Jackal

aka: Final Command: Akai Yousai, Tokushu Butai Jackal, Top Gunner
Moby ID: 10495
Arcade Specs
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Description official description

The enemy army has captured too many of your forces. Being held in P.O.W. camps, these soldiers are effectively out of the war...unless some kind of rescue operation can be mounted. Heavy Forces are too slow and visible to be of any use, but perhaps something smaller and lighter may make it in where larger forces would fail. A small jeep, maybe two, crewed by about 4 people....minimal enough not to represent too much of a loss and yet suitable enough to aid in rescue. But of course, if these brave men want to succeed AND come back alive; they'll need to fight like animals...they'll need to fight like jackals...

Jackal is an overhead view jeep game for up to 2 players. The controller moves in four directions, button A fires your grenades (upgradeable to bazooka) and button B your machine gun which ALWAYS fires to the top of the screen. Your mission is to locate facilities where soldiers are being held prisoner, rescue as many as possible, and escort them to a safe landing zone where they will be air-transported away. After that, you'll need to fight a boss battle against the enemy to progress.

The NES version is not a straight port of the original Arcade game, but rather a remake. The Arcade version is a continuous battlefield, but the NES version is divided into 6 stages with a boss fight at the end of each stage. Also, enemy and hazard placements are quite different between versions.

Spellings

  • 赤色要塞 - Japanese Spelling

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Screenshots

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Credits (Arcade version)

11 People

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 69% (based on 18 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 47 ratings with 3 reviews)

Tank you very much

The Good
This game has a lot going for it. The levels, five in total, are varied and difficult, and include a mini-mission in addition to blowing up tanks, guns, cars, planes, effigies, boats and any other thing that gets in your way.

The main story has you plowing through an over-head environment until battling the final boss. But there are POW houses along the way that you have to blow up, save the POWs, and then escort them to a helicopter. If you die en route, several of the POWs will also lose a life.

Weapons are upgradable - from the lame grenades up to a rocket that fires in four directions. Your machine gun can also be upgraded.

The game is fun by yourself, an absolute joy with a friend. Both players share the full screen and have to work with each other if success is the ultimate goal.

Each level has its own ending depending on how well you did against the end boss - images include a shot of the gunners roaring over the hill in victory, to a bunch of unarmed GI's looking confusedly at the map.

The Bad
Sometimes slow-down could get in the way of you out-maneuvering a projectile, and sometimes your tank was just too slow.

Also, if a player runs out of lives, he/she can borrow from you. I always hated being a survivor and then having to share my lives with a teammate who wasnt' very good.

Other than those items, the game is a NES classic.

The Bottom Line
If you like vehicular destruction, old-school two-player gaming, and a purpose to your games, Jackal won't disappoint. There are only 5 levels, but they are long and varied enough to keep your attention over and over again. Going the single-player mission is all right, but for truly intense fun, there is no substitute for two-player action.

NES · by Sam Vicchrilli (15) · 2005

Hop in the Humvee and blow stuff up!!

The Good
This game is awesome arcade action straight from Konami. This game features addicting gameplay, a 2-player mode, great music, and lots of action. Once you boot it up, it's hard to put down. I highly recommend this one.

The Bad
I didn't like the cheap deaths that occur sometimes when the screen scrolls slowly up, right, left, or down, and there just so happens to be an enemy that shoots you right in your face. Fortunately, it doesn't happen to often!! Other than that, I don't see anything else wrong with this game...it would have been nice if it lasted longer though.

The Bottom Line
This game is action-packed. You control a military Humvee and your mission is to rescue POW's and have them extracted by chopper so they can get back home safely. While you're doing that, you have to blast away hundreds of enemy soldiers, tanks, turrets, submarines, attack boats...not to mention the boss at the end of each stage. This game is awesome. Highly recommended!!

NES · by ceibant (11) · 2008

Bombs Away!

The Good
This game was great. I first played it for the Nintendo in 1988. My friend and I would sit in front of the T, V. for hours and play it. It's highly addictive. This game was adapted from the arcade.

I actually like the Nintendo version better then the arcade. This game was loads of fun.

It's pretty action-packed for a Nintendo game, and moves pretty quickly. The game isn't very long, but you can play it over and over again for sure,

I've been waiting to see if the would release Jackal for the next generation video games. It's a shame that a lot of the classic games aren't re-introduced.

The Bad
I love it. It's a classic.

The Bottom Line
The game consists of five levels, and is a one or simultaneous tow player game. This game is straightforward. You rescue POW's while, blowing up tanks, planes, jeeps and boats. It's great.

NES · by Robert C (6) · 2003

Trivia

German index

On July 30, 1988, Jackal was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

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  • MobyGames ID: 10495
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Shoddyan.

DOS added by POMAH. Arcade added by 666gonzo666. Windows, Xbox 360 added by Alaka. Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 added by Martin Smith.

Additional contributors: RKL, Xoleras, Johnny Undaunted, Patrick Bregger.

Game added September 27, 2003. Last modified March 4, 2024.