P.O.W.: Prisoners of War (Arcade)

P.O.W.: Prisoners of War
Also known as: Datsugoku: Prisoners of War (JP) Developer: SNK Publishers: SNK (JP/US), Electrocoin (EU) Platform: Arcade (SNK 68000-based, type A7008) Released in JP: November 1988 Released in US: September 1988 Released in EU: October 1988 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences.

A scrolling brawler from that weird era between Double Dragon and Final Fight. Also possibly the first scrolling brawler to have guns!

Unused Graphics

Graphics for an earlier game title. The "Battle Arms" logo on the left uses the same stone texturing seen in the final logo, while the logo on the right is a simpler version with little shading. That palette is just a guess, by the way.

This smiling face is used as filler in the early title screen graphics area.

Hey, another one of those filler faces. This one is used in sprite areas of the graphics ROM.

Yes, the rest of these are filler tiles. The first one is a rooster or something, while the second is an angrier face. These are both found in the background graphics area.

These are also in the background graphics area. Not much to say, it's just hexadecimal digits.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Music

ID	Music	Notes
43		This is an alternate version of the Stage 1 track: The song starts the same, but the main melody is different, and the instruments are also quieter than the version used in the actual game. This version was later used in the NES port of the game.
54		This track is used in the NES version as the Game Over theme. In this version, the game goes straight to the title screen after the players lose their last life.
63		The title screen music is usually only heard for about 15 seconds during the game's attract mode, but it actually lasts about 83 seconds and even loops.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Regional Differences

In the Japanese version, on the game's intro, the machine gun sound effect is not played when the background flashes with the silhouettes of the protagonists, unlike the international versions.