Golgo 13

Golgo 13 is one bad mother-*slap* O_O .....ANYWAY, Golgo 13 is a franchise that has maintained somewhat of a following, but remains somewhat unknown to most people. It's about a hit man named Duke Togo, aka Golgo 13. The series started off as a manga, but went on to turn into two live action films, two animated films (one of which being 1983's The Professional:Golgo 13), video games, and a recent anime TV series. Golgo 13 is one of the most awesome anime characters I ever came across.

I always wanted to check that out when I was a kid. I remember seeing the NES video game covered in Nintendo Power. It looked like a good spy game. Never have actually seen or played the series, though.

The NES game is great. I have it. I could never get past Act 7 I think? It was very challenging and fun. I also have the sequel to it called The Mafat Conspiracy.

Oh, God, Top Secret Episode. That game was bizarre. Worth spending an afternoon on if you've got the ROM (highly recommended that you have the ROM of this!)

Never actually saw the anime series, but I do have the anime movies and all 13 volumes of the recent rereleased manga. I should get around to watching those...

Other fun things: There were two live-action movies released in the 70s- Golgo 13 starring Ken Kasakura, released in 1973 and good luck finding THAT; and Golgo 13: Kyuuron no Kubi [The Seven-Headed Hydra] released in 1977, I think, and was released over here as Assignment: Kwoloon. This one starred the infamous Sonny Chiba as our main man Duke Togo, and was delightfully over-the-top in its overacting. I used to have this until I had to wipe my computer last summer.

I only recently acquired the first anime movie, and have yet to watch it. I remeber reading the NP articles on it back in the day.

I seen the old Manga Entertainment video tapes of this a few years back at a second hand shop. I wouldn't mind checking this anime out one day.