Aero Fighters is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 ("shmup") arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 released in 1992

1992 in video gaming

-Events:-Notable releases:* Gremlin Graphics releases Zool, Amiga's answer to Mario and Sonic. It goes on to become the best selling Commodore Amiga game, boosting the already popular computer to be the leading gaming machine in Europe....

 by Video System

Video System

was a software company that was founded and ran by software designer Koji Furukawa in Kyoto, Japan in December 1984. It was best known for making video game titles for the arcades and other different platforms, including the Super Nintendo, Neo-Geo and Nintendo 64.They released various types of...

, ported to the Super Famicom

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 in 1993 and the Super Nintendo

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 in 1994.

It spawned two sequels for the Neo-Geo

Neo Geo (console)

The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...

, one for the Arcades

Video arcade

An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...

 (with ports to the PlayStation

PlayStation

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...

 and Sega Saturn

Sega Saturn

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...

) and one in 3-D

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 for the Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64

The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

. The first sequel was notorious for multiple instances of Engrish

Engrish

refers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...

, such as "I never thought I'd be frying over a jungle." Most of the creative team that worked on Aero Fighters created Strikers 1945

Strikers 1945

Strikers 1945 is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released in 1995 by Japanese company Psikyo. It was followed by two sequels, Strikers 1945 II in 1997 and Strikers 1945 III , as well as a version for SNK's Neo Geo called Strikers 1945 Plus Strikers 1945 is a vertically scrolling...

and other shmups for Psikyo

Psikyo

is a Japanese video game company started in 1992. Psikyo is an off-shoot formed from the staff that created the Aero Fighters series for Video System. Psikyo focused on arcade games, mostly vertically-scrolling shoot 'em ups and pornographic mahjong games...

.

Gameplay

There are eight stages in this game. The beginning stages consists of randomly chosen areas from nations of unselected fighters (assuming those fighters have nations). If Rabio or Lepus is chosen, all four rival nation stages become playable. After completing all rival nation stages, there are four more stages. Player and team-specific endings occur after completing the 1st loop. After completing the 2nd loop, the ending consists of all pilot pairs giving a speech, with the 2nd pilot in the last pair giving a cheat code.

The SNES version adds hidden boss attack and time attack modes, and two hidden playable fighters, Rabio and Lepus (from Rabio Lepus, known outside of Japan as Rabbit Punch). The Japanese version does not use kanji in text as in the arcade version. In the SNES version, there are two stage loops, and the order of rival nations is fixed. In the 2nd loop, the game's difficulty increased, except in the very hard difficulty, where the 2nd loop is easier.

Characters

A player can only chose a fighter from the respective side. In a 2-player game, the player that begins the game determines the available nation of both fighters, until the game ends.

Nation(?)	Player 1	Player 2
United States	Blaster Keaton (F/A-18 Hornet F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets . Designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latter's YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and... )	Keith Bishop (F-14 Tomcat F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental program following the collapse of the F-111B project... )
Japan	Hien (FSX Mitsubishi F-2 The Mitsubishi F-2 is a multirole fighter manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, with a 60/40 split in manufacturing between Japan and the USA. Production started in 1996 and the first aircraft entered service in 2000. The first 76... )	Mao Mao (F-15 Eagle F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights... )
Sweden	Kohful The Viking (AJ-37)	Tee-Bee 10 (JAS 39 Gripen JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a lightweight single-engine multirole fighter manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. It was designed to replace the Saab 35 Draken and 37 Viggen in the Swedish Air Force... )
United Kingdom	Lord River N. White (Tornado IDS Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy... )	Villiam Syd Pride (AV-8 Harrier II)
?	Rabio (red rabbit)	Lepus (green rabbit)

External links

• Hamster Corporation page
• Aero Fighters at Arcade-History
• Sonic Wings Wiki