Operation Wolf was one of the earliest
coin-op shooters. It was produced as an
arcade machine by
Taito in 1987, and later released on
home computers.The machine had a plastic machine
gun, with which the player had to shoot the enemies. The machine made a deafening
sound every time you fired the gun. And to make it even more real, the gun
vibrated too!
The gameplay was very simple. Shoot all the bad guys, rescue the hostages. When you killed enough of them (enemies that is), you continue to the next round. The bad guys would walk, drive around in trucks, cruise boats, fly helicopters, or land on the ground with their parachutes.
Along the way, you could pick up ammo, power-ups, and health packages to aid you in your fight against evil.
Operation Wolf had six levels: Communication Setup, Jungle, Village, Powder Magazine, Concentration Camp, and Airport. In each level, the screen would scroll sideways, and all you had to do was shoot until you killed enough. The player didn't have any control over the movement.
The game was converted for home computers, which of course didn't have the same feel as the arcade machine, but nevertheless were a huge hit anyway. The sequel, Operation Thunderbolt, was basically more of the same. Operation Wolf spawned more sequels for the home computers, and various clones like House of the Dead and Mad Dog McCree, but as with many things, the original was the most popular.