ikari warriors

Ikari Warriors

Arcade, 1986

While Athena served as SNK’S mascot during the Eighties, it was Ikari Warriors that proved to be one of the company’s biggest hits in the west. In many ways this run-and-gun is an evolution of the mechanics found in TNK III, which also utilises rotary joysticks to let players independently move and fire. Whereas SNK’S earlier game saw you controlling a tank, here the action takes place on foot with your Rambo lookalikes storming up the screen and mowing down anyone that is foolish enough to stray into their gunfire. Tanks do feature in the game, of course, and Ralf and Clark can leap into them to increase their firepower and gain protection for a bit of time. Ikari Warriors’ biggest competition on its release arguably came from Capcom’s Commando, but SNK’S blockbuster title effortlessly improves on the overhead run-and-gun setup thanks to its aforementioned tank mechanics and the inclusion of co-operative gameplay.