Lost In Translation/Operation Wolf

This page is a stub for arcade games that are part of the Lost In Translation series using information based on MAME (version 0.113u2).
For an example of preferred content and layout please refer to Out Run or The Ninja Warriors.

Operation Wolf
Manufacturer	Taito Corporation Japan
Released	1987
Control Method	Lightgun 2 Button(s)
Main CPU	68000 (@ 12.000 MHz) Z80 (@ 4.000 MHz)
Sound CPU	Stereo YM2151 (@ 4.000 MHz) (2x) MSM5205 (@ 384.000 kHz)
Video Details	Raster (Horizontal) 320 x 240 pixels 60.00 Hz 8,192 Palette colours
Screens	1
ROM Info	8 ROMs 1,900,544 bytes (1.81 MiB)
MAME ID	opwolf · opwolfb · opwolfu

About The Game

Operation Wolf is a lightgun-controlled arcade video game shoot-em-up in which the player takes on the role of a soldier and must infiltrate an enemy army base. The object is to capture six bases and to save any hostages encountered on the way.

Each mission begins with the player carrying a limited amount of machine gun bullets and rockets, but extra ammunition can be collected by shooting any gun magazines or rockets that appear on screen.

Any civilians or hostages that the player shoots will result in a reduction to the player's health meter (which is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen). Farm animals, in the form of a chicken and a pig, will occasionally run across the screen; Shooting these will reveal bonus items such as health or ammunition.

Once the game is completed, the player is returned to the first mission, but with an increased level of difficulty.

Trivia

Released in November 1987.

Developed by East Technology.

Mark Twitty holds the official record for this game with 212,350 points.

A bootleg of this game is known as "Operation Bear".

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (The Ninja Warriors : G.S.M. Taito 1 - D28B0001) on 21/06/1988.

Tips and tricks

• Time your grenade shots to wipe out more than one enemy vehicle at a time. It is rarely smart to use a grenade on a single vehicle. Grenades are not plentiful enough to use in this fashion.

• When the large, blond enemy soldiers appear, toting large machine guns, in stage four (Ammo Dump), shooting them in the face will take them down quickly. Otherwise, a grenade or lots of bullets will be required. Also in stage four, keep a stream of fire going just to the right corner of the mortar behind the sandbags. You will plug the guy shooting at you early and you will not be distracted by incoming mortar fire.

• Each round cleared heals three damage points and the village round heals twenty damage points. If you are playing on a generous machine (mucho power drinks) or an easy machine and you are a great shot, you may have less than three damage points near the end of the first stage (enemy radar) or less than twenty damage points near the end of the village scene. If so, leave one helicopter alive. When it flies on screen, pump it with nine bullets. This gives you points and you can finish it with one shot if you need to. The helicopters often take just one damage point and take a long time to deliver their damage. All the while they do this, power drinks, grenades, and ammunition may show up so you can stock up before the round has to end. Blow-up the helicopter when you have three or twenty damage points depending on the round.

• On the fifth stage (Concentration Camp), you are likely to finish this round shooting foot soldiers. If you are a good shot, wait until they flash. Sometimes, the enemies do not flash or shoot. The longer you delay the end of the round, the more likely you are to have ammo, grenades, and power drinks drift into the scene.

• If you play a game that allows you to select the scene in which you fight, choose the village when you have 15-20 damage points so you can make the most of the village's healing bonus where twenty damage points will be removed. Also, do not select the ammo dump. It uses more ammo than it gives, delivers inevitable damage to you, and the three helicopters the ammo dump sends to reinforce the final round are nothing compared to the onslaught you face at the ammo dump.

Series

1. Operation Wolf (1987)
2. Operation Thunderbolt (1988)
3. Operation Wolf 3 (1994)
4. Operation Tiger (1998)

Staff

Cast

Eigo Okajima

Katuhiko Hirano

Satoru Komiya

Toshihiro Kimura

Masaru Tamura

Naoaki Wataya

Direct Of Photography

Eigo Okajima

Music By

Hiroshi Tuda

Planned By

Eigo Okajima

Design

All Characters

Masaru Tamura

Op & Ed

Saori Ohkura

Title & Capture

Saori Ohkura

1st Scene

Masaru Tamura

Natuko Tanahara

2nd Scene

Masaru Tamura

Natuko Tanahara

Saori Ohkura

Extra Scene

Masaru Tamura

3rd Scene

Naoaki Wataya

4th Scene

Naoaki Wataya

Final Scene

Naoaki Wataya

States

Natuko Tanahara

Saori Ohkura

Effects

Masaru Tamura

Naoaki Wataya

All Mechanics

Naoaki Wataya

Program

Event

Katuhiko Hirano

Satoru Komiya

1st Scene

Katuhiko Hirano

2nd Scene

Satoru Komiya

Extra Scene

Toshihiro Kimura

3rd Scene

Katuhiko Hirano

Toshihiro Kimura

4th Scene

Satoru Komiya

Final Scene

Toshihiro Kimura

System

Katuhiko Hirano

Cabinet and Artwork

• 

  Operation Wolf arcade cabinet.

• 

  Operation Wolf flyer.

• 

  Back of the Operation Wolf flyer.

• 

  Alternate Operation Wolf flyer.

• 

  Alternate Operation Wolf flyer.

Ports

Box art for the Ocean port of Operation Wolf.

Consoles

Nintendo Famicom (1989)

NEC PC-Engine (1990)

Sega Master System

FM Towns Marty

Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "Taito Legends") (US & Europe)

Microsoft XBOX (2005, "Taito Legends") (US & Europe)

Sony PlayStation 2 (2007, "Taito Memories II Vol. 2") (Japan only)

Nintendo Wii (2008, as an NES Virtual Console release)

Computers

Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1988)

Commodore C64 (1988)

MSX (1988)

Amstrad CPC (1988) [Keyboard / Joystick version]

Amstrad CPC (1989) [LightGun version]

Atari ST (1989)

PC [MS-DOS] (1989)

Commodore Amiga ("Operation Wolf", 1989, Ocean)

Commodore Amiga (1990, "Amiga Champions")

FM Towns PC (1990)

PC [MS Windows] (2005, "Taito Legends")

Soundtrack Releases

Album Name	Catalogue No.	Released	Publisher	Comments
The Ninjawarriors -G.S.M. TAITO 1-	D28B-0001	1988-06-21	Pony Canyon, Inc.	CD version.
The Ninjawarriors -G.S.M. Taito 1-	25P5-0001	1988-06-21	Scitron Digital Content Inc.	Cassette version.
The Ninjawarriors -G.S.M. Taito 1-	C22B-0001	1988-06-21	Scitron Digital Content Inc.	Vinyl version.
This Time It's WAR!	CZCD 014	2007-07-13	Binary Zone Interactive	CD version.
TAITO GAME MUSIC	ZTTL-1003	2004-09-24	Zuntata Records	CD version.
Beep Special Project - GAME SOUND COLLECTION	N/A	1988-01-01	Softbank Publishing	Vinyl version.

Sound Comparison

Platform	Song Titles								Sound Source
Arcade	"Opening Demo"	"Stage Select"	"Operation Start"	"Mission Accomplished #1"	"Mission Accomplished #2"	"Mission Failed"	"Name Entry"	"Stage Select #2"	M1 v0.7.8a6

External Links

• Sinclair ZX Spectrum version of Operation Wolf at the World of Spectrum

References

The contents of this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
The sources used include MAME (version 0.113u2) and history.dat (revision 1.28 - 2008-10-18).
Please see http://www.arcade-history.com for credits.