(RAMBO) for the Nintendo Entertainment System
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                    A Strategy Guide and Walkthrough
                         by BossBird - Kevin Wolf
                    Contact: [email protected]

                             Version 1.1
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-TABLE OF CONTENTS-

I.     - Disclaimer & Legal Stuff
II.    - RAMBO'S REVENGE (Introduction)
III.   - Controls
IV.    - Items
V.     - Enemies
VI.    - THE RAMBO WAY (General Tips, Hints, and Comments on THE RAMBO WAY)
VII.   - Walkthrough
VIII.  - Maps
IX.    - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
X.     - Fun with RAMBO
XI.    - Beastiary
XII.   - About the Author & Closing Notes



I.     DISCLAIMER & LEGAL STUFF
This guide is copyrighted (c) 2013 to Kevin Wolf. This guide is protected
under International Copyright Laws, and it is prohibited to take any piece
of this document and reproduce it in anyway without the written consent of
the author. It is also expressly forbidden to steal my RAMBO jokes and
pretend like you made them up in front of your friends to sound cool.

But all scary/tough legal jargon aside, just email me if you want to use
the guide for something. I am OK with sharing. Just be polite about it.

Please also note that while this document is meant chiefly as a guide to the
game, I also throw in a fair bit of humor, bits of Vietnam war history, and
occasional commentary on the gameplay experience. When writing a lengthy
text document, the writer oftentimes become bored with repetitious tasks. So
adding these diversions isn't meant to make this a creative writing piece.
IÕm simply trying to keep myself sane, and entertain and inform you. If you
prefer straight-laced, no nonsense guides, go read something thing else.

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II.    RAMBO'S REVENGE (Introduction)

To properly introduce RAMBO for the Nintendo Entertainment System, we need
look no further than the first pages of the gameÕs manual. It's a tad long,
but necessary for the epic adventure that is to come.

<BEGIN MANUAL EXCERPT>

"You're making a big mistake, Murdock," said Colonel Trautman to the man
who just intentionally left two Americans prey to the vengeance of the
Viet Cong.

"Yeah, what mistake?" was Murdock's heartless reply.

"You're not dealing with an ordinary man, Murdock. You're dealing with RAMBO.

RAMBO'S REVENGE

You are Rambo. The most decorated Green Beret hero of the cold, cold Vietnam
War.

The war has been over for quite some time now, but for guys like you, whose
skills are survival and human endurance, the war has never ended. You left
buddies behind, guys who didnÕt make it back, guys who you believe are
still there and still alive.

But now you've been given a chance to go back. Back to the war that was
never really quite finished. Back to what it is you do best. You accept a
reconnaissance assignment headed by the paper-pusher, Murdock.

"All we need you to do, son, is take a few photographs. Nothing else,"
warns Murdock.

Somehow you don't trust him.

Once back in the rainforests, you look for your contact, who may turn out
to surprise you.

If you get to the POW camp, to rescue at least one of our guys. And in
spite of the insurmountable odds, see if you can make it to the extraction
point at the precise moment that Trautman and his team helicopter in, or
there's no telling when - or if - they'll come back for you.

And even if you do make it, guess what? They may not pick you up anyway.
Remember Murdock?

Just maybe he had a reason for not wanting you to rescue any of the POW's.

And here, after 36 hours of hell, is where your mission really begins...

<END MANUAL EXCERPT>


So with this great backstory in mind, you are now prepared to play RAMBO.
Why you are choosing to play this game I don't know. Maybe you liked the
movie(s). Maybe you like playing retro-NAM videogames. Maybe you enjoy
cuss-inducing map systems. Rambo is a mixed bag, so please accept it as such.

Overall, Rambo is a sometimes-functional action platformer based off the 1985
movie starring Sylvester Stallone as John J. Rambo. The game does an
excellent job of recreating the events of the movie, but the poor gameplay,
bad graphics, and hackneyed translation have earned it widespread negative
reviews. I wouldn't say it's a bad game, though I definitely won't say itÕs a
great game either. But if you look past some of the flaws, and enjoy NES games
with strange content and guerilla warfare, Rambo can be a lot of fun.
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III.   Controls

D Pad  = Move RAMBO around. Pressing up by an S or N block will send you
        in the corresponding direction. Pressing up will also let you enter
        doors and talk to people. Unfortunately, you cannot talk to
        Lieutenant Colonel Padovsky about his hair (he is busy shooting you)
        In addition to directing your furious jog about the jungle, you can
        also press down to make Rambo duck!! This helps a great deal when
        dodging the uniformly waist-level bullets shot by the Viet Cong and
        Russians.

A      = Jump. Jump around!
        Hold down + B to jump down to a lower level.

B      = Slash/shoot/slpode stuff

Start  = Pause the game. During a dialogue sequence pressing start will show
        your current password, life, EXP, and the game timer. Don't worry
        about the timer and the whole "you've only got 36 hours" bit. You'll
        win or quit before then.

Select = Select items.

The controls, while frustrating in certain aspects, are fairly intuitive and
get the job done. Once you've figured out the subtle nuances of moving Rambo
around while killing stuff that is. But items...man items are tricky.

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IV.    Items

Combat Knife     = Rambo's preferred weapon. Awkward to use due to Rambo's
                  obsessive usage of the 'Swing-the knife-overhead-then-
                  down-like-an-executioner' style, as opposed to the
                  more practical 'Just-stab-the-guy-directly-in-front-of-
                  you' style. Most people use that one.

                  You may notice some numbers exploding out of those dead
                  baddies. ThatÕs Rambo's Combat Knife level slowly rising.
                  Even if you used a hand grenade to blow up a spider, all
                  defeated foes yield knife experience points. Well ho-hum,
                  a levelled up knife, you might say...

                  Using the arcane arts of THE RAMBO WAY, your powered up
                  combat knife will eventually become more powerful than
                  anything else in your arsenal! That's right. The mightiest
                  KGB commando unit that withstands 5 exploding arrows or
                  three hand grenades will fall to one swipe of Rambo's
                  blood-drenched Combat Knife.

Throwing Knife   = ItÕs like the Combat Knife...but you throw it!! Actually,
                  the Throwing Knife is more like the arrow weapons, but
                  suffers the same 'swing-overhead-first' handicap of the
                  Combat Knife, which causes many a bullet torn hand when
                  ducking and throwing.

Bow & Arrow      = RAMBO's silent killer. Good against the early soldiers.

Exploding Arrow  = Arrow + KaBOOM! With some nice area damage upon impact for
                  when you catch those coy VCs holding hands. The best all
                  around weapon for damage and ranged fighting.

Machine Gun      = Oh yeah!! Eat hot lead you commie scum!! BUDDDAA-BUDDDA-
                  BUDDAA-KERPLOWW!!!!! Hard to find early on, and less
                  effective in the late game... but it's still fun.

Hand Grenade     = While blowing up stuff is neat, the grenades go mostly
                  unused due to a low storage capacity. And since you can only
                  carry nine, your hand grenade pizza party wonÕt become a
                  reality until the final boss, where you'll be too
                  preoccupied avoiding a helicopter missile to the face to
                  enjoy a slice of pepperoni with your explosives.

