is a 1988

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...

developed and published by

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwa ...

in Japan and Europe, and published in North America by

Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. Its main headquarters were located in Suginami, Tokyo. The A ...

. It is considered as a

spiritual sequel A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to Irem's earlier '' Kung-Fu Master'' (1984).

Plot

The game takes place in downtown

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The game's plot involves a lone, professional martial artist who became a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

to fight an evil gang called the

Skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

s ruled by a man known as the Giant Devil, in order to protect his "turf" and save a female hostage named Madonna, who was kidnapped by them.

Gameplay

Players control the titular character using punches and kicks to defeat the Skinheads in a 2D platform manner, while sometimes picking up and using

nunchaku is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person w ...

against them. If players get hurt while holding nunchuku, they become unarmed. There are five stages in order of appearance: a street, a junkyard, the Brooklyn Bridge, a back street scene and on top of a building that is under construction. Skinheads with Mohawk or spiked hairdo attack the vigilante with knives, chains, motorbikes, guns and other kinds of weapons. They will also choke him if he lets them get too close.

Development

An arcade sequel to '' Kung-Fu Master'' called ''Beyond Kung-Fu: Return of the Master'' was developed by Irem and underwent location testing in 1987, but was shelved after it underperformed. The ''Kung-Fu'' sequel was then revamped into ''Vigilante'', after Irem decided to give the game a more Americanized setting, which was released in 1988.

Ports

The arcade game was later ported to several different home computers and consoles. The

Sega Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

version was published exclusively in North America and Europe by Sega, and is one of several games in the console to include an FM sound switch for enhanced music quality. In the Sega Master System version, Madonna was renamed "Maria" and the Skinheads were called the "Rogues". The ones for Commodore 64,

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 ...

, Atari ST, Amiga and the

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 ...

were reprogrammed by

Emerald Software Emerald Software was a video game publisher founded in 1988 by two UK entertainment executives – David Martin of Martech, and Mike Dixon who previously worked with EMI and worked as the company CEO. The company was headquartered in a three-st ...

and published by

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...

mostly in Europe. The MSX version was ported and published by

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n company Clover. The

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

version was ported and published in Japan on January 14, 1989 by Irem and published in North America by

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

the same year. This port matches the arcade more than other ports. The TurboGrafx-16 version was later re-released globally for Nintendo's

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Uni ...

for the Wii in North America on February 5, 2007, in Japan on February 6, 2007, in Europe on February 9, 2007, and in Australia on July 6, 2007, but was delisted on March 30, 2012 (on March 31 in Europe) before it returned in September 2013. It was also released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan on February 10, 2015, in North America on September 14, 2017 and in Europe on October 5, 2017.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Vigilante'' on their April 15, 1988 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of the month. ''

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 T ...

'' gave the arcade game a positive review, stating it was "a pretty good game" with "loads" of enemies, "crunchingly realistic" sound effects, "beautifully detailed" sprite graphics and "really smooth" movement animation. They later described the ZX Spectrum version as a "Pretty standard beat 'em up" that "You've probably seen" before, saying players should "only buy if you're addicted to the genre and you've already got the better ones." '' Computer and Video Games'' gave the PC Engine version a positive review, stating it was "a good game, even second time" around, the graphics are "perfectly defined and beautifully" animated, and that "any beat 'em up fan should check out ''Vigilante'' without delay."

References

External links

; Arcade version * *
Vigilante
' at arcade-history ; Home versions * * {{Authority control 1988 video games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Amiga games Commodore 64 games Data East video games Irem games MSX games Master System games Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Single-player video games TurboGrafx-16 games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in New York City Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U ZX Spectrum games Data East arcade games