Accepted [+] [X] Jackal [Model NES-JK-USA] Update submitted by Andrzej Warszawski
Jackal (c) 1988 Konami Industry co ltd.
NES port from FamiCom disk system. "Final Commando - Akai Yousai [Model KDS-AKA]" has more information about the game itself.
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. Cannons, tanks, submarines and snipers will blast you with horrific crossfire, while jet fighters zero in from above. To defend yourself, you control the army's advanced all-terrain attack jeep, with its arsenal of guided missiles and incendiary grenades.
Of course these are merely tools, and to save your countrymen you'll need more than a handful of gunpowder. You'll need a pocketful of miracles, and the ferocity of a wild Jackal!
- TECHNICAL -
GAME ID: NES-JK-USA
- TRIVIA -
Released in September 1988 in the USA.
This port for NES is an almost complete overhaul compared to the FDS version. The list of differences is below:
* Jackal was published as a rom cartridge,
* the text's shadow was darkened,
* NES rom doesn't have a "2 player B" mode known from FDS rom, so the game is either single or double player,
* the last sentence of introductory screen is beginning with a new, last paragraph,
* the 'wild bloody rose' from FDS rom was changed into 'wild jackal',
* the characters' background images are navy blue (instead of red) and
now have bluish frames around them. The text shadow is now blue instead of gray,
* all the stages are now 512 pixels wide, which is a 2x increment towards the FDS game. The stages are scrolled in 8 ways (just like in coin-op original) instead of just vertically,
* the oasis level (based on the 1st level from coin-op Jackal) was added,
* NES Jackal begins with an animation with a helicopter dropping a military jeep. This was absent in FDS Final Commando,
* the water is animated,
* the harbor stage is shortened just a bit; the battleship boss is horizontal and has 6 turrets compared to 5 in FDS rom,
* the final level is 2x longer than in Final Commando, has POW camps to be destroyed, has jets and the final base is brownish instead of red,
* Jackal has the screen with the map shown before the game added, along with intermission screens showing how many POW's you took and with a moving jeep,
* the text 'well done! your mission accomplished' has an exclamation mark, is orange and shown after boss defeat, but not on the separate screen,
* Yamamoto responsible for visual design wasn't credited in Jackal.
- SOURCES -
Game's ROM.
https://tcrf.net/Jackal_(NES)
Accepted [+] [X] Final Commando - Akai Yousai [Model KDS-AKA] Update submitted by Andrzej Warszawski
ファイナルコマンド 赤い要塞 (c) 1988 Konami.
(Final Commando - Akai Yousai)
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 rocket full of miracles, and the ferocity of a wild bloody rose.
- TECHNICAL -
Disk ID: KDS-AKA
Uses both sides (A and B)
Players: up to 2 (simultaneously)
Controls: d-pad 8 ways
Buttons: 2 (in double player mode)
[B] = FIRE FROM CANNON, [A] = USE SECONDARY WEAPON
Only in 1 player and 2 player A modes. Controls for B mode:
player 1 moves the jeep as above, but player 2 uses the d-pad to shoot from cannon. Player 1 also uses [A] to use a secondary weapon.
- TRIVIA -
Released in May 1988.
The title translates into Final Command - Red Fortress.
The 2 player B mode is actually a single player mode; the 2nd player fires with d-pad in the desired direction. This is a reference to coin-op Jackal with rotary joystick.
Despite having been released in Japan, the game is almost fully in English - just the title is non-English.
The stages are scrolling vertically.
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* The jeep has an indefinite passenger load, so you don't need to worry about the fullness (unlike coin-op "Top Gunner" or "Jackal").
* Watch out for a fighter jet throwing Molotov cocktails only at stage 1 and 4.
* There are no hostages at the last stage (#5).
* Kill the soldiers with the gun (you may even run them down with the jeep) and destroy the POW camps (and everything else) with a secondary weapon.
- STAFF -
Programmed by: Hori, Yanagisawa
Character design: Fujiwara, Yoshimoto, Maruo
Music by: Sakamoto, Fujio
Visual design: Shimoide, Satoh, Yamamoto
- SOURCES -
Game's diskette
Accepted [+] [X] New Rally-X Update submitted by Andrzej Warszawski
New Rally-X (c) 1981 Namco.
