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This original Game Boy title let's you command your own submarine

Radar Mission is an early Game Boy title, released in 1990. As you might be able to tell from the name, this game is about naval missions with submarines and ships. It's an action/turn-based strategy game; that's right, two in one. It was developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo. Here's an interesting sidenote: the designer for RM was Gunpei Yokoi, the man behind Metroid, Kid Icarus, and the Game Boy. Also, the composer for this game was Kenji Yamamoto, the man who would later compose the music for Super Metroid and the Metroid Prime games.

There are two games in RM, both very different from the other. You can choose Game A or Game B, then choose 1 player or 2 player. Most likely two Game Boys, two game carts, and a link cable would be required to play 2 player. It seems like a hassle now, but back then it was awesome to play with a friend and not have to share a screen.

Game A is just like Battleship. After choosing your game options (size of the grid, CPU difficulty, captain of your fleet), you arrange your ships on a grid, then take turns with your opponent firing away, trying to find and sink all enemy vessels. Pretty basic. Luckily, they add some things to make it more interesting. Every time you fire, you see an animation of your ship shooting a torpedo at an enemy ship in the distance; sometimes it will hit it, sometimes it will land in the water. If you miss but happen to be close to a ship, a loud beep will inform you.

The enemy will likewise fire at you, trying to sink your vessels. Somehow the enemy can shoot on multiple spaces at once; the word "danger" appears on screen, then a barrage of torpedoes come down. I'm not sure how they did this, or if I could do it too. The music (which is great, by the way) changes when you only have one enemy ship left. Once you destroy all enemy vessels, you start the next stage, in which the enemy has more ships than you. Overall, Game A is fun, but not too exciting.

Game B, on the other hand, is much more action-oriented. This game is in a first person perspective as you fire topedoes at enemy vessels from your submarine. First choose your difficulty, normal or hard; then choose your power up: Prop Speed (allows you to move faster), Twin Shot (let's you shoot two torpedoes at once), or Power Sonar (I'm honestly not sure what this one does). Once you choose you, you head out into battle.

You have a beautiful view of the ocean. You can move from side to side, shooting at ships in the distance. If a ship is close enough, you can shoot at it with your machine guns, but if it's way out there, you have to use your torpedoes. Timing is key. You need to be in the right position and fire your topedoes at the right moment in order to hit the enemy ship. If you hit it directly, it explodes! The number of ships in your fleet is represented by the stars on the left, while the number of ships in the enemy fleet is represented by the moons on the right.

You can also go underwater in order to see where ships are located on your radar. However, your ships and enemy ships all look the same. Which brings up another point: be careful not to shoot your ships! I didn't realize I had ships out there, so I was firing away at every ship that floated by, and I ended up destroying my own fleet! Your ships are the blinking ones, which sometimes can be hard to see that they're blinking.

Planes will also fly at you and try to take you out with machine gun fire. You can't shoot directly at the planes; instead take out the carrier that they're coming from, usually located closeby. Once you destroy all the enemy fleet, you win! But it won't be easy since enemy ships and your ships are battling the whole time. You will notice the stars on the left decreasing during the game, so you have to hurry if you want to win. Game B is certainly more exciting than Game A.

There weren't too many submarien games out during this time, making RM a unique experience, especially on Game Boy. The NES had a couple sub games, but being able to play one on the go made it special. More notably, this sub game was directly made by Nintendo, not a third party, which is why it's so good. It is simple, but it's also fun and unqiue. I imagine two player would also be pretty fun.

Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended

Radar Mission is a fun game, unique in the pantheon of Game Boy games. Its two games are very different, which appeals to two different kinds of people. If you enjoy turn-based strategy games, you'll enjoy Game A. If you enjoy more action-style games, you'll probably find some enjoyment in Game B. And believe me, these games are no cake walk; the computer can be tough! Radar Mission is available for donwload on the 3DS Virtual Console. It's worth a few bucks if you want to take a look at an interesting piece of Game Boy history.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.