Hardcore Gaming 101



19XX Series

By Nick Zverloff and Burkhart von Klitzing (Keeper BvK)

All shooters have their ways of adding challenge. Raiden style shooters use fast, aimed bullets and unpredictable attacks. Danmaku games flood the screen with thick curtains of projectiles. Horizontal shooters like R-Type will have difficult to navigate terrain and hordes of enemies. Capcom’s 19XX series takes a different and less traveled road of being extremely long, harrowing tests of endurance. Typical 19XX games are roughly two to three times longer than a normal shooter, the longest one taking hours to complete in one sitting. The 19XX series also puts emphasis on good aiming, scoring, and defeating bosses before they get away. With less emphasis on survival, the series is generally easier than most shmups, but the games still offer enough challenge to make them fun.

Most of the 19XX games are based on World War II, but with a sci-fi twist. Government secret weapons are all over the place including lasers, nuclear war machines, tanks and planes the size of buildings, and even alien technology. These games may look a bit more realistic than most shooters, but they are still full of super science and can be very imaginative when it comes to the setting.

1942 - 1984

Arcade, NES, Commodore 64, Gameboy Color, PC 88, MSX, FM7, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Playstation (Capcom Generations 1), Saturn (Capcom Generations 1) PS2 (Capcom Classics Collection), X-Box (Capcom Classics Collection), PSP (Capcom Classics Reloaded), Wii (Virtual Console), iOS

1942 was made all the way back in Capcom’s earlier days, back when their biggest games were Pirate Ship Higemaru and Vulgus. Even though 1942 looks very dated on just about every platform, it still plays well and feels very different from most shooters, even today. The backgrounds do get a little repetitive, but this is partially excusable because you are flying over the Pacific Ocean.

In 1942, you play as Super Ace, a plane that looks suspiciously like a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. It is your mission to fly all the way from The United States to Japan and clear the way of enemy weapons so that the main fleet can get through. This puts emphasis on destroying every last enemy you see, which can be very challenging because there can be a lot of enemies on screen at once.

This also ties into scoring and upgrading your firepower. Every so often, a large group of enemies will fly in formation and taunt you, much like the challenge levels in Galaga. If you can shoot down all enemies in a formation you received extra points and either a firepower upgrade or options. The firepower upgrade is pretty weak and hardly essential. The options on the other hand, put two smaller planes that fly next to you and fire when you fire, effectively tripling your firepower. The downside is that they can be destroyed if an enemy shoots, or more likely, rams them.

One feature that is unique to 1942 is a special move called looping. During each level, you get three loops that are activated by pressing a special button. If you loop, you temporarily become invincible, but with a catch. When you loop, you are unable to attack, making you somewhat vulnerable. The upside to looping is that you can use it to temporarily plan your attack and get out of a tight spot at the same time. Strategic use of looping is key, especially when the screen gets more hectic than usual.

This also ties into one reason 1942 can seem very easy sometimes. Enemies hardly ever fire their guns. This may be because enemies were supposed to be kamikaze, so it would make perfect sense for enemies to try to ram you if they were out of ammunition or low on fuel.

1942 has very dated graphics and sound. The graphics consist of very small sprites, lots of palette swapped enemies, and the aforementioned repetitive backgrounds. The background music tries to sound like something out of a marching band, but sound technology was not nearly good enough to pull this off. The result is the same squeaky drums being played over 32 long levels. It can be annoying if played for extended sessions.

1942 was ported everywhere, from well-known systems such as the NES or the Gameboy Color to obscure systems like the ZX Spectrum. It was also included in many different compilation games such as Capcom Classics Collection or Capcom Classics Reloaded. It can also be found on the Wii Virtual Console, thankfully arcade perfect. Most of the console and computer ports stay faithful to the original game, even if some are much better handled than others. The NES port was infamous and was handled by Micronics, a company that did historically bad arcade to console conversions such as Athena, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, and later Raiden Trad. The Gameboy Color port is surprisingly faithful to the arcade version, except the smaller screen makes it a needless strain on the eyes. Capcom ported it themselves, which may explain why it’s so close to the original.

1942 also appeared on the 8 bit Japanese computers, MSX, PC 88, and FM 7. The MSX port was by ASCII. It has severely downgraded graphics, but plays well. There are some flickering sprites here and there, but it is not enough to ruin the game. It runs on MSX cartridges. The PC 88 port has that weird blurry look to it like most other PC 88 games, but is otherwise pretty faithful. It is not as good as some of the other ports, but vertainly not the worst.

