progress on your power-ups if you were to die. This was very frustrating for players since it was very easy to die, being that most shoot 'em ups were one hit KO.

Now, onto Jackal. Jackal was originally released as an arcade game around the world with different names in different regions. The Japanese version was known as Tokushu Butai Jackal, the PAL version simply went under the name Jackal, but the US (because 80s US localization tems were fucking retarded) named the arcade game Top Gunner.

AMERICA!! FUCK YEAH!!!!!!

The reason why the game was drastically renamed in the US was probably due to the fact that the popular '80s movie, Top Gun, came out around 5 months after the movie's initial release. Konami was probably trying to cash in on the popularity somehow and this was it. This is all speculation though and I can't confirm any of this, but it seems like the most probable line of reasoning.

Two years later, the game was ported to home consoles and received it's proper name in the US under the title of Jackal. And the rest, well it's history... even if that history maybe smaller than the nucleus of an atom.

The cartridge in all of it's 8-bit glory.

 Storyline:

... and I use the term VERY loosely. Since this is an NES game, the majority of it is centered around the gameplay. Hell, to my recollection, there's only two sentences in the actual game excluding the intro and end credits.

The main premise though is to save POWs on the battlefield with your Jeep crew and transfer them to safer territory via helicoptor. Along with that, you have to defeat the boss at the end of each stage and you beat the game when you defeat the two-part final boss.

GIANT, MOTHERFUCKING TANK!!!!!!!!!

The story to the game is really left up to your imagination. Why are there only these very few men fighting an onslaught of enemies? How did the POWs become POWs? Who are you fighting? Is there some sort of personal vendetta here? We know none of this, but you can create your own story.

Depending on how old you are, you either love or hate this reference.

Gameplay:

Now we get into the real shit, the main course, the piece de resistance; the gameplay.
To begin, there are some unfortunate and disappointing features to the game.

Every level plays pretty much the same as any other level. The only difference between each level are the different enemies, changed scenery, and increasing difficulty. I must admit, there really isn't too much of an overall difference between this...

... and this.

Three tanks on-screen, only one of them moves. How depressing.

Then there's the view point. This really contrasts from other great Shoot 'em ups like Life Force and Contra because this only stays in one view point perspective. This effects the gameplay by making it seem very repetative and boring. They try to hide this fact with the constantly changing environments, but it's easy to see past that since the main focus is put on shooting the onslaught of enemies.

There are some good and redeeming qualities to the game though.

The controls are simple and very easy to learn.

You move with the D-pad, start button pauses, B button shoots, and A button makes things go boom. Can't get simpler than that.

Also, YOU GET TO GO DIAGONALLY!!!!!! Pretty exciting for an NES game if I do say so myself.

Then there are the power-ups. There are two weapons you are given at the beginning of the game. There's your standard pea shooter and grenades. BUT, if your lucky enough to find a POW that is flashier than a strobe light, then you get that grenade upgraded to a MISSILE!!!!!!!!!!! And it continuously upgrades from there until you hit the point where the flashy POWs just give you bonus points.

Now I would like to present to you a video of somebody playing this game. If you would kindly watch the first two minutes, you'll understand my future point more clearly.

I would like for you to notice that you have the ability to run over and kill the guys holding rocket launchers like a raccoon on the highway. THIS IS JUST FUCKING AWESOME!!!!! I don't know how that got passed Nintendo of America's strict '80s standards, but I'M SURE AS HELL GLAD IT DID!!!!

Then there are the bosses, all six of them (seven if you count the final boss as two).

For our first boss...

Now that's using your imagination.

Since I couldn't find a picture online, I'll resort to a picture of an actual tank. Since it is the first boss, it's very easy. There are four tanks just roaming around shooting cannonballs that require only 2 shots each from your grenade/missile launcher and their finished.

MEDUSA HEADS!!! OH GOD!!! THE CASTLEVANIA MEMORIES REPRESSED FROM SO LONG AGO!!!!

Rediculously enough, the second boss is a bunch of Medusa heads. I swear to god, Konami must have some type of Medusa head fetish. But in addition to the boss, you got tanks spawning out of nowhere!!! This will also be a common occurance for future bosses to have regular enemies spawn, just to let you know. The medusa heads launch missiles that are easily destroyable with the pea shooter. Each Medusa head take three hits from your (in just going to say special from now on) special weapon until it explodes. So after 12 large explosions to 4 ugly faces, you go on to the next stage.

At least there's no Michael Bay involved in this.

Yes, a huge battleship is the boss for the third stage. This is probably the easiest boss out of all of them surprisingly. This is actually the only boss in the whole game that can be beat with the pea shooter. The way to beat the boss is to destroy all the turrets on the ship when they pop-up. The turrets shoot a semi-circle of bullets at you which are very fast and sometimes can be hard to avoid. Fortunately, the NES's limitations allow only about 10 bullets at once to be on screen so sometimes the turrets will only shoot blanks. Hooray for primitive technology.

