This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2014) |
Captain Skyhawk | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Rare |
Publisher(s) | |
Composer(s) | David Wise |
Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System PlayChoice-10 |
Release | NES |
Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Captain Skyhawk is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Rare and published by Milton Bradley Company. The game was released in North America in June 1990 and in Europe the next year for the NES. It was also released for the PlayChoice-10 arcade machine.
It features music by composer David Wise.
The game is very reminiscent of the Sega classic Zaxxon. The game features top-down scrolling overhead isometric graphics, including simulated 3D terrain. The terrain mimics the look of flight simulators available for the PC at the time. The game player is the pilot of the plane, code-named the F-14VTS (a fictional version of the F-14), and must avoid the mountainous terrain while annihilating aliens.
There are a total of nine missions in the game. The first seven have three objectives each while missions eight and nine have two objectives and one objective, respectively. Each level has multiple routes, some of which allow the player to bypass large gatherings of hostiles. The objectives vary across missions and include destroying an enemy base, dropping supplies, fighting aerial battles, picking up a scientist, and docking with a space station.
The player can fire four types of weapons: Cannon, Phoenix Air Intercept Missiles, Maverick air-to-ground missiles, and Hawk bombs. The cannon is the only weapon with an unlimited supply. The rest of the weapons must be purchased between missions after docking with the space station. The purchases are made with credits obtained through the levels by destroying all aliens that are in a group. Purchasing additional cannons allows the player to fire much more rapidly.
Each main level in Captain Skyhawk is an isometric plane. After the boss of the stage is destroyed or the packages are delivered the player moves on to a rear-facing 2D screen where he must destroy the enemy planes to gain credits to buy weapons in the space station on the end of the levels. The last space station is replaced with the alien mother-ship.
The player takes a role of a fighter pilot working to repel an alien invasion. Aliens have invaded Earth, and have built four land bases. These bases are designed to drain Earth's energy and feed it to their mother space station. If the space station is allowed to obtain enough energy, it will destroy the Earth with a massive laser blast. The player must destroy the enemy bases, then go after the space station itself. Scientists, during the course of the game, are working on a top-secret Neutron Cannon. During several missions, the player must make supply drops to the scientists working underground. Sometimes, the aliens will have a scientist captive. Then the player must defeat the alien base and take the scientist to safety.
Earth 2150: The Moon Project is a sequel to the real time strategy game Earth 2150. While the game is in fact a stand-alone game, many consider it an expansion pack because it does little more than provide new missions, and weapons. The story takes place alongside the original game's story. The Moon Project was released in 2000 by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Bosconian is a multidirectional scrolling shooter arcade game which was developed and released by Namco in Japan in 1981. In North America, it was manufactured and distributed by Midway Games. The goal of the game is to earn as many points as possible by destroying enemy missiles and bases using a ship which shoots from both the front and back. Bosconian became the first shoot 'em up game to feature diagonal movement.
Metal Marines is a real-time strategy video game developed by Namco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was ported to Microsoft Windows PCs by Mindscape. It was later released in Japan under the title of Militia. The Super NES version was re-released on the Virtual Console in Japan on July 10, 2007, for the Wii and on March 4, 2015, for the Wii U, and in North America on October 15, 2007, for the Wii.
To the Earth is a light gun shooter video game developed by Cirque Verte and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in November 1989 in North America and in Europe on February 23, 1990. It uses the NES Zapper to destroy ships and gain power-ups. The enemy spacecraft require good reflexes and aiming.
Zanac (ザナック) is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Compile and published in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by FCI. It was released for the MSX computer, the Family Computer Disk System, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and for the Virtual Console. It was reworked for the MSX2 computer as Zanac EX and for the PlayStation as Zanac X Zanac. Players fly a lone starfighter, dubbed the AFX-6502 Zanac, through twelve levels; their goal is to destroy the System—a part-organic, part-mechanical entity bent on destroying mankind.
Jackal, also distributed under the title of Top Gunner, is an overhead run-and-gun shooter by Konami released as an arcade video game in 1986. The player must maneuver an armed jeep in order to rescue prisoners of war (POWs) trapped in enemy territory.
