1942 (video game)


1942 is a vertically scrolling shooter made by Capcom that was released for the arcade in 1984. It was the first game in the 19XX series. It was followed by .
1942 is set in the Pacific theater of World War II. Despite the game being created by Japanese developers, the goal is to reach Tokyo and destroy the entire Japanese air fleet. The player pilots a Lockheed P-38 Lightning dubbed the "Super Ace". The player has to shoot down enemy planes; to avoid enemy fire, the player can perform a roll or vertical loop. During the game, the player may collect a series of power-ups, one of them allowing the plane to be escorted by two other smaller fighters in a Tip Tow formation. Enemies included: Kawasaki Ki-61s, Mitsubishi A6M Zeros and Kawasaki Ki-48s. The boss plane is a Nakajima G10N.

Ports

The game was ported to the Famicom in 1985 in Japan, North America in 1986,, MSX, NEC PC-8801, FM-7, Sharp X1, and Game Boy Color. It was ported by the European games publisher Elite Systems to the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64.
The music of the Commodore 64 version is based on the main verse of Ron Goodwin's 633 Squadron movie score, with arrangement by Mark Cooksey.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed 1942 on their January 1, 1985 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the year. 1942 was Capcom's breakaway hit, eclipsing in popularity the company's preceding three titles: Vulgus, Sonson, and Pirate Ship Higemaru. In 1987, it was number-one on Euromax's UK arcade chart.

Legacy

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. Many of Capcom's other vertical shooters featured very similar gameplay, such as '.
It was re-released in ' for the PlayStation and Saturn consoles. It was featured in the Capcom Classics Collection for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, as well as for the PlayStation Portable. The arcade version was added to the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on December 21, 2010, the PAL an North American regions in January 2011. It was also re-released for Windows Mobile Professional.
was released for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in 2008. 1942: First Strike was released for iOS in 2010.
The game series has sold a total of 1.4 million units worldwide as of December 31, 2019, and stands as Capcom's 18th best-selling franchise.