Rush'n Attack (1985). Play online

Summary

Rush'n Attack, sometimes called Green Beret, is Konami’s fast‑paced run‑and‑gun shooter that drops you into a Cold‑War covert operation. You assume the role of a Green Beret infiltrating a heavily‑armed base, leaping over barricades and ducking past guards while a silent, invisible timer urges you forward. The default combat knife feels surprisingly effective until you snag one of the captured upgrades – a three‑shot flamethrower, a four‑shot RPG, or a cluster of hand grenades – each adding a chaotic flare to the assault.

The enemy roster reads like a textbook of Cold‑War archetypes: standard soldiers, gunners, supply runners, jet‑pack soldiers, German shepherd attack dogs, parachute‑armed troops, gyrocopters and even flame‑throwers. Each stage ends with a themed ambush squad that forces you to adapt on the fly. Score‑based extra lives appear at 30,000 and 70,000 points, then every 70,000 up to 980,000, after which the game shifts into a relentless “survival of the fittest” mode.

After rescuing the four POWs, the loop restarts on a tougher setting, a formula that kept the arcade cabinet humming for years. The title eventually migrated to countless home consoles, preserving its razor‑sharp challenge for new generations of players.

Storyline

In Rush'n Attack, you play as a United States Green Beret who sneaks into a Soviet‑controlled military complex during the Cold War to free four prisoners slated for a firing‑ squad execution. The mission unfolds across four distinct stages: a Marshalling Area, a Harbor, an Air Base and a Siberian Camp. Your only guaranteed weapon is a knife, but defeated foes drop a three‑shot flamethrower, a four‑shot RPG or a three‑pack of grenades.
Each level ends with a unique enemy group: the first stage finishes with a truckload of running, jump‑kicking soldiers, the harbor stage with a pack of fierce dogs, the air base with three shooting autogyros, and the Siberian camp with a skilled multi‑shot flamethrower operator. If you linger too long, tougher enemies appear and an invisible timer eventually summons a bomber to finish you off.
When you rescue the four POWs, they salute you and the game restarts at the next difficulty level, challenging you to repeat the infiltration with faster enemies. The loop continues until you can no longer survive the escalating pressure.