AERO FIGHTERS 2 is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up released in 1994 by VIDEO SYSTEM. A variety of unique pilots, including a pop singer and an aviation nin. NeoGeo Roms download list: - 2020 Super Baseball (set 1) (Japanese): 2.80 MB - 2020 Super Baseball (set 2) (Japanese): 172.13 KB - 2020 Super Baseball. Aero Fighters 2 sur Neo Geo est un shoot'em up dans lequel vous avez le choix entre huit pilotes de. Aero Fighters 3 - Sonic Wings 3.
Aero Fighters | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Video System |
Publisher(s) |
|
Designer(s) | Shin Nakamura |
Composer(s) | Naoki Itamura |
Platform(s) | Arcade, Super NES |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
Mode(s) | Single player, 2 player co-op |
CPU | 68000 |
Sound | Z80, YM2610 |
Display | Vertical, Raster, 224 x 320 pixels, 1024 colors |
Aero Fighters, known as Sonic Wings (ソニックウィングス, Sonikku~uingusu) in Japan, is a vertically scrolling shooter originally released in arcades in 1992 by Video System and ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. It was the first in the Aero Fighters series, and a spiritual successor to the 1991 Turbo Force.
Gameplay[edit]
This game uses basic shooter mechanics. Pressing button 1 fires normal weapons; this can be upgraded by collecting P or the rare F items, though the maximum power level has a hidden ammo count, after which the player will return to the previous power level. Pressing button 2 launches a powerful special attack; uses are limited to how many B items the player has collected (every life starts with two). Some ground enemies will drop score items when destroyed; they appear as the currency of the selected character's nation. By default, players start with three lives, and can acquire one more at 200,000 points.
Aero Fighters is famous for its large cast of characters, unheard of in 1992. Each pair of characters represents one of four nations. The two-player sides may only select the four characters given (one for each nation). In a two-player game, only a single nation can be chosen.
Country | Player 1 | Player 2 |
---|---|---|
United States | Blaster Keaton (F/A-18 Hornet) | Keith Bishop (F-14 Tomcat) |
Japan | Hien (FSX) | Mao Mao (F-15 Eagle) |
Sweden | Kohful The Viking (AJ-37) | Tee-Bee 10 (JAS 39 Gripen) |
United Kingdom | Villiam Syd Pride (AV-8 Harrier II) | Lord River N. White (Tornado IDS) |
The game has seven stages divided into two parts. The first three stages are selected randomly from a group of four, with one for each character's nation; however, a character will never go to its nation's stage. The other four stages are fixed. After beating all seven stages, the player sees the character's ending, then play much more difficult versions of those stages, after which the game truly ends.
Release[edit]
Video System Co., Ltd. (ビデオシステム株式会社) was a softwarecompany that was founded and ran by software designer Koji Furukawa in Kyoto, Japan in December 1984. It was best known for making video game titles for the arcades,[1] though it also made games for other platforms, including the Super NES, Neo-Geo and Nintendo 64. Video System released arcade games throughout Japan and the U.S., such as Tail to Nose, the F1 Grand Prix series, Karate Blazers, Tao Taido, Rabbit Punch (known as Rabio Lepus in Japan), Turbo Force, Super Volleyball, Super Slams (published by Kaneko), and the Aero Fighters series.
Although Video System's main headquarters opened in Japan, they eventually opened a U.S. branch office. Sometime in 1992, Video System's U.S. office changed its name to McO'River, Inc., and was given the licensing rights to distribute Aero Fighters arcade machines throughout the United States. Aero Fighters was ported to the Super NES in 1993, first released in Japan. This version is different from the arcade original, but is based heavily on it. It adds Rabio (player 1 side) and Lepus (player 2 side) from Video System's earlier Rabio Lepus as playable characters. The same year, McO'River was supposed to publish 3 Super Famicom ports of arcade games in the U.S. While Video System developed and published numerous titles in Japan, McO'River was only able to publish 2 of them in the U.S.: Hyper V-Ball in June, 1994; and Aero Fighters in November, 1994. While the former is an easy-to-find game, the latter is considered by video game collectors to be one of the rarest games ever released on the Super NES.[2]
Reception[edit]
GamePro gave the Super NES version a negative review, saying the weapons are imaginative but the game suffers from slowdown, mediocre graphics, weak sound effects, and 'monotonous' music, concluding 'Aero Fighters' action won't stay with you - it's a temporary thrill that eventually retreats to the hanger.'[3]
Legacy[edit]
An emulated version of the game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of the Japan-exclusive Oretachi Gēsen Zoku series.