The ZX Spectrum port looks bad, but is actually pretty fun and stays true to the arcade version, if you can look past the graphics that are bad even for a ZX Spectrum game. Elite, a company that put out a lot of XZ Spectrum games at the time, ported it. Elite also did the CPC port, but it crunches down the usable space and puts a huge scoreboard that is always visible on the right and takes up a third of the screen. It’s pretty disappointing, especially next to their surprisingly good Spectrum port. The Commodore 64 was the oddball of the old British computers. It had a new opening screen with strange, ominous music. Unfortunately, the controls are a bit jerky, so it is not as good as the Spectrum and CPC versions.

The definitive home versions, however, are on the PS1 and Saturn. 1942, along with 1943, was also released on Capcom Generations, a compilation title that contains lots of content, such as exclusive artwork, remixed music, and a sort of proto-achievement system based on high scores. They were pretty much arcade perfect.

1943: The Battle of Midway/Battle of Valhalla 1987

Arcade, NES, Turbografx, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Amiga, PS1 (Capcom Gerations 1), Saturn (Capcom Generations 1), iOS

1943 Introduced a lot of the defining elements of the 19XX series, such as a health bar, bombs, and an array of weapons to pick up. It is also not nearly as long as 1942, but still stands at gargantuan 16 levels. It improves upon the formula 1942 established and continues to focus on destroying all enemies in formations, but does not do anything too wildly different.

Your new weapons in 1943 are auto gun, which is a rapid fire weapon; 3-way, a pretty standard spread gun; shotgun, which is a short range weapon that erases enemy attacks; and shell, which shoots large, explosive rounds that are good for taking out bosses. All of the weapons are powerful in their own way, but come with a time limit. The time limit is an ingenious addition, as with a health bar and low difficulty, even a novice could hold onto a power up for extended periods of time. The other big new addition to your arsenal is bombs. Like most bombs in shmups, they clear the entire screen of weak enemies and heavily damage large ones. Bombs depend on the level. If you are flying high in the sky, lightning will strike all enemies on screen. If you are flying low, near the ocean, a huge wave douses all enemies beneath it. This could be a reference to the kamikaze myth or “divine wind” with nature itself opposing your enemies. The downside is that bombs take up a small amount of health, so strategic use of them are key.

With the addition of the health bar comes a new rank system. Unlike in other games famous for rank systems such as Zanac and Battle Garegga, doing good, destroying everything, and not dying makes the game easier. You receive a rank with a title such as Corporal or Major whenever you complete a level and your health bar increases to correspond with this rank. In theory, this is a way of rewarding the player for doing good, but if you can go a whole level without dying, a bigger health bar does not really do you much good. It is a cool idea, but is a bit flawed in execution.

1943 also brings a new way to add to your score. Every so often, a hidden cat statue will appear and randomly warp around the screen. If you manage to catch this lucky cat statue, you are rewarded with lots of bonus points. It is pretty fun when it comes up, but does not appear very often.

While 1943 is a good game, it does very little to improve upon the original formula. Backgrounds are still very repetitive, bosses have recycled sprites, and there is not very much variety in enemy design. This should not be too surprising, as Capcom is somewhat infamous for having very little improvement in their sequels.

Like its predecessor, 1943 was ported all over the place with some versions being very different from the arcade original. The well-known NES version adds in a very interesting feature where you can customize your plane’s statistics such as speed, power, and time limit at the beginning of the game. You can even level it up to make it stronger. Capcom ported it themselves, which may explain the quality. The ZX Spectrum version is terrible. Everything is either white or light blue, putting a huge strain on the eyes, a huge downgrade from the surprisingly good port of 1942. The Amstrad CPC version once again has a really cramped screen with too much space devoted to showing player 1 and 2’s scores. While the graphics look pretty decent for a CPC game, and it runs more sprites on screen than one would be used to seeing on a CPC, the cramped screen screws it up. It’s still playable, just frustrating. (Commodore 64)

1943 was also ported to the Amiga and Atari ST. The Amiga port plays pretty similar to the arcade original, except the graphics and colors look a bit off. (look up atari st version)

There was an updated version of 1943 released in 1988, called 1943 Kaisen. It replaced Super Ace with a Boeing Stearman E75, a type of biplane. It also makes weapons more powerful, reworks graphics, remixes sounds, and adds some new enemies. This version was ported to the PC Engine, by Naxat, but remained in Japan. Thankfully, it was also released on Capcom Generations and Capcom Classics Collection for X-Box and Playstation 2, both of which saw much wider releases.

