Developer: Konami
Release Date: June 1986 (arcade); September 1988 (NES)
“You've been chosen to be one of the few, the proud, the Jackals.”
Welcome to the second installment of Nintend’oh, the column that provides fresh perspectives on the finest entertainment of yesteryear – The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)!
It’s been 19 months since I reviewed Paperboy and a lot has changed: the name of this blog is considerably better (shorter), the Knicks seem like they may not be totally and unfathomably awful, I’ve moved to a new state, I’ve gotten a new job, I am now a hunter, I wear glasses, I married my beautiful wife Erin over the summer, I have two new nieces Elizabeth and Keira…the list goes on and on. The most notable and important change, however, is that I will be getting a new gaming console, the Xbox 360. But, to quote Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Let me put this in perspective for some readers. This is the first time in 10 years that I’ll be getting a new system with new games. New games in that they are actually new; they're currently being made and released in present day. This is a momentous occasion. It’s a daunting task, really, because there is so much out there that I know so little about. I find the unknown simultaneously arousing and frightful. The term “fear-boner” has found itself in regular rotation. I’ve taken to researching various titles for the Xbox and the result is, well…interesting. No matter what game title I enter into Google, no matter what YouTube search query I use, and no matter what Gamespot review I read, I always arrive at the same conclusion. Let’s just say that if I were a character on Lost, Jackal would be my constant. To illustrate my point, here are snippets of my stream of conscious as I search out new games to buy for Xbox:
- Wow! A new Bond game – is it money!? Will it be as money as Goldeneye? It’s a first/third person shooter, but it has some driving levels…Shooter…Driving…JACKAL
- EA’s Madden 2011 looked pretty money. The Jets are stacked in it. Stacked Jets…throwing bombs…Jets and Bombs…War…Wait, doesn’t EA make those Medal of Honor games too? Are those money? I heard the newest one takes place in Afghanistan…Afghanistan borders Iran…Iran Contra…Iran borders Iraq… Saddam…Desert …Kicking ass …Kicking ass in the desert? … JACKAL
- NHL 2011 looks incredible. It’s almost as fun as NHL 94 for Genesis or Blades of Steel for NES. Blades…Of steel. Awesome game…cool graphics…all your friends will want it…JACKAL.
Jackal, or as I like to call it, 特殊部隊ジャッカル, is a fantastic game for the NES. It is the NES port of the popular arcade game Top Gunner (which certainly tried to play off the popularity of Top Gun which also came out in 1986). Jackal is an overhead run and gun game that can be played single player or multiplayer (simultaneous). The player controls an armored jeep with the dual objectives of rescuing POWs and defeating the boss at the end of each of the eight levels. The player is awarded points when POWs are transferred to rescue helicopters at several pick up locations interspersed throughout each level. If a player earns enough points, an extra life will be granted. If the player catches a POW that is blinking, that player's weaponry will be upgraded. Any collision or contact with an enemy will cause the jeep to spontaneously combust and costs a life.
Jackal is a tremendously fun game. For those familiar with the classic game Choplifter, Jackal is essentially Choplifter-in-a-Jeep. Combining rescue missions with a run ‘n gun arcade style game was not only awesome but considerably ahead of its time. There’s something inherently fun about driving games, but driving games that employ fighting and/or shooting are even better (remember Road Rash or Skitchin' for Sega Genesis?) There are several aspects of the game that make it incredibly enjoyable even 22 years later. The mechanics of the game are spot on; players can quickly adapt to the controls of the vehicle and the shooting, but mastery requires repeated play. The pacing of the game is perfect. Like most games, it starts out easy and gets progressively difficult as the player gets further along in the game. However, there is no sudden or drastic shift in difficulty. This makes Jackal uniquely engaging from the beginning of the first level to whenever-it-is-that-your-game-ends. The weaponry in Jackal is extremely fun to play and manipulate. Each weapon brings its own dynamic to the style of play used by the player. Honestly, it’s also just fun to run people over and flatten them. Especially foreign people!
The best aspect of Jackal is the multiplayer option. In my opinion, playing Jackal in two player mode is one of the highlights of the playing the NES altogether. Aside from Contra or Double Dragon II, Jackal is the best tandem two player game ever made for the NES. The ebb and flow of the game is so effortless in Jackal. Jackal’s maps are quite large and don’t fit on one screen (known in inner geek circles as being a “push-scroller”) and this works perfectly. The “push-scroller” nature of the maps and simultaneous management of the increasing difficulty and varying landscapes provides for much strategizing on the part of the players. For example, one player can stick with the original weapons and be aggressive on the front lines, while player two hangs back and retains the upgraded weapons and is more defensive minded to minimize unnecessary deaths and loss of weaponry. This strategizing on two player mode is what makes Jackal one of the top NES games of all time.
Jackal is also awesome because of its unintentional humor. Think about it; you are essentially given a map of different parts of the world (the Middle East, Rome, Europe) and you basically obliterate every area to shreds in the name of saving American POWs, should you so choose. You don’t even have to save anyone. You can just scorch the non-American earth and leave the POWs if you want. There are heat-seeking missiles firing out of moving Medusa busts, you get to run people over with your jeep, you get to mow people down with heavy artillery, you get to ruin the ruins. It’s awesome. Take a look at this story and try to tell me that you’re not fired up about kicking some foreign ass and saving some American tail. By the way, if you aren’t fired up, then you’re either a terrorist or a communist (probably both):
The characters that you can choose from are Colonel Decker, Lieutenant Bob, Sergeant Quint (my personal favorite) and Corporal Grey. Who you choose has no impact on the game play whatsoever.
If you dominate a level you get this screenshot:
If you get dominated on the level you get this screenshot:
Wait a minute. Is that Saddam Hussein? In our jeep? Is he on our side? If not, then why do the bad guys look befuddled when I just had an awful round? What the hell? IS THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN?
All in all, Jackal has everything; fun game-play (especially multiplayer), intuitive controls, funny enough story line, funny characters, challenging maps, awesome music, great weaponry and the replay value is essentially never-ending. The game does not have any glaring flaws.
Look out for the next installment of Nintend’oh coming soon (if by soon I mean 19 months).
A
Dan Baxter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGkctaM43w (Jackal NES game play)
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