Ikari Warriors

Ikari Warriors
North American arcade flyer
DeveloperSNK
Publishers
DirectorKoji Obada
DesignerKoji Obada
ProgrammerDaimajin
ArtistsTama
Keiko Iju
Platform
Arcade
Release
February 19, 1986
  • Arcade
    • JP: February 19, 1986
    • NA: June 1986
    NES
    • JP: November 26, 1986
    • NA: May 1987
    • EU: August 10, 1989
    CPC
    • EU: November 1986
    MSX
    IBM PC
    • January 1988
    MS-DOS
    • August 1988
    2600, 7800
    • Late 1990
GenreRun and gun
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Ikari Warriors, known as Ikari in Japan, is a 1986 run and gun video game developed and published by SNK for arcades. It was released in North America by Tradewest. Amongst the numerous Commando clones on the market, Ikari Warriors was distinguished by its unique control style with rotary joysticks and a two-player cooperative mode. The rotary joystick controls were in turn based on SNK's earlier TNK III (1985). Ikari was originally intended to be an official licensed adaptation of the film Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), but SNK were initially unable to acquire the rights to the film.

The game was a major commercial success in arcades. It was Japan's second highest-grossing table arcade in 1986, and London's third highest-grossing arcade game that year. It was also a major breakthrough US release for SNK, ranking among America's top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games for two years in a row, in 1986 and 1987.