Text/GameForce
For many veteran players, the FC console played in childhood can be described as the most classic memory, can be called excellent countless games, the most classic of which is Konami's "old four": "Contra", "Red Fortress", "Green Corps", "Sharoman Snake", with excellent gameplay and two-person design, has become a large number of assembled cards in the must-have game, so far many players use simulators and other ways to relive the classic.
In these four games, the story of "Contra" and "Sharoman Snake" are set in the future science fiction world to eliminate alien creatures, "Green Corps" is deep into the northern powers rescue + destruction, and "Red Fortress" background spans the history of World War II and the Vietnam War, very close to reality, plus the gameplay and operation are unique, it can be said that it is the most distinctive of the old four, today we will talk about this old game that players are very familiar with, and the little-known stories behind it.
First of all, starting from our protagonist, in "Red Fortress", the player drives a jeep, kills four sides behind the enemy plus rescues hostages, and many friends are curious at that time, why would they choose a jeep instead of a lone hero like "Contra", or a main battle tank like "Tank Battle"? In fact, this is a restoration and tribute to real history.
Back in 1942, in world war II, the German-Italian army built numerous field airfields in remote areas of the desert to obtain various supplies, and the British army was also trying to attack these airfields, the MOST FAMOUS OF WHICH WAS THE SAS Vehicle Crew led by legendary officer David Stirling.
Sterling modified his jeeps, loaded with high-velocity aircraft guns, planned to attack the airport and destroy the German aircraft in a rapid raid and evacuation, and after careful preparation, the first operation was carried out at Sidi Haneish Airport on the western outskirts of Cairo, 18 armed jeeps rushed into the airport at high speed, and the machine guns poured bullets on the planes parked on both sides, in just 15 minutes, 37 unsuspecting German planes were destroyed on the runway, and Sterling's squad lost only 2 people and 3 vehicles.
This successful operation created a new mode of operation, and then the British army followed suit, converting a large number of jeeps and attacking German airfields, camps, oil depots, and towns, achieving great results and greatly accelerating the process of victory in the war. Later, in The Medal of Honor Joint Attack, Sniper Elite 3 and other World War II FPS games, this jeep raid on the airport level content was designed.
Sterling's squad also grew, eventually renamed Special Air Service, which was the famous SAS British Special Air Service, and the jeep and red beret loaded with machine guns became the classic shape of SAS, and also became the earliest and most basic prototype of "Red Fortress".
Going back to the game we are familiar with, when we were young, we basically played the FC American version, the name of the game is Jackal, and the name "Red Fortress" is actually derived from the Japanese version of the FC name "ファイナルコマンド 赤い Fortress". Like the other three of the old four, "Red Fortress" also first appeared on the arcade platform, the arcade AMERICAN version is named Top Gunner, and the Japanese version is named "Special Force ジャッカル", which is evident in the publicity strategy for different regions that year, resulting in the confusion of the game's name.
The arcade version launched in 1986, the basic gameplay operation is basically the same as the FC version, but regardless of the level, the player has to fight to the end, the entire content includes the FC version in addition to the third level of the harbor remaining 5 levels, and finally there is only one BOSS, that is, the last big battery in the FC version, the big tank after the destruction of the big battery and the BOSS of the previous level. Despite this, the difficulty of the game is still much higher than the FC version, the number and firepower of various miscellaneous soldiers are super high, novices are often killed by suddenly appearing enemies and turrets, and large enemies such as tanks are not directly exploded and disappeared after being hit, but there is a delayed animation, and when they encounter enemies when they explode, they will also die.
The arcade version of the picture is much stronger than the FC version, the scene color is richer, the various special effects are more refined, the strongest weapon four flower cannon is X-shaped sputtering rather than cross-shaped, in addition to the arcade Japanese version also has a very unique design, that is, the machine gun shooting direction is consistent with the front of the car, rather than always facing upwards like other versions.
In May 1988, FC port Japanese version was released, the Japanese version did not launch cassette but appeared in the form of a disk, because the disk drive at that time was expensive, so the game was very well-known in Japan, domestic players played it is even rarer, and it was fortunate to see it after the popularization of the simulator later.
Konami's "Old Four", "Contra" and "Sharoman Snake" are added to the Japanese version of the cassette with a special chip, the picture effect and content are significantly stronger than the U.S. version, "Green Corps" although it is also a disk, but also added tunnels and other hidden content, only the "Red Fortress" Japanese version is a great shrinkage, the first level of the U.S. version is directly cut, and the screen has no horizontal scrolls, until September 1988, the FC American version we are most familiar with was officially released, and through the low-cost assembly of the card, it was accepted by many domestic players.
