![]() I haven’t played the original in years, but I found a remake (1942: Joint Strike) on Xbox Live Arcade that looked promising. Also, the music was pretty damn awful, even by the standards of the time (just listen to the video below to see what I mean). Understandably, the gameplay gets pretty repetitive quite quickly. Also, there’s hardly any variation in the enemies – some planes are red instead of green (whoo) and sometimes a slightly bigger plane turns up (although these planes are usually green as well). The graphics could be generously described as ‘dull’… I mean, just look at it – you spend most of the game staring at what looks like stippled blue wallpaper flecked with bits of green snot. Having said that, it looks incredibly dated now. The risk/reward ratio is just right as well – diving for the power ups is always worth it, even if it might end in a fiery death (and the loss of a 20p credit). It’s a hard game, but it’s never unfair, so every time you die you know you could do better next time if you just moved that little bit quicker, or tapped the loop-the-loop (evade) button a tiny bit faster. I don’t even know what it is that I like about it so much – maybe it’s the simplicity, or maybe it’s the well-balanced gameplay. The other games I mentioned are all excellent in their own right, but for some reason I was totally hooked on this shoot ’em up. I always made a beeline straight for the 1942 cabinet whenever I went into an arcade. Still, back in the eighties it was all different, because a trip to the arcade meant you could play something mind-bogglingly amazing… like Out Run, Double Dragon, Shinobi, Chase HQ or 1942. Add to that the fact that the cost of console games has come down while the cost of arcade credits has gone up (or at least stayed the same), and there suddenly seems to be little point in visiting the arcade anymore. ![]() It’s completely different now of course – if anything, home systems are actually slightly ahead of most arcade machines, and most arcades are completely dominated by the same old shooting and driving games. There was a huge gap between the quality of games in the arcade and the quality of games for home systems, so seeing the latest coin-ops was like taking a glimpse into the future. I think at first my mum thought I had a gambling problem, but in actual fact I didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the fruit machines – I only had eyes for all those wonderful arcade games.Īlthough having said that I’ve always quite liked those machines with the sliding racks of 10 pence pieces – does that still count as gambling?Īnyway, going to the arcade was a real treat when I was young. Format: Coin-Op Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up Released: 1984 Developer: CapcomĮvery time we went to holiday parks or the seaside when I was a kid, I would beg to be taken to the arcade.
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