GeekStrike

Do you love old games? Are you a veteran gamer who grew up playing Pong? Or are you a new gamer who yearns to know how this wonderful gaming industry was like just in the last two to threee decades? In RetroStrike, we play through games of the past and aim to let gaming veterans reminisce about the past and gaming newbies learn about this short but vast and often fascinating history of video games.

Boys love to drive. Be it trucks, giant robots, racing cars, motorbikes, we once dreamt of being at the helm of them all. One of our greatest fantasies is to of course piloting a fighter jet and shooting down our enemies before coming home to meet a hot girlfriend, Top Gun style. While the “coming home to our hot girlfriend” part has not been adequately replicated in videogames yet, shoot-em-ups have been a staple of videogames since its inception. In fact, one of the earliest videogames is a shoot-em-up, Spacewar. This week, we take a look at the popular vertical shooter 1942.

1942 - The first of Capcom's many memorable hits

The year was 1984, and Capcom was still a relatively unknown company, before it was famous for its fighting and survivor horror genre games. With only 3 games under its belt so far, it was its next game, 1942, that would become Capcom’s first blockbuster, propelling it to its current status as a gaming power house.

The Game

1942 was the 2nd shooter by Capcom. A vertical scrolling shoot-em-up set during, when else, 1942 in the midst of WWII, the player controls an allied fighter plane and is tasked with shooting down a buttload of japanese planes. There are 32 levels in the games, a boss in the form of a bigger enemy plane appearing in every 4 levels.

Bosses are not the multiple screen spanning behemoths like in later shooters, but are formidable nevertheless

Gameplay wise, 1942 was unfortunately quite derivative, even for its time. The levels were unimaginative and each level differed from the previous one only by the increasing number of enemy planes. The power ups were standard fare and in fact fairly underwhelming. The graphics are sparse and drab and looks worse than the game it was heavily inspired from(Xevious). To make things worst, the colour of one of the enemy sprite used are the same as the greenery in the background, making it highly difficult to spot enemy planes during those scenarios. Still, there are some interesting innovations, such allowing the plane 3 blackflips per level, essentially making the plane invulnerable for a few seconds.

Whose bright idea it was to have green enemies against a green backdrop should be shot

In an age before bullet hells and the insane difficulties that come to define this shooter genre, 1942 was merely head-bangingly tough. While the first few levels are simple enough, the rest of the game is quite tough and will require multiple playthroughs to complete. Still, the signs of future manic spam-fest style shooters was found in this game.

There is an option to play with a friend. However, as with the norm with many games during this era, multiplayer means 2 players taking turns to play, with one active player and another sitting on his ass twiddling his thumb at any given time. Aren’t you glad that this type of multiplayer is no longer around(other than for turn-based games)?

The Legacy

Ready, get set, GO AND SHOOT ME DOWN SOME AXIS SCUM!

1942, while not exactly breaking new ground, was the first notable and well-received game in Capcom’s library. It has since stood the test of time, appearing in numerous Capcom compilations and spawning a successful franchise with 5 sequels, the latest being a pseudo-remake available on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network.  With most games being forgotten by gamers after a short period of time, 1942 transcend its era to still be remembered by casual and hardcore gamers alike to this day, 25 years after it was 1st released. Now, that’s longevity.