Line #37 VideoGame/NineteenFortyTwo


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sota1942nes.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Defeat the IJN while listening to the March of Midway on repeat for about an hour.]]
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4	The ''1942'' series is a series of arcade vertical-scrolling {{Shoot Em Up}}s developed by Creator/{{Capcom}}, set mainly in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The player is an American "Super Ace" in a P-38 Lightning who spends a surprising amount of time kicking the spit out of the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun Imperial Japanese Navy]] for a series made in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}.
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6	* '''1942''' (Arcade, 1984)
7	* '''1943: The Battle of Midway''' (Arcade, 1987) Ported to the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]]/[[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] in 1988.
8	* '''1943 Kai''' (Arcade, 1988): Unreleased in the US, aside from a bootleg titled ''[[ColonCancer 1943: The Battle of Midway: Mark II]]''. Ported to the [[Platform/TurboGrafx16 PC-Engine]] by Naxat Soft in 1991.
9	* '''1941: Counter Attack''' (Arcade, 1990)
10	* '''19XX: The War Against Destiny''' (Arcade, 1996)
11	* '''1944: The Loop Master''' (Arcade, 2000; developed by 8ing / Raizing)
12	* '''1942 Joint Strike''' (Platform/Xbox360 and Platform/PlayStation3, 2009)
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14	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Do not confuse with]] ''VideoGame/Battlefield1942'', which is a whole different ballgame, the sequel series of television show ''Series/NineteenFortyOne2009'', the movie ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979'', ''VideoGame/Strikers1945'' (despite that also being a shmup series), or (heaven forbid) ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. Also has nothing to do with the video game company Creator/MidwayGames.[[note]]The "Midway" referred to here is Midway Island, which was part of the Pacific Theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.[[/note]]
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16	Incredibly, this sole Capcom series has [[http://nineteenforty.wikia.com/wiki/Capcom%27s_1940_Series_Wikia its own wiki]].
17	----
18	!!The ''1942'' series contains examples of:
19	* AnachronismStew:
20	** The series has weapons that should not have existed in WWII, such as a space shuttle-like rocket boss and ''{{Energy Weapon}}s.''
21	** ''1944'' has songs that sound very similar to rock songs that wouldn't exist for another 20-30 years.
22	* AttackItsWeakPoint: In ''1943'', the Ayako bombers can only be damaged in their engines, but you can keep shooting the same engines even after they have been [[DamageIsFire set on fire]]. They are defeated once all their engines go down.
23	* BalanceSpeedStrengthTrio: Different from past games of the series, in ''19XX'' you can choose between three planes with different skills: Lockheed P-38 Lightning (balance), the series's staple and the most balanced ship of the three; de Havilland Mosquito (strength), returning from 1941 that focuses on firepower; and Kyushu [=J7W=] Shinden (speed), a newcomer ship and the most fast and maneuverable ship.
24	* BattleshipRaid: A lot of the series' bosses are battleships.
25	* BladderOfSteel: ''1942'' has 32 stages, ''1943'' has 16 stages, and ''1944'' has 15 stages. If you plan on one-crediting any of these in the arcade, make sure you use the bathroom in advance.
26	* BossSubtitles:
27	** In ''1943'', each stage is preceded by a message saying "Offensive target: [Boss name]. May you fight bravely!"
28	** {{Inverted}} (sort of) in ''1944'', where you are shown the subtitles only ''after'' you’ve defeated the boss.
29	* CastFromHitPoints: How special attacks work in ''1943'' and ''1941''.
30	* ChargedAttack:
31	** Every game from the Platform/{{NES}}/[[Platform/{{Famicom}} FC]] port of ''1943'' onwards lets you charge up a powerful shot by holding down and releasing the shot button.
32	** ''19XX'' does this with the SmartBomb. The effects are, in order of least to most powerful, a screen-clearing carpet bomb, a concentrated radial explosion, and several of the aforementioned radial explosions all over the place.