1941: Counter Attack 1990

Arcade, Supergrafx, PS2 (Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed), X-Box (Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed) PSP (Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed)

1941 is an oddball in the series. It has more emphasis on level design, huge bosses, and power ups. It is also the only game set in The European front in World War 2. To punctuate how vastly different 1941 is from the rest of the 19XX games, it is easily the shortest game in the series, sporting six levels, which is completely normal for most shooters, but short for this series.

1941 is a giant leap forward, fixing many of the problems of 1943 and by extension, 1942. Now that the game takes place in Europe, you fly over actual scenery. All of the levels are very evocative and take full advantage of the setting, such as ruined cities during the blitz, or secret Nazi missile silos. Many of the levels actually take place indoors, and include walls. Fortunately, crashing into walls does not kill you, but just makes you spin out of control, which can be annoying but strangely useful sometimes so you can shoot enemies approaching from the rear.

The sound is also greatly improved. 1942 and 1943 had what sounded like digitized marching bands and reused many of their songs. 1941 has some of the catchiest music in the series and never reuses anything. Most of them are fast, upbeat, and accompany the frantic action very well.

With the long and very well designed levels come gigantic bosses. Most of them are large war machines covered in turrets such as a huge battleship or gigantic planes. There are some more original fights, though. One particularly memorable boss is at the end of level three, a rocket carrying enough explosives to carpet bomb an entire city. The game never tells you where exactly this thing is going, but it might be better to not know. If you can stop it, the rocket detonates over a forest, hopefully not doing too much damage. Another one of the more memorable parts of 1941 is the final boss, a clearly alien spacecraft that breaks out of the remains of a previous boss. It even uses strange attacks that are never seen before in the game and flies much differently from anything else. It is also very fast and can dodge your shots, making it a very formidable adversary.

1941 also adds a couple of new weapons, such as the powerful shadow. Most levels open with a gold power up, which shifts between options and shadow. Options have changed a bit and are still powerful, yet breakable small planes that fly alongside you. Shadow stays with you for the rest of the level, giving you three shadow images of your ship that follow you wherever you go. It is a pretty cool power up and is not seen in any other game in the series. The other new addition is a charge shot, which becomes a series mainstay.

1941 was ported to the Supergrafx. It is almost arcade perfect, save for the colors looking a little bit washed out and the difficulty being a little bit lower. The screen is smaller than the arcade version, making everything feel a little bit more cramped, but it is not bad enough to make the game any less fun. 1941 is still very impressive (and expensive) on the Supergrafx. It’s one of the only games released for Supergrafx (The others were Aldynes, Battle Ace, Ghouls n Ghosts, and Madou Ou Granzort), so it’s arguably the best game you can find on it. You may need an arcade card to run it, though.

Even with all the improvements and changes, 1941 still plays like a 19XX game. Power ups are still temporary and obtained by blasting enemy formations and scoring still rewards you for defeating every enemy you ever see. For changing and improving so much without losing its distinct feel, 1941 is one of the greatest games in the series. Its greatness may be eclipsed by the next game, though.

19XX: The War Against Destiny 1996

Arcade

19XX is an even bigger improvement than 1941, adding selectable planes, a new setting, and even elements of more modern shooters that were out at the time. Dropping the World War Two setting, 19XX takes place during a fictional war, possibly set in the future. Everything from artillery cannons with ten guns, to trains that shoot lasers, to walking tanks is present, showing some very imaginative enemy designs. 19XX’s graphics are easily some of the best in the series. The sprites are large and colorful. The backgrounds are also surprisingly beautiful. Most of the levels take place in very lush, natural environments such as dense jungles or remote and beautiful islands.

Gameplay wise, 19XX drops the health bar in favor of a more traditional shooter feel, now using a standard bomb stock instead of spending health to clear the screen. There are also elements of danmaku or curtain fire shooters added in for good measure. While there are bullet patterns to navigate, 19XX opts more toward faster, Raiden style bullets and never makes the patterns too complex. It works very well, as 19XX feels both contemporary and old school at the same time, which is a very unique feel that not very many other shooters can replicate.

