- "We, Black Dawn, have taken over the Moonbase and Space Station 2CV6."
"Within 25 hours, earth will be OURS!"
Not if John Ryan has anything to say about it.
Surprise Attack is a 1990 arcade side-scrolling Run-and-Gun action game released by Konami, with a gameplay format lifted from Shinobi - but Recycled In Space!
In the future, a terrorist syndicate calling themselves the "Black Dawn" have hijacked a space outpost, the 2CV6 Station. Captain John Ryan, codenamed "Red Thunderbolt" of the Space Police squad, is sent to take them down.
This game contains examples of:
- Advancing Boss of Doom: The stage on the moon has its boss being a huge, building-sized Lunar Rover hijacked by the terrorists, which they'll use to attempt running over John. He'll need to move fast to avoid getting crushed and lose a life, but there are occasional shallow pits in the ground he can jump in allowing the Rover to pass above him (before exiting the pit to shoot back).
- Artificial Gravity: Some areas have artificial gravity generators, where terrorists can run along the ceilings and walls while attacking from above. John's high-jumps also allow him to walk upside-down or alongside walls once he gets close to a surface, sticking on contact.
- Attack Its Weak Point: On all the bosses, which the game will helpfully point out prior to battle with the words "WEAK POINT" in caps.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Averted in the space missions; John wears his spacesuit, complete with a helmet, while battling enemies on the side of the space stations. Enemy mooks have their helmets on as well, although henchwomen enemies will somehow have their long hair flowing out the edges of their helmets.
- Covered in Kisses: Get all the answers correct to the quiz mini-game and the blonde hostesses will reward John with multiple smooches. Cue the entire screen getting covered in lipstick markings.
- Dark Action Girl: The henchwomen enemies, who are faster and more durable than the male mooks.
- "Die Hard" on an X: On a Space Base, where terrorists have hijacked the weapons and it's up to John to take them down.
- Double Jump: A move John can easily pull off by hitting the jump button again when he's in mid-air, thanks to the game being set on a space station with lowered gravity.
- Jet Pack: In space areas, John sometimes faces the mooks who hover around the place using their booster packs.
- Palette Swap: The game's enemy design really could be counted on one hand, with most of the mooks being recycled using recoloured sprites. There's even one mook-grade enemy whose sprite is tweaked from John!
- Pop Quiz: A pop-quiz game shows up between levels as multiple-choice questions for players to attempt getting extra points in their score before resuming kicking ass. Most of the quizzes are based on science fiction general knowledge (and really, really easy) like the definition of a black hole or an Aurora Borealis, but some of them involve sci-fi pop culture (like "The name of the character played by Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek..." or "The director of Back to the Future?").
- Powered Armor: The Black Dawn's leader and the game's Final Boss controls one of these, large enough to reach the top of the screen when standing upright, when attacking John for the final battle.
- Reflecting Laser: The game's second-to-last boss is a single turret with mirrors built on the ceiling and opposite wall flanking it, where the laser will fire at John. Dodge that, and the mirrors will catch and reflect the bolts back at John, requiring him to repeatedly dodge while shooting the laser's sole weak spot until it's destroyed.
- Shock and Awe: One of the rarer, but more useful power-ups, the "Hover", that has John becoming temporarily electrified, a lightning bolt propelling him a few meters into the air for him to fly around and shoot electricity. This particular power-up lasts for several seconds and can clear an area of enemies when used correctly.
- Shout-Out: Besides the pop culture references in trivia, one chapter references the Kaye Ballard song "Fly Me to the Moon".
- Space Police: John Ryan, the intergalactic Cowboy Cop against the Black Dawn.
- Time Bomb: One Timed Mission halfway through a level has John rushing to defuse a number of these, and running out of time will result in an explosion that costs him a life.
- Weaponized Exhaust: Be wary in levels when John fights enemies on the sides of the space station, near the exhaust vents constantly spweing flames. The exhaust can incinerate him on the spot, but can be avoided by timing his jumps.
- You and What Army?: The opening cinematics have John retorting to the Black Dawn's threats with this line."You and whose army, punk?"
- Mission successfully completed.
The moon's back, Jack. Our job is done.
The fun's over. Time to come home and do a REAL job.
