Rampage

Rampage

Overview & History

Originally a runaway arcade smash in 1986 by Bally Midway, Rampage made its leap to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, courtesy of Data East. Set against a backdrop of satirical corporate greed, the storyline kicks off when a bizarre scientific experiment goes catastrophically wrong. Three ordinary humans—George, a man transformed into a towering King Kong-like gorilla; Lizzie, a woman mutated into a giant, spiked lizard; and Ralph, a guy turned into a colossal werewolf—break out of containment facilities across North America. Instead of hiding, they embark on a cross-country revenge spree, systematically leveling major metropolitan skylines one block at a time. The NES port successfully translated the simultaneous multiplayer chaos of the arcade original, tasking players with demolishing every high-rise, apartment complex, and military outpost in sight while dodging police bullets, tanks, and helicopter gunfire.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Unlike standard side-scrollers, Rampage unfolds on a single-screen, multi-story building grid where destruction is the primary objective. Players scale buildings by pressing up against brick facades, using punches to shatter windows, crumble walls, and expose terrified tenants who can be grabbed and swallowed for health points. Each city requires you to reduce every single structure to rubble before advancing to the next level. Survival requires constant attention to your monster's health bar; sustaining too much damage from military attacks causes your beast to revert to its human underwear-clad form before temporarily blinking out of existence. While George, Lizzie, and Ralph handle identically in terms of basic movement, punching, and kicking, the arcade-derived cooperative gameplay remains the main draw, allowing two players to tear down cities side-by-side—though you can also punch your friend to knock them off a ledge.

Keyboard Controls

• Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Move
• Action Keys: Attack / Jump
• Enter: Start / Pause