As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #50, July 2008.

Games based upon war have always been a core component of the video game industry as a whole. Shoot or be shot has been a fundamental mechanic dating back to some of the earliest video games \both in the arcade and in the home and continues on to this day. One could argue that this is a greater reflection of humanity being based around war and conquest. Or that the natural world instincts of survival of the fittest permeate into all things. However that's something else entirely since we're here to play some video games and have some fun. Konami became known early on as one of the top innovators and refiners of the shooting genre, with games that featured fast action game play along with fluid graphics and memorable sound. While their run and gun opus, Contra, was still a year away, 1986 wasn't without its stellar arcade titles. Building on their already popular catalog of arcade hits Konami offered up a more down to Earth take on combat with Jackal, released in North American arcades as Top Gunner.

Jackal enlisted players in the role of a pair of soldiers in a jeep, dropped behind enemy lines via helicopter. Your mission: rescue your comrades who are being held as prisoners of war. Along the way small helicopter landing pads will be staffed by rescue helicopters to carry away your freed brothers-in-arms. Be careful though, since you're going in as a small invasion and rescue force you'll be up against the entire might of the opposing army. Each jeep is equipped with both a primary and secondary weapon. The primary weapon is a rapid fire machine gun which always shoots upward. It has limited range and firepower, however due to its quick rate of fire it is an indispensable tool for grinding through the masses of enemy soldiers. Also since it always shoots upward it can be used as a strafing weapon while the jeep is driven to the left and right. The secondary weapon is an upgradable explosive projectile. It begins as pineapple grenades which while fire slower and a shorter distance than the machine gun, cause much more damage. The grenades can be upgraded to missiles which fire faster and have greater range. The missiles can in turn be upgraded a couple times, increasing their final blast radius with each upgrade. Only explosive projectiles can be used to blow open buildings which will then allow the rescue of the P.O.W.'s inside. Special P.O.W.'s will upgrade your weapons and of course transporting P.O.W.'s to the rescue helicopters is the best way to gain massive bonus points. Two years after charging through the blockades of the arcade, Jackal appeared on the NES but not without quite a few changes.

Let's start off with what remained faithful to the arcade original. The first thing most players remember about Jackal is the music, that one of a kind tune that plays during the introduction screen and during the first stage. This is completely intact and many will take to the NES instrument reworking more so than the original soundtrack. Control is handled exactly as it was originally with the directional pad replacing the joystick for jeep movement. The B Button fires the machine gun, straight up as in the arcade, and the A Button launches your current explosive projectile. As for the projectiles, they follow suit as they did in the arcade for the most part although the blast radius upgrading behaves just slightly different. Movement and firing are fast and accurate although while the jeep tends to respond faster on the NES, due to fewer frames of animation for it backing up and turning around, the machine gun doesn't fire as fast as it did in the arcade when the button is held down. P.O.W.'s are rescued in the same way by blowing open their prison buildings, parking out in front to pick them up and depositing them at helicopter landing pads.

Now there are more than a few differences between the arcade original and the NES conversion. While these differences may seem vast, both games stick to the same game play formula and objectives. In that way, they both still feel as cut from the same cloth and don't seem out of place when played back to back. Sure, things are different, but it all flows together much the same way. Originally Jackal played as one long continuous battle from the insertion point to the final base at the very end. There were no breaks, no intermissions, no bonus rounds, no moments to cool off or anything of the like. It was a hard and fast assault from beginning to end. Sure, the music would change as different parts of the game were entered but it was still one long fight. On the NES the game was reworked to fit better for a sit down at home title. The biggest change is the addition of boss battles and clearly separated stages. I suppose this bows a little more toward the convention of games on the NES but it also helps define game play goals and provide objective beyond the high score. After each boss is defeated the introduction screen is presented again with the player's jeep advancing up to the next area. In the arcade original this is only shown at the start and after completing the entire game or to show progress after Game Over. Originally there was only one boss, the fortress at the end. However on the NES you get a variety of different bosses that require different techniques to defeat. Yes, some of them sit a little more on the fantasy side of enemy design, almost looking like something out of Gradius, but for the most part they do nothing but enhance the challenge and variety. Also little intermission screens have been added after the boss battles which allow the player a welcome rest in the action. While the level designs maintain the same basic theming between both versions, the NES conversion takes more liberties due to the addition of separate stages so there's a little more variety in the terrain.

However the biggest change is the removal of large shrapnel in the NES version. Originally when tanks and gun turrets were destroyed they'd explode but leave behind a mass of rubble that would then explode shortly after. The charred remains as well as the second explosion would take out your jeep so you had to be careful to wait for it to disperse. On the NES this has been done away with as what shrapnel there is doesn't damage your jeep. True it makes the game a little easier but I find it a more enjoyable experience with this more forgiving rework. Nice graphic details abound that make every attempt to stay true to the original given limitations of the NES hardware. The biggest compromise has to do with color richness. The super detailed structures and enemies of the original are downgraded to more bland colors that bleed together but are still distinguishable due to their outlines. Enemy soldiers can still be run over with your jeep rather than shooting them, thankfully something Nintendo didn't sensor out. Also enemy soldiers flash before firing which is a nice touch that alerts the player to watch for fire, if they are planning on running a soldier down with the jeep. I also enjoy seeing the rescue helicopters fly over the battlefield shortly before appearing at a landing pad up ahead. This not only adds some authenticity to the mission, it also lets the player know that a drop off point is coming up shortly.

A lot of the casual gamers I've talked to over the years fondly remember Jackal when we start talking about the NES. This always surprises me because it's rare to find this game on many top ten lists or things of the like. It would seem that Jackal is simply one of the forgotten treasures of the NES platform, more than likely a casualty of Konami's success with the Contra and Castlevania franchises, both from around the same time. The name change could of had something to do with it as well as it's not directly linked by name to the arcade title most North American arcade patrons would have seen. Most seem to remember Jackal by another NES game in fact, Blades of Steel, where Contra and Jackal were advertised during intermission. Now there was also a version of Jackal released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan but that was another completely different take on the title. The FDS version is worth taking a look at if you love the game but for those with casual interest let me tell you, this was one of the few times were American gamers got the better build than the Japanese home release. Give this forgotten classic of the NES era a try, if the frantic and unique game play doesn't make an impression on you, the soundtrack sure will.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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