NARC (video game)

Narc
Arcade flyer for Narc
Developer(s)	Williams Electronics
Publisher(s)	Williams Electronics
Designer(s)	Eugene Jarvis
Programmer(s)	George N. Petro
Composer(s)	Brian L. Schmidt Marc LoCascio ("NARC Rap")
Platform(s)	Arcade (original) Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, C-64, ZX Spectrum, NES
Release date(s)	Arcade 1988
Genre(s)	Run and gun
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Williams Z-Unit CPU: TI TMS34010 (@ 6 MHz) Sound CPU: (2x) M6809 (@ 2 MHz) Sound chips: Yamaha YM2151 FM, (2x) DAC, Harris HC55536 CVSD
Display	Raster Medium Resolution (Horizontal) CRT: Color

Narc is a 1988 arcade game designed by Eugene Jarvis for Williams Electronics and programmed by George Petro. It was one of the first ultra-violent video games and a frequent target of parental criticism of the arcade game industry. The object is to arrest and kill drug offenders, confiscate their money and drugs, and defeat "Mr. Big". It was the first game in the newly restarted Williams Electronics coin-op division, after being acquired by Midway.

Narc was ported to the Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC home computers by Ocean Software in 1990. Narc was ported to the NES in 1990 by Rare. In 2005, the franchise was re-launched with a brand new game for the Xbox and PS2.

Max Force and Mr. Big appeared as characters in the cartoon The Power Team.

The game's main characters are Max Force and Hit Man, who have received a memo from Spencer Williams, Narcotics Opposition chairman in Washington, D.C. dispatching them on Project NARC. Their mission is to apprehend Mr. Big, head of an underground drug trafficking and terrorist organization.

The player controls either Max Force or Hit Man, who shoot or arrest junkies, drug dealers, and organized crime kingpins. Max and Hit are each equipped with an automatic weapon and a missile launcher. When an enemy is dispatched using the latter, they explode in a torrent of scorched and bloody appendages. Some enemies can be arrested after they surrender and then float away with "busted" over them. This is then added to a tally at the end of the level along with drugs and money confiscated from other enemies that they dropped when killed (the game awards more points at the end of a round for arresting enemies without killing them).