Ikari Warriors

Ikari Warriors Arcade Game

Ikari Warriors was a popular game released by SNK in 1986, and the designers modeled it after Rambo: First Blood Part II.  There were other popular games at the time, such as Commando, but since Ikari Warriors allowed to simultaneous players, and had a novel approach with rotary joysticks, it became an arcade hit.  The rotary joystick allowed the player to shoot in different directions than the character was moving.  In the game, players took control of Colonel Ralf or Second Lieutenant Clark to battle enemy soldiers, tanks, and helicopters as they try to make it to the village of Ikari.  Ralf and Clark had guns, grenades, and could commandeer enemy tanks.

Ikari Warriors Arcade Game Cabinet

The popularity of the game spawned a number of home console versions for systems like the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Commodore 64, the NES, and many more.  There were two notable sequels to this game, including Victory Road (1986) and Ikari III: The Rescue (1989).  It is also worth noting that the game Guerrilla War (1987) was essentially a re-branding of Ikari Warriors.