- This guide is for the 1985 Konami game. For the older 1980 Irem game, see Green Beret (1980).
Green Beret (グリーンベレー Gurīn Berē?), retitled Rush'n Attack (a pun on "Russian Attack") in North America, is an action arcade game released by Konami in 1985. Green Beret is remembered for its Cold War setting and its reliance on the player using a knife to dispatch enemies. A sequel was released for the arcades titled M.I.A.: Missing in Action in 1989.
There are four stages: Marshalling Area, Harbour, Air Base and Siberian Camp. The omnipresent knife can be supplemented with captured arms. By killing key persons, the player can obtain three-shot flamethrowers in stage 1, four-shot Rocket propelled grenades in stage 2, threepacks of hand grenades in stage 3 and one of each in stage 4. At the end of each stage, there are extra challenges: Stage 1 ends with a truckload of enemies, stage 2 with a pack of guard dogs, stage 3 with three shooting autogyros and stage 4 with a skilful multi-shot flamethrower operator. When the mission is accomplished the four rescued POWs salute and the player is back at stage 1. The player is supposed to run to the right, revealing new territories, but in case of a standstill in 10 minutes, a stealth-like bomber would wipe out the soldier.
The game was ported by Konami for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan, and later the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US and Europe. Imagine Software converted the game for play in Europe on the MSX, DOS, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4 and the Atari 8-bit family. An enhanced version of the arcade game is included in the compilation Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced for the Game Boy Advance, as well as in Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS. The game was also released on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 with enhanced graphics. For the most part, all original European ports use the Green Beret title, except for the NES. The NES port popularized the name Rush'n Attack, which Microsoft chose to use for the European release on the Xbox 360.
The player takes on the role of a United States special operations soldier infiltrating an enemy military base which, as hinted by the name, resembles a Soviet military complex. In the arcade version, the plot is to save several POW's from being executed by firing squad.
However in the NES port, the plot is changed to finding and destroying the "enemy's secret weapon." In the final level of both versions, the player fires a bazooka at a siloed ICBM, eventually causing it to detonate. This is followed by a brief animation of the player character running away from the base, with a mushroom cloud rising in the background.
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Original title screen
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North American title screen
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European NES title screen
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North American promotion flyer
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European Atari 8-bit box artwork
