Just a spotlight video covering 3D remakes from the Atari Age of gaming. Or, basically, mostly Atari IP's and some early 80's arcade games. I forgot a couple of games, so I can always make another video on 3D remakes on the PS1, time and focus permitting.
And yeah Dude, it's the 90's bro, and we too kool for old games.
My aunt used to send us a bunch of
hand-me-down Nes games for Christmas. For at least two Christmas'
this uncured. I could never tell if these were just games my cousin's
had and didn't like, but I really didn't care. They were games, and I
enjoyed them, even the bad ones, because I didn't know any better. In
one of these Christmas game lots one year came 1942. Probably the
best game in the bunches she sent, except Sid Meters Pirates, which I
love, but has never held a battery save.
1942 hit the North American NES market
in 1986, and was a port of Capcom's 1984, controversial, in Japan at
least, arcade original. It was controversial in Japan, because it
featured an American, from the looks of it, P38 Lightning, airplane
shooting down Japanese aircraft in the South Pacific seas. In other
words, it was a game made by a Japanese company, that featured Japan
as the enemy. I've heard it described as, imagine if An American
company made a game where you play as the Viet Cong, killing
Americans. Which, for the age in gaming this game was developed, I
can understand the reason it was controversial at the time.
World War II wasn't really a subject
gaming had explored much at this point, if at all, and my best guess
is, it was not only offensive for the reasons stated, but may even
had been seen as a means of making light, or, even, profiteering off
something as tragic, and serious as World War II. Today, the World
War II theme is old hat, but this game was made in the age of killing
Space Ships, and aliens, so the controversy is understandable.
1942 has shades of Galga, and sades of
Xevious, minus the bomb dropping. Players fly over unfriendly oceans,
and pacific islands single-handedly vanquishing what could only be
described as the entirety of the Japanese airforce. Similar to
Xevious, your plane has the ability to move forward on backwards on
the play field, not being stuck at the bottom of the screen as in
Galaga. This is useful to move and dodge the massive amounts of
enemies and oncoming fire hurled at the player.
Basically, this game consists of, move,
shoot, dodge, shoot, move, dodge, shoot, and maybe hit the loop
button which turns the plane invincible for a few seconds, allowing
players to re-situate to a safer spot on the map, in those few times
you'll remember to actually use it. 1942 is pretty simple, don't die,
kill everything that moves, survive till your aircraft carrier.
Occasionally, power ups will show up requiring players to destroy
strings of orange enemy aircraft, and collecting the POW symbol. The
color of the POW Symbol determines which powerup you receive like
extra shots, or two allied planes flying on your wings.
The basic enemy types consist of the
green planes which swirl around the screen firing and dodging, and
the white planes which are the kamikaze that try an maneuver into
you. As the game prgresses, both types fire a barrage of bullets at
players. As you play the larger planes come at you from behind your
plane, causing you to always keep awareness of what's behind you as
well as dodging what's coming at you from the front. This game gets
pretty intense, and very challenging as you get further into it. The
difficulty curve jumps up slowly, but the final levels in the game
are rough for anyone but those overachievers who put in no-hit runs
in this game. Seriously, you aren't human.
1942 is one of only two shooters I had
in childhood, and it's just straight, simplistic, oldschool fun and
challenge. I forced myself to finally beat this game for the first
time for this review, as I never just buckled down, and beat it.
Technically, you can only lose at this game if you give up, because
despite it's difficulty, you are given infinite continues with which
to beat this game, meaning, any determined gamer can see it through
with enough patience.
The reason I never beat it as a child
had to do with my general view of the majority of NES games. I never
believed all of them were able to be beaten. I would play them, get
as far as I could, or as far as I felt like getting, shut them off,
and go on about my day. I just didn't believe the vast majority of
NES games were capable of being beaten, and I was OK with that. Now
that I am older, I am convinced that the the vast majority of NES
aren't capable of being beaten...by me that is, and I'm OK with that.
I had tons of fun just playing them and trying to get as far as I
could. It wasn't until the Genesis days that I believed games could
be beaten. For some reason, it just never bothered me.
This game is fun, challenging, but
doesn't over complicate things. The controls are spot on, the
graphics, while a step down from the arcade version, are decent. Far
from the best the NES has to offer, but this game throws an absurd
amount of enemies your way. There is slowdown that occurs, but with
the sheer amount of planes on screen at one time, I would be more
surprised if slowdown didn't occur. The game throws carnage your way
from all directions, and the gameplay is all the better for it.
The sound, however, might annoy people.
In mimicking the arcade version's slightly annoying sond that had
what sounded like a whistle playing, the NES version substitutes with
Atari sounding beeps for the one and only song that plays endlessly
throughout the entirety of the game with a few exceptions. I used to
think maybe it was imitating radar beeps, but with the original using
a whistle sound, all I can think is maybe they used whistles to
communicate on the decks of aircraft carriers in WWII. Either way,
you do adjust to the music, and find a way to tolerate it, but I
don't it being anyone's favorite NES tune, ever.
The Bottom line: I still love this
game. The swarming, intense action, and challenging gameplay. I did
force myself to finally beat it for this review, and now I never have
to beat it ever again. I will be perfectly satisfied doing what I
have always done: pop it into my NES, or in this case, Retro-Bit
Super Retro Trio, play it until I am content, and shut it off again.
But I will still pop it into a system for occasional play. With it's
infinite continues offered from the start, this is a game that can be
beaten by anyone willing to tough it out. I find it a lot easier and
more playable than Sky Shark, which was the only other Shoot em up I
owned throughout the entirety of my childhood gaming years. 1942:
Classic game, simple fun.