Medicine Bottle  = These red elixirs instantly restore 100 life. You start
                  with 5 of these.

Hearts           = When a major baddie goes down, he leaves you his heart as a
                  token of understanding. This is war. Shit happens. You gain
                  100 max life and your life is restored to full.

J-Blocks         = Lets you jump, HIGHER!! for a little bit.

S-Blocks         = Lets you run, FASTER!! for a little bit.

Since Wal-Mart closed its Saigon branch in 1975, Rambo can't buy his favorite
weapons in Vietnam. He has to KILL for them!!! Dead enemies drop items at
various points throughout the game. And a few crates contain them as well. But
let's focus on the enemies for now, because they are communists and therefore
evil. Or they're just bugs and stuff.
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V.     Enemies

<-Critters->

-Spider-
Eight legged death. They occasionally jump Arachnaphobia style. Duck and slash
to dispatch them. Squishable through Rambo contact, but you take damage.

-Wasp-
Bugs hate RAMBO. Sometimes they float down to the level of your knife, and
other times they fly about incoherently pummeling you in the head.

-Bird-
Death from a beak. They always fly down to knife level.

-Fish-
The fish hate Rambo. Hop over em, or duck nÕ slash.

-Flamingo-
Man, even flamingos hate Rambo. And these guys are pissed!! Shoot from a
distance or avoid.

-Snake-
Squirming on the ground and falling from the trees. Just duck and slash.
Also squishable with the same deal as the spiders...actually it looks more
like they explode upon contact, having the same animation frame as the
exploding arrows. Good job Acclaim.

-Fire Snake-
JERKS!! Spitting fire and blocking the way?! I hate you fire snake! Found in
caves, these guys are seriously annoying. Hit them in the mouth, or hop over
them and run. Better to avoid than to fight.

-Bat-
It's a BAT! And it hates Rambo. And it flies in a quick diagonal swoop,
which youÕll need to grow accustomed to for item-harvesting.

-Tiger-
I think this tiger is just generally upset about the political climate in
1980's Vietnam. War with Cambodia. Nike sweatshops. Purges. YouÕd be ticked
yourself. Consequently, the tiger does NOT hate Rambo. It just wants to maul
anything remotely human. And it's an endangered species.

-Guard Tiger-
Like his jungle brother, this furry menace pounces quickly across the screen.
But unlike his jungle brother, he is green, and does a lot of damage.

-Gorilla-
They hang out in the mountains and hoard medicine bottles. Their Hominidae
attacks hurt worse than the guard tiger's. Use caution in gorilla warfare.

<-Undead Foes->

-Flying Skull-
Vengeful wraiths of commies you and your homeboys killed in the prior two
decades. They borrowed their flight pattern from the medusa heads in
Castlevania, so be wary of their zig-zaggery.

-Skeleton-
This one is too good...
The skeleton is found in the 1st Russian warehouse. His movement is identical
to that of the gorilla, and he drops a machine gun when he dies.

If you find the above description utterly ludicrous without further
embellishment, please move on to the next item.

If, like me, you find the above description not ludicrous enough to describe
an extremely strange and hilarious video game enemy, please email me your own
(-Skeleton-) description for inclusion in this guide. This is a comedy gold
mine folks. Please experience the skeleton in-game first. Then, when your
sides stop hurting, write me about your experience, or make-up your own
description Ñ because the manual's just isn't sufficient.

ÒAs eerie as he looks.Ó

<-Inanimate Foes->

-Stalactite-
The stalagmites are all cool with boss covert mission. So what's up with
their vertical brethren? I could easily make a decent communist joke here,
but I have to save some for the actual communists, not these pseudo-
Trotskyite-rock things that heavily damage RAMBO when they thump him on the
head. On the plus side, you can stab a stalactite for 50 EXP.

-Log-
It's a log careening down the waterfall. Beware.

-Boulders-
THEY CRUSH YOU!!! But you canÕt crush them back. Avoid them as best you can
in the mountains, and run like hell in the waterfall jumping sequence as they
will knock you down to gorilla valley.

-Bubbles-
Yeah... bubbles. They hurt ya. Are they deadly swamp bubbles? Nope. Naturally
occuring gas, or biogas, is symbiotic in nature unless absorbed through
prolonged exposure. Noxious posion-swamp bubbles? Very likely. As part of
Operation Ranch Hand, over 20 million gallons of chemical herbicides were
dumped over Vietnam during the war. Rambo could join the class-action
lawsuit against Monsanto and Dow Chemical, but the lawyers would screw him
in an out-of-court settlement, giving him only $12,000 spread out over 10
years to deal with his lung cancer, leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, liver
cancer, prostate cancer, and any birth defects that may occur in potential
junior Rambos. Or just some random bubbles that Acclaim threw in to knock
Rambo off the bridge and annoy the player? Most likely. So yeah. Bubbles.


<-Communists->

-Green Soldier-
The recruit VC, he has yet to earn his stripes, or a gun. He jogs
threateningly at you and jump kicks yo ass. And if you're above or below
him, he will try his darndest to hop to your level. Those jump kicks do hurt.
So either avoid these guys or shoot em from a distance. Or learn the sacred
art of Rambo's Combat Knife.

-Blue Soldier-
A souped up green solider. He hangs by the first POW cell.

-Red Soldier-
A super souped up green soldier. He runs faster, jumps higher, and is tougher
to dispatch. These abilities work in tandem with his superior Marxist doctrine.
You will notice Rambo's blind faith in imperial colonialism grants him only
average physical abilities. Only with the chemical enhancement of J-blocks
and S-blocks can Rambo hope to beat the Red Soldier at the annual Vietnam
veterans track meet.

-Blue Officer-
He's got a gun! And he always shoots it at waist level. Counter with
crouch-attack.

-Green Officer-
Same as Blue Officer, but takes an extra arrow or throwing knife to beat.

-Red Officer-
You're getting this, right?

-Mercenary-
Not a communist. More of an opportunist. After selling Rambo and Co. out to
the VC, these traitorous chaps shoot bullets that you cannot duck. So jump and
then slash/shoot your way to some payback!

-Clubber-
Also not a communist. A leftover from Capcom's 1985 title 'Trojan', where these
'Musclemen' tried their best as being a stage boss. They were later hired out
by the KGB to round out the Russian commando program. Their clubs really hurt.

-GSG-
Or guy standing guard by Rambo's cell. Shoot em with an arrow for knee-slapping
immolation fun.

-Grenadier-
These pineapple tossing punks have serious range. Getting hit by their 'nades
herts sumfin furce. Their leader is a clown who rides a motorcycle.

-The Asian Racial Stereotype Grenadier Whose Grenades Resemble Waterballoons-
Just so.

-Russian Officer-
Like their VC counterparts, they shoot you with a gun. But unlike the
mercenaries, you can duck their bullets.

-Purple Russian Officer-
A suggestive palette swap straight from Siberia.

-Dark Green Russian Officer-
Sigh...