Sequels[edit]
Shin Nakamura, the main designer of Aero Fighters and a number of other Video System games, disliked the company's plan to start developing on the Neo Geo. He wanted to make more vertical games like Aero Fighters, but found it difficult to do so on a horizontal monitor. He and other like-minded employees left to found Psikyo, with the similar Samurai Aces being their first game.
McO'River would never publish another title under that name. Back at Video System, meanwhile, other employees teamed up with the remaining Aero Fighters staff to begin work on sequels. Aero Fighters 2 and Aero Fighters 3 were released for the Neo Geo. Sonic Wings Special, a sort of 'dream match' game based on the three previous entries, was released for the Sega Saturn and later for the PlayStation. Soon after, Special was reworked for the arcades into Sonic Wings Limited. In 1997, McO'River, Inc. changed its name to Video System U.S.A., Inc.[4] A year later, Paradigm Entertainment developed Aero Fighters Assault for Video System. Sonic Wings Special and Limited were both made for a vertical monitor like the first game. Similarly, Nakamura would make Strikers 1945 Plus for the Neo Geo a few years later.
In popular culture[edit]
YouTube celebrity and famous author John Green, having coming across the game in the Savannah Airport, mistakenly read the title as 'Nerd Fighters' while filming a video post addressing his brother Hank Green on the popular YouTube channel Vlogbrothers on February 17, 2007.[5] 'Nerdfighters' and 'Nerdfighteria' eventually became the collective title of the Vlogbrothers' fan community.[6] On September 2013, he was given an Aero Fighters arcade cabinet as a gift.[7]
References[edit]
- ^''97 Tokyo Toy Show'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 94. Ziff Davis. May 1997. p. 88.
- ^Racketboy (November 28, 2013). 'The Rarest and Most Valuable Super Nintendo (SNES) Games'. Racketboy. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
- ^'ProReview: Aero Fighters'. GamePro (61). IDG. August 1994. p. 60.
- ^IGN staff (August 6, 1997). 'Mc O'River Renames Itself'. IGN. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
- ^Braun, Eric (2015). John Green: Star Author, Vlogbrother, and Nerdfighter - Gateway Biographies. Lerner Publications. pp. 23, 24. ISBN1467772615. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
- ^Dean, Michelle (March 13, 2013). 'A Note on Nerdfighters'. The New Yorker. Advance Publications. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^Green, John. 'Secrets of the Movies: Thoughts from The Fault in Our Stars Set'.
External links[edit]
- Aero Fighters at MobyGames
- Aero Fighters at Arcade-History
- Aero Fighters playable at the Internet Archive
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aero_Fighters&oldid=924853705'
by Tibe (2013)
In 'Broken Sword', a brave Parisien janitor said about dolphins 'let's catch them, and eat them!'... At Video System, they imagine them flying fighter jets. And babies too. Finally, babies flying airplanes, you understood. And hey, why not a mother with her little daughter. We could also go with a little Ninja, Robocop, a gay (probably French) sniffing a rose, a Japanese Pop singer and Colonel Zavata with his parrot. A remarkable roster, which could have the Red Baron turn in his grave. But whatever, this is the casting of Aero Fighters 2 -aka Sonic Wings 2- the second Shoot 'em Up of Video System's series. The publisher made few games on Neo Geo, since it has published four titles total on the system between 1994 and 1997: Aero Fighters 2 & 3, Power Spikes II and finally Pop'n'Bounce. Oh nothing really worth it, let's face it, as the two shooters are remaining by far what these programmers did best on SNK's machine.
