Sgt. Saunders' Combat!
Encyclopedia
is a Super Famicom
war-related
video game based on the 1960s television series originally broadcast on the ABC Television Network
.
and North Africa
during World War II
(Vichy France
, Fascist Italy
, Nazi Germany
). MIDI
-quality sound faithfully captures the original television program's theme song. In addition, the montage of the series cast cast a sense of austerity and seriousness into the game itself. The graphics and animations are, surprisingly, neither cute, super deformed
, or in the anime
style - depicting a "live action war" with "live action characters."
Although most of the characters in Sgt. Saunder's Combat! are fictitious, there are four commanding officer
s in the game that actually existed and served in World War II.
and Benito Mussolini
so that the U.S. forces can concentrate on the Pacific Front against the Empire of Japan
. The orders are in English, and are subtitled in Japanese, even though the game was never released in either North America or Europe. Using the Super Famicom mouse or the Super Famicom controller, the players gives commands to each individual unit that is under his or her control. Orders range from moving a friendly unit, attacking an enemy unit, treating a wounded person (including himself), summoning an artillery
attack, exchanging weapon
s/items, and even fixing weapons that get jammed after repeated use.
The game has two difficulty levels; normal and expert. In the normal mode, Sgt. Saunders or his German counterpart (depending on the scenario) is strong and can fend off any blows. However in the expert mode, Sgt. Saunders can get wounded or even killed - causing the mission to immediately end with a complete failure
for the player and an immediate victory for the computer opponent. After each player has completed all eight phases that consists of a single turn, both players engage all opponents that are on the same square as their unit(s) in a crisis mode. Before the next turn can begin, the player must either release the hostage
, kill the hostage in hand to hand combat
, or merely capture him as a prisoner of war
. Just like in real life combat, not all actions will be successful and most will end in failure if the enemy is strong enough to resist. A percentage gauge in addition to an advisor gives players the chance of failure for each action. The closer to 100% the gauge is, the chances of success with a certain action will increase.
During the campaign mode, a player is given a squad of units to command. While other infantry units, tanks, and motorized units (including half-ton trucks
produced by GMC during the 1940s) can be seen in the game, they cannot be controlled by the player. Since this game is played by Japanese school children in primary school, blood
is considered to be completely absent in the game. Shooting the enemy requires the victim to go through a bureaucracy of stages - dizzy
, unconscious
, wounded
, then finally death
. Gun shots cause death slowly while tanks and artillery can cause instant deaths; this can depend on the strength of the weapon in addition to the range between the victim and the unit that is using the weapon.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
war-related
Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...
video game based on the 1960s television series originally broadcast on the ABC Television Network
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
.
Summary
The player can play either as Sgt. Saunders or as one of the Axis forces that fought in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, Fascist Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
). MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
-quality sound faithfully captures the original television program's theme song. In addition, the montage of the series cast cast a sense of austerity and seriousness into the game itself. The graphics and animations are, surprisingly, neither cute, super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
, or in the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
style - depicting a "live action war" with "live action characters."
Although most of the characters in Sgt. Saunder's Combat! are fictitious, there are four commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
s in the game that actually existed and served in World War II.
- Lesley J. McNairLesley J. McNairGeneral Lesley James McNair was an American Army officer who served during World War I and World War II. He was killed by friendly fire when a USAAF Eighth Air Force bomb landed in his foxhole near Saint-Lô during Operation Cobra as part of the Battle of Normandy.McNair, Frank Maxwell Andrews and...
(U.S. Army) - Anthony McAuliffeAnthony McAuliffeGeneral Anthony Clement "Nuts" McAuliffe was the United States Army general who commanded the 101st Airborne Division troops defending Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II...
(U.S. Army) - Karl Bülowius (German officer for Panzer Army AfricaPanzer Army AfricaAs the number of German armed forces committed to the North Africa Campaign of World War II grew from the initial commitment of a small corps the Germans developed a more elaborate command structure and placed the now larger Afrika Korps, with Italian units under this new German command structure,...
) - listed in game as Karl - Joachim PeiperJoachim PeiperJoachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
(German SS Officer)
Gameplay
The object in the game is to defeat Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
so that the U.S. forces can concentrate on the Pacific Front against the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
. The orders are in English, and are subtitled in Japanese, even though the game was never released in either North America or Europe. Using the Super Famicom mouse or the Super Famicom controller, the players gives commands to each individual unit that is under his or her control. Orders range from moving a friendly unit, attacking an enemy unit, treating a wounded person (including himself), summoning an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
attack, exchanging weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s/items, and even fixing weapons that get jammed after repeated use.
The game has two difficulty levels; normal and expert. In the normal mode, Sgt. Saunders or his German counterpart (depending on the scenario) is strong and can fend off any blows. However in the expert mode, Sgt. Saunders can get wounded or even killed - causing the mission to immediately end with a complete failure
Failure
Failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic...
for the player and an immediate victory for the computer opponent. After each player has completed all eight phases that consists of a single turn, both players engage all opponents that are on the same square as their unit(s) in a crisis mode. Before the next turn can begin, the player must either release the hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
, kill the hostage in hand to hand combat
Hand to hand combat
Hand-to-hand combat is a lethal or nonlethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons...
, or merely capture him as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. Just like in real life combat, not all actions will be successful and most will end in failure if the enemy is strong enough to resist. A percentage gauge in addition to an advisor gives players the chance of failure for each action. The closer to 100% the gauge is, the chances of success with a certain action will increase.
During the campaign mode, a player is given a squad of units to command. While other infantry units, tanks, and motorized units (including half-ton trucks
GMC CCKW
The GMC CCKW is a 2½ ton 6X6 U.S. Army cargo truck that saw service in World War II and the Korean War, often incorrectly referred to as a "Deuce and a Half" or "Jimmy"...
produced by GMC during the 1940s) can be seen in the game, they cannot be controlled by the player. Since this game is played by Japanese school children in primary school, blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
is considered to be completely absent in the game. Shooting the enemy requires the victim to go through a bureaucracy of stages - dizzy
Dizziness
Dizziness refers to an impairment in spatial perception and stability. The term is somewhat imprecise. It can be used to mean vertigo, presyncope, disequilibrium, or a non-specific feeling such as giddiness or foolishness....
, unconscious
Unconsciousness
Unconsciousness is the condition of being not conscious—in a mental state that involves complete or near-complete lack of responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli. Being in a comatose state or coma is a type of unconsciousness. Fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and a...
, wounded
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
, then finally death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
. Gun shots cause death slowly while tanks and artillery can cause instant deaths; this can depend on the strength of the weapon in addition to the range between the victim and the unit that is using the weapon.
External links
See also
- The Lone RangerThe Lone Ranger (video game)The Lone Ranger is an action-adventure video game released by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System exclusively in North America in . It is based on The Lone Ranger radio and TV franchise, the latter which was still rerunning in syndication when the game was released...
- another video game based on a vintage television program - The Adventures of Gilligan's IslandThe Adventures of Gilligan's IslandThe Adventures of Gilligan's Island is a single-player Nintendo Entertainment System video game by Bandai that is based on the 1960s sitcom of the same name...
- yet another video game based on a classic television show