Ikki (Japan)

Arcade Video game published 39 years ago:

いっき (c) 1985 Sun Electronics Corporation.
(Ikki)

A maze/top-down shooter game.

Set in the ancient medieval Japan, where a poor farming village is planning an insurrection to overthrow their feudal overlord. However, the only participants in the revolt are the player's character, Gonbe, and the optional second-player character, Tago, and the player battles against an army of ninjas, armed samurai a ghosts, and foot soldiers. The game has a great and colorful levels design, inspired in customs and myths Japanese of that time.

The character's movement is controlled with an 8-way joystick, and pressing the single button allows the player to attack by throwing a sickle. The direction in which the sickle is thrown cannot be determined by the player, and the weapon will automatically head towards the closest enemy. This forces an emphasis on avoiding attacks rather than attacking aggressively. The right side of the screen displays the player's points, along with a map of the level. The location of koban coins is displayed on this map, but players must circumvent walls and other barriers to go to those locations. The level is completed when the player picks up all 8 gold koban coins which are spread throughout the map, or if they capture the daikan (Japanese feudal lord) that can randomly appear during the level.
The player loses a life when they come in contact with any of the enemy characters or projectiles.

A bonus stage exist and some extras actions gameplay like grab a key to save a prisoner and especial items to increase speed of the character.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : TVG17

Main CPU : (2x) Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips : SN76496 (@ 2 Mhz), SN76496 (@ 4 Mhz)

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 1

- TRIVIA -

Ikki was released in July 1985 in Japan.

The title of this game translates from Japanese as 'insurrection' (like peasant against the shogun).

The main characters are officially called 'Gonbe' and 'Tago'. They make a cameo appearance in "Atlantis no Nazo".

A pirate version (sometimes wrongly considered as an export release) is known as "Ikki - Farmers Rebellion".

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
[JP] Nintendo Famicom (nov.28, 1985) "Ikki [Model SS3-4900]"
[JP] Sony PS4 [PSN] (may.22, 2015) "Arcade Archives - Ikki [Model CUSA-02372]"
[AS] Sony PlayStation 4 [PSN] (aug.12, 2015) "Arcade Archives - Ikki"
[US] Sony PlayStation 4 [PSN] (nov.3, 2015) "Arcade Archives - Ikki [Model CUSA-03376]"
[EU] [AU] Sony PlayStation 4 [PSN] (apr.12, 2016) "Arcade Archives - Ikki [Model CUSA-03380]"

* OTHERS: