NAM-1975
Two soldiers return to Vietnam to rescue a kidnapped scientist.
NAM-1975, a 1990 shooting gallery game from SNK, launched for the Neo Geo MVS as a pack-in title and later for the AES home system in 1991. Set during the Vietnam War's final months in 1975, it follows American soldiers Silver and Brown rescuing a scientist and his daughter. It is unique among Neo Geo games for lacking the system's boot screen in its attract mode.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- SNK
- Producer
- Eikichi Kawasaki
- Composer
- Yoko Osaka
- Platforms
- Arcade
- Neo Geo AES
- Neo Geo CD
- Genre
- Shooting gallery
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Arcade system
- Neo Geo MVS
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
NAM-1975 is a shooting gallery game similar to Cabal and Dynamite Duke. Players control soldiers Silver (player one) and Brown (player two) across six stages set during the final months of the Vietnam War, defeating each level's boss to progress. The game includes a single-player mode and a two-player cooperative multiplayer mode. The joystick moves both the soldier and the crosshair left and right. The A button fires the main weapon at the crosshair's position; holding it allows the crosshair to move while the soldier stays still. The B button throws grenades to the crosshair's location, and the C button, when held, lets the soldier move faster to dodge enemy fire. Pulling the joystick diagonally while running triggers an evasive roll that prevents death and avoids enemy fire. Losing all lives ends the game unless more credits are inserted. A memory card can save progress to resume at the last saved stage. The game is known for high difficulty; the final boss disables continues, and dying during that battle triggers a bad ending, forcing a restart from the beginning for the good ending. Players start with a standard machine gun (infinite ammo) and ten grenades. Defeated enemies or destroyed structures may drop weapons (Balcan machine gun, flamethrower, missile launcher), grenade-type items (spark, napalm bombs), points, or 1UPs. Rescuing a female hostage named Chris causes her to shoot enemies until the rescuing player dies or the area ends. Boss rounds occasionally occur between stages.
Plot
The story begins with the phrases "The roar of the helicopters overhead snaps us back into reality. We will never forget the nightmare of that summer..." It follows Silver and Brown, two American soldiers recalled to Natorm headquarters in the summer of 1975, during the final months of the Vietnam War. Their mission is to rescue ex-U.S. Army scientist Dr. R. Muckly, kidnapped and presumably imprisoned in Vietnam by North Side terrorists, as part of an organized special forces unit. The team proceeds by boat up the Yan river to deceive enemy guards, but their operations are quickly spotted. They abandon the boat and cross Da Nang city, wondering how their plan was discovered. Headquarters then orders them to board an allied plane to parachute into an enemy airport, but they are intercepted in the air and must shoot at enemy planes. After landing safely, they assault the complex, realizing a spy is among them. Their communications are intercepted, and the captain informs them that Nancy, Muckly's daughter, has also been taken. New orders send them into an enemy arms factory. They encounter Nancy, who tries to reveal the true head of the operation before being shot in the back. After capturing an enemy commander, they interrogate him, but a sniper kills him. Before dying, he reveals that Muckly is a madman building a large laser cannon to take over the world. The troops defeat Muckly and save the world, though the war in Vietnam continues.
Development and release
NAM-1975 is one of the first games developed for the Neo Geo platform and the only title in the system's library without the Neo Geo boot screen in its attract mode. It contains references to Vietnam War films such as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket; the attract sequence of a character firing an M60 machine gun mirrors a shot from Full Metal Jacket. The game was first shown in North America at the 1990 ACME show in Chicago. It launched for arcades on the Neo Geo MVS on April 26, 1990, and for the Neo Geo AES home system around the same time, initially available only to rent or buy before its retail release on July 1, 1991. A Neo Geo CD version launched on September 9, 1994, with minimal changes. The game later appeared on the Wii Virtual Console, and Hamster Corporation re-released it as part of the ACA Neo Geo series for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Android, and iOS. It was also one of 20 pre-loaded games on the Neo Geo X. In Europe, the AES cover art was censored by blacking out the female character's bare thigh and cleavage with a permanent marker.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine ranked NAM-1975 as the 22nd top table arcade unit for December 1990, beating Out Zone. Critics praised the game at launch, and later, Super Teeter of GameFan highlighted its strengths in 1999 while noting its steep challenge. Electronic Gaming Monthly placed it 194th on its 2006 list of the greatest 200 games, and HobbyConsolas included it among the Neo Geo AES's twenty best titles in 2014.
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