-Machete-
When the skeletons are on break from guard duty in the warehouse.

-Bazooka Soldier-
No longer satisfied with bullets and jump-kicks, the Russian force has decided
to shoot bazookas at Rambo. They always duck when firing, so hop their glowing
mortar and chop em down.

-Russian Commando-
Ok! A semi-worthy opponent. Unlike every gun-toting enemy in the game, this
elite cadre can DUCK AND SHOOT!! They actually respond to your movement!!
They are mean. They are feisty. And they guard the last POW in the game.
So give them a pat on the back before you knife them in the gut.

-Boxer-
Russian heavyweight rejects, or elite melee fighters? I don't know, but their
animation frames look demented. Easy knife fodder.

-Kickboxer-
These guys just love to kick! They kick air, kick Rambo, and will kick your
ass to death if you don't carefully move towards them, PAUSE, wait for them to
kick air, then quickly Combat Knife them to death. Your other option is to
shoot them with 5 exploding arrows.

-Helicopter Soldier-
Not content with just letting the Mil 21 bomb Rambo from on high, these loyal
troops jump into the missile bombardment (which they are immune to) and toss
in some extra bullets and grenades. Rambo is actually thankful for this,
because he needs their extra grenades to blow up the helicopter.

<-Communist Minions and Others->

-Mine-
Not yours, its a mine! But you can destroy them point blank with your knife.

-Spike Ball-
Ivan is getting medieval here. These things bob up and down, then rest on the
ground while changing red, which is when you stab them. Co. used to wear some
as earrings during her goth phase.

-Predator-
I'm not making this stuff up people! The frigkin Predator is in Rambo! In the
second warehouse with the bazooka guys and the kickboxers. He never comes out
of  his translucent 'cloak' form, or uses his laser or claws...but I know in
my heart that the Predator is there. And just like in his own game, he's a
total pushover. One jump stab and he's down.

-Gun Turret-
Automated and lethal. They track your movement, shoot in different directions,
and have high resale value.

-Ceiling Laser-
A gun turret stapled to the ceiling.

-T-100 Robot-
You thought Skynet invented the Terminator to wipe out mankind? Wrong! The
good ole Ruskies were messing about with Terminators way before John Connor
did his 'savior of mankind' schpeal. As the first generation of mechanized
death-dealers, these things look more like that maid robot from 'The Jetsons'
than a metal endo-skeleton covered with living tissue. But they shoot
scary fireballs.

**********
<-Bosses->
**********

With 1.5 notable exceptions, the bosses in Rambo are super wimpy. It's kind
of a let down. They're mainly upgraded versions of the basic enemies with
slightly different attack patterns and new animations. A few get spinning
fire projectiles that do piddling damage. But there's nothing especially
interesting or challenging about any of them. Your logical response of
'dodge their attacks and shoot them until they die' is more than sufficient
for victory. But for those 1.5 exceptions, and for those of you who desire
crushing strategems for each boss, here's a few pointers for ya.

-Giant Spider-
Found scuttling about in the cave near the missing child. Rambo should take
this fire-breathing monstrosity out pretty easily if he has decent weapons.
Rescue the kid, approach the spider, the jump over him to the left. You'll
likely get hit, but you now have a clear shot to work with. Duck and shoot
exploding arrows until he explodes, and rewards you with your first heart!
Giant Spider qualified as the 0.5 exception because he's kinda scary. Now
go return the kid to the village

-Mercenary Leader-
After slogging your way through the first POW camp, rescuing your buddy, and
slogging it back twice as far, this guy is a total joke. You reach the boat,
Co. tells you that 'something seems wrong' and Rambo suddenly engages three
mercs and their leader (your former friendly boat operator). While these guys
do shoot faster than the regular grunts, and you CANNOT duck their fire, a
quick salvo of exploding arrows will end the fight in seconds. If you lure
the guys in the water over to the ship, you can attack without being hit.
Collect heart #2, then haul ass up the mountain to the extraction point.

-Biker-
AND THE THIRD BOSS IS........a clown on a bike. At least I think it's a clown.
You meet him after Co. springs you from your cell and are heading out towards
the village. The biker cruises back and forth, occasionally popping a wheelie.
Crouch, shoot an arrow or two as he approaches, then jump as he passes under
you. Rinse and repeat. The only frustrating part of this fight is the unending
line of grenadiers entering from the right. A staple in boss fights to come.
Grab heart #3 (400 life now!) and head east to the village.

-Fire Tiger-
Beneath the waterfall lurks Fire Tiger, the meanest kitty in the jungle.
Before engaging Fire Tiger, slash the stalactites to the right a couple dozen
times to raise your combat knife level. Then slowly edge over to the left,
trigger the stalactite to fall, and out comes Fire Tiger! He's like the other
tigers, but throws a swarm of fireballs in your direction while pouncing back
and forth. A large volley of machine gun fire will quickly end Fire Tiger.
Just keep mashing the B button so he canÕt get past and launch more fireballs.
If he does, slowly walk towards him and take em out from a distance. Collect
heart #4 and head east through the caves.

-Flying Robot -
This guy reminds me of Mac Tonight, that old McDonalds character that was
supposed to appeal to adults. Its the crescent moon shape. Not the fire orbs.
You meet this guy guarding the Russian compound. Chop down the fence,
exterminate the foot soldiers, and commence your arrow/machine gun barrage.
He'll go down after about 15 shots, best taken from the mid-level barrel, so
you can catch him moving up and down. Collect your fifth heart and head all
the way east to find the helicopter (you need a key) BEFORE entering the
compound.Checking the helicopter acts as a check point.

-Sergeant Yashin-
Poor Sergeant Yashin...he never had a chance to strangle RAMBO to death.
Because RAMBO, being a guerilla warfare specialist, hid behind some crates and
shot Yashin with his projectile weapon of choice until Yashin died. RAMBO
took no damage, got his 6th heart, and booked ass to the helicopter. We will
always remember you Sgt. Yashin. We will remember your fuming anger, and your
adorable bobblehead.


-Lieutenant Colonel Padovsky-
On your way out of the 2nd POW camp, you fight Russian mastermind Lieutenant
Colonel Padovsky, the machine-gun bobblehead. If you have over 200 life, walk
right up to old Pad and unload on him with the machine gun until he croaks. If
you have less than 200 life, you can try grenades or even jumping! Either way,
once Padovsky goes down, you collect heart #7 (800 life) and the home stretch
is in sight. Go east, kill a few more soldiers, and then go south to get to
the chopper!!



-Mil 21 Flying Fortress-
Meet Mil 21 - the Flying Fortress, and the sole respectable boss fight in this
game. It's sort of a given; the final boss of a game being a badass. But if
you hoarded your medicine efficiently, even this intimidating sky-tank will
go down easily, though not quickly. The Mil 21 takes about 40 grenades to
beat, and grenades are the only thing that will cause damage. Milly unleashes
an endless supply of missiles while soldiers drop down from both sides to
shoot bullets and throw grenades at you. It looks hellish at first, but once
you get into the rhythm of tossing a few grenades, kill the soldiers, toss a
few grenades, kill the soliders, you only have to dodge the incoming missiles.

