Internet Arcade: M.I.A. - Missing in Action

Missing in Action is a 2D scrolling arcade video game developed and published by Konami 1989. Konami Holdings Corporations is a Japanese gaming and entertainment company founded and fully incorporated in 1969. The company operates as a manufacturer and distributor of arcade and casino games, trading cards, anime, and tokusatsu. Besides game production and distribution, the Konami also operates physical and health fitness outlets across Japan. Some of the mega-successful titles released by the game company are Contra, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Life Force and Twin Bee.

Missing in Action is a military/espionage themed platform video game sequel to Rush ‘n’ Attack, the game requires the player to play through several stages gunning down hordes of enemies. The hero, which you control is set out on a top-secret mission to rescue prisoners of war, he must survive several attacks and assaults he encounters on the mission. Initially, the game starts as a beat ‘em up type of gameplay, as the hero does not have a personal gun of his own. Subsequently, as he attacks some of the enemy soldiers holding a gun, he can hijack any of their weapons and use it against any of the assaulting soldiers he meets on the way.

There are five stages in the game and you have to beat all the enemy soldiers in one stage to proceed to the next one. Each stage has different scenes which are either linear scenes or platform scenes. The platform scenes are divided into 3 horizontal planes and you can climb the planes using ladders. There are also special scenes that feature underground locations which contain hidden weapons. Most of the enemy soldiers that will attack you only do so with knives, however, there are a few ones who carry weapons such as grenades, bazookas, flamethrowers, assault rifles, which all come with limited bullet supply.

The game is set in a Vietnam war-torn jungle. First, four stages are features a war-torn field, a rail yard, an airstrip and a jungle. These stages occur randomly and sometimes features scenes that scrolls right instead of left like the rest of the scenes. You must move your character in the direction the screen scrolls to, till the end of the scene where you must fight against a powerful boss so as to proceed to the next level. The fifth stage is where you have to infiltrate the facility where the prisoners of war are kept. This level is far more difficult mainly because the location is heavily guarded with loads of soldiers. After surviving the fifth stage, you can then proceed to free the prisoners of war in the sixth stage. Once you have freed them, you must escort them safely to the helicopter which is meant to convey them out of the enemy zone safely. During the last stage of your mission, you must ensure at least one of the hostages make it to the helicopter safely to complete this stage.