33	** ''1944'' has a "CHARGE" meter that needs to be filled to full to initiate an InvulnerableAttack. The charge doesn't have to be done in one go; releasing the shot button will simply let the meter slowly decrease instead of disappearing entirely. However, once the attack is used, there is an "OVER HEAT" period during which the meter cannot be charged again.
34	%%* ClipItsWings: See AttackItsWeakPoint above.
35	* CoolTrain:
36	** Two bosses in ''19XX'' are giant trains travelling on two or more sets of train tracks.
37	** ''Kalebert Armor'' is a slow-moving battle train that was overseeing operations at the heart of UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}.
38	** ''Sancho Pedro'' is a SuperPrototype train that was being developed in a secret factory in UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}. It can fire, among other things, a WaveMotionGun at the player.
39	* CriticalAnnoyance: In ''1943'' and ''1941'', an alarm goes off whenever your health runs low. The NES port of ''1943'' is worse: it replaces the current BGM with a [[NightmareFuel Jaws-like tune]] when your health falls below 20.
40	%%* CueTheSun: The ending of ''19XX''.
41	* DamageIsFire: The Ayako bombers show their damage level by how many engines are on fire. Ayako I's engines catch fire in pairs; Ayako II's engines catch fire one at a time for the first two, then the third and fourth together; Ayako III's engines catch fire one at a time.
42	* EnemyMine: Played with in ''19XX'' which has the Japanese-made Shinden, which was never put into real battle at that time due to Japan's surrender in WWII (but one of two examples was dismantled, shipped to the US, and restored), and ''1944'' in which the second player character brings in a Japanese-made Mitsubishi [=A6M=] Zero.
43	* EnergyWeapon: Some of the enemies happen to use laser weapons, in ''WW frickin' II'', no less!
44	* HomingProjectile: Holding down the fire button in ''19XX'' causing your ship to charge up a piercing projectile that destroys weaker enemies in one hit. When it hits a stronger one, it tags it to allow the player to fire homing lasers at it for a short period of time on top of their normal shots.
45	* InfinityMinusOneSword: In NES ''1943'', the first special weapon you can get is a ShortRangeShotgun that can cancel enemy bullets, but has a slow firing rate. However, this weapon can be upgraded to a "super" shotgun that not only has longer range, but also fires the basic gun in conjunction with the shotgun, making it one of the best weapons in the game in spite of the low amount of effort needed to get it, whereas similarly powerful weapons require investing into the Special Weapon stat and also require you to shoot special weapon icons many times just to get them.
46	* InstantWinCondition: In ''1942'', upon completing a stage, all on-screen enemies will explode.
47	* {{Irony}}: Meta example: In ''1942'', ''1943'', and ''1944'', you're fighting the Japanese military. [[Creator/{{Capcom}} The company behind this series]] ''is Japanese itself.'' According with both Yoshiki Okamoto, who worked in the game, and the Japanese Wikipedia, Capcom got into really ''hot water'' in Japan with both local players and right-wing groups for having the Japanese players controlling an American plane and destroying Japanese planes and that was the reason why the NES version, ''1941'' and ''19XX'' features different kind of enemies, like the Germans in 1941.
48	* KaizoTrap:
49	** In ''1943'', most ship bosses will explode into shrapnel when defeated. Better avoid it, especially if you manage to beat the final boss and forget all about the shrapnel...or you can shoot it for extra points.
50	** A couple bosses in ''19XX'' will also unleash one last volley of attacks while they're in the middle of exploding.
51	* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: ''1944'' is the only arcade installment to use a horizontally-oriented screen. You're still scrolling ''vertically'', mind you.
52	* LifeMeter: Varies. In ''1943'', you get a LifeMeter that drains over time (though you can't die of time drain). ''1941'' offers HitPoints that you lose one of with each hit. ''1944''[='=]s and ''Joint Strike''[='=]s are more similar-looking to ''1943''[='=]s, without the time drain.
53	* [[MidSeasonUpgrade Mid Game Upgrade]]: Partway through ''1944'', your {{Attack Drone}}s, which up to this point have been WWII-era planes, are upgraded to little jet fighters with {{Energy Weapon}}s.