Jets'n'Guns is a 2004 2D horizontally scrolling shooter for Microsoft Windows by Czech studio Rake in Grass. In April 2006, a version for Mac OS X was released. In December 2006 an expansion, Jets'n'Guns Gold, was released. A version for Linux has been developed by Linux Game Publishing. A sequel, Jets'n'Guns 2, was available in early access, and released on 25 July 2020.
Lunar Jetman is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game. It was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and later on the BBC Micro. In this sequel to Jetpac, the second installment of the Jetman series, Jetman has to destroy alien bases whilst simultaneously defending himself, along with Earth, from a hostile alien race.
Urban Assault is a 3D combined first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer game developed by the German company TerraTools and published by Microsoft in the year 1998.
Laser Invasion, released as Gun Sight (ガンサイト) in Japan, is a multi-genre first-person action game released by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. The player takes control of a military operative who pilots an attack helicopter in order to infiltrate various enemy bases and fulfill his mission. The game supports the standard NES controller, as well as the NES Zapper light gun and the LaserScope, a voice-activated headset controller Konami released for the NES that was compatible with all light gun games released for the system. The American version of the game featured a rebate for the LaserScope in the instruction booklet.
X-COM: Interceptor is the fourth main game in the X-COM series, developed and published by MicroProse in 1998. The game is a combination of many genres, including space flight simulation, business simulation game and strategy game elements. More specifically, the player's role includes managing a number of X-COM space stations, piloting starfighters during hostile encounters whilst co-ordinating wingmen, and managing resources and research. X-COM Interceptor, although released as the fourth game, is actually set before X-COM: Apocalypse, thus making it the third game in the chronological order. The game was re-released in 2008 for Steam and GamersGate, and again in 2016 on GOG.com.
Nether Earth is one of the earliest computer real-time strategy games. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 in 1987. It was published in the United Kingdom by Argus Press Software and re-released in Spain by Mind Games Espana S.A.
Haegemonia: Legions of Iron, or Hegemonia: Legions of Iron, is a 3D real-time strategy game developed by Digital Reality for Microsoft Windows, and by Microïds for iOS.
Section Z is a side-scrolling shooter game by Capcom, originally released as an arcade game in 1985. A home version was published for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987.
Strike Gunner S.T.G (エス・ティー・ジー) is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up video game originally released on the arcades in 1991 by Tecmo, and then later ported for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Super NES version was released in Europe under the title Super Strike Gunner and was published by Activision.
Turn and Burn: No-Fly Zone is a jet flight simulator from Absolute Entertainment for the Super NES, released in 1994. It is the sequel to Turn and Burn: The F-14 Dogfight Simulator, a Game Boy game which also featured the F-14 Tomcat aircraft. An enhanced port of this game was released as F-14 Tomcat on Game Boy Advance. A Sega Mega Drive version was planned but never released.
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 is an arcade-style combat flight simulator developed by Ubisoft Bucharest and published by Ubisoft. The game is the sequel to Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, released in 2009. The game was released for Xbox 360 on September 3, 2010, the PlayStation 3 version one week later on September 10. The Microsoft Windows and Wii versions of the game were released on November 12.
Alien Shooter is an isometric, top-down shooter video game developed and released by Sigma Team, a Russian games development studio. Released on May 18, 2003, it was initially available on Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android. The game's conclusion was realized in two expansion packs, both consisting of five-levels and released in 2014: Fight for Life, released on June 14, and The Experiment, released on September 22.
Soviet Strike is a helicopter-based shooter game developed and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation in 1996 and the Sega Saturn in 1997. The game is a sequel to the Strike games which began on the Sega Genesis with Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf. Soviet Strike is the series' first installment for a 32-bit console and was first conceived as 32-bit Strike. Early on, it was intended for the 3DO console, before development changed to the PlayStation.
Radix: Beyond the Void is a 2.5D first-person shooter developed by Canadian studio Neural Storm Entertainment and published by Epic MegaGames for MS-DOS in 1995.