New Rally-X is a scrolling, overhead maze-based racing game in which the player drives a racing car around a maze and must collect ten yellow flags before the car's fuel runs out. In-game opponents consist of red enemy cars that pursue and try to ram into and destroy the player's car. The enemy cars are faster moving than the player's vehicle.
The player's car automatically moves in whichever direction the joystick is pushed and if it runs into a wall, it will turn automatically and continue moving. To disrupt the chasing enemy cars a smoke-screen can be activated that trails behind the player's car, causing any pursuing vehicles to crash. Activating the smoke screen uses a significant amount of fuel, so players must be careful to not overuse it.
Each maze also has rock formations and crashing into these will result in the loss of a player car. A radar display to the right-hand side of the playing area shows the relative positions of the flags, rocks and enemy vehicles.
In addition to the standard ten flags, each maze also contains a special flag (indicated by the letter "S"). If collected, the value earned for the round's remaining flags doubles from 100 to 200 points. If the player dies before the end of that round, the flag value is set back to 100 points and the double bonus is lost.
The mazes also contain a 'lucky flag'. This is marked with the letter 'L' and - providing there are still standard flags remaining - awards the player extra points for remaining fuel, after which the round will continue as normal. Upon completion of a round, bonus points are awarded based on how much fuel the player has remaining.
As players progress through the rounds, the number or pursuing enemy cars increases.
- TECHNICAL -
Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Namco 3-channel WSG and discrete circuitry for the crash sound.
Screen orientation: Horizontal
Video resolution: 288 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh: 60.61 Hz
Palette colors: 16
Players: up to 2 (alternate turns)
Control: 4-way joystick
Buttons: 1 (SMOKE SCREEN)
- TRIVIA -
New Rally-X was released in February 1981 in Japan and in March 1981 in the USA, but only as an upgrade kit distributed by Midway Manufacturing for "Rally-X" cabinets.
The 'Namco 1980 1st' refers to the release of Rally-X in November 1980.
While the original "Rally-X", released under a Bally/Midway license, was a moderate hit in North America, Bally/Midway only distributed this updated version as an upgrade kit for "Rally-X" cabinets. The game appeared quite frequently in mainland Europe and the United Kingdom, mainly in the form of uncredited bootlegs. It was at least as popular as "Rally-X" in these regions, if not more so, primarily due to the game's greater playability and abundance of bootleg board stock.
Differences from Rally-X:
* The graphics for the cars and boundary walls have been slightly improved.
* The game has new background music, which many players have found quite enjoyable. The BGM is longer than in Rally-X. Moreover, challenging stages have separate music.
* New Rally-X shows how many cars and rocks there are before a challenging stage. The challenging stages' brief has an information telling you the red cars won't move until the fuel runs out.
* The stage layouts have been simplified in order to reduce dead ends that a player could become trapped in.
* The number of enemy cars that appear in each stage has been reduced.
* The addition of the Lucky flag.
* The position of the special flag is indicated on the radar by the blinking yellow dot.
* By default, you now get an extra life at 80,000 points in addition to 20,000 points.
* The number of rocks and enemy cars is indicated before each Challenging Stage.
New Rally-X is used as a loading game in "Ridge Racers" for the Sony PSP; it can also be selected as a mini-game.
- SCORING -
Collecting a flag: 100 points x the flag collected up to a maximum of 1,000 points (If you lose a life, the points awarded will reset when you start the stage over).
Special flag: Doubles points for the special flag and all flags collected thereafter until you clear the stage or lose a life. If you clear the round without losing a life, the last flag is always worth 2,000 points because it is guaranteed that at some point, you will have collected the special flag. However, losing a life will cancel the special flag's scoring effect when you have to start the stage over.
Lucky flag: Normal flag points plus points for remaining fuel
End of round bonus: points for remaining fuel
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* Your only goal is to collect all ten flags as quickly as possible. You need to pay constant attention to two things: the zoomed in view of the world that occupies most of the screen, and the radar view of the world to the right.
* The radar view provides you with two key pieces of information: the relative position of the flags in the world, and the proximity of the enemy cars to yours. Yellow dots in the radar view denote the flags' locations, the blinking yellow dot represents the Special Flag, red dots represent the enemy cars, and the dot flashing black and gray represents you.
