Jackal (1988) [NES]

Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.

-Herman Melville

The Nintendo Entertainment System had some heavy hitters not just in terms of the games themselves but also the developers that made those games. Konami was then a king among kings, standing shoulder to shoulder with giants. Sure everybody talks about the Castlevanias, the Contras, and the Turtles, and rightfully so, but somewhere beneath the noise of the more popular titles lies a little gem called Jackal with Konami’s name on it. And you know if it had their name on it for the NES, you’re in for a good time.

Special Forces Jackal

Players are thrust into a mission led by Col. Decker, Lt. Bob, Sgt. Quint, and Col. Grey, tasked with penetrating enemy territory on the backs of jeeps in order to rescue POWs and escort them to extraction points. Levels feature vertical scrolling like a shmup except players can navigate to scroll the screen horizontally at any point. They can even backtrack, to a point. This emphasizes the greatest asset the playable jeeps have: their superior maneuverability. Master the way of the jeep and outmaneuver just about any enemy in the game, minus those pesky enemy jeeps and the odd enemy helicopter.

Since each jeep carries two soldiers, you get a basic rapid-fire weapon that curiously can only fire in one direction, upward, and a secondary weapon that initially takes the form of a lobbed grenade. This secondary weapon can be upgraded via special POWs that represent power-ups. It’ll go from a grenade to a missile or rocket. This receives two further upgrades that each increase the scale of the blast on the receiving end.

Midway through the stages, players encounter the extraction point in a friendly helicopter. Beyond that, a boss fight awaits. This is all fairly typical for the time and place, both in-game and out. No surprises await. If you haven’t already played this game, you’ve probably played something like it. The fast-paced gameplay, power-ups, and emphasis on retaining those precious POWs may keep you coming back for more, though.

The Top Gun

Jackal, also known as Top Gunner, bears another hallmark of many games from its era: it’s a console port of an arcade game of the same name(s). This comes with a wealth of hardware limitations to overcome, but I think Jackal handled itself expertly. I don’t think I need remind you that there were more than a handful of arcade ports at the time that fell flat when they came to console.

A few key differences between original and port include things like being able to carry unlimited POWs in your little buggy. Removing a limitation on a more limited platform seems unusual, doesn’t it? There are fewer upgrades to your secondary weapon, however.

Delivery Points

Most crucially, you achieve points (and thereby those delicious extra lives) upon successful delivery of POWs. You have to bring them safely to the extraction point. Unlike the arcade version, it does not count simply picking them up from an enemy bunker. I believe this gives the NES port a unique incentive to play and play well which the arcade original didn’t necessarily have.

If that’s a deliberate distinction made by developers, it’s a darn good one. Jackal kept me glued to the tube trying to dodge every stray bullet before reaching the extraction point. I can’t think of a better way to express that a game is successful beyond maintaining player interest like that.

The 8-bit Review

Visuals: 5/10

Jackal is all orange, green, and gray. Sure, the NES had a limited color palette. I get that. I just don’t think that Jackal made the best use of it. Color choice and patterned textures can seem drab and dreary, though perhaps fitting for a military game about rescuing prisoners of war. At least you get intermediary splash screens like this!

 Audio: 8/10

The Jackal OST is one of the great unsung heroes of NES music. It’s remarkable that we hear so little of it even with all the retro remixes and covers and renewed interest in 8-bit music, but it positively slaps. It’s an excellent example of the great compositions of its era.

 Gameplay: 7/10

The NES’s capabilities and limitations defined Jackal. Fortunately, that means it never quite becomes a bullet hell. Enemy spawn rates don’t get out of control. Things can get hectic but it didn’t seem unfair to me. What you’re presented with is solid, arcade-style gameplay that encourages a “just one more try” mentality that isn’t reliant upon RNG.

 Multiplayer: 10/10

This is absolutely Jackal’s finest trait. Grab a second controller and sit down on the floor in front of giant CRT and it’s about as authentic a retro experience as you can recreate in the 2020s. What’s more, there’s a quality game here and not mere nostalgia. Playing Jackal with two-player co-op is a sheer delight. This has long been a go-to co-op game for me on the NES, alongside titles like Bubble Bobble, River City Ransom, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II.

 Accessibility: 9/10

Not even rescuing POWs as the premise of the game is easily misunderstood. Players reach large and unusual buildings which in many players will likely encourage curiosity. It was smart to place enemies around these buildings so that players will fire at them and blow one or two of these buildings open, prompting the POWs to yell “HELP” and walk out, waiting to be rescued. It’s possible to complete the game without rescuing POWs, but learning how and where to rescue them isn’t a huge undertaking. I even let my own kids (currently 5 and 4 years old) to play Jackal for themselves, and though they struggled with the enemies in the first level, they got the simple controls and basic premise down easily.

Challenge: 7/10

It’s been years since I’ve even seen the arcade version but at least one element that makes the NES version more intense is when you die on the NES, you lose all your weapon upgrades at once. With a little practice and a bit of a refresher, I found myself able to memorize enemy placement fairly easily in the first several stages but it’s the final stage where the difficulty ramps up dramatically. The last boss’s ultimate form had me reeling for TWO game overs until I gave it a third try and demolished it.

Uniqueness: 4/10

The game itself will likely seem familiar to anyone accustomed to military shooter games from the era and platform, even if they’ve never experienced Jackal before. It has some unique traits and what it does it does swimmingly, but it’s not hugely innovative. Additionally, remember that it’s a console port I’m reviewing here.

Personal: 8/10

I’ve always loved Jackal but this was my first time actually beating the game. What makes a game like this even more fun with age is that I have the chance to share it with people who have never played it before, like my own children. This kind of game that’s at its best when shared with someone you’re fond of… it’s that kind of game that gets better the older you get. When I first met Jackal, I liked it. Now that I’m creating new and meaningful memories, my fondness for it grows.

Aggregated Score: 7.3

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.