Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode - Acts

Acts

Golgo 13's energy level starts at 200 and continuously declines. Destroying enemies increases his energy level and bullets. The game consists, chronologically, of 13 acts (all named for classic films):

• Act 1 — The Iron Curtain
• Act 2 — The Moving Target
• Act 3 — River of No Return
• Act 4 — A Farewell to Arms
• Act 5 — Spartacus
• Act 6 — The Third Man
• Act 7 — Sleeping Beauty
• Act 8 — All About Eve
• Act 9 — Apocalypse Now
• Act 10 — From Here to Eternity
• Act 11 — The Godfather
• Act 12 — In the Twilight
• Act 13 — And There Were None

One of the most challenging aspects of the game is that these acts are intended to be played out as though they were a limited number of episodes in a television series, or perhaps as issues in a limited series comic book since the game's title character originates in Japanese manga. The game only lasts fifty-two episodes, meaning the player only gets fifty-two chances to beat the game. Episodes begin at one and are counted upward from the start screen each time the player loses a life. At the end of the fifty-second episode the game resets and begins again from the main title screen. In video game jargon, this is to say that the player has a maximum of fifty-two "lives" to complete all thirteen acts before the game resets.