1942 brings the classic arcade shooter to the Game Boy Color with satisfying results. While its core gameplay remains simple – dodging enemy fire while blasting planes out of the sky – the portability and surprising addition of passwords make it a fun pick-up-and-play option for retro enthusiasts. The visuals may be basic, but there's an undeniable charm to the pixelated dogfights. Don't expect a lengthy or complex experience, but if you're craving old-school shooting action, 1942 delivers some quick bursts of nostalgic fun.
Nunca gostei muito do gênero, mas esse aqui até que me fez jogar por umas horas.
Endless, hand cramping, beeping colour clash of a shoot-em-up. There's very little variation in levels, just the occasional formation in enemies. This feels more like a Tiger handheld game than a proper conversion of the arcade hit, no offence intended to Syrox, aka Dominic Wood, but this is very poor for this period, especially considering the quality of other games of this type (Light Force, Terra Cresta, Flying Shark a year later).
Status: 399,480 points. All levels beaten
Status: 399,480 points. All levels beaten
It's fine.
A death march of a port, quickly farmed out to Micronics. This game looks bad, even by early NES standards. The scrolling is sluggish, the graphics are repetitive and primitive, and the sound design is some of the worst that the console would see in terms of commercial releases. It doesn't have any music, much like the original arcade port, but the sound effects for shots are pitched so high up that the game gave me a headache after half a hour. The gameplay itself, considering the historical circumstance, isn't that bad for that initial half a hour. Deaths are unforgiving and checkpoints stingy, but many NES shmups have similar issues. The biggest issue with the gameplay is that the gameplay gets old once the headaches kick in, and there's about another hour left.
Still remember trying to beat it one day but the family had to go to an event. So I left it paused for hours. Came back in the evening to find a corrupted screen :(
The defensive somersault is fantastic, it’s wild that more people didn’t copy that.
Un Arcade de aviones con vista desde arriba y desplazamiento vertical que pone a prueba los reflejos, la habilidad y la concentración del jugador. El final es casi imposible, si no llega a ser por el guardado no podría haberlo completado.
The most well-known game in Capcom's early trilogy of vertical shooters (Vulgus, 1942, and Exed Eyes), thanks to its commercial success and infamously bad NES port by Micronics. Well, I was quite confident about this one since I played a lot of the crappy NES version as a kid and still enjoyed it. Thinking about it now though, there was definitely something wrong with me.
1942 was an important game for the genre, but it's rough to come back to.
Developed as an attempt to catch the American audience, this game puts you as an US pilot winning the "greatest" battles of the WWII Pacific theater by himself and single-handedly defeating Japan, which is certainly unique coming from a Japanese game. Unless I'm making a mistake here, 1942 is the first military shmup, laying down the path to great games like early Toaplan shooters or the Strikers series. As a precursor, the gameplay is very classic: you've got a basic shot upgrade, and another upgrade that calls two small planes to assist you. It's a pretty cool powerup, but they can sadly get destroyed quite easily. No speed up, no smart bomb, but a looping trick you can use to avoid enemies and projectiles in desperate times. Honestly the looping kinda sucks, and there's a good chance you'll just reappear right on an enemy plane after using it. At least it's useful against bosses (giant enemy planes, another genre staple).
If I had just played a single credit of 1942, I probably would have been perfectly fine with it. Sadly I made the mistake of finishing the game. 1942 has a ton of issues, and it all comes from a single, larger problem: its length.
From Midway to Okinawa, you've got 32 stages to complete, and they're not even short. It makes the game feels like a long grind, since it really needed more variety. I often see that game described as "just flying a plane with only sea as a background". But there's actually different backgrounds! It's mosty dull jungle and small Pacific islands, but still! The issue is that the game is so diluted in its content, most people don't even care to go that far. It's pretty weird that they took the effort of picturing the hills of Iwo Jima and Okinawa's harbors, yet most players will give up before getting that far.
Graphics are not the only thing hampered by the length, sound is even worse. The background music has an appropriate militaristic tone with drums and whistles, making the game soundtrack unforgettable, but sadly for all the wrong reasons. Listening to that one track for an hour straight can be absolutely maddening, and it will at best send you in a hypnotic lull, or in most cases drive you absolutely bonkers.