Heh. Dodging missiles.

But be patient. Don't run wildly around lobbing
grenades, smacking yourself into missiles and soldiers. Try your best to dodge
the missiles (they hurt the most and quickly kill soldiers as they appear.
Toss grenades at the boss only when the soldiers aren't harassing you. The
soldiers to the left replenish your grenade supply, which youÕll need
repeatedly, but the soldiers on the right just drop arrows and irritate you.
Kill both with grenades to avoid switching back and forth between weapons.
Watch your life and chug medicine as needed. Before you know it, Mil-21 is in
pieces and you're on your way home to the U.S. of A!!

If you go in unprepared, lacking medicine and/or having low life, you'll
likely get creamed. Worry not. You'll continue from where you rescued the 2nd
POW. Go to the medicine cache in the south where you entered the camp, restock
to 9 medicine and 800 life, and CAREFULLY work your way to the Mil-21 and have
at em!


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VI.    THE RAMBO WAY (General Tips, Hints, and Comments on THE RAMBO WAY)

THE RAMBO WAY is Acclaim's section of the game manual that offers tips on how
to play the game. For the most part, it's pretty good advice. And since I like
quoting the manual, let's review THE RAMBO WAY with my commentary in ()s.

<-BEGIN MANUAL EXCERPT->

"Part of what makes RAMBO who he is, is his uncanny sense of resourcefulness Ñ
both in combatting the enemy and in simply keeping himself alive against the
hostile forces of nature. Here are a few tips for surviving the way RAMBO
would.

- Explore everything you can. Artillery, supplies, even help can be found in
the most unusual place. (A simpler phrase might be - kill every enemy and
crate at least once to find stuff.)

- Take your cues from people you talk to. It's often necessary to perform one
person's command or suggestion before youÕre allowed to go on. (Solid advice.)

- Use your COMBAT KNIFE as oftern as you can. Rambo is so accustomed to and
"in tune" with his knife that it's almost like an extension of his body. And
with it, many enemies can be overcome with just one strike. (Also good advice.
But in the early camps, use your arrows, as the knife is clumsy and you have
little life to waste fighting hand to hand.)

- If you have a choice between fighting something and avoiding it, fight it.
Because in doing so you may be awarded valuable weaponry, experience points
or life energy." (Not-so-good advice. They put this in here so people wouldn't
skip bosses, and miss out of life points. You should fight every boss, but
aside from that,  you need to learn for yourself when to fight and when to
flee.)

<-END MANUAL EXCERPT->

Pretty decent tips, except for the last one.  But they don't prepare you for
some of the confusing and inconsistent parts of the game. So I've added a few
proverbs to THE RAMBO WAY that will see you through from beginning to end with
minimal frustration. Some points could be considered cheap, or playing it too
safe. Use whatever seems applicable to your style of play.

- Make a map of some sort. Or just follow the map in this guide. You REALLY
NEED a map. Without a map, you are guranteed fits of rage and despair.

- Hoard medicine bottles as if your life depended on it. Because it does.
Find a medicine-dropping enemy/crate and stock up to 9. At all times.

- Hoard ammo, then use it sparingly in tough situations. Like boss fights and
enemy camps.

- Pick your battles. Like the manual says, you should fight most enemies
to get EXP and supplies. But some enemies give little to no reward and will
quickly drain your life. Also, if youÕre in the midst of an enemy camp and
low on ammo/life/patience, it may be advisable to avoid enemies.

- Practice with the knife early on. You can slash about at bugs and snakes
in the beginning to get accustomed to the delayed movement. Towards the end,
your projectile weapons grow less and less effective, so you need good
knifing skills to advance efficiently.

- If you're at a checkpoint and not sure what to do next - scout ahead using
only your knife. Gather some intel, and then die on purpose. You may then
progress with a better plan and still have all your supplies.

- When playing the game, wear a red bandana at all times. Consider running
around to get yourself really sweaty and pumped up. If you're ripped as hell,
consider taking your shirt off to add to the effect.

- Avoid caffeine and sugar as they will increase the likelihood of eruptive
cuss-storms. You're going to be cursing your head off at this game regardless,
so donÕt make it any worse.

- But maybe get some pretzels and an iced tea or something.

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VII.   Walkthrough

Time to get serious folks (well, sort of). The walkthrough is very specific
with instructions and locations of weapon caches, as this is crucial to
finishing the game. IÕm pretty general about basic enemies, as you'll quickly
learn to dispatch them through trial and error. If you've seen the movie, or
any action war movie for that matter, you have a good idea of what will happen
in regards to the story, but I'm going to avoid discussing cutscenes for those
who detest spoilers. Bosses, tough enemies, confusing areas, weapon caches, and
various weird things are mentioned as they come. Quotes are taken directly
from the movie script, not the game's. Those that directly overlap aren't used.
The quotes I did use are here because they are awesome.

Onwards!

<-Introduction->
You start the game with Rambo talking to Trautman at a military base. Accept
the mission, walk to the left, and go south. Talk to Murdock, the fat guy in
green, to learn more about your mission. He directs you to the armory, which
is a door to your right. Find the correct door (there are a couple) and enter
to talk Ericson. Head back north and talk to Trautman, and your mission begins!

(Take note of how the 2 screens will wrap around to each other if you exit to
the left or right. This phenomana, though sometimes useful, can become
downright hellish later in the game when youÕre unclear on where to go. It
also only occurs on certain screens, and to top it off, it sometimes only
occurs if you exit from a certain direction. Sound confusing? Just wait...)

Trautman: John I want you to try and forget the war. Remember the mission.
The old Vietnam's dead.
Rambo: Sir I'm alive, it's still alive, ain't it?

<-Area 1->

Here you meet Co., your contact in Vietnam, and practice some gameplay
basics before beginning your mission in earnest. A small intro area.

You'll meet your basic jungle baddies here, begin your knife training as you
head east, then north, then east to find the boat. The guy here doesn't like
strangers, so go all the way west, then work your way north to meet Co. Talk
to her, have a chuckle as she mimicks your every step and hop, then head south
twice to the boat. With Co. in tow, you may now cross the river. You do
actually have to move east in the water to enter area 2.

If you get lost, consult the map. If you die, don't worry, you have infinte
continues from your last checkpoint, and you get to keep your knife EXP plus
any weapons you picked up (only a few arrows and throwing knives so far). DO
NOT USE ANY MEDICINE as those do not reset to 5 after dying, and you need
all of them for later.

Co Bao: Why did they pick you? Because you like to fight?
Rambo: I'm expendable.
Co Bao: What mean expendable?
Rambo: It's like someone invites you to a party and you don't show up.
It doesn't really matter.



<-Area 2->
Here you save a missing child, infiltrate the 1st POW camp, free the POW,
retrace your steps to the beginning of the area, then climb the mountain
to the extraction point. Area 2 is LARGE, so try to remember where you are
if possible. You can item-farm to full ammo/medicine at any time in area 2.
I recommed farming all at once, either right away, or directly after the
village checkpoint.

