It was 1999. The Nintendo 64 was in its twilight years, and everyone was still obsessed with GoldenEye 007. Then, out of nowhere, Koei—a company known mostly for historical strategy games—dropped a weird, clunky, but oddly revolutionary title: WinBack: Covert Operations.
If you played it back then, you remember the laser sights. You remember the blue-suited protagonist, Jean-Luc Cougar. But mostly, you remember that this game basically invented the modern cover shooter. Seriously. Before Gears of War made "hiding behind a chest-high wall" a billion-dollar mechanic, WinBack: Covert Operations was doing it on a console that didn't even have two analog sticks.
Honestly, it's a miracle it worked at all.
The C-Button Struggle and Innovation
The N64 controller was a trident-shaped nightmare for shooters. Most games used the "Turok" layout or the "Honey, I'm strafing" style of GoldenEye. WinBack: Covert Operations took a different path. It was a third-person action game where you couldn't move and shoot at the same time. That sounds like a death sentence today, right?
It wasn't.
The game forced you to press against a wall, peek out, and aim a red laser at a terrorist’s head. If you stayed in the open, you died. Fast. This wasn't Doom. It was tactical. It felt like a low-budget Metal Gear Solid mixed with a proto-arcade shooter. You play as a member of S.C.A.T. (Special Covert Action Team), which is arguably one of the worst acronyms in gaming history. Your goal? Retake a satellite control facility from a group called the Crying Lions.
The plot is pure 90s action movie cheese. There’s a giant space laser called GULSAR. There’s a traitor in the ranks. Jean-Luc Cougar has a name that sounds like a fake identity used by a middle-aged man on a dating app. But none of that mattered because the mechanics were so fresh.
Why the Cover System Mattered
When people talk about cover systems, they usually point to Kill Switch (2003) or Gears of War (2006). They’re wrong. WinBack: Covert Operations had a contextual cover system in 1999. You walked up to a crate, and Jean-Luc would automatically hunker down. You pressed a button to pop out, shot your Beretta, and released it to duck back into safety.
It changed the pacing of action. Instead of running in circles like a caffeinated hamster, you had to survey the room. Is that guy behind the pillar? Can I blow up that barrel? It was methodical.
The PS2 Port and the "Voice Acting"
A couple of years later, the game got ported to the PlayStation 2. They updated the graphics, but they kept the charm. And by charm, I mean some of the most hilariously wooden voice acting ever recorded.
If you look up clips of the PS2 version today, it’s a time capsule of an era where "localizing" a game meant hiring the guy who lived down the street from the studio to read lines for twenty bucks and a sandwich. It’s glorious. Despite the low production values, the PS2 version actually improved the controls because, you know, it had a second stick. It made the WinBack: Covert Operations experience much more fluid, even if the "soul" of the game remained firmly planted in the 64-bit era.
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The Multiplayer Nobody Talks About
Most people rented this from Blockbuster for the campaign, but the multiplayer was a hidden gem. It was local 4-player split-screen. It was chaotic. Because the movement was so deliberate, matches turned into these tense standoffs where two people would be hiding behind opposite corners for three minutes, waiting for the other to blink.
It lacked the speed of Perfect Dark, but it had a "stop-and-pop" rhythm that felt more like a game of chess with guns. You could play as different characters from the story, each with slightly different stats. It wasn't balanced. It wasn't "fair." But it was fun in that specific way only 90s couch co-op could be.
The GULSAR Incident: Real Stakes or Just Tropes?
Let's talk about the Crying Lions. They aren't just generic bad guys; they represent that weird transitional period in gaming narrative where developers were trying to be "mature" but didn't quite have the writing chops yet. They take over a satellite weapon. They want... something? It's mostly an excuse to have you run through warehouses and laboratories.
But there’s a genuine tension in the level design. WinBack: Covert Operations used its technical limitations to create atmosphere. The environments were often sterile and empty, which made the sudden "BEEP BEEP" of a motion sensor or the sight of a laser-tripped bomb terrifying.
Hard Truths About the Difficulty
This game is hard. Not "Souls-like" hard, but "90s clunky" hard. The boss fights are tests of patience. You’ll spend ten minutes chip-damaging a guy with a machine gun, only to get caught on a piece of geometry and take a burst to the face.
The save system wasn't exactly generous, either. You’d clear a whole wing of the facility, feel like a god, and then get blown up by a claymore mine you didn't see because the camera decided to look at a wall. It was frustrating. It was also addictive.
The Legacy of the S.C.A.T. Team
Koei eventually made a sequel, WinBack 2: Project Poseidon, developed by Cavia. It came out on PS2 and Xbox. It... wasn't the same. It tried to do a character-switching mechanic that felt more like a chore than a feature. It lost the simplicity of the original.
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Today, WinBack: Covert Operations is available on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Playing it now is a trip. The frame rate chugs. The textures are blurry. The "A-button to interact, B-button to crouch" logic feels alien. Yet, the DNA of the modern shooter is right there. You can see the blueprint.
Why You Should Play It Now
- Historicity: You’re playing the missing link between Metal Gear and Gears of War.
- The Soundtrack: It’s this weird, driving synth-rock that somehow pumps you up for crouching behind a box for five minutes.
- The Laser Sight: There’s something immensely satisfying about that red dot. It makes the shooting feel precise in a way that crosshairs don't.
- Speedrunning: The community is small but dedicated. Watching someone breeze through the Crying Lions' base is like watching a choreographed dance of 64-bit violence.
What Most People Get Wrong About WinBack
A lot of retro reviews claim this was a Metal Gear Solid clone. It really wasn't. Kojima’s masterpiece was about avoiding the fight. WinBack: Covert Operations was about starting the fight and winning it from behind a wall. It’s an action game, not a stealth game. If you try to play it like Snake, you’re going to have a bad time. You're Jean-Luc Cougar. You're there to shoot things.
The game also gets flak for its "tank controls." While true, these controls were a deliberate choice to facilitate the aiming system. Once you "click" with the rhythm of ducking and aiming, it feels incredibly tactile.
Actionable Insights for Retro Gamers
If you're going to dive into WinBack: Covert Operations today, don't just jump in blind. You'll bounce off it in ten minutes.
- Adjust Your Brain: Forget modern twin-stick logic. Treat the game like a rhythm-based puzzle. Movement is for positioning; the C-buttons are your lifeblood for aiming.
- Use the Switch Online Version: The ability to "Rewind" is a godsend for some of the more unfair boss encounters and trap-filled rooms. It preserves the fun without the 1999-era heartbreak of losing 30 minutes of progress.
- Master the Roll: You have a dive/roll move. Use it. Not just for dodging bullets, but for closing the gap between cover points.
- Watch the Laser: The red laser isn't just for show. It tells you exactly where your bullet will land, but more importantly, it tells you if your shot is blocked by the edge of the cover you're hiding behind. If the dot isn't on the enemy, don't pull the trigger.
- Multiplayer Night: If you have friends who appreciate "jank" and gaming history, fire up the 4-player mode. It’s a hilarious palate cleanser from the ultra-polished, microtransaction-filled shooters of today.
WinBack: Covert Operations isn't a perfect game. It was a experimental step forward in a time when 3D gaming was still figuring itself out. It’s ugly, it’s loud, and the names are ridiculous. But it’s also the reason your favorite modern cover shooter works the way it does. Give Jean-Luc Cougar his due. He earned it in that dusty, low-poly satellite base.