Rambo III (Mega Drive)

Arena
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Sega
Published by Sega in 1989

Rambo III - the movie - wasn’t the sequel that we were expecting. And even though it was a step down from the explosive action of the second film, which was definitely huge around here, at least it served as basis for a series of video games. In slightly borrowing its main storyline and tone, the Mega Drive version pays homage to the iconic character in a pedestrian shooter that doesn’t push the envelope yet fulfills its modest purpose with an old-fashioned sense of simplicity and difficulty. I guess that’s more than okay for an early licensed title developed by Sega itself.

If you’re a Sylvester Stallone and a 16-bit gaming fan you're well served with titles like Judge Dredd, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and, of course, Rambo III. Speaking of the latter, for obvious reasons it's the only one of this bunch that's exclusive for the Mega Drive. The game is a natural evolution from the classic overhead mold presented by Capcom in Commando, only quite average and if not for the movie association also kinda forgettable. It's far from the great standard of Mercs and just a little more accomplished than Crossfire / Super Airwolf, with the benefit of a welcome push in the scoring system.

Anyway, fancy being a one-man army against hordes of enemy commandos? John Rambo himself fires up the title screen with an arrow and invites you to the adventure, where you must guide him into Afghan territory to rescue his friend and mentor colonel Trautman.

Attract screen for Rambo III
(courtesy of YouTube user Classic Old Games (Lucas Costa))

Besides firing a machinegun with button C, you can also choose from three types of special weapons with button A. Button B is then used to deploy them: a knife, chargeable arrows and timed bombs. There's no limit to how many times you can stab your enemies, of course, but arrows and bombs are limited. To add more to their stock you need to collect items left behind by enemies killed with the knife or the timed bombs. "A" adds more arrows, "B" adds more bombs (note that extra arrows will only be given when the knife is used). Apart from As and Bs appearing when using the knife, you might also come across an extra life in the form of a smiley face.

Even though there are only six stages in Rambo III, the game tries to offer a little variety with different mission types. Odd levels will merely require you to get to the end and destroy bunkers before facing a short boss confrontation. During boss fights you'll see Rambo from behind armed with a bow and arrow with explosive capabilities. The objective is position the crosshair, charge the bow with any button and release it to target Soviet helicopters and tanks. Just remember to move out of the incoming fire and hide behind the obstacles in front of you if necessary. In the 2nd level you need to rescue prisoners and escape before time runs out, whereas on the 4th the mission is to destroy the enemy arsenal inside a huge facility. And in the final level just find Trautman and proceed to the final challenge.

An interesting feature here is the large bonus you get from finishing the stages as fast as you can, which naturally punishes the scores of those who like to procrastinate. Even though it's theoretically possible to break the game in stages 4, 5 and 6 due to enemies spawning non-stop, I didn't try to find any spots where I could safely apply infinite milking and break the scoring system. There's another trick to scoring higher, which is using the knife successively for increasing bonuses of 200, 400, 600, 800 and a maximum of 1.000 points. The problem with this approach is that it's too risky in the long run. John Rambo isn't that sturdy a soldier as he is in the movies, and he will lose a life when taking a hit. You don't get damaged by touching enemy soldiers at ground level, but it's very easy to get shot in the face when you get too close to some of them.

Stage 4: Blow up all the enemy weapons!

Upon a first contact Rambo III feels sort of underwhelming, with graphics that look brownish, drab and uninspired. Songs repeat after a few levels, but the BGM for the second stage is pleasantly suspenseful, as if lifted directly from the movie. Nevertheless with time the game tends to grow on you due to the emphasis on speed-killing things to get the best possible high score. Though disorienting due to their sizes and the lack of any map feature, the maze-like stages are perfectly manageable once you get them memorized. The 5th level can be tricky because of soldiers catching you off guard with grenades, so watch out for them when destroying ammo crates and such. All other levels can be played as if you were on a speed run, provided of course you know what's coming ahead. The enemy spawning routine is always the same, which definitely helps with that. Never mind the crazy slowdown that takes over when there are too many enemies on screen. 

Despite its simplicity and average challenge level, Rambo III has a few weird gameplay quirks. Although unlimited, continues are downright absent in the final level, so if the credit ends there you'll need to start the game from scratch. When playing on a Japanese console, beating the game in a single credit awards players with a special ending where Rambo runs after the jeep and destroys it with an arrow. It can't be ascertained if that's Trautman in the jeep, but it's quite an unusual twist. One valuable tip in the beginning is to stab the enemies coming from the very first truck as the game starts, and also the enemies in the 2nd stage in the rightmost part where you get to release one of the hostages. By doing that you're guaranteed to find an extra life. 

At the end of the day Rambo III is just simple, modest fun. It doesn't stand out but it doesn't insult players in any way. My best 1CC result in the Normal difficulty is below. I was able to get the best time bonus in all levels, which of course means absolutely no milking whatsoever.