Falcon Patrol II | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Publisher(s) | Virgin Games |
Designer(s) | Steve Lee [1] |
Platform(s) | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum |
Release | 1984: C64 1985: Spectrum |
Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Falcon Patrol II (also called Falcon Patrol 2 on the box) is a horizontally scrolling shooter for the Commodore 64 written by Steve Lee and published by Virgin Games in 1984. [1] A ZX Spectrum port was released in 1985. Falcon Patrol II is the sequel to the 1983 game Falcon Patrol.
Falcon Patrol II is a scrolling shooter over a landscape resembling Egypt or the Middle East. The player controls a jet fighter and has to destroy a set number of enemy helicopters to clear a level. The helicopters come in three forms: [2]
The jet fighter has a finite supply of fuel [3] and ammunition, but both can be replenished by landing on a landing pad. [2]
Choplifter is a military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to Atari 8-bit computers the same year and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers.
B.C.'s Quest for Tires is a horizontally scrolling video game designed by Rick Banks and Michael Bate and published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. Versions were released for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Apple II. Based on the comic strip B.C. by Johnny Hart, BC's Quest for Tires is similar to Irem's Moon Patrol from the previous year. A wheel-riding caveman is always moving forward through horizontally scrolling levels, and the player jumps or ducks as obstacles approach. The game's title is a play on the contemporaneous film Quest for Fire.
Moon Patrol is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Irem. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a Moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally scrolling landscape as well as shoot aerial attackers. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, Moon Patrol is often credited with the introduction of full parallax scrolling in side-scrolling games. Cabinet art for the Williams version was done by Larry Day. Most of the home ports were from Atari, Inc., sometimes under the Atarisoft label.
Kung-Fu Master, known as Spartan X in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up developed by Irem as an arcade video game in 1984, and distributed by Data East in North America. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, the game was based on Hong Kong martial arts films. It is a loose adaptation of the Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao film Wheels on Meals (1984), called Spartan X in Japan, with the protagonist Thomas named after Jackie Chan's character in the film. The game is also heavily inspired by the Bruce Lee film Game of Death (1972), which was the basis for the game's concept. Nishiyama, who had previously designed the side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol (1982), combined fighting elements with a shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm. Irem and Data East exported the game to the West without the Spartan X license.
Uridium is a science fiction side-scrolling shoot 'em up originally designed by Andrew Braybrook for the Commodore 64, and later ported to other 8-bit machines. It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called Uridium. The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed".
Chopper Command is a horizontally scrolling shooter released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in June 1982. It was written by Bob Whitehead. The player flies a helicopter left and right over a scrolling, wraparound landscape, shooting down enemy airplanes to protect a convoy of trucks below.
River Raid is a video game developed by Carol Shaw for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls a fighter jet over the River of No Return in a raid behind enemy lines. The goal is to navigate the flight by destroying enemy tankers, helicopters, fuel depots and bridges without running out of fuel or crashing.
Tornado Low Level is a multidirectional flight game developed by Costa Panayi and published in 1984 by the company he co-founded, Vortex Software. The game was first released for the ZX Spectrum, and later ported to the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.
Cauldron is a video game developed and published by British developer Palace Software in 1985 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC home computers. It contains both platform game and horizontally scrolling shooter sections. Players control a witch who aims to become the "Witch Queen" by defeating an enemy called the "Pumpking".
A side-scrolling video game is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics during the golden age of arcade games was a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.
Action Fighter is an overhead vehicular combat game released by Sega for arcades in 1986. It was ported to the Master System the same year, and then to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and IBM PC compatible computers.
Air Duel is a vertically scrolling shooter game released for arcades by Irem in 1990. It was followed by an unofficial sequel called Air Assault in the west and Fire Barrel in Japan.
A-Jax (エー・ジャックス) is a vertically scrolling shooter released in arcades by Konami in December 1987. There was a European release of the game called Typhoon, which is the name used for Imagine Software's ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64 ports.
Action Force: International Heroes is a video game released by Virgin Games in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, and in 1988 for the Amstrad CPC. The game is set in the world of the Action Force toys by Hasbro. The ZX Spectrum version of the game differs notably from the Commodore and Amstrad versions.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace Company is the aerospace division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). It produces aircraft, space systems, simulators, jet engines, missiles, and electronic equipment.
Light Force is a 1986 vertically scrolling shooter designed by Greg Follis and Roy Carter, developed by their company Gargoyle Games, and published under their Faster Than Light imprint. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum platforms.
Falcon is a combat flight simulator video game and the first official entry in the Falcon series of the F-16 jet fighter's simulators by Spectrum HoloByte. Originally developed by Sphere for Macintosh and MS-DOS in 1987 and ported to several platforms between 1988 and 1992, the game earned commercial success and critical acclaim.
Wavy Navy is a video game designed by Rodney McAuley for the Apple II and published by Sirius Software in 1983. Versions for the Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64 were released the same year. Wavy Navy is a nautically themed fixed shooter with left and right controls to move the player's PT boat, but there is an additional vertical element as the boat moves up and down with the large ocean waves that scroll beneath it. The direction and speed of the waves vary per level. Some reviewers found that the movement of the waves added an interesting twist, while others called it too similar to other fixed shooters like Galaxian.