After a first arcade version in 1992 using 'Tate' format, Video System performs a Super NES port using 'Yoko' size the following year. The editor will keep this standard in Aero Fighters 2 (and Aero Fighters 3) for the Neo Geo in 1994 and 1995. We are dealing with a Shoot them Up in line with Ghost Pilots, released three years earlier. You guessed it, eight different vessels are available, unfortunately coming with their respective pilots. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses as a high speed, a powerful concentrated shot or a 3-Way in the purest tradition. It will take to clear ten stages twice to end the game (à la Last Resort) and be warned, if the first three levels are a mere formality, the other seven won't feel like a walk in the park. Enemy fire are fast and sometimes not very visible, so much so that it's sometimes quite difficult to dodge some massive attacks. Once is not custom, we are dealing with a big fat one-credit challenge Shoot them Up on Neo Geo... Start training now if you wish to complete this one day!
The gameplay is ok, and let's say that players shall find happiness among the eight planes available. Vessels move well but sometimes seem slow compared to enemy fires, especially in the advanced levels when everything goes faster. This is not without remind Ghost Pilots, although we are dealing here with a more dynamic game, looking more like the 'Manic Shooter' appeared in the same period (eg Batsugun). Ships have powerful shots and a small hitbox, whereas enemy attacks are massive and numerous, fucking a mess on the screen at times: this is the characteristic of Manics. Moreover, Aero Fighters 2 slows down very little, which is an excellent thing. The animation of the game is very good, with a nice decomposition, a nice speed with intense and dynamic action. Regarding the graphics, it oscillates between mediocre and dull, with a few passages a little nicer than others... but nothing really worthy of a Neo Geo. In addition, the enemy sprites are repetitive, with a few different choppers and planes re-appearing regularly. Also note that the player's aircrafts are nothing special too. Only Bosses are beautiful and impressive, which is a good thing for a Shoot them Up.
The soundtrack of Aero Fighters 2 is almost as dull as the graphics (and that makes sense, believe me), with an absolute absence of vocals, which is something rarely seen before on Neo Geo. The sound effects are subtle or insignificant, while the various melodies are already forgotten once heard. All in all, this is not 'disgusting' so far, but it seems here that Video System did everything not to get noticed. By looking a little closer, the game looks pretty much like the first Aero Fighters: the editor didn't really worked hard for this sequel. Far from competing with the system's heavyweights like Pulstar, Last Resort or Viewpoint, Aero Fighters 2 simply offer the bare minimum for an attractive arcade Shoot them Up. We have here an average, ultra-simplistic realization without any pretentions, for a game packing a decent life and a gameplay rather significant.
GRAPHICS | 62% | |
Dull colors, messy backgrounds, repetitive enemies... This is not fabulous! | ||
ANIMATION | 81% | |
Everything is well decomposed and fast, without reaching peaks anyway. | ||
SOUND | 67% | |
No vocals at all, almost decent effects fitting well the action, with totally commonplace musics... | ||
REPLAY VALUE | 80% | |
Ten stages to clear twice, eight planes and the cooperative play: not bad! | ||
GAMEPLAY | 71% | |
The difficulty increases when coming to higher levels, planes are a little slow and under-equiped for some. The game looks a little like a manic which is not bad, but here again, Video System doesn't reach the peaks. | ||
NEOGEOKULT Overall | 73% | |
A rather decent vertical Shoot them Up, still far from competing with Neo Geo's tenors. |
VALUE FOR MONEY (2013)
The price of the Aero Fighters games have been rising constantly these last years. Now selling for more than 150 euros each, we can't talk anymore about competitive games in terms of value for money. Better go for a Ghost Pilots or Alpha Mission II.