54	* NPlusOneSequelTitle: The games after 1942 are numbered 1943 and 1944. Also somewhat inverted as one of the sequels is numbered 1941.
55	* NintendoHard: Except for 19XX and 1944, which is noticeably easier in an era where BulletHell shooters started trending in arcades.
56	* NoFairCheating: The NES adaptation of ''1943'' uses a five-character PasswordSave system that encodes not only the stage number, but also your ship's six parameters. The last character in the password doubles as a checksum ''and'' also imposes a minimum starting stage based on your total parameters, so you can't just waltz into stage 1 with maxed-out everything.
57	* NoPlotNoProblem: 19XX, although the plot is easy enough to understand through the in-game cutscenes.
58	* NoSwastikas: ''1941'' pits you against [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons the Germans]], yet not a single swastika is in sight.
59	* NukeEm: In ''19XX''[='=]s final stage, [[spoiler:the RecurringBoss escorts a pair of nuclear missiles aimed at Tokyo. [[AlwaysClose Even if you time him out in the final battle, you'll always destroy the nukes in time in the ending cutscene.]]]]
60	* OddballInTheSeries: ''1941'' is the only game in the series not to feature Imperial Japan in any capacity, being set entirely in Europe instead.
61	* OneManArmy: Whatever incarnation of the game, it's you in your one fighter plane against the entire Japanese (or whatever) fleet.
62	* OrwellianRetcon: As already mentioned before, the game was pretty controversial in Japan when it was released in arcades, so Capcom had to make some modifications on the NES version of the game, including changing the name of the Japanese battleships using the Japanese transliterations of the names of ''Chinese'' warlords from ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' (like using the Japanese name of UsefulNotes/LuBu, as "Ryofu", as a very visible example), with the sole exception of the Ayako bombers, since [[{{Tuckerization}} they're probably named after the music composer of the game, Ayako Mori]], not to mention the titular ''Battle of Midway'' being renamed to ''The Battle of Valhalla'' in the Japanese version. Oddly, the American game box still keeps the ''Battle of Midway'' subtitle, even if the English version also uses the changed Japanese names.
63	* PasswordSave: The NES version of ''1943'' gives you a five-character password when you die, which can then be used to pick the game back up from the stage you died in with all of the stats you had at the start of the stage.
64	* PragmaticAdaptation: The NES version of ''1943'' is considerably different from the arcade version (whereas the port of ''1942'' on the same console was a straight attempt to replicate the arcade version on NES/Famicom hardware). It only supports one player, has a stat point system that allows the player to upgrade their ship, and some bosses are added while others are removed. The boss names were also changed from the names of real-world IJN battleships to names based on other sources, in order to quell controversy about the game being anti-Japanese.
65	* {{Prequel}}: ''1941'' obviously takes place before ''1943'', but was released after it.
66	* RecurringBoss: In ''1941'', Leviathan, the [[WarmUpBoss Stage 1 boss]], makes an upgraded reappearance in Stage 5. In ''19XX'', there's F. Blacker, the black fighter that destroys your mothership and harasses you on every level. You finally get to [[FinalBoss settle the score with it in the end]].
67	* {{Retraux}}: ''Joint Strike''[='=]s graphics are made to resemble a film from the early 20th century.
68	* RPGElements: The NES port of ''1943'' allows you to upgrade your plane's stats by touching certain hidden icons. Most specifically, it is a PointBuildSystem.
69	* SequelEscalation: Inverted and played straight at the same time; up to ''19XX'', each game has fewer levels (''1942''[='=]s 32 stages -> ''1943''[='=]s 16 stages -> ''1941''[='=]s 6 stages), but each newer game has stages that are more varied and have more complex gameplay than "fight waves of enemies in the sky until you reach the next end-of-stage carrier."
