Ikari Warriors review: the joystick that turned in your hand

Two soldiers start at the bottom of the screen with a jungle full of enemies between them and the top. It looks like every other war game of the time. Then you grab the joystick and feel it click as it turns, and you understand this one is going to ask something new of your hands.

A dial inside the stick

Push the stick and your soldier walks. Twist it and he turns to face a new direction, independent of where he is walking. Its joysticks can be rotated as well as pushed in eight directions, and that single piece of hardware is the whole design. You can back away from a squad while firing at it, or strafe across the screen with your gun locked on a bunker.

For the first few minutes it feels wrong. Your brain wants the gun to follow your feet. Then it clicks, and the old way of aiming suddenly feels like shooting with one hand tied down. There are two buttons, one for the gun and one for grenades, and the grenade arc becomes your tool for anything hiding behind sandbags.

It was the first time a lot of us had to aim and walk as two separate thoughts.

Borrowed ideas, turned up loud

The game combined the run and gun play of Capcom's Commando with rotary controls SNK had tried before, and it wore its movie influence openly. It was meant to be based on Rambo: First Blood Part II, until SNK could not get the rights. What you got instead was a sweaty headband war with its own name.

The best moment is climbing into an empty tank. You are suddenly armored and dangerous, but it has a limited supply of fuel, and when it runs dry you had better jump out before it blows. Dawdle too long and the game starts a "call for fire," with shots that track you until you move up. The design keeps pushing you forward.

Two quarters, one war

In America this was a co-op cabinet first. Two players can fight through it together, and the machine was wide enough that you ended up shoulder to shoulder with a stranger at the mall or a cousin at the bowling alley, yelling about who took the tank. It ranked among the top five earners in America two years running, which matches the memory: there was always a pair of kids at it, and usually a third one waiting.

Playing it now

It is hard, and it asks you to relearn how aiming works, which is exactly why it is worth it. Give it a real rotary stick if you ever find one, bring a friend, and do not stop moving. The first war game that let you look one way and walk another still feels fresh.