P.O.W.: Prisoners of War (1988). Play online

Summary

P.O.W.: Prisoners of War – a classic beat‑em‑up set in a gritty Havana prison base. Two players can team up, controlling a blue‑uniformed fighter nicknamed Snake and his red‑clad partner Bart. The goal is to punch, kick and jump through four distinct stages – a POW camp, a warehouse, a jungle, and the enemy headquarters – while fending off foot soldiers, commandos, green berets and occasional vehicle attacks.

The arcade cabinet uses an eight‑way joystick and three action buttons for punch, kick and jump. Pressing two buttons at once unlocks a jump kick, a back punch or a head‑butt, and defeating enemies can drop a throwing knife or a machine‑gun. The knife fires with the punch button, while the machine‑gun fires with kick, or you can conserve ammo by “gun‑whipping” with a punch.

Originally released by SNK in 1988, the game later came to the NES in 1989, joined the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection in 2018, and was reborn on Switch and PS4 via the Arcade Archives line in 2020. It even ranked third on Japan’s December 1988 arcade earnings chart.

Storyline

P.O.W.: Prisoners of War drops you into a tense Cold War backdrop where two captured soldiers, Snake and Bart, stage a daring breakout. After escaping their cell, the duo battles through a series of enemy installations, each level pushing them closer to the heart of the adversary’s stronghold. The action culminates in a final confrontation with the enemy general, a showdown that decides the fate of the mission. Once the general is taken down, an extraction chopper swoops in, whisking Snake and Bart away in a dramatic escape sequence. The game’s relentless pacing and cooperative play capture the gritty feel of a covert rescue operation.