A brief history of World War II shoot 'em ups

Between modern marketing and the Internet, these days it's relatively easy to keep track of all the sequels, prequels and spin-offs that come out for a video game. Back in the days of the arcade, unless a video game magazine or a friend told you about a new machine, you were stuck with what was in the arcades you visited. And while the histories of certain games, like Street Fighter (which I covered last year) and Tekken, are pretty well known, there are plenty of sequels to classic arcade games which went almost unnoticed. One such example for me is Capcom's classic 1942. I played the original game in the arcade loads and I played 1943 a couple of times, but I had no idea how many versions there were until I started dabbling with MAME in the late 90s.

So here, 60 years after 1942 (if you see what I mean), is my brief history of World War II-themed shoot 'em ups.

1942 (1984)

The formula for 1942 was simple. It was a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up, set during World War II, rather than space, like so many others from that era. You pilot the Super Ace, which looked exactly like a World War II Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Your mission was to blast through waves of Japanese fighter planes on your way to Tokyo to destroy an air base. Shooting down a sequence of red aircraft would deposit a power-up, which could be double fire-power, wide shot or two small escort planes. You could also perform a loop-de-loop to avoid enemy flak, although I never found it be particularly useful.

Despite its sober setting and authentic looking fighter craft, there was something endearing, almost cute, about 1942. Perhaps it was the put-put-chugga-chugga-peep-peep music, which sounds like your Super Ace is struggling against gravity, let alone the Japanese air force. 

Its popularity catapulted Capcom into the big league and it would become their first game to spawn a sequel.

1943: The Battle of Midway (1987)

The first sequel arrived three years later. The basic gameplay did not really change, you still had to battle the Japanese air force over the Midway Atoll, you still got power ups from blasting waves of red planes and you could still do a loop-de-loop, if the desire takes you. However, everything was sort of beefed up. The second button was now a special attack (lighting or a tsunami), but which took part of your life bar (a conceit also seen in Capcom's side-scrolling beat 'em ups, like Final Fight and X-Men. The game also removed the traditional three lives and replaced it with a single life bar, which depleted as you took damage, but could be replenished by collecting POW icons. It also added two player co-op, a feature that would stay with the franchise throughout. The music also changed to something more rousing and military-like.

1943 will added two player co-op, timed power-ups and special attacks.

In Japan only, Capcom released an updated version of the game called 1943 Kai, which featured reworked graphics and sound, replaced the P-38 with a Boeing Model 75 biplane and added insane power-ups, like laser guns, which were totally incongruous with the game's WWII theme.

1941: Counter Attack (1990)

The next game in the series came out another three years later, but was set two years earlier. The conflict shifted from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Player 2 now flew what looked like a British-made Mosquito Mk IV fighter and instead of the bomb and loop being separate attacks, they were now a single action, so you avoided flak and wiped the screen of enemies in one action. The game also introduce a powerful homing attack, which had to be charged by holding down the power button  — R-Type style.

1941 gave player 2 a Mosquito Mk IV and added narrow canyons to navigate

19XX: War Against Destiny (1996)

A number of things changed with the third sequel, 19XX. For a start, the player was given a choice of three fighter planes; the Super Ace was now identified as a (P-38) Lighting, the Mosquito was more powerful and the new plane, the (Japanese-made Kyushu J7W Shinden prototype) was fast and nimble. Each ship got a unique weapon too. The game also introduced mission briefing before each level, where you got a summary of the boss you'd be facing at the end. Capcom also lifted the medal system from the Raiden series. Tactically, the most interesting change was to the charge weapon. Now, if your charge shot landed you got several seconds of homing attacks on top of your normal primary weapon. When it came to taking down bosses you had to decide whether you chipped away with the main weapon or charged up in the hope it lands and you can then hit it with homing attacks.

A choice of planes and mission briefings were just some of the changes in 19xx.

Between the mission briefings and the post boss cinematics, 19XX really feels like a modern arcade game and it's one of the best in the series.

1944: Loop Master (2000)

Developed by Raizing/8ing (the guys behind Battle Garegga), 1944 is a different game again to its predecessors. The Shinden and Mosquito were dropped and instead the plaayer 1 was given the Lighning and player 2 was given a Mitsubishi Zero. The charge attack no longer had a follow up homing attack, instead you got an aerial assault, which (like the loop) kept the player out of harms way for a brief time. The wingman also played a bigger part, with the power-ups floating down to the bottom corner of the screen to be picked up at the player's discretion. The medals were also replaced with gems.