Insert actual image here.

Yup, a giant helicoptor is the fourth boss. I truly hate this boss with every part of my being. It's so hard to hit because it pops on and off screen so quickly while it shoots at you and drops paratroopers! If you just have the grenade, it's going to be a little hard. the only way to destroy it is to launch your special weapon at it while it's on the screen. After a few hits, it's done for but it's much, MUCH harder than it sounds.

This is a HUUUUUUUUUUGE boss!

Thos boss has everything, enemy spawners, huge tanks, turrets, electric fences, the works! The way to destroy the boss is to destroy the tank spawner stations when they open up and take out the wall behind the electrified fence after the spawners are all destroyed. It's not required to destroy the turrets, but it's highly recommended to do so if you want to have an easier time defeating them. The tanks that spawn are equivalent to the ones that are a part of the first boss fight but easier. All the elements together though make for one hell of a shit storm though. It's unfortunate that there's one (or two) boss(es) after this.

I like to assume that this is Nazi HQ or something of the sort.

The first part of the final boss are two laser turrets and a glowing building. All you need to do is shoot your special weapon at the 3 parts of the boss and then your on to the second part. Seems easy right?

There are SOOOOOOOOO many enemies that will randomly spawn on screen so quickly that make it hard to even focus on your main objective. But when you do destroy them, you get to this...

A GIANT FLAMETHROWING TANK!!!!!

Luckily, no enemies will spawn on screen for this stage of the battle but this tank is so goddamn HARD!!!! The turret cannot be destroyed. The only way to destroy the turret is to launch your special weapon at the tank. The monstrosity of the tank takes a bunch of hits to destroy, but luckily the tank will change color to indicate how far along you are in destroying it. After destoying it, you get a message saying "Well done! Your mission accomplished." and then you go to the end title sequence. You can always press start after it's done to play a harder version of the game, but it's just the same game with more enemies.

Now that's it for the gameplay, now time for the music!!! MAH FAVURITE!!!!!

Bleeps and Bloops:

Ah, the music. For any good retro game (excluding anything pre-NES), the music really helps to set the mood of a game. The music can help determine whether you feel excited, scared, or even relaxed about what's going on at certain points in the game.

In Jackal, there isn't too much music but it's there. Let's see what what this game has to offer.

Intro

Ah, what a fitting intro. Very fitting for a military game. You can hear the beating of the snare drum and this 19 seconds of goodness is very reminiscent of a militaristic marching theme.

Stage 1 and 4

Now shit's about to go down! You're about to go into the middle of a battlefield and the music reflects that feeling. The music starts out on a positive note to get you excited for the upcoming battle. Then it humbles you by going into a darker tone. It reminds you that there going to be many hardships ahead.

Also, It's kind of cool that they made the song to seem like it was set to the rhythm of a machine gun.

Stage 2 and 5

Just like the last song, this one is also reminds the listener of a machine gun going off. This one's different from the last one though for the reason it's all negative. There isn't a hint of positivity in this theme. This one is meant to make you feel scared as the stage goes on. It wants you to be cautious and it wants you to be reminded that there is almost no end to the enemies.

Stage 3 and 6

Once again, another song that's meant to be reminiscent of machine gun fire. This one seems negative, but isn't truly negative. It does remind you of the hard times the player's facing but it wants to let you know that YOU CAN DO IT!!!! It's appropriate since it's the theme for the stage.

Boss Theme

SERIOUSLY, the machine gun tempo is getting repetitive at this point... Well, it is a war game so I guess it's appropriate.

Anyway, SHIT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN!!!!!!! THERE IS GOING TO BE SHIT AND IT WILL GO DOWN!!!

'Nuff said.

Ending

Well, you finally did it. You destroyed the HQ and took down the giant flame-throwing tank, or as the game puts it with its grammar errors, "Well done! Your mission accomplished". Now enjoy the ending screen, watch the credits roll, and press start to play an even harder version of the game.

Overall:

You really have to use your imagination to what little story line there is in the game. Sure it gives you an intro, but even that's a little ambiguous.
The gameplay may have its kinks every, but it's still very good.
The music mainly follows the rhythm of machine gun fire, but will set the appropriate mode for the stage and the player geared up for combat.

Score:

For an overall score I'd give it a 7.5/10. A game that's not the greatest game in the whole world, but definitely needs to played by any gamer. Also, retro gamers definitely should have this in their collection.
This is definitely a game Non-Specific Action Figure would approve of.

I'm so lucky that Nintendo had that pre-E3 press conference while I was writing this blog.

I hope you've enjoyed this review.

This is MisterBo signing off.