1942 is also a tough game. It's not the hardest for its genre, but it's still a pretty difficult challenge with enemies constantly coming from behind and from your sides. The fast red bullets also blend in the jungle backgrounds (thankfully, you can see them very well over the sea). Bullets patterns have an interesting depth for a game of that age: big planes fire in a fixed pattern, medium-sized ones shoot straight at you, and small planes have low accuracy which is probably the most vicious. They will not shoot at where you are, but can shoot at where you will be if you anticipate too much (this will be familiar for you if you played early Toaplan games or Raiden). Once again the problem is that the game is just too long for what it offers and good luck not losing concentration.
I've been playing a lot of those early Capcom games lately, and a lot of them sort of feel the same: a very strong and fun foundation marred by a terrible lack of polish and extra weird decisions. Here they should have trimmed down at least one third of the game to give it a second loop instead. Why the hell would you make a game extra long and give it no second loop?
At least the base was solid, and they could only go higher with the next releases.
1942 was an important game for the genre, but it's rough to come back to.
Developed as an attempt to catch the American audience, this game puts you as an US pilot winning the "greatest" battles of the WWII Pacific theater by himself and single-handedly defeating Japan, which is certainly unique coming from a Japanese game. Unless I'm making a mistake here, 1942 is the first military shmup, laying down the path to great games like early Toaplan shooters or the Strikers series. As a precursor, the gameplay is very classic: you've got a basic shot upgrade, and another upgrade that calls two small planes to assist you. It's a pretty cool powerup, but they can sadly get destroyed quite easily. No speed up, no smart bomb, but a looping trick you can use to avoid enemies and projectiles in desperate times. Honestly the looping kinda sucks, and there's a good chance you'll just reappear right on an enemy plane after using it. At least it's useful against bosses (giant enemy planes, another genre staple).
If I had just played a single credit of 1942, I probably would have been perfectly fine with it. Sadly I made the mistake of finishing the game. 1942 has a ton of issues, and it all comes from a single, larger problem: its length.
From Midway to Okinawa, you've got 32 stages to complete, and they're not even short. It makes the game feels like a long grind, since it really needed more variety. I often see that game described as "just flying a plane with only sea as a background". But there's actually different backgrounds! It's mosty dull jungle and small Pacific islands, but still! The issue is that the game is so diluted in its content, most people don't even care to go that far. It's pretty weird that they took the effort of picturing the hills of Iwo Jima and Okinawa's harbors, yet most players will give up before getting that far.
Graphics are not the only thing hampered by the length, sound is even worse. The background music has an appropriate militaristic tone with drums and whistles, making the game soundtrack unforgettable, but sadly for all the wrong reasons. Listening to that one track for an hour straight can be absolutely maddening, and it will at best send you in a hypnotic lull, or in most cases drive you absolutely bonkers.
1942 is also a tough game. It's not the hardest for its genre, but it's still a pretty difficult challenge with enemies constantly coming from behind and from your sides. The fast red bullets also blend in the jungle backgrounds (thankfully, you can see them very well over the sea). Bullets patterns have an interesting depth for a game of that age: big planes fire in a fixed pattern, medium-sized ones shoot straight at you, and small planes have low accuracy which is probably the most vicious. They will not shoot at where you are, but can shoot at where you will be if you anticipate too much (this will be familiar for you if you played early Toaplan games or Raiden). Once again the problem is that the game is just too long for what it offers and good luck not losing concentration.
I've been playing a lot of those early Capcom games lately, and a lot of them sort of feel the same: a very strong and fun foundation marred by a terrible lack of polish and extra weird decisions. Here they should have trimmed down at least one third of the game to give it a second loop instead. Why the hell would you make a game extra long and give it no second loop?
At least the base was solid, and they could only go higher with the next releases.
Daora, é bem simples, mas é um bom avanço em relação ao Xevious
Good Schmup. I'd recommend the arcade version
Bro why the fuck is this 30+ stages? Beating this in one sitting sucked so much lmfao
Played on Capcom Arcade Stadium.
Not bad for the year 1984
Not bad for the year 1984
Abaixe o som do jogo antes de jogar para não ter o tímpano estourado
Eu entendo a questão clássica, mas hoje em dia o jogo simplesmente não segura o entretenimento. Gameplay até flui bem, os controles são extremamente precisos, mas o som do game é terrível. Você tem uma música tocando quando morre, mas durante o jogo não e o som das armas é uma das paradas mais irritantes que existe, jogar no mudo é o que rola. Além disso, ele fica repetitivo com 5 minutos de jogo. Se for para se agarrar em um clássico, existem outras milhares de opções melhores.