This was also the first game in the series with continues. When you're plane explodes your pilot jumps out and floats around with his parachute. When you continue, rescuing the pilot rewards you with a selection of the power-ups you had before you died.

The game ran on Capcom CPS2 hardware and it is a great looking game with a widescreen aspect ratio and lots of little details.

The Legacy

So that's my brief history of Capcom's 1940s shmups, but they weren't the only ones at it. Plagiarism in the games industry is pretty rife, you only have to look at how many Pong clones were made during the '70s, so it's not surprising 1942's popularity lead to a few copy cats, some of which were based on World War I and many of which really stretched the authenticity of their setting.

Flying Shark and Fire Shark (1987 & 1989)

Toaplan made a lot of great vertically scrolling shooters (Raiden, Truxton and Batsugun to name just a few), so it's hardly surprising they got into the World War-themed shmup scene. Between 1987 and 1989 they developed two such games, both with World War I themes and featuring bi-planes, Zeppelins, tanks and lasers! Yeah well, the less said about that the better. The games follow almost exactly the same template as other Toaplan shmups, yet somehow were never as thrilling as either Capcom's classic series or their own siblings, including this next game....

Twin Hawk (1989)

Also by Toaplan, Twin Hawk appears to be set in the second World War, just like Capcom's games. On the whole, Twin Hawk plays the same as the Shark games, as well as the aforementioned Raiden series. One novel feature was the ability to call forth a whole squadron of helper planes for a few seconds, after which they systematically dive bomb your enemies -- which seems a little extreme, but there you go. Given a choice of which of Toaplan's World War shmups to play, I'd probably go with the Hawk over the Shark.

This is going piste a bit, but Hardcore Gaming 101 did a great piece on Toaplan's shmups earlier this year, which you can check out here.

Strikers 1945 series (1995 - 1999)

When I first saw Psikyo's Strikers 1945 I assumed it was a follow up to the firs three 194x games, but it's actually a totally different vertically scrolling shmup with WWII fighter planes. While it would be easy to dismiss it as a blatant rip off, the Strikers games do have a few merits of their own, not least the choice of planes available to the player. The first game had the P-38 Lighting (same as 1942), the P-51 Mustang, the Shinden, the Messerschmitt BF-109, the Mitsubishi Zero and every Brits favourite piece of World War II hardware, the Spitfire. For the second game (Strikers 1945 II, also known as Strikers 1945 Plus) Psikyo added the Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake", but by the third game (Strikers 1945 III, also known as Strikers 1999) Psikyo brought the roster up to date, with the F-22 Raptor, F-117 Nighthawk and the AV-8 Harrier jump jet.

I like the Strikers games, but they are totally over-the-top, even more so than Capcom's later 1940s games. Transforming fighter planes anyone?

1942: Joint Strike (2008)

As well as porting the arcade games to home consoles in several Capcom collections, in 2008 Capcom and developers Backbone Entertainment released 1942: Joint Strike for home consoles. The game features gorgeous high definition polygon graphics and like 1944 it plays in a widescreen aspect ratio. Don't let the name fool you though, it plays more like the later games than the original. I assume this because of the combination of the bankability of 1942 as a name and Psikyo's similarly-named series.

1942: Joint Strike is a bit like a super model: great to look at, but not much going on underneath.

Due to the popularity of online gaming these days, Joint Strike had an emphasis on multiplayer co-op, even adding special collaborative attacks that are only available in two player mode. However, the game was underwhelming. It's difficult to say what it is, because they have all the ingrediants, they've just not cooked it for long enough. However, die hard fans of the series may still enjoy it, especially in co-op mode.

Horizontally scrolling WWII games

While it would be a bit of an assumption to say 1942 inspired the following games, they are nonetheless noteworthy as other World War II-themed shmups:

P-47: The Phantom Fighter  (Jaleco, 1988)

US AAF Mustang (UPL, 1990)

P-47: Aces (Jaleco, 1995)

Progear (Cave, 2001)

Akai Katana Shin (Cave, 2010)

What I think is most suprising of all is how few World War I or II themed shoot 'em ups there have been full stop and the ones that do exist have been made by the same few developers. There may be a few others I've missed (I suppose I could have included Atari's first person vector rail shooter Red Baron), but this is pretty much all there is. Had I been trying to compile a list of space-themed shmups, I doubt I could have even got half way.

MTW

Gone but not forgotten

I've noticed over the last few months arcade machines appearing in adverts and other popular culture, which seems odd given the rarity of arcade machines now. For example, kids' TV channel Disney XD keep showing a brief clip of a boy celebrating after beating a game in an arcade, surrounded by his high-fiving friends. The arcade they show looks like something from the 80s and certainly not somewhere kids would go to game these days. And one of Disney XD's top shows, Phineas and Ferb even featured an arcade in the episode, Ain't no kiddie ride.

