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

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 ...

designed by Eugene Jarvis 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 is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

. 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 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 ...

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

and PS2, which was released on March 22, 2005. A

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

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. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, dispatching them on Project NARC. Their mission is to apprehend Mr. Big, head of an underground

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

and

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

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 Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

TMS34010 The TMS34010, developed by Texas Instruments and released in 1986, was the first programmable graphics processor integrated circuit. While specialized graphics hardware existed earlier, such as blitters, the TMS34010 chip is a microprocessor ...

, a 32-bit processor with graphics-oriented instructions built-in. It was later used in '' Smash TV'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'', and ''

NBA Jam ''NBA Jam'' is a List of basketball video games, basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway Games, Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digi ...

''.

Ports

The August 1990

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

(NES) version of ''NARC'', published by Acclaim Entertainment 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'', 8/10 from '' Sinclair User'' and 72% from '' Your Sinclair''. 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 and released as a B-side to their " Planet of Sound" single in 1990. ''NARC'' was seen briefly in the 1990 film ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

'' as a group of teenagers were playing the game and fighting Mr. Big. Max Force and villains Dr. Spike Rush, Joe Rockhead and Mr. Big appeared as characters in the cartoon '' The Power Team''. ''NARC'' is included in compilation game, '' Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' (2004). ''NARC'' is a song on the soundtrack of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, another ultra-violent video game.

2005 game

A 2005 sequel was developed by VIS Entertainment and published by Midway for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. The Windows version, only released in Europe, was developed by

Point of View Point of View or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronoun used in narration * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or ...

. The game casts the players as narcotics officer Jack Forzenski (voiced by

Michael Madsen Michael Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. Alongside his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino—''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Kill Bill: Volume 2'' (2004), ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), and ''Once Upon a Time in Hol ...

) and DEA agent Marcus Hill (voiced by

Bill Bellamy William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's Russell Simmons' ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase "bo ...

), 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, qid=Q16665950, title=Narc (2005) 1988 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Cancelled GameCube games Censored video games Commodore 64 games Midway video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Ocean Software games Organized crime video games PlayStation 2 games Point of View games Run and gun games SCi Games games Video games about drugs Video games about police officers Video games about the illegal drug trade Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Brian L. Schmidt Video games scored by David Wise Video games with digitized sprites VIS Entertainment games Williams video games Windows games Xbox games ZX Spectrum games