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1942 is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up made by Capcom that was released for the arcade in Template:Vgy. It was the first game in the 194x series, followed by 1943: The Battle of Midway.

1942 is set in the Pacific theater of World War II. Despite the game being created by a Japanese company and staff, the goal is to reach Tokyo and destroy the entire Japanese air fleet. The player pilots a plane (dubbed the "Super Ace", although its appearance is clearly that of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning), and has to shoot down enemy planes. Besides shooting, the player can also perform a Roll or "loop-the-loop" to avoid enemy fire.

The game was later ported to the NES (developed by Micronics), MSX, NEC PC-8801 and Game Boy Color. It was ported by the European games publisher Elite Systems to the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. The game was included as part of Capcom Classics Collection for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2005.

Game modes

1942 can be played in either one or two player mode. In two player mode, players alternate turns, each receiving a separate score. Under standard settings players start with three planes. An extra plane is awarded at 20,000 points, 80,000 points, and thenceforth at each following multiple of 80,000 points. The number of remaining planes is indicated by the pale blue plane silhouettes at the bottom left of the screen.

Gameplay and scoring

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In 1942 the player receives an unlimited number of shots, without having to replenish this in any way, other than reaching the end of the stage. Standard fire-power consists of the plane firing two bullets per shot, which always travel straight ahead of the plane; up to three sets of bullets can be on the screen at a time. A player gets three rolls per plane, reset at the end of each stage - the number of remaining rolls are designated by the red uppercase "R"s at the bottom right of the screen.

Soundtrack

The music, at least on the C64 version, is based on the main verse of Ron Goodwin's 633 Squadron movie score. (see Discussion for reference)

Legacy

1942 was one of Capcom's first breakaway hits, eclipsing the company's preceding three titles (Vulgus, Sonson, and Pirate Ship Higemaru) in popularity. While not as popular as some of Capcom's series that would debut later in the 1980s (Street Fighter and Mega Man in particular), 1942 would become one of Capcom's hallmark games throughout the arcade era.

Although not the first game to receive a sequel (with Pirate Ship Higemaru receiving a Japan-only console semi-sequel, Higemaru Makaijima, in April 1987), 1942 was the first Capcom title to spawn a successful series of sequels, with five titles in the 19XX line released from 1987 to 2000. Additionally, many of Capcom's other vertical shooters featured very similar gameplay to the series such as Varth: Operation Thunderstorm.

1942's longevity has shown through in many re-releases since its introduction, principally in Capcom Generations 1 for the Playstation and Saturn consoles. It was recently featured in the Capcom Classics Collection for the Playstation 2 and Xbox, as well as Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PlayStation Portable.

1942: Joint Strike

1942: Joint Strike, is available for Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network. The Xbox Live Arcade version was released on July 23rd 2008 while the PlayStation Network version was released on July 24th 2008.

External links

• 1942 at the Killer List of Videogames
• 1942 at Arcade-History
• Template:StrategyWiki
• Template:GameFAQs
• 1942 at MobyGames
• 1942 at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
• 1942 at the Killer List of Videogames
• 1942 online at Nintendo8 games
• 1945 The World at War a version of the 1942 game implemented as Java applet

• Articles lacking sources from June 2008
• Articles needing cleanup from July 2008
• 1984 video games
• Arcade games
• Amstrad CPC games
• Capcom games
• Commodore 64 games
• Game Boy Color games
• Mobile phone games
• MSX games
• NEC PC-8801 games
• Nintendo Entertainment System games
• PlayChoice-10 games
• ZX Spectrum games
• Scrolling shooters
• World War II video games