They're not the only examples, let's have a look at some others. First up we have a video for dubstep supremos, Nero, which riffs on Sega, Tron and Final Fight among others.

Next we have an advert for the new series of Dynamo: Magician Impossible, which sees the extraordinary street magician walking down the high street making electrical equipment go haywire as he passes by, including a bunch of coin-op machines in an old arcade. What's interesting here is that they clearly show Bally Midway's classic Theatre of Magic as a reference to Dynamo's abilities.

Next, an ad for the new Orange San Diego mobile phone, which uses a bunch of old arcade and pinball machines standing in the desert as a metaphor for the phone's gaming capabilities, which is odd given the portability and touchscreen controls of smart phone gaming is almost the antithesis of the dedicated hardware of an arcade machine.

This isn't the first time Orange have referenced arcade gaming in their adverts, as this 2010 commercial for their two-for-one movie ticket service, Orange Wednesdays, shows:

So it seems, as rare as arcade machines are these days, there is something about them that is etched in the popular subconscious. Much like the sound of a vinyl record being scratched has no place in modern culture, but still gets used all the time, arcades may be gone, but they are not forgotten.

MTW

Port Review: Akai Katana (Xbox 360)

World War II fighter planes firing lasers, magic and giant ninja swords that are also capable of turning into enormous ghosts of dead teenagers? Sounds like a typical Japanese shoot 'em up to me.

In the 80s and early 90s, Toaplan made some brilliant arcade shoot 'em ups. Tiger Heli, Hellfire, Slap Fight, Batsugun and perhaps most famously Truxton I and II (which I discussed in last January's Classic of the Month) can all claim to be classics in their own right. Sadly, in 1994, shortly after the release of Snow Bros II, Toaplan filed for bankruptcy. 

Thankfully, from the ashes of Toaplan rose Computer Audio-Visual Entertainment Interactive, or CAVE for short. Over the past 17 years, CAVE have been been making a variety of games for arcades, home consoles and smartphones, but they're most famous for their series of bullet hell shoot 'em ups, including Guwange, Espgaluda, Deathsmiles, my son's favourite shmup, Progear No Arashi, and the jewel in their crown, the Donpachi series. In 2010 they released Akai Katana Shin in the arcade, which looks and plays like its the spiritual successor to 2001's Progear (although nowhere do they say that). Now, with the help of publishers Rising Star Games, CAVE have brought Akai Katana to Xbox 360 (minus the Shin for the UK).

Like all CAVE's shoot 'em ups, Akai Katana has a complex back story, but with the exception of a few cutscenes during boss encounters (which are in Japanese with no subtitles) the game does not waste the player's time explaining it, so I won't either. Just know there's a bad guy, he's in control of a fleet of World War II era planes, helicopters, tanks and submarines, which all fire lasers and magic rather than lead and explosives. At the start of the game you get to chose one of three pilot and phantom teams, each with their own plane. Tsubaki and Sumire fly the Marigold, which fires in straight lines; Botan and Kikyou fly the Orchid, which has homing lasers; and finally Shion and Suzuran fly the Sakura, which fires in a spread patten. Like other CAVE games, there are no weakest links in the choice of fighters, which means it's all down to play style. 

There are three modes in this Xbox version: Origin, which is the original arcade version, Climax, which is a harder, widescreen update of the Arcade version, and Slash mode, which is new for the Xbox and by far the best version of the game. Visually the game has a far higher resolution than CAVE's previous offerings, whilst still being clearly sprite-based. It almost looks like a HD Neo Geo game — which is no bad thing in my book. However, as I've already said it looks like Progear, as well as a host of other World War II-themed games, like Psikyo's Strikers 1945 series or even Metal Slug (which is probably I think it looks like a HD Neo Geo game). Conversely, the music and the front menus actually make it look and sound like a Guilty Gear game, so much so that when my wife saw me start it up for the first time, she remarked, "All these games look the same. Like Street Fighter and Soul Calibur?" So Akai Katana is the Megan Fox of arcade shoot 'em ups: it's very pretty, but it doesn't really stand out from the crowd.