While 19XX does a lot to revolutionize the series, its biggest contribution is the addition being able to select your fighter. There are three planes to choose from, all of them being powerful in their own way. They are-

Lightning- Lightning is good all around. It has above average homing and speed, but it is a bit lacking in power. Its special weapon is a powerful vulcan cannon that pours molten hot lead into anything dumb or slow enough to get in its way. Fitting Lightning’s theme, the vulcan shots do not do too much damage, but their rate of fire is very fast, making it deceptively powerful.

Mosquito- The Mosquito hits hard, so hard that it sacrifices its homing and speed. Its special weapon is a spread gun that shoots in three directions. At first, this seems like a pretty bad weapon, as it spreads out The Mosquito’s deadly power and makes it harder to hit with. However when it upgrades, the spread shot shoots three additional tiny missiles in the center, not only focussing the attack, but keeping your previous spread shots to cover you from the sides. It is an ingenious weapon that takes some time to get used to, but quickly becomes one of the best weapons in the game.

Sinden- The Sinden is the fast plane of the bunch, being easily the fastest of the selectable planes. Its power and homing are pretty bad, but all that speed can make jetting around and blasting enemy formations a breeze. The Sinden, like the other planes, has a special weapon that easily compliments its strength. It has a laser that pierces straight through enemies and is great for clearing out formations. With the Sinden’s speed, you can zip across the screen and sweep away anything that even tries to get close to you. When upgraded, the laser doubles in width and power, making it easier to sweep the screen than ever. It may not be the best against bosses, but in the right hands, The Sinden is unstoppable.

19XX is also different for having only seven levels. It is not nearly as long as some of the other games in the series, but the levels are long and show a variety of exotic locations. The missions are also more interesting, from fighting a diving war machine in The Red Sea, to a battleship raid in The Arctic, to a secret tank base in the jungle behind a waterfall, 19XX takes you all around the world. All of this culminates in the main villain, a nameless pilot flying a black fighter jet, shooting two nuclear missiles that must be stopped. The final battle is very intense and one of the highlights of the game.

A few new scoring elements have been added. 19XX keeps with the trend of grading you, even giving you a letter grade after every battle based on your survival, bomb stock, accuracy, consistency in shooting down every enemy, and speed in taking out the boss. It also adds medals. There are three sizes of medals, small medium, and large, that are dropped by certain enemies or are revealed from blowing up scenery. Medals increase your score and are sure to give you a higher grade. It is a cool scoring element that is very well implemented and keeps you on your toes.

19XX is one of the most celebrated entries in the series, considered by many to be one of Capcom’s best shooters. It was never ported to any home systems, but escapes obscurity partially for being so good. There was even a possible reference to the mosquito plane in Mars Matrix, a joint effort between Capcom and Takumi.

1944: The Loop Master 2000

Arcade

1944 was made for the CPS 2 arcade board as part of Capcom’s push to bring shooters back into arcades. 1944 and many other classics such as Dimahoo, Progear, and Giga Wing attempted to take the world by storm and make a comeback for shmups. While this attempt was only partially successful, it resulted in some very good games that are revered even today as some of the best of the genre.

Raizing/8ing, one of the most talented shmup makers at the time, developed 1944. Unlike the many other shooters out at the time, this game is strictly old school. The scoring system is simple, there are no bullet curtains, no microscopic hit boxes, and no super secret final bosses. When compared to the other shooters out at the time, 1944 is actually pretty easy. In many ways, it is a step backwards from 19XX, a sort of return to the series roots.

The very first thing 1944 does is bring the setting back to World War Two. Each level has a mission name, usually something goofy, like Iron Beast Warcry, Nightmare Valley, or Oil Legion. Keeping in line with 1941, the settings are always changing. There are fifteen levels in total, and they are creative enough to never get repetitive. A couple of bosses get recycled, but it is not nearly as bad about it as some of the earlier entries in the series. Levels are generally short and bosses are huge, but do not take much effort to destroy. They have a habit of running away if you take more than a few minutes, which hurts your score.

1944 also removes different playable characters. You are back to playing as Super Ace, but there are a few new tricks added in. The charge shot is the best it has ever been, turning you invincible for a short time and flying high above the battlefield to rain molten hot lead on everyone below. This charge shot is so powerful that Capcom had to make your engine overheat after use as an excuse to prevent you from using it all the time. To be fair, if the overheat feature were not included, 1944 would be far too easy, even for the most inexperienced of players.

