Pilotwings, at first glance, maybe doesn’t look like a very impressive game. After all, it merely consists of three visual elements; the sky, the ground, and the player’s avatar, each being flat. However, it is what the game achieves with these visual elements that matters most. And what it achieves, is a sense of freedom.
The structure of the game involves completing set challenges given to you by one of several instructors, with the successful completion of a challenge being required to progress to the next one. This is not freedom, it is a ruleset. But, that doesn’t matter. In fact, nothing matters, once you’re high in the air, soaring the pixellated skies, almost feeling the wind rushing past you… nothing holding you down. Just you, your hang-glider, and the infinite sea stretching to the horizon…
Occasionally, there are some helicopter combat sections.
In any case, for me, the challenges and “missions” are inconsequential. While my first complete play-through of the game was wrought with frustration, subsequent revisits have proven much more relaxing. The bi-plane, skydiving, and jet pack challenges are a breeze to get through, while the hang-glider challenges do still offer some difficulty. That said, swooping down in a perfectly executed arc, flipping the glider up and landing dead center on the target, once achieved, is a glorious feeling, well worth any aggravation that it took to get there.
But, the completion of a challenge, no matter how successfully, is always bittersweet. What it means is the end of another blissful jaunt through the skies. A return to the cold earth, or in some cases, a splashdown in the water. I feel most at peace in Pilotwings when I’m just moving from place to place, unrestricted by earthly tethers, and cushioned in the air… maybe even soaring on an updraft high into the sky.
I don’t get the same feeling from any of the game’s sequels. The higher fidelity they offer just exposes the limitation of their worlds, the edges that can be clearly discerned. Pilotwings has no edges. It looks almost as if you could just choose a direction, leave your little starting island, and fly out to the ends of the Earth… or to the point where your bi-plane runs out of fuel.
There’s a feeling I get out of this game that isn’t replicated anywhere else. For that reason it’s usually the Super Nintendo game I revisit the most, and stands far ahead of its limited number of sequels. There is just an inexplicable joy in flying through its skies, doing its little challenges, soaking in the sights. Truly a game I can lose myself in.
The structure of the game involves completing set challenges given to you by one of several instructors, with the successful completion of a challenge being required to progress to the next one. This is not freedom, it is a ruleset. But, that doesn’t matter. In fact, nothing matters, once you’re high in the air, soaring the pixellated skies, almost feeling the wind rushing past you… nothing holding you down. Just you, your hang-glider, and the infinite sea stretching to the horizon…
Occasionally, there are some helicopter combat sections.
In any case, for me, the challenges and “missions” are inconsequential. While my first complete play-through of the game was wrought with frustration, subsequent revisits have proven much more relaxing. The bi-plane, skydiving, and jet pack challenges are a breeze to get through, while the hang-glider challenges do still offer some difficulty. That said, swooping down in a perfectly executed arc, flipping the glider up and landing dead center on the target, once achieved, is a glorious feeling, well worth any aggravation that it took to get there.
But, the completion of a challenge, no matter how successfully, is always bittersweet. What it means is the end of another blissful jaunt through the skies. A return to the cold earth, or in some cases, a splashdown in the water. I feel most at peace in Pilotwings when I’m just moving from place to place, unrestricted by earthly tethers, and cushioned in the air… maybe even soaring on an updraft high into the sky.
I don’t get the same feeling from any of the game’s sequels. The higher fidelity they offer just exposes the limitation of their worlds, the edges that can be clearly discerned. Pilotwings has no edges. It looks almost as if you could just choose a direction, leave your little starting island, and fly out to the ends of the Earth… or to the point where your bi-plane runs out of fuel.
There’s a feeling I get out of this game that isn’t replicated anywhere else. For that reason it’s usually the Super Nintendo game I revisit the most, and stands far ahead of its limited number of sequels. There is just an inexplicable joy in flying through its skies, doing its little challenges, soaking in the sights. Truly a game I can lose myself in.