* The method you use for collecting the flags is of utmost importance. It is usually best to try to hop from one flag to whichever flag is closest, but the enemies will make that quite difficult to do. As a general rule, do not reverse your direction unless it is absolutely necessary and completely safe to do. If you have to choose between getting close to an enemy to pick up a nearby flag, and abandoning that flag for a farther flag, go for the farther flag. The more distance you put between you and the other cars, the safer you will remain.
* If you collect the Lucky flag last, points for remaining fuel will only be counted once. Try not to get the Lucky flag last if you're trying for the high scores.
* In general, you will be safe off if you choose a direction to collect flags, clockwise or counter-clockwise, and stick to it throughout the duration of the stage. The smokescreen is an invaluable and incredibly tempting tool to use. But if you use it excessively, you will deplete your fuel supply very rapidly, making it more likely that you will run out of fuel before you collect all ten flags, which will almost ensure your demise.
* Challenging stages occur before each maze change, which occurs on the third round and every fourth round thereafter. In these stages, you are free to collect all of the flags without being harassed by enemy cars until your fuel runs out. However, you can still crash into parked cars and rocks, so be careful.
* Easter Egg:
1) Enter service mode.
2) Keep B1 pressed and enter the following sequence : UP(x2), DOWN(x7), RIGHT, LEFT(x6)
3) '(c) Namco LTD. 1980' will be added at the bottom of the screen, even if the game was released in February 1981. This Easter egg must have been an inadvertence.
- SERIES -
1. Rally-X (1980, Arcade)
2. New Rally-X (1981, Arcade)
3. Rally-X Arrangement (1996, Arcade): part of "Namco Classics Collection Vol.2"
4. New Rally-X Arrangement (2005, PSP): part of "Namco Museum Battle Collection"
5. Rally-X Remix (2007, Wii): part of "Namco Museum Remix"
6. Rally-X Rumble (2011, App Store)
- STAFF -
Music by: Nobuyuki Ohnogi
- PORTS -
* CONSOLES:
[JP] Sony PlayStation (nov.22, 1995) "Namco Museum Vol.1 [Model SLPS-00107]"
[AU] Sony PlayStation (1996) "Namco Museum Vol.1"
[US] Sony PlayStation (jul.31, 1996) "Namco Museum Vol.1 [Model SLUS-00215]"
[EU] Sony PlayStation (aug.1996) "Namco Museum Vol.1 [Model SCES-00243]"
[US] [EU] [JP] [AU] Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] (dec.27, 2006)
[US] Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] (nov.4, 2008) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade [Model 21022]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] (may.15, 2009) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade"
[AU] Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] (june.3, 2009) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade"
[JP] Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console Arcade] (oct.6, 2009)
[JP] Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] (nov.5, 2009) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade [Model 2RD-00001]"
[US] Nintendo Wii (nov.16, 2010) "Namco Museum Megamix"
* HANDHELDS:
[JP] Sony PSP (feb.24, 2005) "Namco Museum [Model ULJS-00012]"
[KO] Sony PSP (may.2, 2005) "Namco Museum [Model UCKS-45005]" : as 'New Banggor'
[US] Sony PSP (aug.23, 2005) "Namco Museum Battle Collection [Model ULUS-10035]"
[EU] Sony PSP (dec.9, 2005) "Namco Museum Battle Collection [Model UCES-00116]"
* COMPUTERS:
[JP] Sharp X68000 (1988)
[JP] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (nov.28, 1997) "Namco History Vol.2"
* OTHERS:
[US] Arcade (1996) "Namco Classics Collection Vol.2"
[US] Ms. Pac-Man TV Game Wireless Version (2005) : by Jakk's Pacific
[US] Arcade Gold featuring Pac-Man (2007) : by Jakk's Pacific
[US] Retro Arcade featuring Pac-Man (2008) : by Jakk's Pacific
[US] Apple iPhone/iPod (aug.18, 2011) "Rally-X Rumble [Model 451084589]"
[US] Pac-Man Connect and Play (2012) : by Bandai
[US] Arcade (2018) "Pac-Man's Pixel Bash"
- SOURCES -
Game's ROM.
Accepted [+] [X] Rally-X Update submitted by Andrzej Warszawski
Rally-X (c) 1980 Namco, Limited.
In Rally-X, the player drives a car around a maze picking up all of the yellow flags, of which there are ten, before the car's fuel runs out. The game-play has a similar feel to another Namco legend, "Pac-Man"; although in Rally-X, the mazes are much larger and, with each maze having only ten flags to collect, is more sparsely populated than Namco's pill-eating legend.