When I played this game as a child, I looked at the English screen and did not understand the background of the story, but through the design of the rescue personnel in the game, I could probably guess that it was deep behind enemy lines to rescue prisoners of war. Now we can finally figure out from the instruction manual of the American version of the cassette, although the United States has withdrawn its troops after the Vietnam War, there are still some prisoners of war left there, at this time it is impossible to send large-scale troops, and can only use helicopters to transport two cars and four people to carry out the rescue operation code-named Jackal.
From the cassette manual, we can also see the different identities of these four team members: Colonel Deckar, who wears red berets + goggles, has won the Vietnam War Medal of Honor, is the captain of this operation, and the C position in the propaganda picture is obvious; black lieutenant Bob, who is the best sharpshooter in the history of the U.S. Army Special Forces; Sergeant Quint, who wears sunglasses, was an Indy racer; Corporal Grey, who wears a steel helmet and smokes cigars, is also a racing driver and has won 6 Formula Europe championships. It is estimated that many players did not expect that the familiar game of that year had such a wonderful character.
Since it is based on the theme of the Vietnam War, the game is naturally indispensable to classic weapons and equipment, the transport helicopter that just came up in the first level, the design of the vertical double rotor, the prototype is Boeing's CH-47 "Chinookan", which can carry up to 6 tons of cargo, and it is natural to bring a jeep.
Our protagonist Jeep, as can be seen from the shape of the front, is based on Ford's M151A2 light jeep, the vehicle-mounted ceramic anti-tank missile played an important role in the late Vietnam War, which corresponds to the rocket weapons in the game, and also modified the interdimensional cabin in the game, so that this small jeep can carry more than a dozen prisoners of war at full speed.
Enemy characters are also very classic, the final boss tank was one of the childhood shadows of many people, from the front armor and turret shape of the hull, the prototype is the T62A tank of the Northern Powers, the load wheels have been changed from five pairs to six pairs, this tank was once an important role in the Vietnam War, transformed in the FC version of "Red Fortress", becoming the last obstacle to the player's success.
From the comparison of the versions of "Red Fortress", the FC US version can be said to be the final evolution form of the game, first of all, comparing the arcade version and the FC version, although the arcade version has a better picture effect, the FC version of the sub-level form is more suitable for the player's relaxed rhythm, the BOSS battle at the bottom of the level is more intense and exciting, and the content is better than the arcade version. We also mentioned earlier that the FC Japanese version experience has shrunk significantly, so this FC US version with a complete 6 levels of content, four-direction scrolls, and many hidden treasures is one of the most enjoyable game memories of our childhood.
"Red Fortress" this game, many players have played well when they were young, the wonderful content is still fresh in my memory, and there has been no imitation and transcendence of similar works, among the many excellent performance elements, what I appreciate most is the creative form of operation.
In addition to the arcade Japanese version, the other versions of "Red Fortress" have changed the machine gun to a fixed upward form, and this seemingly inconspicuous design can be described as the finishing touch, which immediately opens up the gap between it and similar works.
We know that in the action shooting game, the player's operation can be divided into two parts of movement and shooting, direction control and action combination is smooth and convenient, is the key to the success or failure of the entire game operation experience, in modern games, usually use double joysticks to operate separately, the two do not conflict with each other, can achieve 360 degrees of movement and shooting, players get started simple experience good.
However, at that time, the FC handle only had an eight-way operation of the cross key, plus two function buttons, obviously can not achieve movement and shooting at the same time omnidirectional operation, for the "Red Fortress" this kind of top-down view game, the cross key to control the vehicle movement, shooting direction and the front direction of the car to be consistent, is the optimal operation scheme.
So why add a machine gun that fires up in place? In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will understand that if the machine gun is also facing the front of the car, then the functional effects of the two weapons coincide, since they are both unlimited ammunition, the power of the machine gun is far less than the shell has not yet penetrated, then is it not a chicken rib? So the developer cleverly set it to a fixed upward firing, allowing the player to attack enemies in other directions while moving, achieving the "driving strafing" fun we mentioned earlier, using limited function buttons to achieve as many functions as possible, and the design idea can be described as ingenious.
When we played "Red Fortress" when we were children, due to the lack of information and knowledge, we just experienced the simple action shooting fun, and now we finally understand that based on the real history of the story background, unique operation experience, wonderful level design, these excellent content is concentrated in the capacity of only 128KB cassette, it is really rare, if I choose the best work in the "Old Four", I will undoubtedly choose "Red Fortress" because it is unique.
Unfortunately, there was no sequel to Red Fortress, but the jeep loaded with the hero did not leave, still taking us on the road to the game.
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