released as ''Boot Camp'' in North America, is a 1987

arcade video game An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-oper ...

produced by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

. The player takes control of a military recruit who is undergoing

basic training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique dema ...

at a

United States Marine Corps Recruit Training United States Marine Corps Recruit Training (commonly known as "boot camp") is a 13-week recruit training program, including in & out-processing, that each recruit must successfully complete in order to serve in the United States Marine Corps. ...

camp, also known as a boot camp. The arcade game uses

trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse (computing), mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball t ...

controls. In 1987,

Ocean Software Ocean Software Limited was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchest ...

released ports of the game for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 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 ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

, and

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 ZX Spec ...

in Europe. Konami themselves later released the Commodore 64 version in North America under the ''Boot Camp'' title in 1989 alongside an

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

version. An

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

version was announced, but never released.

Gameplay

The control panel consists of a

and two buttons with different functions depending on the event. The game can be played against a CPU-controlled opponent or a second player. Player 1 takes control of Nick, a brown-haired recruit in an orange shirt, while Player 2 is Joe, a blond-haired recruit in a blue shirt. The game is composed of seven training events whom the player must complete. Upon a near-success failure to complete an event (failing too severely results in game over), the player must do a set number of chin ups as punishment (this chance is given only once) in order to continue into the succeeding events, or it is

game over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...

. After all seven events are cleared, the player graduates from basic training only to be sent on a mission (the 8th and final stage) to rescue the

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

from armed terrorists. The final stage consists of a single side-scrolling level where the player must fight off terrorists using all the skills acquired during the course of training. This stage can only be played by one player. Without a continue feature or spare stocks of lives, and because the player dies with one hit (minus the part that pits the player in a hand-to-hand combat against the terrorist leader) from anything, the final stage is extremely difficult to clear.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Combat School'' on their July 1, 1987 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', originally ''Your Spectrum'' or ''YS'', is a discontinued British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was commercially published between 1984 and 1993. History The magazine was la ...

'' magazine gave the arcade game a positive review, comparing "Konami's new military arcade game" favorably with Konami's earlier Olympic video game '' Hyper Sports'' (1984). ''

Cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state (polity), state, or another community, often by Wiktionary:intrigue, intrigue and usually without the kn ...

'', released several months later, had similar trackball controls to ''Combat School''.

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

''Combat School''
at ysrnry.co.uk
''Combat School'' flyer
1987 video games Arcade video games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games Konami games Konami arcade games Ocean Software games Video games set in schools Trackball video games Video games about the United States Marine Corps Video games scored by David Whittaker Video games scored by Martin Galway Video games set in the United States ZX Spectrum games Video games developed in Japan