In-game opponents consist of red enemy cars that try to ram into and destroy the player's car, a problem compounded by the fact that enemy cars are faster than the player's. A smoke screen can be activated which trails behind the player's car and causes any pursuing enemies to crash. Each maze also has rock formations which, if crashed into, will result in the loss of a player car. A radar display to the right hand side of the playing area shows the positions of both the flags, and the enemy vehicles.
- TECHNICAL -
Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound chips: Namco 3-channel WSG and discrete circuitry for the crash sound.
Screen orientation: horizontal
Screen resolution: 288x224
Players: up to 2 (alternating turns)
Control: 4-way joystick
Buttons: 1 (SMOKE SCREEN)
- TRIVIA -
Rally-X was released in Japan on November 22, 1980.
The insertion of service coin plays different sound than when a regular coin is inserted.
The special flag reappears in Xevious, released in December 1982. The flag hidden in a few areas there.
- UPDATES -
In the introduction to the bonus stages, the Namco version misspells 'Challenging' as 'Charanging'. This was corrected in the Midway version.
- SCORING -
Collected flag: 100 points x the flag collected up to a maximum of 1,000 points. If you lose a life, the points awarded will reset to 100.
Collected Special Flag: doubles points for the special flag and all flags collected thereafter until you clear the round or lose a life. If you clear the entire round without losing a single life, the tenth flag is always worth 2,000 points because it is guaranteed that at some point, you will have collected the Special Flag. However, losing a life will cancel out the Special Flag's scoring effect when you restart.
End of stage bonus: points for remaining fuel (always random)
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* Your only goal is to collect all ten flags as quickly as possible. You need to pay constant attention to two things: the zoomed in view of the world that occupies most of the screen, and the radar view of the world to the right.
* The radar view provides you with two key pieces of information: the relative position of the flags in the world and the proximity of the enemy cars to yours. Yellow dots in the radar view denote the flags' locations, red dots represent the enemy cars, and the dot flashing black and gray represents you.
* The method you use for collecting the flags is of utmost importance. It is usually best to try to hop from one flag to whichever flag is closest, but the enemies will make that quite difficult to do. As a general rule, do not reverse your direction unless it is absolutely necessary and completely safe to do. If you have to choose between getting close to an enemy to pick up a nearby flag, and abandoning that flag for a farther flag, go for the farther flag. The more distance you put between you and the other cars, the safer you will remain.
* In general, you will be safe off if you choose a direction to collect flags, clockwise or counter-clockwise, and stick to it throughout the duration of the stage. The smokescreen is an invaluable and incredibly tempting tool to use. But if you use it excessively, you will deplete your fuel supply very rapidly, making it more likely that you will run out of fuel before you collect all ten flags, which will almost ensure your demise.
* Challenging stages occur before each maze change, which occurs each time the round number is one less than a multiple of four (the challenging stages occur on the third, seventh, and every fourth round thereafter. In these stages, you are free to collect all of the flags without being harassed by enemy cars until your fuel runs out. However, you can still crash into parked cars and rocks, so be careful.
* The special flag isn't marked on the radar, so you have to search for it by yourself.
* Easter Egg :
1) Enter service mode.
2) Keep B1 pressed and enter the following sequence : UP(x2), DOWN(x7), RIGHT, LEFT(x6)
3) '(c) Namco LTD. 1980' will be added at the bottom of the screen.
- SERIES -
1. Rally-X (1980, Arcade)
2. New Rally-X (1981, Arcade)
3. Rally-X Arrangement (1996, Arcade): part of "Namco Classics Collection Vol.2"
4. New Rally-X Arrangement (2005, PSP): part of "Namco Museum Battle Collection"
5. Rally-X Remix (2007, Wii): part of "Namco Museum Remix"
6. Rally-X Rumble (2011, App Store)
- STAFF -
Planning: Hirohito Ito
Hardware: Kouichi Tashiro
Programming: Kazuo Kurosu
Sound: Toshio Kai
- PORTS -
NOTE: For ports released in the USA, please see the Midway version entry.