The health bar also returns, which is far more forgiving than 19XX’s more standard “one hit and you die” system. Bomb stock is kept from the last game too, so you no longer take damage from using a bomb. You also loop whenever a bomb is used, adding an element of strategy to bombing and making you temporarily invincible. Another nice touch is that when the health bar is low, the plane catches on fire. This also applies to options, which can actually take a few hits before going down this time. The effect of your plane and options catching fire is a very cool feature, possibly inspired by Toaplan’s Fire Shark, where your plane would light up before exploding.

1944 also has some impressive graphical effects for its time. Scaling is very present and is especially noticeable in the memorable charge shot. When your plane explodes, a little pilot ejects out and is parachuting down. If you put another credit in, you can save him before the timer runs out, and if you do catch him, you get rewarded with bonus points, bombs, and shot upgrades. The parachuting pilot is incredibly well animated and is strangely, one of the best looking parts of the game.

1944’s scoring system adds one new element, large golden diamonds. Collecting the large golden diamonds gets you bonus points. If you can collect ten, you get options, which as mentioned before, are very useful. Otherwise, you still get graded for accuracy and how many enemies you shoot down. Strangely, the rank system from some of the previous games is gone. This is especially odd from a game that Raizing was involved with.

Even though 1944 is a step backwards, it is still a very good game. It is easy and fast paced enough that beginners can get into it without losing hope and is good for a trip down memory lane for veterans. Even though there are better games in the series, do not overlook 1944. It is the most underrated game in the series.

1942 (iOS)

In 2010 Capcom started its virtual iPhone arcade titled, well, „Capcom Arcade“ and they made 1942 one of its launch titles. What this means is that not only do you get to witness some of the worst sprite work ever seen in any Capcom software, which luckily only goes for the hub, but you are able to play the original WWII shooter three times a day for free. Basically, it's like going to your local arcade with your Dad (yeah, we used to do so, kids) and he gives you three quarters, which you can either use to start a whole new game or to continue after dying. In case that doesn't satisfy your daily needs, you can either change a buck into not just four, but ten tokens or you can be the spoiled brat everybody likes to have as a friend just to get the most out of you, by purchasing the whole friggin' arcade machine all for yourself. However, the route most people take works even less well in a traditional arcade: Simply change your iPhone's date and voilà, three new tokens are handed over to you.

Capcom kept the achievement system from their PSX and Saturn collections intact, though making some of the requirements necessary for unlocking artworks pretty ridiculous, bordering on simply telling you to buy the machine or get lost. In 1942's case just about anyone should be able to play the game five times or to rake in a score of 100,000 points. Completing the whole game or playing it 50 times is a whole different story, let alone the „task“ of purchasing the machine and of purchasing any special item. Speaking of which, all Capcom Arcade titles offer special items, or simply cheats as everybody outside Capcom would call them, for a pop each. While it is nice that they can be used as often as one wishes to and they can be turned on and off at any time, it is highly questionable to ask for people to pay for full power, unlimited loop the loops and extra lives.

The game itself is a faithful conversion of the arcade original, running in a window about two thirds the size of the iPhone screen, which allows for controlling the plane without obscuring the view, as the only available control scheme is a non-fixed virtual stick or control pad, so you place your finger anywhere on the screen and move it in any direction, causing the plane to follow your input. It will not simply try and home in on your finger's position. As soon as you lift your finger, the old joystick positioning is gone and you can place a new one wherever you want to, though preferably in the lower third of the screen. Finally, Capcom probably knew about virtual controls not exactly being the perfect fit for old-school (i.e. Hard) games, so they included a difficulty option allowing to be set to either original mode or iPhone mode, which is quite an obvious statement on potentially the biggest issue the device has, seeing as the new lower difficulty setting not just bearing the moniker easy mode or something similar. As for the standard difficulty nobody should bother with it, as it is nigh impossible to make any true progress with all the relentless attack combined with a decent, if only a tad too slow control scheme. The iPhone mode however mostly tones down the amount of enemy projectiles even more than before, making for a surprisingly fun ride, that can be easily enjoyed while waiting for the bus or any other occasion where one needs to waste some time.

1943 (iOS)

In April 2011 an update to the Capcom Arcade app on the iPhone not only brought a nigh uncontrollable port of Final Fight to the table, but also 1943, which happens to be the sequel to arguably the best game (i.e. most suited to the device) in this collection up to that point. Capcom's business plan still works the same, so you can either pay for tokens or the whole machine, play for free three times a day or cheat the app by changing the date, though the latter option doesn't allow for unlimited continues, as you have to quit the game to receive your new tokens everytime the date is changed. Achievements still work the same way as before and purchasable special items are still in here, as well, with the addition of unlimited special weapon time.

