Rambo (NES)/First POW

From the boat
You will start out on the boat with Co and the captain. Speak with Co and Rambo will ask about her Pendant. Co will give the Pendant to Rambo, which is needed to continue in the game. When you arrive in this portion of the game, the connections between some of the screens are not as straightforward as one might expect. If you exit from the boat screen to the right, you will arrive in a field where Co is waiting. Likewise, if you head left from the field, you will return to the boat. However, if you exit from the boat to the left, you will be transported several screens away to the left. And if you continue walking to the left, you will be stuck in a never ending loop. To return to the boat, you must travel back three screens to the right, fighting barracudas and flamingos until you reach the field, which is a one way trip. Turning around and going left will return you to the boat.

The Village
When you speak with Co in the field ( A ), she will tell you about a village to the East. Run to the right, dealign with more snakes and insects. One of the insects here will provide you with grenades. In the next screen, you will be in a hilly region with snakes and tigers. At the end of this screen is an "N" tile. If you go right beyond the tile, you will end up fighting spiders and bats only to find a dead-end. Push at the tile.

When you first visit this area, you will be in a dark cave. With no source of light, you will be at the mercy of the small spiders and single bat that occupy the cave. (You can sometimes see the legs of the spider on the ground if you look carefully enough.) Walk to the left and look for the next "N" tile which serves as the exit from the cave. This deposits you in another hilly region with spiders and floating skulls. Defeating one of the skulls awards you 10 experience points, while the other provides you with arrows.

While you will find another "N" tile on this screen, you should first head to the right in order to find the village. Walk up to the door of the first shack ( B ) and push to enter. The man inside will tell you that a child is missing, and Co will convince you to search for him. After speaking there, the man to the right of the home will ask you what you're doing there. Upon answering him, he will give you the Lamp, which will permit you to see inside the caves.

No return to the screen on the left, and use the "N" tile to enter the next cave. This cave features bats and skulls. Walking through either side will merely warp you around to the opposite side. The only useful thing to do is use the "N" tile in the cave. It will take you to another cave where long snakes slither out of holes in the ground and spit fireballs at you. If you walk through the left side, it will warp you back to the right, but if you walk through the right side, you'll enter the next section of the cave.

In this section, pink stalactites hang from the ceilings and bats float around. The stalactites will drop from the ceiling once you get close enough to them. Try to trigger them to start falling and run away before they hit you. Continue right until you find a large hole in the ground to the screen below. Fall through the hole to land in the pit where the child has fallen. You will find him to the right ( C ). Whether you try to exit through the right, or simply walk back to the left, you will encounter the first boss, a giant spider.

The spider emits rotating orbs that hover above the ground, blocking any ranged weapons that you use. You can try to attack from far away, or stab it up close with your knife. Either way, don't be too afraid to run low on health, as your reward for beating the spider is a heart, which increases your health maximum by 100, and restores you to full health.

With the child saved, and the boss defeated, exit through the left, which will return you to the room with the snakes. Use the one-way "S" tile to quickly return to the cave entrance, and find the next "S" tile to make your way back outside. Return to the village and enter the first hut ( B ) to return the child. As a reward for doing so, the inhabitant will restore your health every time you visit. At this point, you can only return to Co's location ( A ), but take advantage of the hut by killing enough skulls to reach 300 experience points and combat level 2 before you leave.

The POW camp
After rescuing the child, when you speak with Co ( A ), she will tell you that the enemy camp is to the south. This is your cue to use the "S" tile nearby to make your way to the camp. Compared to the village, the path to the camp is much more straightforward, but far more dangerous.

You will start by entering a watery area with barracuda fish that hop out of the water when they sense food nearby. You will have to cross to the right through several screens. In the fourth screen, you will encounter a "S" tile, but don't take it right away. Instead, continue to the right near the end of the screen ( B ) and you will find a particular fish which, when killed, provides you with a vial of medicine. The fact it, it will do this every time you come back here, so you can take the "S" tile to the screen below, then walk a short distance to the left to find the "N" tile back, and return to the fish at the end of the screen. Do this until you have 9 vials of medicine, as you will surely need them for this mission.

Once you have 9 vials of medicine, head through the "S" tile, and make your way to the far left. Flamingos will attack you, but you will also have to contend with steaming bubbles that rise out of the water. Note that if you get hit while you're standing on a ledge, you will be knocked off the ledge and fall through to the water below. Keep going left until you reach the far side of the next screen and use the "S" tile.

