Publisher: Acclaim.  Developer: Rare, Platform Shooter, 1 Player 1990

Based on Williams’ 1988 arcade game, NARC for the NES was approved by Just Say No International, which was a product of the Reagan-era War on Drugs.  Players, as Max Force, must battle their way through nine side-scrolling levels, using a machine gun and rocket launcher to blow away thugs, dealers, pushers, gangsters, terrorists, and other minions in drug kingpin Mr. Big’s employ.  In addition, players must dodge land mines, destroy helicopters, battle pit bulls and mutant bugs, confiscate cash, open locked doors (with color-coded safe cards), destroy vats of drugs, and drive a Porche 911 Turbo Carrera NarcMobile.  There are nine seedy sectors to battle through, including Junkyard, K.W.A.K. Street (called K.R.A.K. street in the arcade version), Sunset Strip and Skyhigh’s Nursery.  The arcade original, which benefited from digitized graphics and sound effects, unlimited continues, and faster, more intense gameplay, was designed by Eugene “Defender” Jarvis

Check out more of the rich history of the industry in Brett Weiss’s books Classic Home Video Games 1985-1988  A Complete Reference Guide and other great books available at his web site www.brettweisswords.com and make sure to sign up to get Old School Gamer Magazine for free by clicking here!

Brett Weiss (44 Posts)

A full-time freelance writer, Brett Weiss is the author of the Classic Home Video Games series, The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987, Encyclopedia of KISS, and various other books, including the forthcoming The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A–M). He’s had articles published in numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Game Informer, Classic Gamer Magazine, Video Game Trader, Video Game Collector, Filmfax, Fangoria, and AntiqueWeek, among others.  Check him out at www.brettweisswords.com