Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and differed significantly from Microsoft's other software, which was largely business-oriented. As of November 2022, Microsoft Flight Simulator is the longest-running software product line for Microsoft, predating Windows by three years. Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the longest-running PC video game series of all time.
Fly! is a flight simulator video game for Windows and Macintosh developed by Terminal Reality and published by Gathering of Developers.
Falcon 4.0 is a combat flight simulation video game developed by MicroProse and published by Hasbro Interactive in 1998. The game is based around a realistic simulation of the Block 50/52 F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighter in a full-scale modern war set in the Korean Peninsula. Falcon 4.0's dynamic campaign engine runs autonomously.
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.
Flight Unlimited II is a 1997 flight simulator video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The player controls one of five planes in the airspace of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is shared with up to 600 artificially intelligent aircraft directed by real-time air traffic control. The game eschews the aerobatics focus of its predecessor, Flight Unlimited, in favor of general civilian aviation. As such, new physics code and an engine were developed, the former because the programmer of Flight Unlimited's computational fluid dynamics system, Seamus Blackley, had left the company.
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.
A-10 Attack! is a combat flight simulation video game for the Apple Macintosh computer released by Parsoft Interactive in 1995. The game features an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft that takes part in a variety of missions in West Germany during a hypothetical limited conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact. A-10 boasted one of the most detailed flight models of any game of its era, a physics model that extended to solid-body interactions with the ground and complete aerodynamics for every object in the game, including ordnance. Macworld rated it "Best Flight Simulator" in a review of Mac simulations.
A-10 Tank Killer is a 1989 combat flight simulation video game for DOS developed and published by Dynamix. An Amiga version was released in 1990. The game features an A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. Following the success of Red Baron, version 1.5 was released in 1991 which included Gulf War missions and improved graphics and sounds. Several mission packs were sold separately. A sequel published by Sierra, Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II, was released in 1996.
AH-64D Longbow is a realistic combat flight simulator of the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. Released on June 3, 1996, for the PC, this simulation was developed at Origin Systems. AH-64D Longbow was the second simulator released under the Jane's Combat Simulators line from Electronic Arts.
Microsoft Flight Simulator began as a set of articles on computer graphics, written by Bruce Artwick throughout 1976, about flight simulation using 3-D graphics. When the editor of the magazine told Artwick that subscribers were interested in purchasing such a program, Artwick founded Sublogic Corporation to commercialize his ideas. At first the new company sold flight simulators through mail order, but that changed in January 1979 with the release of Flight Simulator (FS) for the Apple II. They soon followed this up with versions for other systems and from there it evolved into a long-running series of computer flight simulators.
Microsoft Flight Simulator X is a 2006 flight simulation video game originally developed by Aces Game Studio and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and the tenth installment of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, which was first released in 1982. It is built on an upgraded graphics rendering engine, showcasing DirectX 10 features in Windows Vista and was marketed by Microsoft as the most important technological milestone in the series at the time. FSX is the first version in the series to be released on DVD media.
EF2000 is a combat flight simulator video game developed by Digital Image Design (DID) and published by Ocean Software in 1995 for the PC DOS. It is the sequel to DID's earlier software title, TFX. An expansion pack, EF 2000: TACTCOM, was released in 1996. A compilation, EF 2000: Evolution, that included the main game and the expansion was released in 1996. An updated version, Super EF2000, was released exclusively for Windows 95 in 1996 in Europe. In 1997, a compilation titled EF2000 V2.0 was released in North America that included the original DOS versions of EF2000 and TACTCOM and also the Windows exclusive Super EF2000. In June 1997, the graphics were boosted when DID released the "Graphics+" patch, which added Rendition Vérité hardware support and Glide API for 3dfx graphics card support to EF2000.
Jane's Attack Squadron is a 2002 combat flight simulator developed by Looking Glass Studios and Mad Doc Software and published by Xicat Interactive. Based on World War II, the game allows players to pilot fifteen reproductions of that era's military aircraft and to carry out missions for the Axis or Allies. Although it contains dogfights, the game focuses largely on air-to-ground combat, hence the title.
Wings Over Europe is a PC combat flight simulator game set during the Cold War era where the USSR has attacked NATO forces in West Germany.
Fighter Squadron: The Screamin' Demons over Europe (SDOE) is a World War II themed combat flight simulator released for Windows 95/98 in March 1999. The game was developed by Parsoft Interactive and released by Activision, following their successful partnership on A-10 Cuba! of 1996. The game featured nine flyable aircraft and three theatres with multiple missions for each combination, as well as network play with up to sixteen players.
Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II is a flight simulation video game and the sequel to A-10 Tank Killer, which was directed by Frank Evers (CEO). Both games were made by Dynamix and Sierra On-Line produced Silent Thunder. It was made for Amiga and DOS platforms. In the game, the player takes the role of an American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft pilot who fights in various campaigns across the world.
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.
Hellcats over the Pacific is a flight simulator computer game for the Macintosh computer. It was written by Parsoft Interactive and released by Graphic Simulations in 1991. Hellcats was a major release for the Mac platform, one of the first 3D games to be able to drive a 640 x 480 x 8-bit display at reasonable frame rates in an era when the PC clone's VGA at 320 x 240 x 4-bit was the standard. The graphics engine was combined with a simple Mac interface, a set of randomized missions, and a number of technical features that greatly enhanced the game's playability and made it a lasting favorite into the mid-1990s. The original game was followed with a missions disk in 1992, Hellcats: Missions at Leyte Gulf, which greatly increased the visual detail and added many more objects to the game.
Top Gun: Fire at Will is a video game developed and published by Spectrum HoloByte for DOS, Windows, PlayStation, and Mac OS. It is a licensed game in the Top Gun franchise. A sequel, Top Gun: Hornet's Nest, was released in 1998.
