The presidential candidate's daughter has been kidnapped! It is your job to get past enemy lines and rescue her. This is the third game in the Ikari Warriors series, and features similar arcade/action gameplay. The screen is a top down view which scrolls vertically, with numerous bad guys to defeat. You start the game with just your fists, and as the levels progress you can find weapons and other objects to help you out.
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You know what phrase I am a big fan of? “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. Isn’t that such a motivational thing to hear? It can be applied to any situation really, where if things just aren’t working out the way they planned, you just gotta keep on trucking along, see what else you can do, and maybe someday, you will accomplish what you set out to do. However, this doesn’t necessarily work all the time with everything, and the Ikari Warriors series is a prime example of that. Sure, these games may have been successful back in the day, but that didn’t make them better then they actually were in terms of quality, with the first two games being incredibly annoying, unfair, and requiring some bullshit luck to get through some of the challenges that they throw at you. But hey, I guess SNK figured they may as well give this formula one more shot, and they did so with Ikari III: The Rescue.
Unlike with Victory Road, which was almost identical to the original game in almost every way, with the exception of the aliens of course, this game is actually somewhat different from the first two games, having a very similar style with plenty of familiar locations and foes to fight, but changing up the gameplay to make it less of a run ‘n gun, and more like a beat ‘em up. Not exactly sure why they made that decision, but hey, it is nice to see them at least try something new with this series rather then just copy-’n-paste the original game with a bunch of alien stickers onto it. Although, with that being said, despite the slight change in gameplay, most of it plays relatively the exact same way, and it does come off as a very similar experience. So, as a result, this game, big shocker, kinda sucks, but I will give it some credit, as it is definitely the best game that we got from this series, as it actually feels a little more fun and bearable to get through in comparison to its predecessors… key emphasis on “LITTLE” though.
The story is extremely typical for one of these games, where the daughter of a presidential candidate is kidnapped by an evil criminal organization, so it is up to Ralf and Clark to once again set out for duty to go and save her, which feels like it was a plot ripped straight out of an 80’s action film, but that’s probably what they were going for, so I’ll let it slide. The graphics are pretty good, being an improvement over the other two by a long shot, and featuring bigger and more detailed character sprites, but nothing too mind-blowing for the time it came out, the music is good, fitting the tone for plenty of the different locations that you travel through, but none of the tracks come off as memorable, the control is the exact same as the last two games, and by that, I mean it is awkward as hell and not fun to use, but I probably should’ve expected that at this point, and the gameplay remains relatively similar to the previous two games, but focuses more on some aspects over others, which I do think benefit the game as a whole.
The game is a mix of several things, but it is primarily a beat-’em-up, where you take control of either Ralf Jones or Clark Still once again, go through a set of several different levels going through plenty parts of a jungle setting, beat the fuck out of whatever sorry soul just so happens to wander on the screen at all times, gather plenty of items and weapons to help you out along your way, and take on bosses either big or small all to get closer to completing your mission. It works about as typically as you could expect, and to be fair, it is more enjoyable then what the previous two games gave us, so I can commend it for that… but not much else.
Like with the previous two games, you have to use two different joysticks to properly control your character: one for moving around, and one for turning your character to face a certain direction. This type of control scheme worked fine enough for the run ‘n gun genre, as having this type of control does make it so that you could have more accuracy for shooting, but for a beat-’em-up… yeah, NO. I won’t say it is 100% awful to handle, as the devs already had experience with two games before, so they know what they are doing, but this control style does not work for a beat-’em-up, and it just makes trying to aim and hit people way more awkward then it should. It does get better whenever you eventually pick up a weapon, as you have a lot more power over your opponents, and you can get plenty of shots in, but then your weapon runs out of ammo, and you can’t get rid of your weapon easily without someone else punching you in the face. I couldn’t find any kind of button that would allow you to discard the weapon, so I ran into this situation plenty of times, and it was pretty needlessly annoying.