So on to the game play. If you've never played Akai Katan before, what you think of its game play could be affected by which mode you play first. If you decide you want that authentic arcade experience and choose Origin mode, you may think it's game play is as run of the mill as its artstyle; if you play Climax mode you may think the same, plus it's frenetic and hard; if you play Slash mode, you may be left dumbfounded by what's going on at all, because Slash mode is a very different beast to the other two modes. The arcade original was good, but no better than anything else CAVE has offered. If you're a shmup fan you'll still enjoy it, but it may not leave a lasting impression. If you chose Slash mode, take the time to watch the lengthy tutorial video and maybe read the user guide — yes, for a shoot 'em up — you'll find that by tweaking the game's rules, CAVE have made Akai Katana into something very rewarding indeed. You see, in Origin and Climax modes, you fly around, collect energy from fallen foes and use it to switch to phantom mode, which allows you to deflect bullets and provides more fire power, but that seems to be all there is to it. In Slash mode, you have to collect energy to charge up your phantom, but also steel to arm it. You control how you collect these two resources by switching between defence and attack mode. Thankfully, that's all done with one button (although a second can be used if you want). Tapping the shot button fires your general weapon; holding down the shot fires a more powerful weapon, but at the cost of your speed. It's a mechanic that CAVE have employed for years, but here it has more application than previously. As you collect steel red orbs appear around your fighter. When you switch to phantom mode the steel orbs turn into katanas, which float around the phantom and will be unleashed when you switch back to fighter mode. This is key to both destroying mid-bosses and end of level bosses, as well as netting high scores. It means that you can conjure the most powerful attacks in the game when you want, rather than when the game decides to give you a power up. However, that is only part of the Slash's mechanics — there's much more to it than that, but I'm still learning the rest of the game's subtleties and nuances. How many shoot 'em ups can say that?

Between Xbox Live Arcade and all the CAVE ports, the Xbox 360 has a lot of great shoot 'em ups. This is where Akai Katana's £25 asking price, however cheap compared to other boxed games, seems less appealing. For that price if you wanted some classic arcade bullet hell action you could buy Treasure's classics Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, plus CAVE's other classic, Guwange. If you're open to some modern bullet hell action you could buy Sine Mora, Omega Five and Strania. If you're really open minded (and patient), you could buy about 20 Xbox Live Indie shmups for that price, such as the brilliant Platypus, Shoot 1-Up or Vorpal. This all sounds like I'm trying to talk you out of getting Akai Katana, but I'm not, I'm just trying to provide a balanced review. I guess it all comes down to how much a shmup nut you are. If you're like me, you'll probably own everything I've mentioned and are looking for something with that bit more depth. Many of the games I mentioned above also offer that, but for me, Akai Katana scratches a very particular itch and I cannot stop scratching. Err... yeah, that's not the best metaphor in the world. Let's just say I love it.

Highs

• The best looking CAVE port to date and looks great on a big HD TV.
• Three versions of the game in one, each with its own subtle differences.
• At less than £25, this is a budget price for a new boxed release.
• Switching between attack and defence to collect energy and steel respectively provides plenty of scope for tactical, rewarding gameplay.
• Slash mode makes this one of CAVE's most satisfying shoot 'em up experiences to date.

Lows

• At £25, it is not the cheapest slice of shoot 'em up action on the Xbox this year. 
• Could get lost in the crowd.

Akai Katana is available for Xbox 360 from all decent retailers for around £25.

Boss Fight - Neff (Altered Beast, 1988)

Some games have lots of different bosses, while others have just one boss, who returns at the end of every level in different guises, like Altered Beast's antagonist, the demonic sorcerer Neff (pictured right).

During the game's attract screens we learn Neff has captured a princess -- the fiend! In an usual twist, when you insert a coin and start the game, your character is already dead, but is summoned to rise from your grave by a god (who I always assumed was Zeus, but I have no proof of that).

At first it seems you are ill-equipped to deal with the demonic and undead minions sent by Neff to stop you. It's not long before some suspicious-looking wolf wolves appear, which when killed, drop a floating power-up orb, adding some much needed beef to your centurion. Collect two more orbs and you alter your form to become a beast-man. During the course of the game the hero transforms into a werewolf, a dragon, a bear-man, a tiger-man and finally a golden werewolf, but that's nothing compared to Neff's repertoire of bizarre transformations. At the end of every level, Neff stops our heroes in their tracks, grows to the full height of the screen, then in a puff of smoke he transforms forms into some bizarre monster.

At the end of level 1's graveyard Neff transforms into a pile of corpses, with a orge-like head and body. He attacks by throwing his head at you, which respawns instantly, allowing him to throw half a dozen of them in a few seconds.

Level 2 is set in a swamp and ends with Neff turning into a plant with eye-like spores, which it fires across the screen at you.

Level 3 sees our hero travel underground, at the end of which Neff transform into giant snail with a dragon head. This is the first boss to move, although he doesn't move very much. Not that he needs to, as he can launch shells that loop around the screen and burst into flames.