Eu entendo a questão clássica, mas hoje em dia o jogo simplesmente não segura o entretenimento. Gameplay até flui bem, os controles são extremamente precisos, mas o som do game é terrível. Você tem uma música tocando quando morre, mas durante o jogo não e o som das armas é uma das paradas mais irritantes que existe, jogar no mudo é o que rola. Além disso, ele fica repetitivo com 5 minutos de jogo. Se for para se agarrar em um clássico, existem outras milhares de opções melhores.
Functional, the concept is not so much about being able to read patterns as it is about being able to string together bursts of warning shots. Enemy shots are always aimed at the controlled plane, so it's easy to dodge them by going in the opposite direction: the exercise is even easier in the advanced stages, where the quantity of planes and shots makes the console lag and gives more time to react. The flickering sprites in these phases are regrettable, sometimes masking a ship and causing an avoidable death. The diversity works relatively well for about ten stages before an unpleasant redundancy sets in, which the difficulty (more enemy fire) struggles to counterbalance.
I never knew that the year 1942 was this boring.
A great example of basics done right with nice controls and visuals, but limited variety to the gameplay and enemies.
Average shoot 'em up, may have been revolutionary for it's time.
Played the NES version, game is ok, a little on the slow side for a shmup but the sounds is terrible.
For any arcade developer back in the 80s to the 90s, they always had at least one shmup game/franchise under their belt that they still own till this day. For Namco, that would be Galaxian, for Konami, it would be Gradius among others, and for Sega, it would be Thunder Force, Space Harrier, and several others. As for the company I can’t shut up about, Capcom, they had developed plenty of shooters back in the days of the arcades, a handful of them not being themed around space, but one particular shmup that they would make would go onto be their main shmup franchise for years to come. It was one that was made solely for the Western market in mind, this time not taking the player to the far reaches of space, but one that would bring them back down to the real world and into the sky. This shooter would come to simply be known as 1942.
I had known about the 194X series for quite a while now, and I had dabbled in and out of several of the titles in the series back in the day, but I had wanted to give the series a proper look-at. Not for any particular reason, just because I was more interested in whatever franchises Capcom has kept locked away in their vault while they focused on making more Monster Hunter and Resident Evil. So, I checked out the original 1942 in the arcades, and it is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a shmup of that era. Granted, it was made in 1984, so it does have some unique elements that weren’t commonly seen in the genre at the time, but if you are going to play it thinking you are gonna get anything unique, you better think again.
There is actually some kind of story here, with you being an American fighter pilot fighting the Japanese air fleet in World War II, so the story is essentially just WAR, and that should be enough to get you in the air fighting, the graphics are the exact same that you would expect from any Capcom arcade game, MOVING ON, the music is… pretty much nonexistent, with the only real “music” being these noises that play throughout the entire game that I think are supposed to be the sounds of your plane, and it gets pretty grating to listen to after a while, the control is what you would expect from a shmup, and it works well enough, even if I wish your plane could go a little faster, and the game is your typical shmup of the arcades, but with a few quirks that make it stand out from others at the time.
The game is a scrolling shooter, where you take control of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning plane, go through a set of 32 stages (no, I’m not kidding), shoot down as many enemy fighter pilots as you can while quickly dodging all of their attacks, gather plenty of powerups to upgrade your arsenal and get extra points to get that top high score, and take on one boss several times throughout the game that will put your reflexes to the test. As you have come to expect, the game is pretty stereotypical for the genre and for the time period, but what matters most is if the game does indeed play well, which I think it does, and I would say you could certainly have plenty of fun with it. Not to mention, there are certain features that weren’t commonly seen in shmups at the time.
Obviously, the biggest difference between this game and other shmups at the time was that it took place in a realistic setting where you are fighting in a war along the Pacific Ocean. Most other shmups at the time typically stuck to a space setting, which is understandable, as there is limitless potential for what you could include in that kind of setting, but after a while, many would agree that you would get sick of staring at stars and the empty void of space after a while. So this setting and set of enemies you get to fight is a nice change of pace, even if there isn’t that much variety when it comes to the enemies you fight. In addition to this, you also have the powerups, which can upgrade the range of your shot, as well as adding two additional planes to the sides of you, which increases your range even further, which does really help in tight situations. And finally, you can pull a Star Fox and perform a somersault over enemies so you get the advantage and attack them from behind, and trust me, you will NEED to master this maneuver, as it is essential and very useful.
