VIGILANTE
Original Release: Irem, 1988, Arcade
Other Releases: Assorted personal computers (1988/1989), Turbografx-16/SMS (1989), PC/Mac (2011, in Irem Arcade Hits), Wii (2007), Wii U (2015), Switch/PS4/Xbox (2019)
Irem's follow-up to genre pioneer Kung Fu Master retains the same play style but moves things outdoors, refines the control a bit and adds a few new tricks
Vigilante (Arcade, Irem, 1988)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
The semi-sequel to beat-em-up genre pioneer Kung Fu Master started life as an actual sequel in development, but Irem reportedly overhauled it due to poor tester response and a desire to "Americanize" the concept more. So we move to the dark Japanese take on Big City USA circa the 80s, full of the usual menacing The Punks and etc., as a Thomas look-a-like high-kicks his way through five urban levels of assorted goons.
Vigilante was fairly common in arcades in the late 80s, at least here in the US, but never got quite the response that Kung Fu Master did and was pretty much a dead end for the franchise and concept (save for the Japan-only, Famicom-only "Spartan-X 2" several years later). At this point the genre had sort of passed this "flat background" style of beat-em-up by with the releases of Renegade and Double Dragon in the previous two years.
I think another factor is simple lack of content. Thomas works his way through just five fairly short levels in pursuit of the kidnapped Madonna, and since this game was from the delightful 80s world of blatant foreign IP piracy this did appear to be the actual Lucky Star Madonna herself. Though the marketing materials make it much more clear that it is supposed to be her than the actual game does, where it looks more like they kidnapped Shirley Temple or some kid from Little House on the Prairie.
The gameplay is a bit more technically advanced than that of Kung Fu Master. They added a nunchuk weapon that can be found at least a couple of times throughout each level, and the character now has a more physics-compliant jumpkick that adds the need to rebound and land properly after hitting a foe with it. There are also a few level gimmicks like motorcycles rushing you and dudes crawling up onto the playfield from below.
The nunchuks weren't exactly 100% balanced properly, however, and once you get a bit of technique down Numchuk Spam is now the metagame for sure. It makes it quite possible to crank through the whole thing on one quarter with a little practice, so it's easier than Kung Fu Master but also more tedious. Especially when fighting bosses, where the name of the game is safe but slow and tedious chip damage for the most part.
This game was released just under a year from the Golden Age of Beat 'Em Ups beginning with the trio of Final Fight, Golden Axe and TMNT hitting arcades around the same time, but though it was a key genre pioneer Irem wouldn't really join its contemporaries in reaping the bounty in a significant way. It did contribute a few beat-em-ups during the period, but mostly good niche titles that were often Japan-only (like Ninja Baseball Bat Man and Undercover Cops). It feels like they gambled with continuing the Kung Fu Master style and held onto it for too long, losing ground to more innovative competition. But though it's short and repetitive and at times a tedious chip damage fest, Vigilante nevertheless has its own memorable charm with its Engrishy goofy billboard signs and grunty voice clips.
Vigilante (Turbografx-16, Irem, 1989)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
The Turbografx port of Vigilante was one of the early selling points for the system, available shortly after the arcade release with very little loss of fidelity in the conversion. It's actually even something of a small improvement in certain ways, though there are a couple of small drawbacks as well.
On the improvement side, the programmers were able to cut some of the arcade slowdown if you let too many foes meander onto the screen at the same time. There are also some minor added visual details, and you can use turbo controllers which helps with at least a couple of the bosses.
One downside is that the screen is compressed a little vertically, enough to cut off some of the amusing rooftop ads like "I'm a BIG!" The bosses also seem to have slightly more generous invincibility frames, which makes it easier for them to run out the clock on you even if you know their patterns; this is most noticeable with the Level 2 junkyard jumpkick brothers.
This was definitely the most faithful and closest to the arcade experience of the initial crop of console and computer ports released, though, almost indistinguishable from the original and an impressive technical effort for the late 80s.
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