P.O.W.: Prisoners of War

aka: Arcade Archives: Datsugoku, Arcade Archives: P.O.W.: Prisoners of War, Datsugoku
Moby ID: 7358
Arcade Specs
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Description

The enemy is unstoppable. They maintain vigilant guard over their front lines! The only way to defeat them is to get behind their lines. But how? By allowing a soldier to get captured, perhaps he could escape and single-handedly defeat the enemy forces in his way.

In P.O.W., the player is a soldier who has been imprisoned in a Prisoner of War camp and must escape. In order to accomplish this, he must defeat a variety of enemies. The foes will attack you hand-to-hand, with knives, guns, and from helicopters. Boss enemies will guard the end of each level.

To fight back, you can use hand-to-hand, and pick up weapon power-ups, found on the ground, in rooms, or dropped by enemies. These weapons include a knife, which can be used to stab or be thrown, guns and grenades.

Spellings

  • アーケードアーカイブス 脱獄 - Japanese Nintendo Switch / PS4 spelling
  • 脱獄 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Arcade version)

23 People

Boss
Programmer
Producer
Hard
Designer
Sound
© 1988
  • Datsugoku P.O.W.
  • SNK Corporation
  • SNK Corp. of America

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 66% (based on 11 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 24 ratings with 1 reviews)

POW!!!

The Good
This game is all action. Put some guns in Double Dragon and you have P.O.W. Pioneers or Wizards. (Alternate Dutch Bootleg Title)

This is a great Arcade port. Owners of NES should be proud, as this is a faithful adaptation of that Arcade adaptation of the cult novella "Johnny Love War" by Nicholas Sparks.

The Bad
It can get a little frustrating. Fighting the overpowered enemies can get tiresome. I wish you could fly the helicopters. I wish there were upgrades to the attacks...but obviously these guys never grow or learn.

The Bottom Line
You play as John Travolta (2nd player plays as Richard Dreyfuss) escaping the Nazi-VC concentration camp. It starts off with a bang -- or a "POW!" as you light up a pack of Big League Chew that blows the animal cage your mother was forced to birth you in.

You are immediately attacked by crazed villagers, enslaved by the Vietcong. This happens for about 2 hours until you beat the game. That's entertainment, baby.

NES · by Theo Jones (9) · 2010

Trivia

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • December 1989 (Issue 5) - Worst Spelling Error in a Game (Congradurations) (tied with Thunder Force II)

Analytics

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 7358
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Antstream added by firefang9212. PlayStation 3, PSP added by Sciere. PS Vita added by Alaka. Windows added by Xoleras. Arcade added by rcoltrane.

Additional contributors: Foxhack, Alaka, Игги Друге, Rik Hideto.

Game added October 4, 2002. Last modified March 22, 2024.