Before you go storming off to save the day, talk to Co. on the boat. Then head
east into a field to meet Co. again. She suggests going to the village. The
village is to the east, north, north in the dark cave, then east again( on the
screen with the floating skulls. In the village enter the hut to learn of the
missing child. This is your 2nd checkpoint. Talk to the villager just east of
the hut to receive the lamp. Now you can see inside the caves!

At this point I would highly recommend item-farming some enemies to get some
weapons and more medicine for the upcoming caves. You don't have to now, or
ever really if you find it tedious. But getting stuck later on without a good
supply of arrows and medicine will make things ugly. First thing is to go ALL
the way back to the boat where you arrived with Co. From there go left. And
then, oddly enough, go right. (This is one of the horrible map shenanigans that
I alluded to earlier. When you leave the boat screen to the left, you
effectively move west three screens, and have to now backtrack east) Go north
to reach gorilla valley. The first gorilla to the right of the OSO holds a
medicine bottle. This guy is clutch, so remember where he is. Go east.
You will meet some tigers. The first tiger you encounter has a machine gun.
So between medicine gorilla and machine gun tiger, farm back and forth until
you have 9 medicine, 99 bullets, and full health (using medicine as you take
damage). Go back to the boat. Head as far east as you can go. The 2nd of two
bats on this screen drops exploding arrows (me favorite). Farm those to 99.
Head back to the floating skull area just outside the village. One of the two
skulls drops regular arrows. Farm to 99. If you want grenades, theyÕre in a
few places, closest of which is in a random wasp one screen east of the field
with Co. These arenÕt the only locations for these items, and you may find
some areas you prefer to gather supplies. I've described these specific areas
as I find them the easiest to locate and collect quickly. As always, check
the map for reference if you need help or get lost.

If you've done all that, or even just the medicine and a few weapons, you're
clear to head to the caves and save the kid! From the village, head east, then
north into the caves, north again, and then east into (GASP) fire snakes and
falling stalactites! Avoid both of these as they do heavy damage. Keep going
east until you see a long vertical pit. Fall down it. Now it's time for boss
no. 1 Giant Spider! Before killing giant spider, go east from where you fell
to talk to and rescue the missing child. Now go left, hop over the giant
spider and his fire balls so youÕre on even ground, and shoot him to death with
arrows. Heal if necessary during the fight. Once he dies, you get +100 life
to your total life (200 now) and your life is restored to 200. This excellent
life bonus occurs after every boss.

Exit west, then south out of the caves, then back to the village. Your health
is restored and youÕre now raring to go find the POWs!! At this point I insist
you stock up on medicine, arrows, and exploding arrows. YouÕll want them.
Go back to the field by the boat with Co. Go south to enter the water area.
Go east and then south at the first junction. You are now at the first part
of bubble bridge, and the bubbles do hurt. (As do the angry flamingos) Go west,
then south, then east. You are now at the second bubble bridge, but this time,
you have to cross the entire bridge WITHOUT getting hit by bubbles. Absurd
and Zelda 2-esque, you have to deal with it. After the bridge, keep heading
east until Co. stops you and Rambo heads into the POW camp alone (apparently
sheÕs been behind you, or riding in your pocket this whole time).

Here in the POW camp, shit is about to get real. You now fight HUMAN enemies!
And they have GUNS! And jumpkicks and clubs and lots of anger towards Rambo.
Head east, using your arrows to dispatch soldiers from a healthy distance. Go
north at the first junction. Head west, smiting communists and clubbers for
freedom, then go north again. This is the top, or northernmost section of the
camp. Careful crossing the bridge section as you are knocked down if you get
hit by anything (All bridges in Vietnam are as thin as balance beams, so it's
hard to stay on when you get shot.) Go all the way east to find the POW! You
have to cut away the fence with your knife to talk to him. Instead of
following MurdockÕs orders, choose the honorable route. You now have to
escape with your POW buddy, and go ALLLLL the way back to the boat where you
first arrived with Co. This is hard. Because now every screen is filled with
murderous Viet Cong, not just fish and flamingos.

You essentially retrace all of your steps from the last two paragraphs. But
there are two shortcuts to speed things along. The first is just west of the
POW cell. Go south instead of west across the bridge. Then work your way back
to bubble bridge. Jump down in the water, and if you look, thereÕs  an ONO
path leading up to the first bubble bridge area!! From here go east, north,
west, and north, slogging your way through VC, missile bombardments, and of
course, angry flamingos.  When you finally make it back to the boat and Co.
talk to her, and you get to fight boss #2 Ñ Mercenary Leader!! Jump off the
boat to the left, slash his buddy with the combat knife, and then slash him.
He should die in 1-2 hits. After dealing with these chumps, head west and
north to gorilla valley, where you farmed medicine and machine guns earlier
(hopefully). Stop for a bit to restock medicine, and machine gun ammo if you
like (BUT ALWAYS RESTOCK ON MEDICINE WHEN YOU CAN!!!) Go east, north, and west
to arrive at the boulder cliff. Here you have to do a bit of fancy jumping to
get across the rock platforms while avoiding the boulders. If you get hit and
fall, you go back to gorilla valley and have to try again. If you make it,
keep going west, and youÕll say goodbye to Co. Run to the right under missile
bombardment to meet the helicopter! Jump, then press up to make contact.
(DonÕt hold up on the d-pad before jumping, you have to press up in mid-air
AFTER hitting A to contact the chopper.

Except you don't quite make it. Rambo is captured by a Russian commando
force and imprisoned. Things aren't looking good for the team here. But
a friend soon comes to the rescue.

Lt. Col. Podovsky: [while torturing Rambo] You may scream. There is no shame.

<-Area 3->
In Area 3, you control Co. for a short bit to spring Rambo from prison, escape
east to the waterfall, infiltrate the Russian base, and fly out on a stolen
helicopter. There are four bosses in area 3, but the layout is a bit more
linear, almost exclusively going east towards the end of the Russian base.
Some difficult new enemies appear, and you need to upgrade your combat knife
to at least level 4 to navigate the Russian warehouses with ease. So slash
bad guys when you can.

The area begins with a scene with Rambo in prison. You then take control of
Co., who walks slow, canÕt fight, but does look pretty sexy in a Vietnamese
Ao Dai (a silk dress). Anyway, start by having Co. enter the hut to her right
to get some medicine. Then talk to the guy further to the right. Pick the
dress option. In your suggestive new outfit, head west into the Russian
prison area. Talk to the guard at the left to gain access inside. Now you
need to enter the large house to pose as the generalÕs wife to some officer
guy. After gaining his trust, and the prison key, go all the way west to
spring Rambo and get back to business (the business of slaughtering
communists and wildlife while looking for POWs to rescue).

