Ikari III: The Rescue (1989). Play Free Online

Summary

Ikari III: The Rescue drops you into a top‑down, vertically scrolling battlefield where the sole goal is to bust through enemy lines. Although it follows the same arcade‑action formula as its two predecessors, this third entry pushes hand‑to‑hand combat to the forefront—you begin with only punches and kicks and only occasionally find a weapon to grab. The arcade cabinet retains the iconic rotary joystick, while an alternative 8‑way version lets you play without the twist‑bar, mirroring SNK’s earlier beat ’em up P.O.W.: Prisoners of War.

Weapon pickups are scarce and there are no rideable vehicles, which means the rhythm relies heavily on punch‑kicks, jump kicks and round‑house attacks. The reduced arsenal was a deliberate nod to the gritty close‑quarters fights showcased in Rambo III, a film that directly inspired the game’s tougher vibe.

The NES port surfaced at the 1991 CES and later appeared on MS‑DOS and Commodore 64. Years later the title resurfaced in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection and on modern consoles through Hamster’s Arcade Archives release for Switch and PS4 in March 2020. Ralf and Clark have since pop‑up as cameo fighters in Metal Slug 6‑7, the King of Fighters series, and even as background characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Storyline

Ikari III: The Rescue follows Ralf Jones and Clark Still, two elite soldiers tasked with a covert operation to save the kidnapped son of a presidential candidate. Using a false tip they lure the main terrorist force into a wild‑goose chase, then battle through heavily armed guards in the first stage. The enemy quickly discovers the deception and pursues the duo, creating a built‑in time limit: if the pursuers close the distance, the mission fails and the stage restarts. Undeterred, Ralf and Clark press on toward the hostage’s location.

After cutting down the captors in stage three, they secure the boy but are ambushed as the rescue helicopter is shot down by Crime Ghost troops. The criminals recapture the child and drag him deeper into hostile territory. Ralf and Clark fight through additional enemy zones, finally defeating the Crime Ghost forces and rescuing the hostage again. The final leg requires escorting the boy to the extraction point while the relentless enemy army closes in.

With the boy safely aboard the rescue plane, the heroes return home, their secret mission never revealed to the public. The fate of the Crime Ghost organization remains unknown.

Edited by Maya Carter