Vigilante Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]
31Developed by Emerald Software and published by US Gold in 1989.
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Vigilante was originally released in the arcades by Irem and bore many similarities to their previous game, Kung Fu. As with most coin-op games, Vigilante was ported to many of the home consoles and computers available at the time.
Firstly, it's well known that the C64 version of the game is poor, but the question is just how poor. I entered into this knowing full well that I would probably regret it and it certainly didn't disappoint!
A gang of skinheads has kidnapped your girlfriend, Madonna, who you must try to rescue. The game is as simple as moving to the right and beating up any punk that comes into range before defeating an end-of-level boss; that's all there is to it.
Your so-called "Vigilante" possesses a range of fighting moves with which he can dispatch the various punks who attempt to bring him down. Of these, the high-kick and flying kick/punch are the most useful as these are the only moves that consistently register as having made contact with the enemy sprites. In fact, the kick actually registers a collision within the first frame of animation, which makes it look like you're kicking your opponents in their man-vegetables.
The C64 version is somewhat lacking compared to the arcade version as it can only display two enemies on the screen at any one time. The enemies close in from each side and the alternating kicks result in your fighter performing what looks like a jaunty jig as he swings his leg up and to the left, then to the right.
The graphics in the game are generally awful, glitchy and all of the characters seem to be an unhealthy, washed-out grey the colour of ash. The background art suffered from what appeared to be some minor glitches; whether this was just the version I was playing or common to every copy I cannot say, but I'm not about to replay the game again just to find out.
The game has minimal music and sound. In fact, there is a single tune and only one sound effect, which can only be described as a muffled "clump" when you manage to hit opponents.
The one redeeming feature that the game has is that the collision detection when using the kick is predictable and ordinary enemies can be defeated relatively easily. The same cannot be said of the bosses, however, all of which seem to be invulnerable until you discover the move that can actually hurt them. I did note with a wry smile that some of them can be jumped through and defeated quickly by repeatedly kicking them in the ass; this felt rather cathartic having been made to play this game in the first place.
The bottom line with Vigilante is that, while not irredeemably broken, there's simply nothing here of any merit or enjoyment. I can't say that I was a fan of the arcade version, so there was very little hope that I was going to enjoy this to any degree.
This one is best consigned to the history books.
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