Ikari Warriors

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ikari Warriors

Developer(s)	SNK
Publisher(s)	Tradewest
Release date(s)	1986
Genre(s)	Run and gun
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Platform(s)	MSX, Nintendo Entertainment System, Apple II, DOS, Atari ST, Atari 7800, Amiga, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum
Input	Joystick (LS-30, 12-way rotary), 2 buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade CPU(s)	3 x Z80-A running at 4MHz (2 co-processors, 1 sound processor)
Arcade display	Raster, Vertical orientation, standard resolution (216 x 288), 1024 Colors

Ikari Warriors is a 1986 arcade game by SNK (manufactured in the United States by Tradewest). Known simply as 怒 (Ikari, literally "anger") in Japan, this was SNK's first major breakthrough US release and became something of a classic. The game was released at the time when there were many Commando clones on the market. What made Ikari Warriors instantly distinct, were rotary joysticks and the possibility for two player to play simultaneously.

Ikari Warriors involves Ralf Jones and Clark Steel of the later King of Fighters series (known outside Japan as Paul and Vince in the Ikari series) battling through hordes of enemies. According to designer Keiko Iju, the game was inspired by the then-popular Rambo films. Ralf and Clark also make an appearance as playable characters in the sixth Metal Slug game.

1 Overview
2 Description
3 Hardware
4 Legacy
5 Ports
6 External links

[edit] Overview

The player (or players: see below) takes the role of a commando-like warrior, who must try to reach the village of Ikari. Enemy units attempting to kill the player include tanks, enemy soldiers and helicopters. A number of power-ups along the way help the player to achieve victory.

Ikari Warriors was the first to use rotary joysticks: those which could be rotated in addition to being pushed in eight directions. The game also featured two buttons, one for the standard gun and another for lobbing grenades. It allowed two players to play cooperatively, side by side - one of the few games to do so at the time. The game cabinet was a standard upright.

[edit] Description

The player begins as one of two commando-type warriors, garbed in red (Ralf) or blue (Clark) (depending on whether they are player one or two). They 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 with a frightening arsenal of firepower. Along the way, players may commandeer enemy tanks 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.

Ikari Warriors was the first 'Commando' style game to give the player a limited amount of ammunition (99 bullets and 99 grenades, not actually a great handicap) as well as power-up and bonus icons to improve your firepower, dropped by red soldiers. These are listed as follows:

Gun: restores machine gun ammo to maximum.
Grenade: restores grenade ammo to maximum.
Gas: restores all ammo to maximum and refuels the tank if the player is driving one.
K: Kills all enemy troops on-screen, except ones hiding underwater.
S: Gun and tank shots are sped up.
L: Long-range shot. Bullets travel the entire length of the screen.
F: Bullets turn red and can destroy trucks, gun emplacements and bases. Pierce shot. Bullets pass through rocks and other barriers without being blocked. Tank shots become rockets.
B: Blast grenades. Grenades turn red and produce giant-sized explosions. All tank shots become blast grenades as well.

The game's joysticks could be rotated in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. Turning the joystick changed the direction the character faced independent of the direction the character might be moving. This gave the player freedom to attack or walk in eight different directions. This made it generally easier—but sometimes harder—to take out enemy units. Aiming must also be taken into account by the warrior using the machine gun in his right hand, while throwing grenades with his left; no shot is fired from directly in front of the player.

Because of its innovative controls, this game was initially very popular. However, the joysticks proved somewhat fragile, especially when played heavily as this game was. They need to be repaired often since being unable to turn makes the game almost unplayable.

[edit] Hardware

Ikari Warriors printed circuit boards (PCBs) were manufactured in two different versions: SNK pinout and JAMMA pinout. Most SNK-pinout units were put into Ikari 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.

Ikari used SNK's model LS-30 joysticks, which contain a 12-way rotary switch box. The joysticks are connected to the PCB via auxiliary wiring harnesses.

[edit] Legacy

This game spawned several similar games as well as several direct sequels. The game's sequels are:

Victory Road (1986)
Ikari III: The Rescue (1989)

Similar games include:

Heavy Barrel (1987)
Time Soldiers (1987)
Guerrilla War (1987)

All of the latter games featured the innovative 8-way rotary joysticks that made Ikari Warriors so popular.

[edit] Ports

Ikari Warriors was ported to several home systems of the era including Nintendo Entertainment System, Apple II, DOS, Atari ST, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Many of these were released in 1986, the MSX port (the only game SNK released for that platform) and conversions for 16-bit machines were released in 1987. There are two different Commodore 64 ports, one released by Data East in 1986 and another released by Elite in 1988. Elite also released most other computer ports. Because all these systems lacked rotary joysticks, however, some felt they were not as compelling as the arcade version. Atari ST and Amiga versions featured improved graphics (and latter also improved sound effects). Jeff Rovin's classic book, How to Win at Nintendo Games, opined that precision shooting was difficult in the NES port.