AAANNNNDDDDDD we're back to playing as Rambo! But he's in the middle of a
prison camp. Fortunately, the Ruskies set all of Rambo's stuff just outside
of his cell, so the instant you get out, you can start firing away at Uncle
Ivan's cronies. Work your way east out of the camp towards the village.
Halfway there you meet boss #3 N Biker Clown!! (I have yet to confirm Biker
Clown's status as an actual clown...but he sure looks like one, so that's
what we're calling him. Besides, Biker Clown is a much better title than
just "Biker" or "Russian on a Motorcycle". Visually, audibly, and
conceptually, I think we can all agree that this boss should be named Biker
Clown.) Kill the first coupla grenadiers in the area, then approach Biker
Clown. Duck and shoot stuff as he wheelies toward you. Jump over him, duck,
and shoot some more until he dies. We'll miss you Biker Clown. As you keep
moving east, avoid the grenadiers or dispatch them quickly. They hurt quite
a bit. Get to the town, go in the hut, and Rambo gets some his fighting mojo
back (his health is restored). Head out east over the waterfall, but like
the bridges in area 2, donÕt get hit or youÕll fall and have backtrack. Move
to the center of the waterfall jump down, and look for an "N" block that leads
into a cave. Hop down and over the ÔNÕ, and get ready for boss #4 Fire Tiger!!

Fire Tiger is a Buddhist tiger that attempted to protest the Vietnam war
by burning himself to death in Saigon. Much to his chagrin, Fire Tiger quickly
discovered that he was immortal, and could not self-immolate. Ashamed of his
failure, Fire Tiger fled to a distant waterfall cave, where he hid until Rambo
found him. When you enter the cave, slowly move to the left to trigger Fire
TigerÕs blazing fireball pounce attack. You'll take some damage as he is
rather quick, but a quick volley of arrows will bring him down. Now at 500
life (yay), proceed east through the cave, being careful NOT to fall down in
the green muck. As you likely guessed, this knocks Rambo down, and youÕll
have to backtrack.  Once out of the cave, you'll move east and be on top of
another waterfall. Drop down on the far right. You'll see Co. in her fancy
dress at the bottom, but DO NOT TALK TO HER. This does act as a checkpoint,
but you don't need it because you have plenty of medicine right? You've
still got 5+ bottles right? If youÕre close to death with no medicine, little
ammo, and youÕve already killed Fire Tiger and Clown Biker, then go back to
village (or just die intentionally) and heal at the village hut.

From the basin of the waterfall where you see Co. and Russian soldiers, go
east. You're now at the Russian base! Most soldiers here are strong vs. all
of your projectile weapons, so itÕs time to bust out the combat knife. Work
your way east until you hear the music for boss #5 Ñ Flying Robot! You first
have to cut down a fence with your knife, then eliminate the foot soldiers,
and then tackle Flying Robot. Jump up to a mid-level barrel (he flies up and
down diagonally so this allows you to hit him more frequently). and unleash
your machine gun volley of death. He explodes and you get a heart. Now proceed
all the way to the east to find a helicopter. Press up in front of it. You'll
find you require a key to operate this whirlie-bob. More importantly, you just
made a checkpoint before you go a-looking for said key, which is hidden deep
within the Russian warehouse complex (the buildings you ran by earlier). Head
back west and select your target: warehouse 1 on the same screen as
Flying Robot has ammo and medicine. Warehouse 2 is just to the east, by the
spiky balls, and holds the helicopter key. You must go through warehouse 2
to proceed to area 4, but warehouse 1 is optional. I personally recommend just
going for the key and getting out of there as there is easily accesible ammo
and medicine in area 4. But if youÕre really low on ammo, or just want to
explore a Russian warehouse full of weird enemies, read on. If you want
get the key, skip the follwing paragraph.

Warehouse 1 is strange, both in layout and in how you access the 2 different
parts of the layout. Despite entering through the same door on the Flying Robot
screen, the direction you enter this screen determines which of the 2 parts
you'll enter at. To clarify, if you enter from the east, from Warehouse 2 and
the helicopter pad, you'll begin Warehouse 1 next to some machete guys. If you
backtrack across the screen, then enter from the east, you'll trigger the boss
music (though Flying Robot is no more) and can now enter Warehouse 1 and begin
near some hopping skeletons (the best enemy in the game Ñ see enemy section
for details). You want to enter by the skeletons, as this entrance allows you
access to MEDICINE, which you always want. Ammo of various types can be found
by slashing various foes throughout the entire warehouse. It's plentiful, so
IÕm only going to describe how to get to the medicine and get out. Enter by
the skeletons, pause for a savor their unique existence, then go west.
Intentionally drop down a screen, then on the following screen, hop down
through the orange platform. Proceed east and stop. You now want to bait the
soldiers over to you slowly so you ARE NOT knocked down a level, and thus
miss your medicine cahce. Slowly lure and kill all the soliders, then proceed
east to a screen with many barrels. The second skeleton to your right drops
a medicine bottle. Restock, heal, and restock some more. When youÕre ready,
go back west, drop down, and exit to the east, past some machete dudes.

Warehouse 2 is where you'll find the helicopter key...and Predators. From
the entrance head east and up the steps, the go south. On the new screen,
drop down and head west, quickly taking the north junction. From here, go
west, and you'll be in an odd room with spiky balls, several doors, and
some ledges to drop down in the middle. Drop down to the bottom level of the
same screen, break some crates, and enter the door. Rambo gets the key, and
Sgt. Yashin appears from somewhere to challenge you. As boss #6 D Sargeant
Yashin boasts a mean, lunging bear hug attack...or something. Knock out some
of the crates and shoot him to death from behind your blockade. Goodbye
Yashin. Drop down again in the center, and drop down again on the next
screen. Now keep heading east and go north at the first junction. Go west
and you're back in the entrance area with the cuttable fence and Predators.
Exit, head east, and enter the helicopter!

John Rambo: Sir, do we get to win this time?

You do now.

<-Area 4->
In area 4, you infiltrate the second POW camp, rescue your buddy, fight
swarms of beefy Russians, and a pretty tough end boss. Area 4 has two
boss fights, plenty of ammo and medicine, tons of bad guys, and packages
it all into one relatively small map (double-yay!)

You may have noticed another helicopter flying behind yours in the jungle
cutscene. But it doesnÕt engage or help you...strange eh? You'll meet up with
mystery chopper soon enough. But first a POW rescue is in order! Go south
from the helicopter screen and get ready to slog it out with Russia's finest
commandos in the Nam. The first screen you enter with bad guys contain a
medicine bottle in the central stack of crates. REMEMBER THIS. Stock up to
max life and bottles, then head west. Go north at the junction, work your
way east over the bridge (you can get hit and drop down here, as one of the
enemies has J block for ya), and go all the way east to rescue the POW!
Head all the way back west (3 screens) and go north. Go east one screen to
meet boss #7 N Lieutenant Colonel Padovsky. Feed him 15 bullets and he's
back to Mother Russia. You obtain heart #7 and max out your health at 800!
Move east while trying your hardest not to take damage, and then go south
to encounter your mystery helicopter friend from earlier, it's boss #8 -
Mil-21, The Flying Fortress!! Unlike every previous boss, this guy is one
tough son of a gun. You NEED 9 medicine and 500+ health to have a good shot
at him. I've wrote at length on how to tackle this sky-tank in the enemies
and FAQ sections, so I'll keep things simple here. Kill the soldiers as
soon as they drop, keep throwing grenades, and dodge the missiles as best
you can. You needpatience to win this one. Stay calm, heal as necessary,
and you'll eventually bring em down. Enter your own helicopter to
head back home to the U.S. of A.!


