Developer: Vik Tokai Publisher: Vik Tokai Released: September 1988 Genre: Action Adventure
There are few assassins as cool as Golgo 13. The sniper for hire is one of the most popular characters in manga history, following a strict code while completing any job as a hitman for hire. During the NES heyday Vic Tokai created an exclusive installment that wouldn’t seem out of place as a lost episode of the manga. Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode tries to be a jack of all trades and is a master of none but somehow ends up greater than the sum of its constituent parts.
A helicopter carrying a new CIA virus is shot down over New York City. The lone piece of evidence left behind is an M-16 shell casing. With few sharpshooters able to make such a shot Golgo 13 is the number one suspect. Also stolen from the copter were plans for a vaccine leading informational group FIXER to believe it is the work of the DREK Empire. Golgo 13 is hired to retrieve the vaccine and destroy the Drek Empire, with the bonus of clearing his name.
Golgo 13 is one of the longest running manga in history, beginning in 1969 and running to this day. At 68 volumes at the time of its release there were plenty of stories that could have been the basis for a game but Top Secret Episode is an original tale instead. It works due to the episodic nature of the series since the only constant in all of the stories is Duke Togo himself. The game tries to incorporate nearly every aspect of the manga and the character of Duke Togo in one package with some more successful than others. There are many sloppy aspects of the game but somehow in the end the game still remains compelling.
Golgo 13 is composed of numerous different genres, some better executed than others. For the most part you’ll spend the most time walking around the cities of the world gathering information and items. You have a limited supply of bullets and a jump kick but in most cases combat is minimal. For every enemy killed you will receive ammo and some health, which is important for reasons I’ll get into later. My only beef with the side scrolling segments are the reversed controls: A attacks, B jumps. Look damn it, there was a meeting held and the industry agreed that A jumps, B attacks. A curse on every developer that thinks otherwise. You can adapt but it is not intuitive in the least.
Like an RPG sometimes you’ll get attacked randomly and drawn into first person gun battles reminiscent of Virtua Cop. Here you fight a set number of enemies endemic to the environment, be it land, sea or air. These battles tend to end quickly, sometimes not in your favor. While the game does a good job of avoiding pitting you against overwhelming odds it can be unfair; sometimes you are hit 4-5 times within seconds of the battle starting before you can see the enemy, leading to cheap deaths. The slow reticle does not help matters either but at least you get large swaths of life back for killing enemies.
There are a few shmup segments in the game that really serve no purpose other than to get from point A to B but at the very least they are solid and inoffensive. Sniping resembles Silent Scope (except in 1988!) and is what Duke Togo is famous for. Sadly these are all too brief with next to no chance of failure.
The first person mazes are the game’s biggest headache and much like Phantasy Star is a nightmare. All of the hallmarks of why these types of games simply didn’t work back then are here: identical walls, trap floors, no auto map, etc. It’s entirely possible to wander around a two –floor maze for hourrs because of these factors. I wish I could mention some silver lining to these portions of the game but there isn’t one. Even with the maps included in the manual I imagine most will still get lost. I wouldn’t blame anyone if they turned the game off at these points.
Golgo 13 is one the hardest games for the NES, one that very few will ever see the end of. Enemies inflict far too much damage and can kill you in a few hits. There are many instances where unseen enemies can get a few cheap hits in before you retaliate. You only have 52 continues before the game resets and while it sounds like a lot that number dwindles quickly. If you make it to the end prepare for one of the most ridiculous final boss battles ever. Altogether there are 13 acts and it should have had battery backup or passwords to save progress. There’s a lot of repetitive back and forth before even if you know where to go. Completing the game in one sitting is a tall venture and with the numerous issues will turn away many.
Yet somehow In spite of all that Top Secret Episode still manages to be endearing. The plot of the game is coherent in spite of the typical localization of the 80s. Most importantly the story is good and very dense, with enough intrigue to hook anyone. The secret agent tone to the overall proceedings is undeniably cool and the game is surprisingly mature for the time.
It may be a bit too mature considering the period of its release. How this game managed to slip by Nintendo of America’s aggressive censors is a mystery. The only major change is the removal of references to the Drek Empire being Nazis although the swastikas slipped through. There are many bloody deaths, such as downed enemies bleeding from their heads. And my personal favorite, the sex scenes. In the manga Golgo 13 is a ladies man, smanging chicks across the globe. At a few points in the story Golgo 13 will pass the time with a female contact. I was about 8 or 9 when I played the game and through the dialogue and accompanying cutscene, I knew. And yes I played through 2 hours of game just to see 2 five pixel blobs link up and have sex.
In Conclusion
As much as I like Golgo 13 I freely admit part of it is nostalgia. There are enough issues with most elements of Golgo 13 that it will turn most away. But for the ones that stick with it an interesting story awaits.
