Sky Shark, known in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as and known in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 as Flying Shark, is a vertical scrolling shooter 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...

 developed by Toaplan

Toaplan

, sometimes written as Toa Plan, was a video game developer from Japan. They were responsible for the creation of a wide array of relatively famous scrolling shooters and arcade games, yet the company declared bankruptcy in 1994.-Games developed :...

 and published by Taito

Taito Corporation

The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....

. It was later published in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 by Romstar

Romstar

Romstar Inc. was a video game distribution company based in Torrance, CA that started operations in 1984. They originally started as the first American distribution arm for SNK . They were known for licensing arcade games from major makers for distribution. Among Romstar's clients include Taito,...

, in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 by Electrocoin and in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 by Model Racing.

Gameplay

Piloting a biplane

Biplane

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

, the player takes out enemy land, air, and naval craft across various environments. Certain waves of enemy airplanes produce various bonuses when shot down, such as powerups, point bonuses, and extra lives. Each stage begins and ends at a runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

, and every time the player lands at a runway beyond the first takeoff, the amount of bombs are multiplied by 3,000, and that total is added to your score; you return to 3 bombs at the start of each stage (or death).

According to the plot of Batsugun

Batsugun

is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up hailing from the now defunct Japanese game developer Toaplan.Originally developed for the arcade, Batsugun saw two revisions—the first being released in 1993. The latter named Batsugun Special Version was shown at the AOU show in Japan but was never...

, the biplane pilot's name is "Rom Schneider"; he was apparently put into a cryofreeze

Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation is a process where cells or whole tissues are preserved by cooling to low sub-zero temperatures, such as 77 K or −196 °C . At these low temperatures, any biological activity, including the biochemical reactions that would lead to cell death, is effectively stopped...

 at the end of Sky Shark.

Ports and related releases

Flying Shark was converted to the Amiga

Amiga

The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

, Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

, DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

, ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

, Amstrad CPC

Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...

, Atari ST

Atari ST

The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...

, FM Towns

FM Towns

The FM Towns system is a Japanese PC variant, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to the summer of 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with regular PCs...

, and Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

. The NES version of the game was Tim Follin

Tim Follin

Timothy John Follin is a former video game music composer who has written tracks for a variety of titles and home gaming systems, including the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Dreamcast and PlayStation.Follin's early 8- and 16-bit...

's first composed soundtrack on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sky Shark received a sequel known as Fire Shark

Fire Shark

Fire Shark, known in Japan as , is a shoot 'em up arcade game developed and published by Toaplan. The player controls a biplane and builds up a score by shooting a variety of military targets.-Gameplay:...

in 1989.

External links

• Flying Shark reviews at Solvalou.com