With all that being said though, this is still your typical shmup of the 80s. If you have played one of them from a top-down perspective, you have basically played all of them, and while this one does manage to stand out with its setting and scenario, you probably won’t get that much out of this if you aren’t that into shmups in general. In addition, as you would probably expect, this game goes on for WAY too long. Like I mentioned before, there are 32 stages in the game, and while that is certainly a lot for a game like this, there is barely any variety in these stages whatsoever, aside from how enemies enter the screen and if you will fight a boss. There is actually an ending at the end of all of that, but it is your typical “Oh wow, you are so cool! All the girls are gonna want you!” kind of ending, and that isn’t really something I want to see after spending 32 stages doing the same shit over and over again.
Overall, despite still being pretty fun at points, and having a unique enough setting and scenario for ‘84, it is pretty much yet another generic shmup of that era, and while it can still be a good time in short bursts, that’s really all you can get out of this game. Maybe the sequels will enhance this formula in some way, but for now, what you got here is basic as basic gets, for the most part. I would recommend it for shmup fans, but for everyone else, you are best off just trying this once and then moving on. Besides, it’s not like the Pacific War actually happened or anything………………….. yeah, I couldn’t come up with anything better to end off with.
Game #368
I had known about the 194X series for quite a while now, and I had dabbled in and out of several of the titles in the series back in the day, but I had wanted to give the series a proper look-at. Not for any particular reason, just because I was more interested in whatever franchises Capcom has kept locked away in their vault while they focused on making more Monster Hunter and Resident Evil. So, I checked out the original 1942 in the arcades, and it is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a shmup of that era. Granted, it was made in 1984, so it does have some unique elements that weren’t commonly seen in the genre at the time, but if you are going to play it thinking you are gonna get anything unique, you better think again.
There is actually some kind of story here, with you being an American fighter pilot fighting the Japanese air fleet in World War II, so the story is essentially just WAR, and that should be enough to get you in the air fighting, the graphics are the exact same that you would expect from any Capcom arcade game, MOVING ON, the music is… pretty much nonexistent, with the only real “music” being these noises that play throughout the entire game that I think are supposed to be the sounds of your plane, and it gets pretty grating to listen to after a while, the control is what you would expect from a shmup, and it works well enough, even if I wish your plane could go a little faster, and the game is your typical shmup of the arcades, but with a few quirks that make it stand out from others at the time.
The game is a scrolling shooter, where you take control of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning plane, go through a set of 32 stages (no, I’m not kidding), shoot down as many enemy fighter pilots as you can while quickly dodging all of their attacks, gather plenty of powerups to upgrade your arsenal and get extra points to get that top high score, and take on one boss several times throughout the game that will put your reflexes to the test. As you have come to expect, the game is pretty stereotypical for the genre and for the time period, but what matters most is if the game does indeed play well, which I think it does, and I would say you could certainly have plenty of fun with it. Not to mention, there are certain features that weren’t commonly seen in shmups at the time.
Obviously, the biggest difference between this game and other shmups at the time was that it took place in a realistic setting where you are fighting in a war along the Pacific Ocean. Most other shmups at the time typically stuck to a space setting, which is understandable, as there is limitless potential for what you could include in that kind of setting, but after a while, many would agree that you would get sick of staring at stars and the empty void of space after a while. So this setting and set of enemies you get to fight is a nice change of pace, even if there isn’t that much variety when it comes to the enemies you fight. In addition to this, you also have the powerups, which can upgrade the range of your shot, as well as adding two additional planes to the sides of you, which increases your range even further, which does really help in tight situations. And finally, you can pull a Star Fox and perform a somersault over enemies so you get the advantage and attack them from behind, and trust me, you will NEED to master this maneuver, as it is essential and very useful.
With all that being said though, this is still your typical shmup of the 80s. If you have played one of them from a top-down perspective, you have basically played all of them, and while this one does manage to stand out with its setting and scenario, you probably won’t get that much out of this if you aren’t that into shmups in general. In addition, as you would probably expect, this game goes on for WAY too long. Like I mentioned before, there are 32 stages in the game, and while that is certainly a lot for a game like this, there is barely any variety in these stages whatsoever, aside from how enemies enter the screen and if you will fight a boss. There is actually an ending at the end of all of that, but it is your typical “Oh wow, you are so cool! All the girls are gonna want you!” kind of ending, and that isn’t really something I want to see after spending 32 stages doing the same shit over and over again.
Overall, despite still being pretty fun at points, and having a unique enough setting and scenario for ‘84, it is pretty much yet another generic shmup of that era, and while it can still be a good time in short bursts, that’s really all you can get out of this game. Maybe the sequels will enhance this formula in some way, but for now, what you got here is basic as basic gets, for the most part. I would recommend it for shmup fans, but for everyone else, you are best off just trying this once and then moving on. Besides, it’s not like the Pacific War actually happened or anything………………….. yeah, I couldn’t come up with anything better to end off with.
