
	Platform Arcade, NES Genre Action Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom ETA 1986
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Trojan

Nowadays, the market is saturated with games that take place in some sort of post-apocalyptic future. It's enough to say, "Enough already! Just make it stop." However, back in the 80s, the sub genre hadn't yet been driven into the ground, and one might think to themselves, "A game set in a post-apocalyptic setting, you say? What a novel idea." I know I thought it when I came across Trojan in the arcades circa 1987.

Taking place in a devastated world after a large scale nuclear conflict has leveled most of society, leaving the survivors to fend for themselves, players must fight a particularly nasty gang that has risen to prominence, destroying it and its leader. There was a definite Fist of the North Star / Mad Max vibe to the game in its simple quest to bring down this gang.

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What really got me about the game was the novelty of the controls. Players performed all of their character's movement via the joystick, including the ability to jump. Meanwhile there were also two buttons to make use of: one to use your sword, and the other to operate your shield. It was the use of the shield that really got me. Being able to block incoming

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attacks just blew my mind after playing action games where you just had to swallow the blows and watch as your on screen alter ego awkwardly bounced backward a bit. It wasn't just a rudimentary blocking system either. You could actually control what and you would block at, be it for straight on attacks, low ones, or diagonal ones.

First released in the arcades, and then on the NES, the arcade version was noticeably more difficult, as it unleashed wave after wave on enemies on the player, whereas the NES slowed things down a bit more. The NES version also brought a simple versus mode to the table for players to go head to head, but there wasn't a lot to it. What made the game fun was the pace of the action combined with the need to block attacks.

In this day and age, games that take place in a post-apocalyptic world are common place, and may well be wearing their welcome, but 25 years ago, they were a neat little treat. There wasn't a lot to the game, but what it had was more than enough to satisfy, especially with that neat shield ability.

Mr. Nash
September 30, 2010