<-Conclusion->

Back at the base, make sure to confront Murdock and speak with Co. prior
to talking to Trautman, as his conversation triggers the final scenes.
Don't forget to shoot Murdock, and enjoy your victory!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Ð



VIII.  Maps
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Ð

***These maps are taken from Arocoun's Map Guide on GameFaqs***

As it clearly states in his guide, anyone is free to use or expand on his
work. Overall I think they're great. They might seem confusing at first,
but once you find a landmark to establish a reference point, they can be a
HUGE help in navigating the game. I only changed a few things, mainly for
clarification of the confusing areas.


---Map Legend---

==========COMPASS==========
|/N\                   UP |
|w+E and occasionally  ^v |
|\S/                  DOWN|
===========================

 _  = One area

___ = Field (a series of areas of same height/latitude)

-_
OR    Means when you go through side of field with the dash, you go to
 _- = the opposite side of the field (or sometimes just the opposite side
OR    of the area)
-_-

 #  = An important note, and advisable order of progress

 ^
<_> = One way trip from area (v can mean you fall, too)
 v

 _
 |  = Area above and area below connect (with doors or N/S squares)
 _

_
 \  = Means a fall from the area above
  _



<-Area 1->

0--Start
1--Co
2--Boat (need Co before you can proceed)

  1
  |
___
| v
__2
|
0_



<-Area 2->



0--Start, boat; you get betrayed here after you leave base, then boss
  battle and heart; 0 dissappears after betrayal
1--Co
2--Dead end; a bat has explosive arrows
3--Small cave, dark until you get lamp
4--Village, lamp, rest (after rescue)
5--Cave with kid, need lamp
7--Fall from 6--Kid, Giant Spider, go left to get out
9--Bridge; get to 9 through 8 to cross; safest to jump under the bridge
  and go north to leave base
A--Enemy base (you leave Co behind)
C--Bridge; get to C through B to cross
D--POW
E--Repeating dead end, just go right to leave
F--Medicine gorilla
G--You say goodbye to Co; jump to heli and press up; get abandoned

      -_6-
       | \
G___   -5- 7
 v|    |
 __   -_4-
 |     |
 F_   -3-
  |    |
E___01__2
     |
     ____     BC_D
       v|     ||v
      ___     ____
      ||       |
      89_<--->A___



<-Area 3->

0--Rambo starts here
1--Biker Clown
2--Town, rest
3--Cave, Fire Tiger
4--Basin of 2nd waterfall. Co. is here
5--Robot Guard; door leads to 6 if you enter the screen from the west
(boss music playing) Door leads to 7 if you enter the screen from east
8--Door leads to area 9, the building where key is
A--Key, Yashin
B--Helicopter (need key first)

0_               6-or-7 (continued)
|                 |
__1__2__ 3____    |9 (continued below)
      ^ \| \  \   ||
      |  _ |   4__58B
      |   \v
      |<---_

=======
| _6  |
| v   |
| __M |       Warehouse 1: Ammo and Medicine
|  v  |            M = Medicine Cache
| _7  |
=======


=======
| A_9_|
| v| ||       Warehouse 2: Helicopter Key
| ____|                 A = Key
=======



<-Area 4->

0--You land here; after you rescue POW, 0 is helicopter boss
1--Bridge
2--Go east for POW
3--Padovsky (heart)

_3__
|  v
_120
^ vv
____

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ð
IX.    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Why is RAMBO a Zelda 2 clone?

A: RAMBO's story goes like this:
The game's developer, Pack-In-Video, released RAMBO in Japan on
December 4, 1987 and in May of 1988 in North America. Nintendo released
Zelda 2 in Japan on September 26, 1988, and in North America on Decmber 1,
1988. Looking at these dates, RAMBO precedes Zelda by about nine months,
making Zelda 2 a clone of RAMBO! But wait, thereÕs more...

Nintendo's FIRST release of Zelda 2 was for the Family Computer Disk System
in Japan on January 14, 1987. From a video clip IÕve seen it looks identical
to its NES counterparts. So Zelda 2 WAS ACTUALLY FIRST, dispelling all this
AVGN, internet nonsense. The logical conclusion is that in between Zelda 2Õs
initial Disk release in January of 1987, and Pack-In-Video's release of
Rambo in December of 1987, Pack-In-Video saw, and then reverse engineered
Zelda 2Õs basic coding structure to create RAMBO, which was then published by
Acclaim. It's highly unlikely that Nintendo, a well-established gaming company
in 1987, would rip off the interface of Pack-In-VideoÕs first NES game ever.
While they did make several decent MSX games earlier, RAMBO was their first
NES  title. A firstborn game-child that was, in fact, a Zelda 2 clone,
hastily constructed to cash in on a movie license. But everybody's gotta start
somewhere eh? They did choose a great game to clone, thus placing RAMBO
above other truly despicable NES movie based games. And Acclaim, the game's
publisher, made amends to the gaming world for this theft by bringing us all
the bloody glory that is Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2. As for
Pack-in-Video, they made more mediocre

Q: WhatÕs the best weapon to use to fight (x) enemy?

A: The short answer is to use your combat knife on most enemies to conserve
ammo for bosses and difficult areas. But also take into account your life,
your medicine bottle count, and how far you have until the next checkpoint.
You may need to use 80 exploding arrows in a row if youÕre surrounded by
communists and far from help.

Q: Do the throwing knives equal the power of the combat knife?

A: Sadly, no. At higher levels the combat knife is almost always more powerful
than any of your projectile weapons, grenades included. Except in boss fights.
Then damage ratios go out the window, and most bosses adhere to the Ô15 hits
from something and IÕm deadÕ rule.

Q: Who's that miniature guy that randomly appears from the top of the screen in
the Russian compund? What does it do when I get him?

A: Not sure.  A viewer of a Youtube ÔLetÕs Play Rambo NES' suggested that he
was the Konami Man. But this isnÕt a Konami game, though there is a
resemblance to Konami man. It doesnÕt seem to do much of anything.

Q: Why doesnÕt my password work?!?

A: The letters in the password section use a horribly confusing font. Letters
and numbers can easily be misinterpreted, and so hours of work can be undone
because the lowercase "l" looks very similar to the number "1". Some people
have even said that they were 100% CERTAIN their password was correct and the
game still didn't accept it. I wouldn't be surprised. Some of the programming
in this game is absolutely terrible. The solution to this debacle is to keep
multiple passwords for each spot...or if playing on an emulator, use
savestates as a backup.

Q: ARRGGGHHH!! That @#$%ing chopper is impossible!! Help!!

