Victory Road (arcade game)
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Victory Road (怒号層圏 Dogō sōken?), also known as Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road is a 1986 arcade game where the objective is to defeat the enemy using grenades and other weapons. It is a sequel to Ikari Warriors.
A port from the SNK Jamma+ arcade game Victory Road, Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road on NES had some options not present in its progenitor. Chief amongst these is the ability to collect "zeny" as currency. This money was then spent at a store also unique to the NES port where the player could buy improved weaponry and armor. The original arcade game featured an 8-way joystick that could be twisted in place to rotate the onscreen character allowing the player to face in one of 8 directions while moving in another. The NES, on the other hand, pseudo-emulated this by locking the facing of the character in one direction for as long as the "fire" button was depressed.
The arcade version featured sampled voice work from the "boss" type enemies and the player. For example, upon starting the game the player would be greeted by a giant floating head who would exclaim, "Warriors! Show some guts! You can't escape me! Come get me if you can! Ha ha ha ha haa!" At this point the floating head would fly off screen and the gameplay commenced. Also, when the player loses a life, upon coming one would hear "Come on, let's fight!". The NES, incapable of such aural feats, featured some sound-a-like voices nonetheless. Store keepers would bleep a staticy "Welcome!" when you entered their shops and the player "death scream" was intact but many of the longer samples were cut (like the above "Warriors..." line.) Also of note, excluded due to Nintendo's general censorship at the time, were the player's shouts of "Jesus Christ!" upon encountering a boss.
Both versions featured a suite of weapons updates over their mutual parent, the original Ikari Warriors. Players of the arcade game start with a Bazooka type weapon rather than a peashooter style machinegun. Weapon powerups are scattered throughout the levels often hidden under rocks destroyable by the bazooka weapon or grenades. These include...
- Sword: Capable of destroying incoming projectiles and kills most monsters upon touching them.
- Boomerang: Short range weapon that flies out and returns to the player. Multiple boomerangs can be in flight at once.
- Machinegun: Standard rapid fire fare.
- Flamethrower: The above mentioned Bazooka weapon.
- Grenades: Their Explosion starts small and gets bigger upon picking up powerups.
- Mines: Instead of throwing them these are placed where you are standing and explode after a period of time.
- Armor: Player can now take a number of hits rather than dying the first time something scrapes you. Analogous to the tank in the original Ikari Warriors but without the cannon.
- Thunderbolt: An icon that destroys everything on the screen with electricity when touched.
- Quake: Identical to the thunderbolt icon but earthquake based.
- Wings: Allows you to fly over walls, only present on the NES.
- Arrow: Kill the end of level boss in one hit, only present on the NES.
- Time: Return to the shop, only present on the NES.
- Life: Restores player to full life points, only present on the NES.
As mentioned, in the arcade version these power ups were found laying about and hidden throughout the levels. On the NES this was true but most power ups were more easily found and bought from the Store, which was generally found in the middle of any given stage.
The story could be found in the Manual for the game. Simply, the victorious Ikari Warriors were returning home when they were warped through space and time to help save the indeterminate planet from "Zang Zip the War Dog." Quoted from the manual
When we last saw Paul and Vince, they had saved the Colonel and were about to head for home in a special plane given to them by the General. But then, while in flight over the ocean, the sky suddenly blackens - the ocean begins to churn - and the plane goes spinning! A booming voice fills the cockpit: "Hear me, Warriors! Zang Zip, the War Dog, has enslaved the people of Earth. Only you can save us from his grip of evil!" Caught in a time warp, hurled thousands of years into the future, Paul and Vince know they have no choice but to meet this impossible challenge head-on. After all, they are professionals...they are the Ikari Warriors!
