1942

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The campaign is set in the Pacific Theater of World War II. You pilot a plane (dubbed the "Super Ace" although its appearance looks like Lockheed P-38 Lightning) and you have to shoot down enemy aircrafts. Apart from shooting, you can also perform a "loop-the-loop" to avoid enemy fire, which is a quite unique feature for its time. There are 32 different levels, each finishing with your plane landing on an aircraft carrier where you can read a briefing for your next mission. You must fly through Midway, Marshall, Attu, Rabaul, Leyte, Saipan, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa before reaching your ultimate goal, Tokyo. There are various objects and power ups to collect that will help you in your mission by upgrading your weapons. Regarding gameplay, the game suffers a little from the "one-hit and you' re down" style of the 80s.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The MSX2 version is quite good, featuring nice graphics with bright colors and pretty smooth sprite animation; this version is actually more close to the original, but this is something expected due to the advanced MSX2 system hardware. In fact, the MSX2 has the smoother sprite animation and screen scrolling compared to all other 8bit 1942 versions. Sonically, there is music only on the title screen, while the sound FX are the classic bangs and booms of any mid 80s shooter. I think that, comparably, the C64 1942 version offers the best sound among all 8 bit home computers.