A: IÕve seen some posts where people seem to have real trouble with beating the
Mil-21 helicopter final boss. I think this is a result of the game being fairly
easy otherwise, and thus the player has no experience fighting tough bosses.
In addition to what I wrote in the boss strategy section, IÕll simply
reiterate and expand on two points:

1. Enter the fight with 9 medicine bottles and 600+ life. If you take more
damage than that getting to the boss area, go back, restock on life/medicine,
and CAREFULLY work your way to the boss. Shoot a lot of exploding arrows to
quickly eliminate enemies. Having near full life/medicine will greatly help.

2. During the boss fight, kill the soldiers ASAP whenever they appear, then
attack Mil-21 while dodging the missiles to the best of your ability. Weaving
through missiles while tossing grenades takes practice, and you will get hit.
Just stay calm, keep fighting at a reasonable pace, (though you do have to keep
up a fairly steady grenade barrage Ñ this guy takes 40 hits and if you focus
mainly on dodging, heÕll outlast you) and heal when you get low on life.
You are RAMBO. You CAN destroy that super-helicopter.

Q: How do I save Co. from dying at the waterfall?

A: Don't talk to her there. If you don't open up the conversation window, which
serves as a checkpoint, then the scene where Co. is killed never takes place.
You then save Co. and she appears in a few subsequent scenes.

Q: What's with the glowing kanji RAMBO shoots back at the base?!? What does it
mean? Why does Murdock turn into a frog?

A: In the movie, RAMBO extracts a much more violent revenge on Murdock than
the folks at Acclaim probably wanted to depict, so they added the glowing
kanji to tie up loose ends. From what I can gather on Wikipedia, the character
means "rage, anger, passion Ð a slave to oneÕs passions". So after returning
home to confront Murdock, RAMBO's anger is unleashed in a representational
glowing kanji format. Not sure about the frog...his punishment for betraying
a tempestuous Vietnam veteran and his POW friends I suppose.

Q: WhatÕs up with all these weird enemies? Why are the cutscene animations
so awful? And the Bobble-head bosses? Fire-Tigers? Angry Flamingos? What the...

A: For a full discussion regarding the many colorful oddities and non sequiturs
found in RAMBO, please read the following section.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Ð

X.     Understanding RAMBO    <-SPOILERS->
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that this section is not meant to belittle or trash RAMBO.
That's what game reviews are for. This section is here to try and explain
why this game turned out the way it did, and to enjoy some of the weirder
aspects of the game. Part analysis, part history, and part humor.
Enjoy.

Good lord where to begin...
If you havenÕt noticed by now, this game is pretty darn strange. Even for a
early Nintendo game based on a movie (those usually turned out a bit funky).
There are three main reasons for this.

1. Lazy programming - As evidenced by the fact that Pack-In-Video/Acclaim
ripped off the gameÕs interface from Zelda 2, itÕs obvious the creators did not
place a high value on originality. The game makes clear that whenever something
from Zelda 2Õs lexicon did not mesh easily with RAMBO's, they just made up
some gibberish or used stock bad guys to fill in the blanks.

EXAMPLES: The skeleton, the machete guy, the angry flamingo, fire tiger, etc.

2. Poor translation Ñ Standard Engrish translation from overseas. While many
games, even very good games, suffer from this disease, Acclaim has no excuse
as the source material was English to begin with. All they had to do was
copy the script from the movie into abbreviated cutscenes.

EXAMPLES: Trautman: What are you going to do now?
         Rambo:    Day by day.

         Villlager: Oh, what's on your mind, just let me know. Would you like
                    to buy this dress?
         Co.:       I can't go without this rifle.

         Russian: You must be the general's wife.
         Co.:     No. I'm looking for some.

And my personal favorite Ñ the final congraulatory message.

"Thank you for trying"

3. The programmers wanted a laugh - How else do you explain racist bobbleheads
and RAMBO telling Trautman, ÒI feel better in prison.Ó Not really digital
Easter Eggs, more of a blatant sabotage of the gameÕs overall aesthetic.
My personal theory is that the companies realized they had a pretty mediocre
game on their hands, so they let programmers put in some oddball humor
for kicks. Nowadays, in-game humor is commonplace in many titles. But back
in the eighties, you fought bad guys, rescued the princess, and saved the
world. No jokes allowed in the 8-bit realm. The only laughs you could find
were from bad translations, bizarre game glitches, and horrible animation
Unintentional stuff. A few games tried to be kind of goony Ñ Tiny Toons,
Solar Jetman, some of the Disney games, but not like RAMBO. I mean this is
some ridiculous shit.

EXAMPLES: RAMBO's deformed yokel-esque cutscene animations. RAMBOÕs kanji
attack that turns Murdock into a frog. RAMBO asking Co. "What do you think
of me?" when they first meet.

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XI.    Beastiary

Enemy              Damage             EXP
-----              ------             ---
spider               4                 1
wasp                 4                 2
bird                 4                 1
fish                 4                 2
tiger                4                 2
b. tiger            12                 5
ape                 16                20
flamingo             8                 5
skull                6                10
bat                  8                 2
swoop bat            8                 2
fire snake        6 or 16              5
stalactite          20                50
boulder              8                n/a
bubble               8                n/a
log                 20                n/a
missile             12                 5
green s.            12                 5
green o.             4                 5
clubber             12                20
blue s.             12                 5
blue o.             12                 5
red s.              12                10
red o.              16                10
merc                12                10
fire guy            12                20
grenadier           16                10
water balloner      16                10
russian o.          24                10
fire sentry         24                 1
purple russian      24              50 or 2
skeleton            24               item
machete             24               item
kicker              28             100 or 2
bazooka             28             100 or 2
mine                36                 0
spike ball          28                100
predator            28                200
shield guard        28                200
celing laser        28                 1
boxer               32                200
robot               32                500
dark green o.       32                200
purple commando     32                200
helicopter dude     24               item

Bosses

Fire Spider         12               Heart
Mercenary Leader    12               Heart
Clown Biker         16               Heart
Tire Tiger          20               Heart
Robot               24               Heart
Yashin              28               Heart
Padovsky            32               Heart
Mil-21              32              VICTORY



--------------------------------------------------------------------------Ð
XII.    About the Author & Closing Notes

Whew it's over.

This is my first ever video game strategy guide/FAQ. I choose Rambo of all
games because it made me laugh out loud more than a few times. The
awful/weird aesthetic of certain Nintendo games has a special place in my
heart. I am a fan of retro-gaming, mainly NES titles, but anything with
unique or fun gameplay will likely hold my attention. I teach art, draw
comics, and enjoy a spicy Bloody Mary.

Please feel free to write me with any comments or questions Rambo related.
Put something in the title like, 'Rambo-FAQ Question' so I know its not
spam. And I'm waiting for those skeleton jokes people.

Thanks to Warhawk for help with editing, and organizing the bestiary.
Thanks to Arocoun for his excellent maps.
Thanks to Pack-In-Video and Acclaim for making this game.

And for you dear reader, I give the same final words of gratitude offered
by the game's translators upon Rambo's victorious mission...


THANK YOU FOR TRYING!!!

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