retro review// NARC //
released: 1989
platform: arcade
company: williams electronics
genre: side scroller shooter

Oh the endless joys of the 1980's: kids were going bonkers over R.O.B. the Robot, big hair bands and ALF ruled the airwaves, and the CIA was busy flooding the streets of America with crack cocaine to fund the contras. Yes, the drug war had come home to roost, and Williams Electronics knew exactly which side of the hysteria you were going to be on. While most youth were willing to street hustle and annoy Nintendo phone counselors for a mere description of Super Mario Bros. 3, I myself was thuggin' it up at the arcades with careless aplomb. NARC ushered in a new era in gaming, quickly sweeping through arcades nationwide while rearing its unapologetic head with guns ablazing. With a mantra like No One Had The Guts...Until Now, you knew you were going to be in for some visceral soul crushing fun.

Definitely ahead of its time, NARC was a hyper kinetic explosion of ultra violence and mayhem unlike anything unleashed on the flickering screen. A sweet concerto of digitized graphics, you played as special ops whose mission was to infiltrate an international drug cartel and take out the decadent social bourgeoisie. Blasting through 7 levels of ghettos, crack labs, porno strips, and high rises; your object was to destroy Mr. Big & his global KRAK syndicate(with drug money most likely going toward covert guerrillas and major banks) Along the way you had to take on wave after wave of pimps, pcp addicts, corporate yesmen, rabid dogs, giant bugs & killer clowns. You even earned bonus points and were rewarded for rubbing up against scantily prostitutes. Ninjas and plumbers this wasn't. What made NARC all the more unique was its brazen attempt to drill the Just Say No credo home, even if that meant watching your character cavort in a literal baptism of exploding body parts. It was subsequently released a year later on the NES (albeit a rather crappy port), and as a pretty neat hand held. The Pixies even did a cover of the theme song, and a short lived cartoon was made of the game(one half of the weekly 'Power Team' cartoon) that featured Max Force, Spike Rush, Joe Rockhead, and Mr. Big. Long before the likes of Grand Theft Auto hit the scene, NARC was kicking ass and taking names. A game that would raise quite a controversial fervor if released today, NARC truly stood as the aegis of propaganda through video gaming?and boy was it rad.