Game of the Day 4/21/2016: 'Nam 1975 (Neo Geo)

[celerystalker]

'Nam 1975 for the Neo Geo AES, MVS, and CD is one of my, if not my very favorite, cursor shooters. As a soldier recalled to war-torn Vietnam after having served his duties, you must go deep into enemy territory to rescue Dr. R. Muckley and his daughter, both to save them and protect the secret of Dr. Muckley's weapon project. Do I really have to go back to the hell?

The game plays out in the traditional Cabal style, aside from the fact that it scrolls, where your joystick controls both your cursor placement (aim) and your character at the bottom of the screen. You can't move while shooting, but you can cancel into a run in order to dodge quickly, and you have a few fun special powerups and maneuvers to advance the formula a bit. You can toss grenades or super grenades if you have them, you can run faster by pressing C, you can pick up weapons like a vulcan gun or flame thrower, dual cursors, and perhaps most importantly, a dive roll that is executed by pressing diagonally down and C. This move is utterly important, as not only does it launch you a quarter screen away in a jiffy, but also leaves you invincible during its animation. You cannot attack while doing so, though, so over reliance on this move will cause your screen to fill up with enemies and projectiles sooner than later.

All of this leads to a game that controls superbly, but it has loads of details to add personality. The somber narration from the announcer from Baseball Stars is actually pretty good here, and the stark cutscenes are obviously intended to recall Apocalypse Now with its river journey. You can blow up or leave bullet holes in pretty much everything, often revealing powerups or point bonuses, there's a ton of great visual effects, scaling, and parallax scrolling, and killing a Vietcong holding a hostage will result in a blonde with a machine gun firing away at your side until the end of the stage or you die. There are even extra boss fights that pop up unexpectedly between levels under certain conditions, stretching your ability to score the next 50,000 points to score another life.

'Nam 1975 supports 2 player co-op, which is a blast, and my favorite way to play. Coordinating your fire to cover one another and prioritize dangers is fun and really impactful, but the game has one super tough aspect, which is that there are no continues for the final stage. I won't go so far as to call it unfair, as it does make victory feel like an achievement, but this is not even kind of an easy game. SNK wanted your quarters, and while you can most certainly play this with skill up to and including perfection, it's not an easy road by any stretch. Still, with its cinematic score and presentation, fast action, and great control, it's most definitely a top hand in the cursor shooter market.

Played this one?

[Tron 2.0]

Most difficult end boss for a rail shooter you mess up at the end for dr.muckley's it's game over.

[ccovell]

Several of the cutscenes or enemy close-ups were direct rip-offs from Full Metal Jacket and the like.

One thing you only mentioned in passing is the music: it is some of the best on the Neo-Geo. I sometimes pop this one in just for the moody, synthy music. A rare good soundtrack by SNK themselves (y'know, before Motley Crue took over).

[celerystalker]

Several of the cutscenes or enemy close-ups were direct rip-offs from Full Metal Jacket and the like.

One thing you only mentioned in passing is the music: it is some of the best on the Neo-Geo. I sometimes pop this one in just for the moody, synthy music. A rare good soundtrack by SNK themselves (y'know, before Motley Crue took over).

I agree. It's a very fitting score, and so different from the other stuff SNK was doing at the time. Great both for how it suits the game and in and of itself.

[Garry Silljo]

I wish the Neo Geo had more games like this. I'm not against 1 on 1 fighters but their is just TOO many. I much more appreciate the other less represented genres.