The Eagle and the Snake under the Wolf.
- Your Mission is the Rescue the President, who has been kidnapped by the enemy.
Go!
Bloody Wolf (also known as Rogue Combat Squad: Bloody Wolf or Battle Rangers in the European release) is a 1988 arcade Run-and-Gun action game in the side-scrolling format, made by Data East for the TurboGrafx-16.
When the President of the States is kidnapped by hostile forces, deep in enemy territory where the army couldn't penetrate, the elite Special Forces Branch called the Bloody Wolf sends their two best men, Snake and Eagle, into the hostile jungles for a covert rescue mission. In typical 80s arcade fashion where badass One-Man Army soldiers are wont to do - guns blazing and exploding everything in sight.
It's worth noting the TurboGrafx-16 port of the game is longer, containing more levels than its arcade version.
Bloody Wolf contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: The swamp-based prison camp level is new to the TurboGrafx-16 version.
- Badass Biker: Some level grants you access to a motorcycle where you can hop on and kick ass while on it.
- Battle Boomerang: The Final Boss will use a boomerang against you as his first attack. Rather than targeting you, though he destroys your gun first, forcing you to rely solely on your knife and turning him into a Fisticuffs Boss. Oh, and he gets to keep and use his guns and boomerangs.
- Blade Enthusiast: Knife Guy, who uses knives and blades like a pro even though the rest of your enemies use firearms.
- Captain Obvious: The hostages you rescued will occasionally drop some, could we say, "helpful" advice?Prisoner 1: Locked boxes needs a key to be opened.
Prisoner 2: If you fall off a bridge, you'll die. - Crate Expectations: Blowing up wooden crates in enemy territories will yield bullets, grenades, and assorted goodies.
- Disney Villain Death: The Big Sniper, after being defeated, plummets from the bridge to his death.
- Escort Mission: After rescuing the President, comes a lengthy stage where you must escort him through a heavily guarded enemy outpost to reach the extraction point where a rescue helicopter is awaiting.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: So many of the bosses. There's Shotgun Man, Knife Guy, Big Sniper, and you can guess what weapons they will use against you.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon:
- One of the bosses, the Flamethrower Guy. Guess what weapon he uses? ... said flamethrower also have miniature fireball launchers extending from the shoulders shooting weaker balls of flames.
- Later on, the game will dispense lesser mooks wielding flamethrowers on you.
- Fisticuffs Boss: It's all over the place. First, your weapon would be destroyed by a boomerang thrown by Final Boss, prompting a fight using only your knife and escape from the entire enemy compound. Later, a boss named Knife Guy would prompt the player to, with no explanation, drop his gun and begin brawling. The guns would, again, disappear in the final level. On the plus side, when Knife Guy reappeared in the final level, the player would keep his gun, letting him shoot the Recurring Boss just once to kill him. In another stage (Arcade version only), your character jumps on a raft and, inexplicably, decides for himself that the "raft is too small for gunfight. Better to use knives!"
- Go Through Me: Said almost verbatim by Big Sniper, the second boss that impedes you as you're crossing a bridge.You: I'm in a hurry! Get out of my way!
Big Sniper: [said while pointing a big-ass sniper rifle at your direction]: You'll have to get through me first.
You: If that's the way you want... [cue boss battle] - Gunship Rescue: Towards the end of the game, as the first player captured alive by the enemy made his escape, after killing the General he then attempts an escape, only to reach a dead end with hordes of soldiers surrounding him and a helicopter bearing upon him. But surprise, on board said helicopter is the other player, who then shoots up the enemy forces before picking up his comrade.
- Head Swap: Both Snake and Eagle share the same body design, Snake is just Eagle in desert fatigue and a bald head.
- Here We Go Again!: After the final stage in Snake's scenario for the TurboGrafx-16 version, as both Eagle and Snake himself escape enemy territory on a stolen helicopter, they receive a second transmission from headquarters informing them that... The President has been kidnapped. Again. Both men instead turn down the mission and shut down their transmission.
- In a Single Bound: Big Sniper can scale half the screen with a single jump. Which makes fighting him a problem, as you're on a rickety bridge full of holes leading to fatal drops, and he'll effortlessly leap from left to right while assaulting you.
- Invulnerable Civilians: You can frequently come across bound POWs in the enemy base during shootouts, but bullets from either you or enemy forces will simply pass them without any damage.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: The fifth stage's boss have you fighting him with a knife in the initial encounter. You fight him again in the eighth level, only this time you can use your gun. He goes down with one hit.
- Schrödinger's Player Character: Averted; the character not chosen by the player at the start of the TurboGrafx-16 game will become a playable character when the initial protagonist is taken captive by the enemy. This helps make up for omitting the Co-Op Multiplayer of the arcade version.
- Spread Shot: Your shotgun fires in a 7-way spread. The first boss's "hot bullets of shotgun" have a 5-way spread.
- Take It to the Bridge: There's a long bridge in level 2 you need to cross. It's also full of holes leading to fatal drops costing you a life, and enemy mooks with parachutes will drop from all sides taking potshots at you.
- Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: After retrieving the President and escorting to the extraction point, you realize there's enough space for an extra passenger on the helicopter. At which point you volunteered to stay behind and let the enemy forces take you in. Cue the next level where the second Bloody Wolf operative comes to retrieve the first.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The President is rescued at the end of the fourth stage in the TurboGrafx-16 version, but the getaway helicopter has only one seat available. Thus, a new challenge is presented to the player: are you a bad enough dude to rescue the guy who saved the President?
