Ikari Warriors

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This classic Shoot'Em Up by SNK featured two Rambo-esque commandos, Ralf Jones and Clark Still, who fight their way through hordes of troops, tanks, mines and helicopters to reach the village of Ikari. The arcade game featured a rotary joystick, which could be turned to have the hero fire in eight directions, while moving in any direction the player likes.

The game was actually a follow-up to an earlier game called TNK III, in which Ralf battled enemies inside a tank. A sequel to that game was released for the NES called Iron Tank.

Two direct sequels, Victory Road, where our heroes are Trapped in Another World, and Ikari III: The Rescue, where they were sent on a mission to rescue the president's daughter, were developed, but neither caught on as the original game did. Ralf and Clark themselves eventually got a redesign and were included in the then-Massive Multiplayer Crossover King of Fighters '94. They've stayed on that series as recurring characters, then in 2006, they returned to their Run-n-Gun roots when they joined the Metal Slug series.

Tropes used in Ikari Warriors include:

• Bottomless Magazines: Averted. Even normal bullets in the first game were limited.
• Canon Immigrant: A remake of the first Ikari Warriors for Japanese mobile phones features Leona from the KOF series alongside Ralf and Clark (in their KOF designs). The remake is appropiately titled Ikari: Leona Gekitohen.
• Dub Name Change: For the U.S. versions, Ralf and Clark were renamed Paul and Vince. It wasn't until the KOF series that they were called by their original names internationally.
• Gainax Ending: This is the final boss of the first game. Yes, that's right, it is a nazi-looking giant corpse lying on a throne. Why? God only knows.
• Gender Flip: The President's son in the arcade version of Ikari III is replaced by a daughter in the NES version.
• Genre Shift: The first two games were shoot-'em-ups, but Ikari III was an overhead beat-'em-up.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: In Ikari III, Ralf and Clark are initially limited to punching and kicking, and have to find guns (with limited ammunition) as power-ups.
• Marathon Level: The game consists of one very long seamless stage, although you can informally divide it by the areas with different background music. While the NES version has four stages, each of them are practically as long as the Arcade's only stage.
• One Explosion at a time - the original game sometimes has two enemies throw a red grenade, but they only explore one after another rather than at the same time.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: Depicted on the cover of the 1986 Amstrad version.
• Recycled in Space: Ikari Warriors is TNK III WITH A COMMANDO INSTEAD OF A TANK!.
  • The second Ikari game, Victory Road, is Ikari Warriors IN SPACE!.
  • Another SNK game, S.A.R Search and Rescue, is Ikari Warriors IN A SPACESHIP!.
  • And Guerrilla War is Ikari Warriors DURING THE CUBAN REVOLUTION!
  • Heavy Barrel is Ikari Warriors WITH A BFG!
• Tank Goodness: The tanks are Immune to Bullets, and can easily blast away enemy infantry. However, a single explosion from a grenade or shrapnel will cause them to blow up.
• Total Party Kill: When you die, your character is invulnerable and automatically walks forward until the middle of the screen. Normally, you can deal with threats, but in one position, he walks over a trigger that fires an enemy artillery shell that kills the character as soon as control is regained and invulnerability has worn off. Repeat for each remaining life.
• Transplant: Believe it or not, Ikari Warriors wasn't even Ralf Jones' first game. That distinction goes to the even more obscure arcade game TNK III (aka TANK). However, it was the first game he appeared with his constant partner Clark Still.
• Unblockable Attack
• Video Game Cheats: In the NES version of Ikari Warriors, you could press ABBA after dying to resurrect yourself. This could result in game breaking though as you spawned where you died which occasionally meant you might spawn inside a building sprite and be unable to escape or die.

For tropes related to Ralf and Clark themselves, see the King of Fighters character sheet.