Total Vice Arcade

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  • Full Name: Total Vice
  • Tech: M2
  • Type: Shooting
  • Developer: Konami
  • Publisher: Konami
  • Release Date: 1997
  • Region: NA/EU/JP
  • Notes:

Overview

Total Vice is a Light Gun Game released by Konami for arcades in 1997. Reminiscent of Sega's Virtua Cop franchise, the game enlists players in a task force whose goal is to thwart arms smuggling in Miami, biker gang activities in Harlem, and covert terrorist operations in New York.

It is one of five arcade games (along with Evil Night, Heat of Eleven '98, Battle Tryst, and Tobe! Polystars) released on the Konami M2 hardware, which is based off the cancelled successor to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.

Beyond a small appearance in the Eddie Murphy comedy Showtime, little footage of Total Vice has existed...until Video Game Esoterica uploaded the first full playthrough of the game on YouTube.

Summary

  • All Bikers Are Hells Angels: The villains of level 1 are a motorcycle gang terrorizing a supermarket and a subway station.
  • Antagonist Title: Total Vice happens to be the codename of Funk, the Big Bad and Final Boss.
  • Artistic License – Geography: Miami does not have oil rigs off the coast. The oil rigs are located on the Gulf of Mexico, which IS on the western side of Florida.
  • Big Apple Sauce: The final level takes place above New York City.
  • Big Bad: Three bosses.
  • Big Damn Heroes: The players.
  • Black Dude Dies First: Averted. Funk aka Total Vice - the final boss - dies last. Even more averted is the fact he is alive and well in custody by the end of the game along with the other bosses encountered.
  • Bottomless Magazines: The players standard handgun can be reloaded indefinitely, but special weapons will run dry after some time.
  • Dark Action Girl: One of the common enemies encountered is a female biker with a hat bearing what looks like the red star of the Soviet Union.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Once all the bosses are defeated, a scene plays where they are posing for their mugshots appearing completely unharmed even after falling to their apparent deaths and electrocution!
  • Hand Cannon: The magnum and dual revolvers.
  • Hostage Spirit Link: The stages have civilians and police officers acting as obstacles between you and the bad guys. A misfire would result in a loss of a life.
  • The Men in Black: In the Miami warehouse stage, men dressed in black suits with Sinister Shades count as enemies.
  • More Dakka: The submachine gun and the burst-fire rifle.
  • No Name Given: You play as some nameless sort of law enforcement or government agents hunting down criminals.
  • Police Are Useless: Up to Eleven. The police NPCs only serve as distractions and never do get to kill the criminals. Shooting them by accident would take one life as a penalty.
  • Scary Black Man: Funk definitely counts as one, having a paramilitary division and armed with military-grade weaponry.
  • Shout-Out: Oh boy, this game has a truck load coming from previous rail shooters as well as 80s/90s action movies.
  • Death Wish: The subway level resembles the one from the first film. In addition, one of the biker enemies resemble a younger Jeff Goldblum who played as one of the rapists in the first installation.
  • Death Wish 3: The biker gang can be taken directly from Manny Fraker's gang in the third installation.
  • Die Hard: The raid on the tower and the villain falling off would obviously remind fans of that particular scene.
  • Miami Vice: Especially when the warehouse of drug dealers were raided.
  • Total Vice seems; to be a "spin-off" of Konami's other law enforcement rail shooter games such as as Lethal Enforcers and Police 911. Notably, it appears to be inspired from Virtua Cop.
  • Sinister Shades: Most of the enemies wear these.
  • Title Drop: Funk who served as the final boss is also known as Total Vice.
  • Unexplained Recovery: The fate of the three bosses in the ending, where they can be seen being apprehended and taken in for mugshots despite being killed in their encounters.
  • Western Terrorists: The NYC level has these terrorists clad in paramilitary gear.
  • Wretched Hive: What New York and Miami is portrayed in this game.

Media