''Narc'' (stylized as ''NARC'') is a 1988 run and gun

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade vi ...

Eugene Jarvis Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' ...

for Williams Electronics and programmed by George Petro, Todd Allen, and Eugene Jarvis, with art by Jack Haeger, John Newcomer, and Lin Young. It was one of the first ultra-violent video games and a frequent target of parental criticism of the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...

. The object is to arrest and kill drug offenders, confiscate their money and drugs, and defeat "Mr. Big". It was the first game in the newly restarted Williams Electronics coin-op video game division. Shortly before its release, Williams acquired the video and pinball divisions of Bally/Midway. ''Narc'' was ported to the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness W ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first per ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

, and NES. In 2005, the franchise was re-launched with a new game for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

and

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, which was released on March 22, 2005. A

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

version of said game was planned, but was ultimately scrapped.

Gameplay

The game's main characters are Max Force and Hit Man, who have received a memo from Spencer Williams, Narcotics Opposition chairman in Washington, D.C. dispatching them on Project NARC. Their mission is to apprehend Mr. Big, head of an underground

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

and

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

organization. The player controls either Max Force or Hit Man, who shoot or arrest junkies, drug dealers, and organized crime kingpins. Max and Hit are each equipped with an automatic weapon and a missile launcher. When an enemy is dispatched using the latter, they explode in a torrent of scorched and bloody appendages. Some enemies can be arrested after they surrender and then float away with "busted" over them. This is then added to a tally at the end of the level along with drugs and money confiscated from other enemies that they dropped when gunned down (the game awards more points at the end of a round for arresting enemies without killing them).

Technical details

The arcade game uses what is termed a "medium resolution monitor": higher resolution than televisions and normal arcade monitors, but in a smaller physical size. ''Narc'' is the first arcade game to use the Texas Instruments TMS34010, a 32-bit processor with graphics-oriented instructions built-in. It was later used in ''

Smash TV ''Smash TV'' is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a dual-stick shooter (one for moving and the other for firing) in the same vein as 1982's ''Robotron: 2084'' (co-created b ...

'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a ...

'', and ''

NBA Jam ''NBA Jam'' (sometimes "Jam" for short) is a long-running basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digiti ...

''.

Ports

The August, 1990

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

(NES) version of ''NARC'', published by

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide ...

and developed by Rare was billed as "the first video game with a strong anti-drug message," though Nintendo forced all drug references to be removed from the actual gameplay. The game retained most of its violence and gore. Most of the computer ports had their music ported by Tony Williams, credited as "Sound Images" and David Wise ported the arcade music to the NES. The Game Boy version of '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' uses some music from ''NARC''.

Reception

All the versions of the game generally received positive reviews, being praised for its intense action and enjoyable gameplay, but criticism for its repetitiveness, including 9/10 from ''

CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch ...

'', 8/10 from ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' and 72% from ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

''. Matt Bielby of ''Your Sinclair'' called it "one of the most objectionable Speccy games I've seen in ages", and called it "repetitive" and the plot "utter nonsense." However, due to being one of the first games to feature blood, it has been a target of concerns and criticism from parents.

Legacy

In 1990, Acclaim released ''NARC'' as a handheld LCD game. The main musical theme by Brian L. Schmidt was recorded by the band

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...

and released as a B-side to their "

Planet of Sound "Planet of Sound" is a song by the American alternative rock band Pixies, from their 1991 album ''Trompe le Monde''. It was written and sung by frontman Black Francis and produced by Gil Norton during the album's recording sessions. "Planet of Soun ...

" single in 1990. Max Force and villains Dr.Spike Rush, Joe Rockhead and Mr. Big appeared as characters in the cartoon '' The Power Team'' and in the film '' 22 Jump Street''. ''NARC'' is included in the ''

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' is the second collection of classic arcade games published by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox (not compatible with Xbox 360), and GameCube. This compilation includes 20 games that were not in the 2003 rele ...

''(2004) collection.

2005 game

A 2005 update was developed by

VIS Entertainment VIS Entertainment Limited (formerly known as VIS Interactive) was a British video game developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1996 by Chris van der Kuyl and Peter Baillie. In April 2003, VIS Entertainment acquired BA ...

and published by Midway Games for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. The Windows version, only released in Europe, was developed by Point of View. The game casts the players as narcotics officer Jack Forzenski and DEA agent Marcus Hill, former partners reunited who are instructed to investigate a new drug on the streets called Liquid Soul. After arresting

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

s and confiscating their stock, the player can either take the confiscated items to the evidence room, or keep them for future use. This confers benefits such as improved weapons accuracy. Dealing drugs for financial benefit is also possible. A March 21, 2005 press release announced the game's shipment to retailers and emphasized that ''NARC'' was designed for an "older audience". The game was given an M rating.

Footnotes

References

Citing 'Narc,' Ill. Gov. Seeks Video-Game Sales Ban
Mar. 22, 2005. *Johnson, Eric (a.k.a. VegitaBOD)

Midway Ships NARC for the Xbox
Xbox News, Mar. 21, 2005. *Morris, Chris
Weed, speed and LSD – in a video game?
Mar. 12, 2004.

The Washington Post, Mar. 27, 2005. *Pepin, Chris
NARC NES manual

External links

*
Narc
on Coinop.org
Soundtrack InfoPC Game Source
*{{IMDb title, 0411688, Narc (2005) 1988 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Cancelled GameCube games Commodore 64 games Video games about the illegal drug trade Midway video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Organized crime video games PlayStation 2 games Run and gun games Censored video games Video games with digitized sprites Williams video games Windows games Xbox games ZX Spectrum games Video games about police officers Video games scored by Brian L. Schmidt Video games scored by David Wise Video games developed in the United States Drugs in popular culture Ocean Software games VIS Entertainment games