In the next layer, you must return to the right. When you reach the bridge screen, you must be careful not to get hit by steam bubbles while standing on the bridge, or you will drop down to the water below, and be unable to jump back up to the bridge. If this happens, you must use the "N" tile to return north and make your way back to the bridge. If you think you are about to get hit, be sure to jump, as that will save you from falling through the surface of the bridge. Once you reach the other side of the bridge, you will cross only one more screen before you instruct Co to wait behind as you are about to enter the enemy base. The moment you enter the enemy base, the game will become substantially harder, replacing most of the simple animal enemies with much more destructive army enemies. They have the ability to jump kick you and shoot you. It is highly recommended that you approach these enemies cautiously. When you see an enemy running towards you, turn around and move away a bit to force them to jump kick too early, then turn around and strike them. Duck under bullets shot by gunners, and hit them before they have a chance to fire again.

The enemy camp is composed of many screens, but you can omit searching a number of them. From the first screen, go right one screen, and use the "N" tile as soon as you find it. The two screens beyond to the right contain nothing of interest. Likewise, when you reach the layer to the north, the two screens to the right are useless as well. Head to the left, as you continue to encounter enemy after enemy. Ignore the "N" tile that you find in the same screen, and proceed to the next screen on the left. Use the "N" tile that you come to after the second hut.

Once again, you must start to make your way back to the right now. In the next screen, you will encounter a bridge. As you did before, you must successfully cross the bridge without being knocked into the water below. If you do fall in, you must use the "S" tile to return to the layer below and make your way back to the bridge. Cross the bridge, and ignore the "S" tile that you see on the next screen. Keep running all the way to the right to reach the far screen.

In this last screen, all that you will find is a POW being held prisoner in a cave behind some fence ( D ). Use your knife to cut a hole in the fence (you'll need to make it at least three squares high) and talk to the prisoner. Rather than merely taking his picture, he'll ask you to rescue him. You're not required to take him, but you must in order to move the game along. Once you have him, you must escape and make it all the way back to the boat.

The bad news is that this is difficult to do without a good supply of medicine. The good news is that now that you've rescued the prisoner, if you have to continue, you will do so from that point. And if you manage to make it out of the camp (use the one-way "S" tile that you ignored along the way for a shortcut), Co will speak with you, creating another continue point if you fail to make it out through the water section.

There's more bad news however. As mentioned before, the animal enemies will be replace with army enemies. In some sections, missiles will rain out of the sky. The fish which once provided you with vials of medicine will be replaced with a Flamingo who only gives you arrows. Oddly enough, more "S" tiles have been added along the way which do nothing to aid your escape.

Once you reach Co at the usual spot in the field ( A ), she will tell you to cross past the boat and find escape to the west. You should attempt to reach 600 experience points and the third level of combat before you proceed.

Betrayal
Once you return to the boat, you can speak with Co. She will tell you that she senses something strange. Rambo will recognize that the captain of the boat is trying to capture them. You will then have to fight against some of the gun-toting crewmen, and the captain himself who will be waiting on the left-hand side. While you don't have to defeat all of the crewmen, definitely stab the captain with your knife for an easy heart. Now your max health should be 300. Once this event happens, you cannot return to the boat. The left side of Co's field will always connect with the water section.



Now you must climb the hill to reach the pick-up location. Whether you traveled left from the boat, or left from the field, you will be in the water section, and you will need to find the "N" tile that starts your ascent. Once you find it, use it to reach the section above. Travel left through the tiger infested screen until you reach the next screen which is full of small spiders that are far easier to deal with. Travel all the way to the left to find the next "N" tile.

The next section that you come to ( A ), is very valuable. Among the falling boulders are two apes that occupy the screen. Defeating one of the apes gives you 20 experience points, but the other ape gives you medicine. If you return to the previous screen through the "S" tile, and back up again, you can return to this screen as many times as necessary to fill up on medicine. Once you have 9 vials and are close to full health, proceed to the right.

Keep going right through the next screen until you reach another "N". Head north, and start traversing to the left again. There are two more apes in this screen, but none give you medicine. When you reach the next screen, you will have a slightly challenging jump section to cross. As boulders fall from the sky, you must carefully leap from platform to platform and avoid falling through the bottom. If you do, you will merely return to the screen below with the medicine ape. If you make it across, you will be close to the pick-up location.

You will have one more screen to cross, and this one will be crawling with army enemies. Carefully advance to the left side. Once you change screens, you will have a final conversation with Co. She will ask you to take her to the states, but you will refuse. In the next screen, you will be positioned on the far left side. If you exit through the left, you will return to the right side of the previous screen. Likewise, if you head all the way to the right, it will reconnect you to the previous screen as well.

Your goal here is to avoid the falling missiles and make it to the helicopter waiting on the right side of the screen ( B ). When you reach it, push and press  to jump up. It make take a couple of tries, but once you reach the helicopter, the pilot will inform command that you have a POW with you, and he will abort the mission and leave you stranded. As a result, Rambo will be captured and taken prisoner.