This time around the difference between the two difficulty settings is pretty much nonexistent, which fortunately turns out to be neglectable as the action overall is already better suited for the returning virtual stick controls. The only downside is the inclusion of three virtual buttons, which can get a little confusing at times. Where 1942 simply had a loop the loop button, 1943 adds a bomb button and a button that makes you hold your fire, seeing as how you usually have auto-fire activated at all times. Holding your fire is meant to help in grabbing your desired powerups, since some items switch upon being fired at, like in Twinbee, though nowhere near as irritating as in Konami's shooter series, so you might as well just want to forget about the existence of this new button. As if 1943 wasn't already the best game available in the Capcom Arcade, Capcom was even nice enough to include multiplayer via bluetooth.

1942: First Strike (iOS) (2010)

Whoever thought that Capcom couldn't push the 19XX series into casual shores any more than by releasing a PSN and XBLA sequel obviously was proven wrong when an all-new sequel hit the App store in January 2010. Still, even when taking the platform into consideration, one shouldn't easily dismiss First Strike as an attempt to use a somewhat revered brand name for a quick cash-in on the Starbucks-Abercrombie crowd that obnoxiously has to place its collection of i-devices on the table whenever they sit in a café, restaurant or any other public place. Well, ok, the Frappuccino IS pretty good and having your iPhone rest on the table to browse the internet while eating IS comfortable, so...No! I still can only raise and shake my fist in disgust of everyone else doing it.

When First Strike first struck (har har) the iPhone it was a rather bland experience, maybe relying a bit too much on the original 1942's concept in some ways. Before each new game you were given the choice between three different planes, varying in speed, damage and defense, which however only mattered on your first few runthroughs as you would be rewarded money after each stage depending on your score. This money was used to buy various upgrades before stages, ranging from permanent stat boosts, weapon upgrades and extra lifes (which in turn increase your score, leading to more money again) up to purchasing two additional secondary tools. Stupidly enough, while all purchases except for the 1 Ups are permanently stored even for future games starting from the first level, they only apply for the plane you had chosen when buying them, so unless you want to change the game into some sort of RPG simulator, requiring you to grind for money again and again, you will probably just stick with one plane, slowly upgrading it and ignoring the other two.

The game itself consisted of only 8 stages, each lasting about 5-10 minutes, which, while falling a bit short compared to its prequels, made for an adequately long stroll down memory lane, especially considering the low price of admission. It was however not all that enjoyable to play, due to an array of reasons. First, the playing field was too large to fit onto the small screen, so you would constantly fly left and right to scroll to the sides, as the width was about 1.75 screens, making for many blind spots. Second, enemy, boss and background variation was rather confined with mostly grey, red, yellow and blue planes flying over tropical islands, seas and harbors. Third, and maybe the smallest nuisance to most, the 19XX series is often encouraging the player to hunt down as many enemies as possible, showing the percentage of opponents downed, so why do retreating enemies fly faster than your bullets in First Strike? It's incredibly annoying to dodge an incoming Kamikaze pilot, trying to get behind him right as he retracts, only to see your bullets safely accompanying him home, instead of hunting him down.

The final reason for why First Strike was rather forgettable in the beginning was its weapon system. As in next to every shoot 'em up you started out with a standard pea shooter and once you would have cleared out a row of yellow planes you got to upgrade it to...another wimpy pea shooter! Weapon items cycled through a laser, a vulcan style machine-gun, that unlike most shooters was not the game's spread gun, but fired only up front, and a gun firing off some sort of green balls that might be a spiritual successor to the old shotgun. Now, weapon items that cycle through different phases before being picked up are already a bad idea in a game that never shows you the whole playing field, but making every gun feel like you're doing something wrong is plain terrible. The laser needed pinpoint precision and lacked the punch you would usually associate with such a weapon, the shotgun was good for accidentally clearing out large clusters of enemies, but good luck aiming it at some specific target, and the vulcan at least came close to a decent weapon, as its shot was broad and hence easy to aim. Picking up additional items for the weapon you were already equipped with upgraded it up to a few levels, though picking up one of the other weapons would mean you have to stick with it for some time, seeing as those items were not that common. Furthermore you had to buy (!) the ability of upgrading (!) each individual weapon, before being able to do so. If you had finally earned and spent enough money to be able to upgrade the vulcan to level 4 and picked up enough upgrades, you had better also purchased the permission to fully upgrade the other two weapons, because otherwise if you would have picked up the wrong weapon, you would be back to the lowest level for that. So in short, the weapon system was a mess to deal with, despite not being all that complicated. You were off to a difficult start, slowly earning money before you would have a somewhat functional plane that still needed to watch every single weapon item very closely.

