Vendetta

Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in July 2021.

• Title — Vendetta • Developer — Konami • Publisher — Konami • Director — Satoru Okamoto • Producer — S. Kido • Programmer — Satoru Okamoto K. Ozaki Yuichi Kobayashi • Artist — M. Yoshida Kazuaki Nakanishi T. Nakazawa • Composer — Michiru Yamane Hideaki Shikama • Series — Crime Fighters • Genre — Beat 'em up • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Arcade

• Illustration — Screenshot from the game's first stage The player controls the four members of the Cobras, Blood (former prizefighter), Hawk (former professional wrestler), Boomer (a martial artist) and Sledge (a military ex-convict). They fight through waves of enemies to rescue Kate, the fifth member and Hawk's protege, who was kidnapped by the Dead End Gang. As with most beat-em-ups, the game features primarily side-scrolling action. Player score is based on number of opponents eliminated. The option of attacking an enemy while they are knocked down was new to the genre. The game uses 'punch' and 'kick' buttons rather than 'jump' and 'attack'. The special punch-plus-kick attack is the only aerial attack. Every time this special attack is performed, it takes away one bar of energy from the character. The players can also use different weapons that belong to enemies or are hidden inside boxes, including a shotgun (with limited cartridges), baseball bats, knives, and bottles. Players can also double-team enemies and vice versa. After defeating the Big Boss at the end of the chapters, the game continues: first it resuscitates all the bosses for a massive final fight, and if the player defeats them all, then the game repeats endlessly, with an amped-up level of difficulty.

Dead End City is a place controlled with a firm grip by the "Dead End" gang, an endless parade of violent criminals. Their only obstacle is the opposing hero gang, called The Cobras. The Cobras number five members: and Kate, the damsel in distress, described as Hawk's protegee. One day, Kate is kidnapped by the Dead End Gang under the leadership of Faust, who is looking for the leadership of all street gangs in an attempt to take full control of the city. The four men go to enemy territory to save Kate, fighting through the waves of enemies sent against them.

Vendetta was showcased at the 1991 Las Vegas Amusement Expo.

Vendetta was censored and edited in some countries when released outside of the Asian market to remove an enemy character who dresses in leather and fights by grabbing hold of the playable character and then proceeding to dry hump and lick him; if there are two of these leather-clad enemies on the screen simultaneously, the other one will sometimes dry hump a light pole until the bulbs from it drop on his head, bludgeoning him. The character also continues to do the same if the protagonist is down on the floor, and a second type of dog enemy (a Dobermann) was also removed from the game for doing a similar action to the playable characters. These aspects of the game were heavily censored particularly in the United States, while the uncensored version was released in Japan, and other countries like Argentina and Brazil.