Rambo (NES)

Rambo

Platform: NES Year: 1988 Developer: Pack-In-Video Co., Ltd. Buy: Amazon

For other games in the series, see Rambo.

Rambo for the NES is a side-view platform action-adventure game. It was developed by Pack-In-Video in Japan and published by Acclaim in North America and Europe. The game borrows heavily from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES). It uses many of the same mechanics; the interface is similar, you gain experience and go up levels in the same way, caves are dark until you light them up, there are similar enemies, and you even drink potions to refill your energy! The game was based on the movie Rambo: First Blood Part II, and while the game's cutscenes follow the movie, the gameplay itself has little to nothing to do with the movie. In the game, Rambo will mostly be fighting tigers, snakes, and other wild animals, as well as fighting a giant spider called a Light Mover. Later, Rambo will not only start to fight soldiers, but also acquire better weapons such as a bow and arrow, a machine gun, and pineapple grenades. There is also a part in the game where you play as Co Bao, though this section is ruined by the fact that Co can only walk and cannot attack enemies in any way.

The game received mostly negative reviews, and was criticized for the poor gameplay mechanics, the enemies that weren't in the movie (ie floating skulls, giant spiders, and flamingos), Rambo wearing red spandex and not starting the game with his machine gun as shown on the game's cover, and instead armed with a knife. Though the Japanese version's manual explains that this is due to Rambo losing his weapons on the way down from his parachute. The short music loops in the game also didn't help the game's reputation.

Screenshots

The title screen. The Japanese title screen, accompanied by some Engrish. Remember in the movie where Rambo turns Murdock into a frog?

This page needs more screenshots.

Music

Rambo's soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired. There are about 10 songs, but most of the songs are short loops. There are three different kinds of in-game tunes, and the third usually, but not always plays during boss battles and other dangerous areas. Fortunately, the developers made a wise choice in hiring Tohru Hasebe to compose the game's soundtrack. In the game's special thanks list, a person by the pseudonym Minky Motoyama is also credited for music. It is likely that they served as the arranger. Someone named Rushirushi Shimazaki is also credited in the special thanks list for sound effects.

When asked about the soundtrack, Tohru Hasebe could only vaguely remember the project, as it was over 30 years ago. He remembered creating MIDI files to send to the developers. However, even upon listening to the soundtrack, he said he could barely remember working on the game.

It's also worth noting that this game's music engine was also used in the game Sylvania: Ai Ippai no Boukensha (FDS).

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
01	Title Screen	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	0:56		Download
02	Password	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	0:22		Download
03	Cutscene	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	0:41		Download
04	In-Game 1	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	0:32		Download
05	In-Game 2	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	1:57		Download
06	In-Game 3	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	0:29		Download
07	Death	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	0:04		Download
08	Ending	Tohru Hasebe, Minki Motoyama	1:01		Download

Credits

• Ripper:
• Recorder: Doommaster1994
• Game Credits:
  • Music: Tohru Hasabe credited as とおる はさへ (Tohru Hasahe)
  • Special Thanks: Soundeffect: Unknown credited as るしるし しまさき (Rushirushi Shimasaki)
  • Special Thanks: Music: Unknown credited as みんき もとやま (Minki Motoyama)

(Sources: 1, 2)

While the International releases of the game lack credits, the original Japanese release contains a staff roll after completion. The reason the international versions lack credits was due to the extension of the game's prologue text, which left no space for the credits. Also, in the Japanese version, the handakuten and dakuten symbols (the ゛ and ゜) are missing in the staff roll, due to the fact that there wasn't enough space in the ROM to fit them. In addition, the staff roll contains a special thanks list with a couple additional audio roles for sound effects and music. It is most likely that Minki Motoyama was responsible for arranging Tohru Hasebe's music and programming it into the game.

The real names of Rushirushi Shimasaki and Minki Motoyama are unknown. We have contacted one of the programmers, Tohru Miyazawa (credited in the game as Philip Miyazawa), but due to the length of time passed since the game's release, he couldn't remember. Rushirushi Shimasaki may be Yukikazu Shimazaki, who worked for Pack-In-Video at the time as a planner, but he has never received any audio credits.

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

The NSF rip contains all 8 songs including a copy of the Cutscene music. The recording was made in VirtuaNSF.

Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

Releases

Japan Title: ランボー (Rambo) Platform: Nintendo Famicom Released: 1987-12-04 Publisher: Pack-In-Video Co., Ltd.     USA Title: Rambo Platform: NES Released: 1988-05-?? Publisher: Acclaim, Ltd.