Sea Wolf II

Sea Wolf II was an old arcade game released by Midway back in 1978.

This is the sequel to the original Sea Wolf (you may want to read that node first, don't worry, this one will be waiting when you get back). They have re-done the original game in color, and made it two players this time around. This game puts you in the shoes of a submarine captain, and is controlled with a periscope.

The game screen is a side view of a underwater scene (with the surface towards the top). You control a crosshair at the surface level. The object is to shoot as many ships as possible, before the time runs out. Your torpedoes are launched from the bottom of the screen, and must move upwards to hit the enemy ships (while avoiding the mines that float at different levels of the water). There are several different types of enemy ships, from slow moving destroyers, to fast moving PT boats. An "explosion" light will flash inside your periscope each time you score a hit.

Your submarine can shoot five shots before it has to reload (an automatic action that takes about a second). Your game will be extended if you reach a certain score before time runs out (the score is operator adjustable).

This game has one cool looking cabinet. It is in an upright format and is dark blue. The sideart is painted on, but is much more subdued than the art on the original Sea Wolf. Two metal periscopes come down from the marquee area and attach down by the control panel area (or where the control panel would have been, if this game had one). The players looks through their periscopes and move them to control the game. They have a fire button mounted on their right handle. They also have several transparencies inside which provide a cross hair, a display of remaining torpedoes, a reload light, and cause the explosion effect.

The games hardware and software are of a unique design, and are not based on the original Sea Wolf hardware at all.

The MAME emulator supports this game fairly well. But the sound is missing, and you don't get to use the periscope controller (unless you happen to have one of those wired up to your computer). You will need an analog joystick hooked up to play this title (unlike some other analog MAME games, you cannot play this one with the mouse). This game is really best experienced in a real arcade cabinet.

This is a game that is really worth adding to your arcade game collection, unless you already have Sea Wolf or possibly Battlezone (which is a much better periscope game, and who really has room for two periscope games). This one is really better than the original, but the original is a little more in demand. Prices vary on this title, but you should carefully inspect the workings of the periscope on any machine you are considering purchasing, as no one makes that particular part anymore (it can be rebuilt fairly easily if you are so inclined). Please note that Sea Wolf and Sea Wolf II use totally different periscope controls, so you can't fix one with parts from the other. Luckily, the player 2 periscope is often in excellent condition, so you can often just switch their positions to avoid a rebuild (the controls for player two are almost always in better shape on any arcade game, due to the player one controls getting ten times as much use).