70	* ShownTheirWork: The Japanese versions of 1943 featured accurately modeled (as accurate as a Famicom could, anyway) versions of actual WWII IJN capital ships. A diligent player could recognize many Japanese battleships and carriers, including the ''Ise'', ''Nagato'', ''Yamato'' (post refit), ''Akagi'', ''Hiryu'', and several others. On the other hand, the Ayako bombers are completely original-made for the game; they could be inspired by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Ki-67 Mitsubishi Ki-67 ''Hiryu'' heavy bomber]], but the Ayako bombers are four-engined, while the ''Hiryu'' used only two.
71	** Sadly, [[OrwellianRetcon these were all changed to generic made-up names when it was ported to the NES]] both in the U.S. and Japanese versions, due to the Japanese controversy regarding this.
72	* ShoutOut: ''1943'' has some to other Capcom games in its items.
73	** Barrel[[labelnote:*]]10,000 points, Arcade; 16 weapon points, NES[[/labelnote]] - ''Pirate Ship Higemaru''
74	** Strawberry[[labelnote:]]20,000 points, Arcade[[/labelnote]], bamboo shoot[[labelnote:]]2000 points, Arcade; one power point, NES[[/labelnote]], dragonfly[[labelnote:*]]10,000 points, Arcade; two power points, NES[[/labelnote]] - ''Son Son''
75	** Mobi-chan[[labelnote:*]]100,000 points, Arcade; 32 energy and weapon points, NES[[/labelnote]] - ''Side Arms''
76	* SmartBomb: ''1943'' and ''1941'' have special attacks that damage everything on-screen at the expense of health. ''19XX'' and ''1944'' instead give you bomb items, with the former allowing you to charge up a bomb attack that deals more damage than simply tapping the bomb button. ''1942'' just has the white [=POW=]'s, which kill everything on screen when collected.
77	* SpentShellsShower: The ''Sancho Pedro'' of ''19XX'' uses this ''with a twist'' after he fires out his [[GatlingGood machinegun]] in his second form... He fires out the shells forward towards you, making you have to avoid (or just shoot) them!
78	* StupidJetpackHitler:
79	** Certain enemies in ''1941'' fit this trope, not to mention some bosses (such as the [[spoiler:Gotha[=/=]HO-IX]]).
80	** Prior to that, ''1943'' had overtones of [[StupidJetpackHitler Stupid Jetpack]] [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun Tojo]], with oversize giant bombers as bosses, bombers launching ''multiple'' Kamikaze [=MXY7=] rocket planes and whole squadrons of jet and rocket fighters that only existed as prototypes at the end of the war, all ostensibly in 1943. For that matter, the player's P-38 Lightning has overtones of [[OverlyLongGag Stupid Jetpack]] ''[[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks FDR]]'', with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], apparently some kind of energy shield, the ability to summon ''actual'' lightning, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking being carrier-based despite the real thing being a land-based Army Air Forces fighter]].
81	* UpdatedRerelease: 1943 Kai was this to the original 1943. It made the enemies harder, changed the boss order around, redid some of the player's weapons (including adding a laser beam weapon), and replaced the player's P-38 with a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane. In US, this version was renamed, [[ColonCancer with "Mark II" added after the original title]].
82	* VideoGameLives: ''1942'', ''19XX'', and ''Joint Strike''.
83	* WaveMotionGun: ''19XX'' has both the fifth boss, ''Sancho Pedro'', and the [[SequentialBoss final form]] of the FinalBoss use this on you. Especially dangerous is the final boss' one, as his spins and sucks the player towards it!
84	* WolfPackBoss:
85	** Some stage bosses in ''1943'' aren't a single large ship, but an entire fleet of bombers.
86	** Boss ships do count too, since you shoot the lower-class ships first.
87	* YearX: ''19XX''.
88	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: In the NES port of ''1943'', you are congratulated for winning the war after defeating the first 16 or so stages. And then you find out that all those bosses were a diversion from the ''[[DiscOneFinalBoss real]]'' [[DiscOneFinalBoss army]].

Context VideoGame / NineteenFortyTwo