Aside from all that though, there isn’t much else to say about this that we haven’t already discussed before. It is basically just yet another Ikari Warriors game, except now it is a beat-’em-up, which is enough to stand above the others, but it doesn’t make the game any more fun to play. Not to mention, it still has the problem that these games typically come pre-packaged with: bullshit difficulty. Arcade syndrome plays a big factor in this, as it is some of the worst I have ever seen, because while the game doesn’t throw countless enemies at you all the time, the enemies themselves are RELENTLESS. It got to the point where, by the end of the stage, the only way I was able to deal any damage to any of the enemies beating me down was after I respawned from dying, and I have a good 5 seconds of I-frames to just wail on them. However, as soon as those 5 seconds were over, I was kissing my sorry ass goodbye as I hit the floor multiple times. I eventually did end up beating it just by credit-feeding my way through the bull, but if I have to credit feed in order to beat your game, we may have a problem on our hands.
Overall, despite the slight improvement in gameplay and visuals, Ikari III ends off the series on a whimper rather then a bang, being a repetitive and frustrating slog that requires brute force and resilience to beat rather then actual skill and strategy, which can be said about a lot of arcade titles, but you REALLY feel it here. I would only recommend it for those who somehow liked the previous two Ikari Warriors games, because aside from that, there is simply no reason you would ever need to check this game out. It does kinda suck though that this series never really got a chance to properly shine before it just faded into obscurity… but hey, at least the characters ended up in actually good games like The King of Fighters and Metal Slug. You take what you can in this business, as they say.
Game #495
Unlike with Victory Road, which was almost identical to the original game in almost every way, with the exception of the aliens of course, this game is actually somewhat different from the first two games, having a very similar style with plenty of familiar locations and foes to fight, but changing up the gameplay to make it less of a run ‘n gun, and more like a beat ‘em up. Not exactly sure why they made that decision, but hey, it is nice to see them at least try something new with this series rather then just copy-’n-paste the original game with a bunch of alien stickers onto it. Although, with that being said, despite the slight change in gameplay, most of it plays relatively the exact same way, and it does come off as a very similar experience. So, as a result, this game, big shocker, kinda sucks, but I will give it some credit, as it is definitely the best game that we got from this series, as it actually feels a little more fun and bearable to get through in comparison to its predecessors… key emphasis on “LITTLE” though.
The story is extremely typical for one of these games, where the daughter of a presidential candidate is kidnapped by an evil criminal organization, so it is up to Ralf and Clark to once again set out for duty to go and save her, which feels like it was a plot ripped straight out of an 80’s action film, but that’s probably what they were going for, so I’ll let it slide. The graphics are pretty good, being an improvement over the other two by a long shot, and featuring bigger and more detailed character sprites, but nothing too mind-blowing for the time it came out, the music is good, fitting the tone for plenty of the different locations that you travel through, but none of the tracks come off as memorable, the control is the exact same as the last two games, and by that, I mean it is awkward as hell and not fun to use, but I probably should’ve expected that at this point, and the gameplay remains relatively similar to the previous two games, but focuses more on some aspects over others, which I do think benefit the game as a whole.
The game is a mix of several things, but it is primarily a beat-’em-up, where you take control of either Ralf Jones or Clark Still once again, go through a set of several different levels going through plenty parts of a jungle setting, beat the fuck out of whatever sorry soul just so happens to wander on the screen at all times, gather plenty of items and weapons to help you out along your way, and take on bosses either big or small all to get closer to completing your mission. It works about as typically as you could expect, and to be fair, it is more enjoyable then what the previous two games gave us, so I can commend it for that… but not much else.
Like with the previous two games, you have to use two different joysticks to properly control your character: one for moving around, and one for turning your character to face a certain direction. This type of control scheme worked fine enough for the run ‘n gun genre, as having this type of control does make it so that you could have more accuracy for shooting, but for a beat-’em-up… yeah, NO. I won’t say it is 100% awful to handle, as the devs already had experience with two games before, so they know what they are doing, but this control style does not work for a beat-’em-up, and it just makes trying to aim and hit people way more awkward then it should. It does get better whenever you eventually pick up a weapon, as you have a lot more power over your opponents, and you can get plenty of shots in, but then your weapon runs out of ammo, and you can’t get rid of your weapon easily without someone else punching you in the face. I couldn’t find any kind of button that would allow you to discard the weapon, so I ran into this situation plenty of times, and it was pretty needlessly annoying.
