G.I. Joe is a third-person

rail shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

video game produced by

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

and released in 1992 for

video arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as c ...

s. It is based on the cartoon series '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' and stars four characters from the show:

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and

Roadblock A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road. The reasons for one could be: *Roadworks *Temporary road closure during special events * Police chase *Robbery *Sobriety checkpoint In peaceful circumstances ...

Gameplay

The game is a third-person rail shooting game, in which each player chooses one of four

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

operatives: Duke, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, or Roadblock. Up to four people can play the game at once. Each character either stands or automatically runs forward in a 3D perspective, and their player can use the

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

to move them left or right as well as raise or lower an aiming

crosshair A reticle, or reticule also known as a graticule, is a pattern of fine lines or markings built into the eyepiece of an optical device such as a telescopic sight, spotting scope, theodolite, optical microscope or the screen of an oscilloscope, ...

: this allows for the latter's movement through most of the screen. Each character is armed with a gun that has unlimited ammunition, as well as a missile launcher which comes with 3 or 5 missiles and can hold up to nine. Players use these weapons via a standard shoot button, and a missile launch button that allows for larger-scale destruction at the cost of one charge.

Power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s can be acquired that allow the player rapid fire by holding down the shoot button, add another missile to their supply, or restore their character's

life energy Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

. The object of the game is to find Cobra's hidden stronghold and stop

Cobra Commander Cobra Commander is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' franchise. He is the supreme leader of the terrorist organization Cobra and the archenemy of the G.I. Joe Team. He was portrayed by Josep ...

's latest campaign to take over the world. There are three missions in the game, each composed of several areas, including a chemical plant, an air base, a weapon plant, a jungle, a cavern base, and a battleship. Enemies include

Viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

soldiers and various Cobra vehicles such as FANG II, HISS II, Razorback and Hurricane. The bosses consist of

Tomax and Xamot Tomax and Xamot Paoli (also called the Crimson Twins or Crimson Guard Commanders) are fictional characters from the '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toyline, comic books and animated series. They are the co-leaders of Cobra's elite troops, the ...

Metal-Head Metal-Head is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and animated series. He is a member of the Iron Grenadiers, and first appeared in the 1990 edition of the toyline. He is not to be mistaken for anoth ...

, The Baroness,

Major Bludd Major Bludd (Sebastian Bludd) is a fictional character from the '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toyline, comic books, and animated series. He is a mercenary working for the Cobra Organization. Profile Born in Sydney, Australia, Sebastian Bl ...

and

Destro Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV, usually referred to simply as Destro, is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books, and cartoon series. He is the leader of the Iron Grenadiers, and founder of M.A.R.S. ...

, with the final battle taking place between the G.I. Joe team and Cobra Commander.

Reception

''RePlay'' reported ''G.I. Joe'' to be the seventh most-popular arcade game at the time. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' gave the arcade game a positive review in its July 1992 issue, scoring it 346 out of 400. ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' also gave the arcade game a positive review in its October 1992 issue. ''

AllGame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

'' gave the title a positive review as well.

References

{{G.I. Joe 1992 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Cabal shooters G.I. Joe video games Konami arcade games Konami games Shoot 'em ups Video games about ninja Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games scored by Kenichiro Fukui