Red Baron is a combat flight simulation video game for MS-DOS created by Damon Slye at Dynamix. It was published by Sierra On-Line in 1990.
Flight Unlimited is a 1995 aerobatic flight simulator video game developed and published by LookingGlass Technologies. It allows players to pilot reproductions of real-world aircraft and to perform aerobatic maneuvers. They may fly freely, race through floating rings against a timer or take lessons from a virtual flight instructor. The instructor teaches basic and advanced techniques, ranging from rudder turns to maneuvers such as the tailslide, Lomcovák and Immelmann turn.
F-19 Stealth Fighter is a combat flight simulator developed and released in 1988 and 1990 by MicroProse, featuring a fictional United States military aircraft. It is the 16-bit remake of the 8-bit game Project Stealth Fighter, which was released for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1987. It was also ported to the NEC PC-9801 in Japan only, and the DOS version was re-released on Steam distribution platform in 2015.
Strike Commander is a combat flight simulation video game designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin Systems for the PC DOS in 1993. Its 3D graphics-engine used both gouraud shading and texture-mapping on both aircraft-models and terrain, an impressive feat at the time. Significant plot elements were presented through in-game cut-scene animations, a hallmark storytelling vehicle from Chris Robert's previous Wing Commander games. Strike Commander has been called "Privateer on Earth," due to the mercenary role-playing in the game.
Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games, amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and military flight training which consist of realistic physical recreations of the actual aircraft cockpit, often with a full-motion platform.
Star Wars: X-Wing is a space simulation video game, the first of the X-Wing combat flight simulation games series. The player's character flies starfighters, including the eponymous X-wing, for the Rebel Alliance as part of a narrative that precedes and parallels the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Terminal Velocity is a simulation video game originally developed by Terminal Reality and published by 3D Realms for DOS and Windows 95 and MacSoft for Mac OS. It is an arcade-style flight combat game, with simpler game controls and physics than flight simulators. It is known for its fast, high-energy action sequences, compared to flight simulators of the time.
Su-27 Flanker is a combat flight simulator released for the PC in 1995 on CD. Developed in Russia by Eagle Dynamics and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI), the game takes part in Crimea and allows players to fly the SU-27 aircraft in various combat roles. The game also includes a mission editor, allowing the player to create custom gameplay scenarios.
Wings of Fury is a scrolling shooter, with some combat flight simulator elements, written for the Apple II by Steve Waldo and released in 1987 by Broderbund. The player assumes the role of a pilot of an American F6F Hellcat plane aboard the USS Wasp in the Pacific during World War II. It was released in 1989 for the X68000 and in 1990 for Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Amiga, and DOS. A Game Boy Color version was published in 1999.
Gunship 2000 is a helicopter combat flight simulation video game developed and published by MicroProse as a follow-up to their earlier game Gunship. It was originally released in 1991 for DOS; this version received an expansion in 1992. The Amiga, PC-98, Amiga CD32 and PlayStation versions were released in 1993, 1994 and 1996 respectively. A sequel, Gunship!, was released in 2000.
Sky Mission is a 1992 combat flight simulation video game developed by Malibu Interactive and published by Namco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In North America, the game was rebranded as the sequel to the Commodore Amiga game Wings, titled Wings 2: Aces High, while in Europe it was renamed to Blazing Skies. As the leader of a British plane squadron during World War I, the player is tasked with destroying enemy planes under the command of German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II in France. Gameplay involves gunning down enemies and performing bombing runs on enemy bases. The game was produced by Ken Lobb, best known as the co-creator of the Killer Instinct fighting game series, with music composed by musician George Sanger. Sky Mission was met with a mixed reaction from critics — although it was disliked for its short length and lacking gameplay, it was praised for its realistic visuals, soundtrack and sense of thrill.
AeroWings, known in Japan as Aero Dancing featuring Blue Impulse, is a flight simulator for Sega's Dreamcast video game console. The player can train with squads, learn the ropes of handling the aircraft, and doing tricks after mastering the different stunts.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter is a 1994 Star Wars space flight simulator and space combat video game, a sequel in the Star Wars: X-Wing series. It places the player in the role of an Imperial starfighter pilot during events that occur between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles. The main challenge is to master driving and steering the vehicle from the perspective of the pilot or driver, with most games adding another challenge such as racing or fighting rival vehicles. Games are often divided based on realism, with some games including more realistic physics and challenges such as fuel management.
F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 is the 1991 remake of the 1988-1990 Cold War combat flight simulator video game F-19 Stealth Fighter by MicroProse, itself a remake of the 1987's Project Stealth Fighter. The original PC version was updated with a corrected aircraft model once the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was declassified and with 256-color VGA graphics instead of the original's 16-color EGA, among other changes.
Flight of the Intruder is a flight simulator developed by Rowan Software and published by Spectrum HoloByte in 1990 for MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991 with Imagineering as the developer and Mindscape as the publisher. The game is based on the novel of the same name and received as the successor of the first game of the Falcon video game series.
Knights of the Sky is a World War I combat flight simulator designed by Jeff Briggs and published by MicroProse in 1990 for MS-DOS and in 1991 for the Amiga and Atari ST.
IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover is a World War II combat flight simulator released in 2011. It was originally developed by the Russian software house 1C:Maddox Games but since 2012 it is under development by Team Fusion Simulations. In 2017 that latter released an improved version of the game under the name IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover - Blitz which started the so called Dover series. The basic Blitz game represents the Battle of Britain during the Summer of 1940 while an add-on released in 2020 represents the air combats during the Western Desert campaign in North Africa in the period of 1940-1943. A second add-on, thus introducing in the game a third theatre of operations, is in the works, but no release date has been announced yet.
Amateur flight simulation refers to the simulation of various aspects of flight or the flight environment for purposes other than flight training or aircraft development. A significant community of simulation enthusiasts is supported by several commercial software packages, as well as commercial and homebuilt hardware. Open-source software that is used by the Aerospace industry like FlightGear, whose flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to space industry standards, is also available for amateur use. A popular type of amateur flight simulators are combat flight simulators, which simulate combat air operations from the pilot and crew's point of view. Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to variety of subject matter available and market demand.
War Thunder is a free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game developed and published by Gaijin Entertainment. Announced in 2011, it was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on 21 December 2016. It has a cross-platform format for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Shield Android TV.