Game #368
Not a huge amount you can say about 1942. A game of it's time based off of the arcade classic meaning it's the game's mission for you to fail to get more money out of you. The best way to enjoy this game is with cheats for infinite lives or a arcade collection rewind feature.
I did not expect this to be as fun as it is. It holds up very, very well!
This game gets a bad rap due to its simplicity and sure its a pretty basic shooter especially compared to what comes later but its still fun. Its more about memorizing enemy patterns than twitch hand/eye control. I played it at Galloping Ghost in Chicago on freeplay but made it pretty far without continuing or anything. I mean its not earth shattering high score or anything but I felt like I did good and I had a good time playing it so not sure what more to ask for. Scored 74520 and will play again in the future to try to better it.
If you were to define shmups by their era, there is definitely a point in time between Xevious and Gradius where these games haven't aged as gracefully as those that came before or after. 1942 is one of those titles. It's not simple enough to be an addictive score chaser, and also not complex enough to warrant completing the loop. It's a historical relic of a transitional period, the sort of game your Dad might like, but others will just look at with a sense of curiosity and nothing more. Not bad at all, it's just old.
Really interesting that Capcoms first game was a game about World War 2. The same war where Japan themselves were the bad guys. It makes sense since a lot of Capcoms games are targeted at an American audience, but still a little shocking.
There's an old phrase "What were they thinking" and I mean really, I do legitimately wonder what Capcom was thinking when making a game about how their country got completely owned 40 years ago. It's okay though.
Shoot-em-ups generally have aged fairly well.
1942 is a decent game that I'd argue is worse if you try to beat all 32 stages. It's not too bad for 1984 shmup score attack game but it just drags horribly. The music being awful doesn't help either. It got so bad that I had to start playing Precure music in the background just to not go insane. I like it more then Vulgus but their other games before it were better than this. Also don't play this on the Famicom because Micronics worked on it which is never good.
Bad port for the NES. Better to play it on arcade, but overall it's not so good. Its sequel (1943) is much better.
Air combat is so simple!
Everybody knows that all you need to win an air war is one pilot who can shoot, move, and, above all, do a loop. Well, an air war that happens in two dimensions that is. With opposing pilots who can't really shoot. Or turn. But the other side has bigger planes!
Okay, despite the simplistic nature and basic graphics of 1942, it's still a good bit of entertainment. There are moments of terror when you almost get hit by a tiny round projectile or a plane punctuated by the necessary frantic movement to attempt to shoot down all of the many attacking planes. Later games in this bullet hell scrolling shooter genre just added more bullets and colors, but really didn't change the formula much, because that wasn't necessary. The fun is in the chaos!
However, this is a game you must play on mute. The audio is basically just static with morse code over the top until the end of the "level" when you get about three seconds to pause when you land on the carrier and a jaunty little tune plays. Trust me, hit that mute button while you just enjoy attempting to avoid exploding.
Hey, wait a second. In this racist country, it makes sense that Americans would love blowing up Japanese fighters, but why was this game popular IN JAPAN? I can't think of a game where Americans would be stoked to relive one of our military losses by playing the other side... Hmm.
Beep beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeeeepeeepeeep.
Review from thedonproject.com
Everybody knows that all you need to win an air war is one pilot who can shoot, move, and, above all, do a loop. Well, an air war that happens in two dimensions that is. With opposing pilots who can't really shoot. Or turn. But the other side has bigger planes!
Okay, despite the simplistic nature and basic graphics of 1942, it's still a good bit of entertainment. There are moments of terror when you almost get hit by a tiny round projectile or a plane punctuated by the necessary frantic movement to attempt to shoot down all of the many attacking planes. Later games in this bullet hell scrolling shooter genre just added more bullets and colors, but really didn't change the formula much, because that wasn't necessary. The fun is in the chaos!
However, this is a game you must play on mute. The audio is basically just static with morse code over the top until the end of the "level" when you get about three seconds to pause when you land on the carrier and a jaunty little tune plays. Trust me, hit that mute button while you just enjoy attempting to avoid exploding.
Hey, wait a second. In this racist country, it makes sense that Americans would love blowing up Japanese fighters, but why was this game popular IN JAPAN? I can't think of a game where Americans would be stoked to relive one of our military losses by playing the other side... Hmm.
Beep beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeeeepeeepeeep.
Review from thedonproject.com