Aside from all that though, there isn’t much else to say about this that we haven’t already discussed before. It is basically just yet another Ikari Warriors game, except now it is a beat-’em-up, which is enough to stand above the others, but it doesn’t make the game any more fun to play. Not to mention, it still has the problem that these games typically come pre-packaged with: bullshit difficulty. Arcade syndrome plays a big factor in this, as it is some of the worst I have ever seen, because while the game doesn’t throw countless enemies at you all the time, the enemies themselves are RELENTLESS. It got to the point where, by the end of the stage, the only way I was able to deal any damage to any of the enemies beating me down was after I respawned from dying, and I have a good 5 seconds of I-frames to just wail on them. However, as soon as those 5 seconds were over, I was kissing my sorry ass goodbye as I hit the floor multiple times. I eventually did end up beating it just by credit-feeding my way through the bull, but if I have to credit feed in order to beat your game, we may have a problem on our hands.
Overall, despite the slight improvement in gameplay and visuals, Ikari III ends off the series on a whimper rather then a bang, being a repetitive and frustrating slog that requires brute force and resilience to beat rather then actual skill and strategy, which can be said about a lot of arcade titles, but you REALLY feel it here. I would only recommend it for those who somehow liked the previous two Ikari Warriors games, because aside from that, there is simply no reason you would ever need to check this game out. It does kinda suck though that this series never really got a chance to properly shine before it just faded into obscurity… but hey, at least the characters ended up in actually good games like The King of Fighters and Metal Slug. You take what you can in this business, as they say.
Game #495
The president’s daughter ain’t worth this shit
Much like the other SNK beat 'em ups, it is very basic, boring and unfair. I am a bit disappointed that SNK had changed the Ikari Warrior formula from 2 to 3, as I had felt that 2 made massive improvements to the original game.
It’s a beat ‘em up this time? I guess that’s better?
This looks so tired. Trying to go into a full brawler experience feels like an interesting direction for Ikari Warriors, but I don't think anyone was interested in the alternative that SNK was clearly proposing against the likes of Final Fight and Golden Axe. It's a shame they didn't do anything else, but I can't blame anyone for tuning out of this.
By sheer contrast, the NES version is really good! It's not set as close to the characters and allows for more movement, but it also moves more freely and swiftly, like the NES version of Guevara. The soldiers and characters like this came out of a Corey Yuen shot. It's great! I don't want to oversell it, but I definitely enjoyed it a lot.
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Esto parece tan cansado. Intentar centrarse en el component físico y de lucha cuerpo a cuerpo es una dirección interesante con la que llevar a Ikari Warriors, pero no creo que nadie estuviera escuchando a la alternativa que SNK estaba proponiendo en contraposición a Final Fight y Golden Axe. Es una pena que no hayan hecho nada más, pero no puedo culpar a nadie por pasar de esto.
Por contraste, ¡la versión de NES es realmente buena! La cámara no está tan cerca de los personajes y permite más movimiento, pero también se mueve con más libertad y rapidez, como la versión de NES de Guevara. Los soldados y personajes se mueven como si los hubiera coreografiado Corey Yuen. ¡Es genial! No quiero venderlo de más, pero tengo que decir que me entretuve mucho.
By sheer contrast, the NES version is really good! It's not set as close to the characters and allows for more movement, but it also moves more freely and swiftly, like the NES version of Guevara. The soldiers and characters like this came out of a Corey Yuen shot. It's great! I don't want to oversell it, but I definitely enjoyed it a lot.
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Esto parece tan cansado. Intentar centrarse en el component físico y de lucha cuerpo a cuerpo es una dirección interesante con la que llevar a Ikari Warriors, pero no creo que nadie estuviera escuchando a la alternativa que SNK estaba proponiendo en contraposición a Final Fight y Golden Axe. Es una pena que no hayan hecho nada más, pero no puedo culpar a nadie por pasar de esto.
Por contraste, ¡la versión de NES es realmente buena! La cámara no está tan cerca de los personajes y permite más movimiento, pero también se mueve con más libertad y rapidez, como la versión de NES de Guevara. Los soldados y personajes se mueven como si los hubiera coreografiado Corey Yuen. ¡Es genial! No quiero venderlo de más, pero tengo que decir que me entretuve mucho.