Ikari warriors is yet another one of those popular arcade games that almost no one seems to explicitly know about (at least in comparison to games like Pac Man, Sonic, etc.) To keep a fairly average length story pretty short, Ikari Warriors is a vertical arcade shooting game that basically has players running through jungle-like areas fighting through massive groups of enemies. We can probably tell all of that information from simply looking at the cover of the game on google or something like that though – what makes this game interesting? Well, if you read on, the research we’ve done on Ikari Warriors will show you just exactly what Capcom did to make Ikari(Ikari Warriors) fun for those who enjoy the standard run and gun game style.
Video of Ikari Warriors Gameplay
History
There really isn’t a whole lot of history on Ikari Warriors – mainly because it isn’t seen as being a completely mainstream game. Here is what we do know about it’s creation though. Ikari Warriors was originally created by SNK and was published by Tradewest in both Europe and North America. It was initially called simply Ikari (which is why I put that in the first section there) and was considered SNK (the creators) first blockbuster game. As we all know there are quite a few copycats in the gaming industry – it simply can’t be helped, they’re everywhere. Ikari Warriors was no exception to this rule – it was created in a period when a ast majority of companies were creating their own versions of Commando-style games. The only difference between Ikari Warriors and the rest of the games on the market was that it featured rotary-style joysticks and a bonus multiplayer mode.
Keiko Jiu, the game’s designer, stated that Ikari was fashioned after a movie we all know and love, Rambo (which is why it was stated that the game was placed in a jungle-like area).
Gameplay
The next big question that comes to mind is “How exactly is the gameplay?”. The best answer I can give to that question is that it’s very straightforward. In Ikari warriors, players get the option to play as either Ralf or Clark, 2 commando warriors featured in the game (or you can play as both).
During the game you, the player must move from the bottom of the screen all the way to the top, all the while moving towards a village in the game called Ikari. You’ll find that as you move through the game with this goal in mind there will be a number of enemies who will try to stop and destroy you – Of these enemies, you will find soldiers, helicopters, and tanks. You do, however, have the ability to take over enemy vehicles which you can use against the enemy once taken over. The upside of doing this is that commandeered ships make you immune to enemy fire. The downside of taking over enemy ships is that once they run out of gas (yes, fuel is limited in these vehicles) they become vulnerable to enemy fire. Let’s also not forget that these machines are vulnerable to explosions and will take a player with it if they aren’t able to get out of it and get away from the explosion in time. What does that mean? Players should be very careful when they’re driving these things.
You do however get the chance to use the weapons that these ships are equipped with. For example, enemy helicopters are equipped with guns and cannons (let’s also not forget that they have the ability to fly, which is very helpful in certain situations).
To move your character all you must do is move your joystick in the direction you’d like your player to go in. This movement is literally entirely independent of the direction the player was moving in previously and also allows the player to move and attack enemies in 8 seperate directions (at a single time of course). Each of your player’s hands fires a separate weapon: the left fires a grenade and the right fires a machine gun.
To play the game online you can go here
Fun Facts about Ikari Warriors
- The name of the game comes from the japanese name of Rambo 2 (or Ikari no Dasshutsu)
- You can find the playable characters in the game (Ralph and Clark) on both Metal Slug and Metal Slug 6 as well as on the King of Fighters game series.
- The current world record for this game is nearly 1,800,000 and was placed by Stan Szczepanski
- The game was inspired by Rambo
- It’s called Ikari Warriors in the US and Ikari in Japan
Conclusion
And there you have it – the story of Ikari Warriors. If you feel there is anything we’re missing feel free to send us a message or comment on it below – we’ll make sure to add it.
This information was taken from Wikipedia