Level 4 is set inside a Greek building and ends with Neff transforming into some kind of baby dragon, that floats around the screen blasting you with fireballs that emit from its swollen belly. If that wasn't bad enough, miniature versions of the dragon you transformed into in level 2 will sometimes appear and hover slowly around the boss, just to stop you getting close.

Thee fifth and final level is set on some surreal alternative plane and features lots of man-beasts, including fauns and unicorn men. Given everything you face up until this point you would expect Neff's final form to be the craziest of all, but instead it's just a giant rhino-soldier, who charges and punches you.  Nonetheless, this final boss is the toughest of all and takes a lot of punishment to beat.

After each encounter Neff's disembodied head emerges from the ground, robs our hero of his powers and promptly disappears, making the next level a fresh challenge, no matter how well you did before. Between each level you also learn a little more of Neff's plan, which is to use his powerful magic turn the princess into a bird and keep her locked up in a cage. If you weren't dead set on kicking his ass before, you will be now!

To have any real hope of beating any of these bosses you really need to be fully powered-up, especially as you have no projectiles in your base form. Like most arcade games, Altered Beast was punishing and overall not that fun, but we kept hammering away just to see what our hero and Neff would transform into next.

 GW

Twilight Zone pinball port just $12,000 away - update

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about Pinball Arcade developers FarSight Studios attempt to port Bally's Twilight Zone being thwarted by licencing costs. They decided to set up a Kickstarter project to fund the costs and so far things are going great. They are now a little over $12,000 off their target of $55,000 with a little under 3 weeks to go. If you have any love for this, one of the best pinball tables ever made, click the link below now!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-the-twilight-zone/posts

(Update: 08/06/2012) Thanks to the support of pinball fans across the world, FarSight Studios have raised the capital needed to sign the Twilight Zone licence. In fact, they raised more than they needed, so they now have their sights on the Star Trek: The Next Generation licence -- all they need is another $43,000.

MTW

Classic of the Month - Star Rider

Manufacturer:	Computer Creations/Williams
Genre:	Racing
Board:	?/LaserDisc
Year:	1983

Last month, legendary LaserDisc arcade game Dragon's Lair appeared on yet another home console, the Xbox 360. After playing the demo I quickly recognised that even my strong sense of arcade nostalgia could not help me overlook its lack of gameplay. This got me thinking, Were there any decent LaserDisc games? It was certainly all the rage for a few years in the mid-80s, but between Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and Fire Fox, none of them were particularly great games. Then I remembered a truly futuristic looking game from my childhood, a game that looked every bit as sci-fi as  films like Star Wars, Last Star Fighter and Tron, a futurist motorcycle game called Star Rider.

The cabinet itself looked like a rocket-powered bike had crashed through a traditional upright arcade cabinet, but that didn't stop it from feeling awesome to straddle the thing. Where Star Rider differed from Dragon's Lair was that you were not simply performing quick time events to play the next scene from the LaserDisc. Instead, only the track and environments were provided by the disc; the actual racers were sprites, overlaid on top. In order to simulate control, as you turned, the footage from the LaserDisc panned left and right. It was a simple trick and it meant Star Rider basically played the same as Pole Position or Hang-On (which was released a few years later).

The sci-fi theme meant races took place on different planets, with names like Hexagonia, Cubitania, Crystallia and Stalacta -- names that gave a hint to the overall look of the level. You begin each race in the Cosmodrome with a crowd of spectators seated either side of the track. It's only once you leave this area that the true fantasy and beauty of the game's landscapes are revealed. Your opponents in each and every racer were Gold Rider (yellow bike), Red Hawk (red bike), Sidewinder (green bike) and Thunderbolt (blue bike). Despite the names, they do not have any significant personalities or even game play traits (a la the ghosts in Pac-Man), they were just there to get in your way -- which was pretty standard for the time.

The game was pretty rare and like a lot of LaserDisc machines, it did not last long before it disappeared from arcades. I've heard that the LaserDisc players inside them were prone to breaking, so finding one today is hard. Sadly, the game has never been ported or emulated, which is a shame, because with modern media it would be a doddle to have the original LaserDisc footage with either the original sprites or perhaps some high res polygonal art.

I want to share two videos of this game with you. This first is some shaky-cam footage of the cabinet and the game in action.

This second video is just the laser disc playing, no game play, but it shows just how amazing the game looked and sounded (the music is great), especially when you consider 1983 was also the year of Spy Hunter, Atari's Star Wars and America's great video game crash.

MTW