Saboteur II

About

Saboteur II casts you as Nina, a ninja infiltration specialist navigating a treacherous mountain fortress. Your goal: sabotage a nuclear missile launch by hacking through armed guards, booby traps, and shifting tunnel layouts. The game blends platforming precision with real-time combat as you dart between levels, armory, missile silo, and half-built command centers, all connected by a single escape route. Combat feels punchy but brisk, with a focus on evasion and quick strikes. The environment itself is a puzzle, forcing you to memorize paths and exploit weak points in security. Nina’s role as a lead character predates many modern action games in the genre, making her a standout figure in 80s gaming. The mountain’s layered design, which demands backtracking and strategy, holds up surprisingly well despite pixelated visuals. While the difficulty curve is steep, retro fans appreciate the tight controls and lack of hand-holding. Originally released on DOS and budget-friendly home computers, it’s a relic from an era where one-button action meant something.

Storyline

The player takes control of a female ninja named Nina (a sister of Ninja, the deceased hero of the original Saboteur), who must break into a dictator's high-security compound to alter the course of a nuclear ballistic missile and then escape. The enemy’s command centre and office complex is being built on top of a mountain filled with underground tunnels and caverns. An armoury building is on the top left of the mountain, a missile silo is on the top right, while the central top area is still being developed; there is only one way out of the mountain, which is the long entrance tunnel on the bottom left.