NES Longplay #66: Guerilla War
14Guerrilla War, released in Japan as Guevara (ゲバラ?), is an overhead run and gun game produced by SNK. Originally released for arcades in 1987 as a coin-operated arcade game, Guerrilla War followed the adventures of two unnamed rebel commandos (Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in the Japanese version) as they raid an unnamed Caribbean Island in order to free it from the rule of an unnamed tyrannical dictator. Along the way the players vanquish hordes of enemy soldiers while attempting to rescue hostages (with large score deductions for any hostages killed in the crossfire), collecting weapons from troopers and operating tanks.
The arcade version, released by SNK in 1987, followed the highly successful format for overhead arcade shooters that SNK had pioneered with its landmark Ikari Warriors (1986). Using eight-way rotary joysticks, the game allowed players to move their character in one direction while rotating the joystick in order to shoot in another. The game was moderately successful, and spawned ports onto home video game systems.
In 1988, SNK released home editions on the PC, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum home computers and the NES/Famicom 8-bit console. Because of the limits of the home platforms, the home versions did not have the rotating joysticks. However, and unlike Ikari Warriors, the NES/Famicom versions proved to be very well adapted to the system and more popular than the arcade version. The NES version's two-player simultaneous play, unlimited continues, and frantic action gave it an edge over its arcade predecessor.
This NES version featured Box cover art by Marc Ericksen, who was also responsible for the cover illustration For Ikari Warriors III the Rescue and SNK's P.O.W. Now also available on Playstation Network.