* CONSOLES:
[AS] Nintendo Famicom (1989) "Jovial Race" : by Sachen
[JP] Nintendo Famicom (199?) "Mi Hun Che"
[JP] Sony PlayStation (nov.22, 1995) "Namco Museum Vol.1 [Model SLPS-00107]"
[AU] Sony PlayStation (1996) "Namco Museum Vol.1 [Model SCES-00243]"
[EU] Sony PlayStation (aug.1996) "Namco Museum Vol.1 [Model SCES-00243]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (jan.26, 2006) "Namco Museum Arcade Hits! [Model SLPS-25590]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (mar.24, 2006) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary"
[EU] Sony PS2 (mar.31, 2006) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary [Model SLES-53957]"
[EU] Nintendo GameCube (may.5, 2006) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary [Model DOL-G5NP-EUR]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX 360 (may.15, 2009) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade"
[AU] Microsoft XBOX 360 (june.4, 2009) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade"
[JP] Microsoft XBOX 360 (nov.5, 2009) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade [Model 2RD-00001]"
* HANDHELDS:
[EU] Sony PSP (dec.9, 2005) "Namco Museum Battle Collection [Model UCES-00116]"
[JP] Sony PSP (feb.24, 2005) "Namco Museum [Model ULJS-00012]"
[KO] Sony PSP (may.2, 2005) "Namco Museum [Model UCKS-45005]" : as 'Banggor'
[EU] Nintendo GBA (mar.31, 2006) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary [Model AGB-B5NP-EUR]"
* COMPUTERS:
[JP] MSX (mar.30, 1984)
[JP] Fujitsu FM-7 (1984)
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1984) "Hold-Up" : Different sprites but same game.
[JP] Sharp X68000 (1988) : by IT
[JP] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (nov.28, 1997) "Namco History Vol.2"
[AU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (mar.27, 2006) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary"
[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (may.19, 2006) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary"
- SOURCES -
Game's ROM.
Game's picture.
Accepted [+] [X] The Battle-Road Update submitted by Andrzej Warszawski
The Battle-Road (c) 1984 Irem.
- TECHNICAL -
Irem M-62 system hardware
Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Motorola M6803 (@ 894.886 Khz)
Sound Chips: (2x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 894.886 Khz), (2x) MSM5205 (@ 384 Khz)
Screen orientation: square screen
Screen resolution: 256x256 (pixels)
Players: up to 2 (alternating turns)
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 2
[A] = FIRE FORWARD, [B] = SHOOT SIDE BULLETS
- TRIVIA -
Released in October 1984 in Japan.
The Battle-Road is a response to Midway's "Spy Hunter [model a27]", released in November 1983, although the car can't be transformed into a boat. There are no oil slicks or smoke screens. The rockets are fired only by an NPC helicopter.
'Crash' is misspelled as 'Clash' (error shown after a stage).
The high score supports up to 8 letters.
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* You can shoot the turrets at farm stages, but the bullets will be fired even if you're relatively far from the cannons.
* You can run the pedestrians throwing grenades down (town stages), but this leads to quick fuel depletion. Don't hit the moving balls either.
* The guards hidden behind the wooden barricades at 'forest 3' stage are unarmed, so you don't need to run them down.
* The helicopter drops rockets, a hit causes game over.
* Don't hit the fallen rocks at valley stages. The tunnel doesn't protect either from rockets or fallen rocks.
* Watch out at stage 'waste 2': the suicide terrorist is driving fast and will climb to the car with a rope; you actually can't evade him, leading to a game over.
* Drive slowly at 'waste 1' stage not to hit any mine and to react fast when you see one. A hit causes explosion and leads to a game over.
* Don't collect points at forest stages: they don't give fuel or extra life.
* The game is over in the following ways: no fuel, loss of all 4 wheels and aforementioned suicide terrorist blow up (seen at 'waste 2' stage), rocket explosion (valley stages), hit mine ('waste 1' stage).
- SOURCES -
Game's ROM.
Accepted [+] [X] Moeyo Kung Foo Lady Update submitted by Amaris Torrence
Moeyo Kung Foo Lady (c) 2005 Yamasa.
Featuring a LCD video screen.
- SERIES -
1. Kung Foo Lady (1999)
2. Kung Foo Lady 2 (2002)
3. Moeyo Kung Foo Lady (2005)
4. Kung fu taisen (2011)
5. Kung fu lady dragon (2017)
6. Kung fu express (20220
7. Kung fu express dragon (2024)
- SOURCES -
Machine's picture.