The game wasn't all bad, though. For starters, the loop the loop was completely absent with traditional bombs and three secondary abilities taking its place. Of course you had to purchase two of those in the store. Silly to think Capcom would take it that easy on the player. Available from the start were heat-seeking missiles that packed quite a wallop. Arguably even better was the shield that looks like it came right from the distant future. Maybe the designers were playing Psykio's 1945 series a bit too much? The shield not only absorbed any hits, it also allowed for revenge Kamikaze-style. Activate the shield, fly into enemy clusters and enjoy, as long as you can predict when it was going to lower again and watch out not to hit enemies that leave behind a weapon item or else you might instantly pick it up accidentally. The final ability was to power up for a while and to heal yourself. In an effort to counter the frustration of not being able to deal as much damage as you would want to, at least you can also take some yourself before losing a life. Before each stage you would have to choose one secondary ability to take with you and it even recharged after a while, giving the game a nice strategic touch.

Choosing the correct ability for each level and deciding when to use it also was key to gaining respectable high scores (maybe not as much as the simple necessity to buy all upgrades in the shop before attempting to) that could be uploaded to an online ranking board. The scoring system kept it nice and simple with enemies leaving behind medals, rewarding taking down complete enemy formations and the destruction of as many of the bosses' parts as possible granting yet another bonus. As long as you didn't get hit by anything you would also increase a mulitplier up to x5.

The graphics had a neat if low-tech Google Map look to them and while the music would constantly loop, its heroic, yet somehow soothing style matched the mostly slow action nicely and would get stuck in your head for a while. The controls get the job done. As long as you stay away from the tilt control scheme, that is. If you use touch controls, then unlike the ports of 1942 and 1943 the plane is not controlled via a virtual pad. Instead you tap the screen, swipe your finger and your trusty plane will try its best to catch up with your finger. Given its low speed, this will rarely obstruct the view on your plane or its close surroundings.

Uncontent with having created a rather bland and ultimately unremarkable little shooter, Capcom released an update a few months later. Some of the complaints still remained unchanged, though overall it marked a great improvement. For one, Capcom added Game Center support, allowing for more online scores to compete with as the scores are uploaded automatically now. More important, though, was the change in level design. New enemies like a big zeppelin ( I don't remember the Japanese using those), mine dropping planes and incredibly cheap missile turrets were thrown into the mix, making for some interesting stages that now truly feel different from one another. The weapon system also saw an overhaul. Anyone hoping for the weapon system to require less grinding or to cause less frustration when picking up the wrong item was in for bad news. The good news was that a fourth weapon had been introduced, that not only required additional grinding for money, but also meant that the weapon cycle had become more complicated. Still, this is very well worth it, since the „combo shot“ as it is called is relatively easy to aim, also shoots diagonally and finally deals a good amount of damage.

With these changes First Strike might still not have become the pinnacle of the series, at least it now is more than worth the current price of one dollar and allows for some fun point boosting, trying to beat other people's highscores, especially given that your progress is saved after each stage and you can also press the home button at any time and jump back in, making it perfect for short sessions as well as prolonged sessions where you try to memorize the stage layouts and develop strategies for your secondary abilities.

By the end of 2010 Capcom released yet another update that added a whole new campaign consisting of five stages set in deserts and canyons, probably meant to be a fight against Nazi Germany, instead of Japan this time. The new campaign cranks up the difficulty quite a bit and adds a new boss plane. The only other addition worth mentioning is a stupid trenchrun bonus stage only serving to make you realize that the control scheme while workings well with the slower shooting stages, just isn't up to snuff for such fast action. At least it marks the return of the Yashichi in a Capcom game.

The 19XX series was one of Capcom’s earliest successes. Even with its age, it is not completely forgotten and remains one of the company’s most venerable properties. It may not be as well known as Street Fighter, Mega Man, or Devil May Cry, but the 19XX has aged well and still receives respect even to this day.

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