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Jackal is your traditional shoot ‘em up.
You are in a jeep, which shoots bullets straight ahead and hurls grenades
or missiles in  whichever direction you are facing. Like most shoot ‘em ups your goal is to shoot everything that
moves. If you have a buddy to play
with, he can join in the killing spree as well with the 2 player
simultaneous action mode. There
are a wide variety of enemies to shoot including tanks, soldiers, trucks,
buildings, statues, and even stone pillars. Jackal isn’t just about mayhem,
you also have to rescue prisoners.
Okay, you don’t have
to but it would be pretty rude to leave them behind. Plus most of your points come from them
and also you can get weapon upgrades by loading enough of them onto the
helicopter near the end of the level.
One of the unique parts about Jackal
is the scrolling screen. While
your goal is to go up on the screen to get to the end of the level, the
screen also scrolls to the right and left. If you simply blitzkrieg your way
forward you may miss precious points and weapon upgrades. Your gun weapon never changes, but
finding the blinking prisoners upgrades your grenades. There are 4 different levels from
simple grenades to a missile that explodes in 4 directions killing anyone
in the area. Once you get this bad
boy the game gets a lot easier.
Near the end of each of the 6
levels you will find a heavily guarded  helicopter. By parking next to it you can send all
the POWs you rescued onto freedom, however if you get shot you will lose
all but 4 of them. After helping
the POWs escape you will soon encounter a boss. The bosses are all different and
interesting. None are too hard,
especially once you figure out how they operate, and especially if you
have the 4 way exploding gun. The
final boss however is one mean dude.
At the bottom I have included a special spoiler section which
tells you how to beat the boss and I even attached a link to a video of
me defeating it.
Jackal is a bit different than
your standard shoot ‘em up. A large amount of strategy and patience
is required. You cannot simply
wade in guns blazing and expect to be successful. One of the problems is that when scrolling
to the right and left, enemies will appear directly next to you. This requires slow plodding and
whatever you do, don’t blink!
Jackal is darn short for a shoot ‘em up.
Only 6 levels of fun. If
the game was longer I would have definitely given it a higher grade. The variety and graphics are great, but
the length greatly inhibits the replay factor. This game is better than Commando, but
I still prefer Gunsmoke.
Positives:
2 player
simultaneous is the best shoot ‘em up feature there is.
The graphics are great and the enemies are varied. The bosses are interesting.
Glaring
Negatives:
Too short! I want more Jackal. Okay fine when you beat the 6 levels
the game loops again, but that doesn’t count. I want more
levels and bosses.
Graphics
and Sound: Excellent
 The graphics are excellent. Bright colors. Cool looking bosses and other
enemies. I am impressed at the
level of detail here.
Gameplay and Controls:
Great!
The controls are also great. You shoot where you want to and it isn’t too tough to fit into the tight places
you want to go into.
Features:
Some
2 player simul
is awesome. You can upgrade your
grenades. Extra guys are bestowed
on a regular basis, 20K points, and then every 50K thereafter.
Fun?: Yes
Jackal is flat out fun. Certainly one of the better shoot ‘em ups on the NES. Make sure you find a buddy and kill,
kill, kill.
Challenge:
Medium
The game has
about 3 tough spots including a laser beam which  requires precise timing (which I do not
possess, yes I died every time there).
The final boss is very, very tough if you don’t know how to beat him. Luckily I have provided that
information below if you need it.
Other than a few spots though the game is just too easy. Once you get the 4 way gun of
destruction it is tough to die except by bosses. Since the game is so short once you get
the hang of it you probably won’t
need a continue.
Replay:
Not much
Since the game is so short there
isn’t a whole lot of replay value. You can try to find the hidden items,
but they are just gun upgrades, and when you already have the best gun,
not that useful.
2 Player:
Oh Yeah!!
2 player simul
at its finest. Just don’t fight over who gets the gun upgrades
like Agent J and I surely will.
Online
Manual?: Sure.
Nintendo Age has manuals for
every game. Go check them
out.
Bottom
Line: Yes
If you like shoot ‘em ups you will surely like Jackal. Now if you are like Agent J and detest
them you will probably still enjoy the 2 player simul
mode. I advise you to buy it and
buy it now. It is certainly one of
the best, unheralded games on the NES.
!!!Spoiler Alert!!!
Below I have included information
on how to beat the last boss and even added a video that shows you how it’s done.
Okay,
the last boss is a giant tank with guns and a flamethrower.  He’s
rather intimidating. Also, you
have to hit him 25 times!! However don’t fret, if you use my technique he is a piece of cake. All you have to do is go all the way to
the right (his flamethrower can’t
reach you now). Then just go up
and down flinging your grenades at him.
You are going to miss a lot but don’t worry you’ll
get him eventually. I have also attached
a link to a video of this strategy: Tank
Destruction.
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