"Kamikaze can be translated to mean "God's Breath", among other things..."

Ratings:

Graphics: 9/10
Sound Effects: 7/10
Music: 9/10
Originality: 7/10
Play Control: 10/10
Group Enjoyment: 5/10
Individual Enjoyment: 8/10
Challenge: 8/10
Ending: 6/10
Overall:8/10


1943 is the sequel to the immensely popular arcade hit, 1942. The premise of this game is the game as 1942 - you ar the pilot of a small biplane, who has is fighting for the United States during World War II. You fly over the Pacific Ocean, taking down Japanese planes and ships, during the year 1943. In case you hadn't figured it out, this is based off of the second world-based war this planet has encountered, referred to as ''World War II''.

Now you may ask ''But what kind of game IS it''? Well, this game is a shooter game, much like R-Type and Gradius (and 1942, duh). Among what sets this game apart from other shooters is the premise that you are a WWII fighter pilot, your plane's ability to upgrade you weaponry (which nowadays is commonplace, but at the time it was new), and the overhead perspective with which you play the game from. 1943 is essentially 1942 with bigger, better graphics and enemies, new accomodations for your plane, and various other little upgrades from the previous jaunt into the Pacific.

One of the biggest innovations for this game is the plane modification section. At the beginning of the game (and at various points throughout), you earn special plane modification points, which you can use to:
~Increase you plane's offense (how hard your bullets/whatever hit),
~Defense (how much energy your plane loses when it gets hit),
~Energy level (how much energy your plane has; whenever you get hit you lose a certain amount of energy, and when you run out you explode),
~Special Weaponry (what kinds of Special Weapons you can use), and
~Special weapon time length (you get special weapons for a while, but eventually they wear off and you're back with your regular ol' gatling gun). You get to divide the points you get among these, then go out and take out even bigger Japanese planes, battleships, and other bad things that might be flying (or floating) towards you. So, does this game soar above and beyond the rest of the Arcade-to-Nintendo-Shooting-Game-Ports, or does it simply die from having too long a catagory name?

Good Points:
As opposed to the previous game, you do NOT arbitrarily die when struck by anything coming at you. This saves you from a GREAT deal of frustration, as the ''Contra/Gradius'' concept of ''1-hit and you're dead, no matter how many power-ups you nabbed'' was horrible idea at the start, serving only to get gullible people to keep punching more and more money into the system to win. 1943 has remedied the situation with the ''Energy Counter'', where when you get struck by an object - a stray bullet, another plane, a battleship, etc. - instead of outright killing you and forcing you to start over, you simply lose some of your energy meter. This makes for longer games and less whining from the peanut gallery.

Another nice point is the password feature. While the arcade version of 1943 didn't have a password feature (gee, I wonder why), including one on the Nintendo port is a VERY good idea. How often have you gone a long ways in a shooting game, only to have to go do something that will prevent you from playing your game for a few hours? Or, worse yet, how often have you gotten REALLY far in a game, only to die by some unfair, completely unexpected obstacle, and are then forced to start over? This game solves your woes by giving you a password! Yay!

Bad Points:
Well, there aren't any, really. It's a really good shooter for the Nintendo; it's one of my favorites, actually. I still wish there was a 2-player option, though. A 2-player Simultaneous option would be REALLY good, too, but I guess I'm not gonna get it, am I? Oh well...


General Ratings:

Graphics:
Rock action in the graphics department! From the opening shot of your plane taking off of the aircraft carrier and doing a loop-de-loop, to the picture of the giant Battleship or Airplane aflame at the end of a stage, this game has great graphics! There are different sets of airplanes with various colors to them, usually with a completely different color on the underside of the plane than what was on top (no palette-switching here!). This shows real effort on the programmer's part, which I love (showing effort, that is). The battleships have a cold, black-and-grey color scheme to them, giving you a bit of a bad feeling towards them. Of course, they are also trying to blast you out of the water, but that's not the point...

Another great part about the graphics is the detail to all the little things. When you are fighting certain enemy planes, they will begin to spiral towards you, showing both the top and bottom of the planes. Others will simply fly towards you, firing away, then flip and fly upside-down across the screen again. There are lots of frames use for every singe plane in the game, which is VERY nice to see, especially on a system as old as the Nintendo. Your plane has a large amount of frames as well. When your plane performs the Loop-de-loop at the beginning and ending of each stage, it isn't just 2 frames of animation - you get several degrees in between the right-side and inverted positions. When you plane moves from side to side, there are several frames of animation showing it lean to the left or right.

Now, let's talk backgrounds. While not exactly excellent, the backgrounds (or should I say backwaters?) are fairly-well drawn. The standard ocean view is a blue color, with speckles of other colors to give it some flavor. Occasionally, this water scene is interrupted by a few pink, fluffy clouds, or the introduction of an island. The islands are well-drawn and colored, NOT featuring a 1 or 2 color palette (which is just ridiculous to do, because islands have shading and colors not found in any video game yet). When you go in closer to Sea Level to combat with an Aircraft Carrier, Battleship, etc., the ocean is similarily closer, and is drawn with much more detail, with waves and ripples all over. Very nice.

Finally, the graphics depicting the weaponry is a mixed bag. The standard Gatling gun shot from your plane uses 3 colors, white and two variants on orange (same as your plane). The charged laser uses the same...come to think of it, ALL of your weapon shots consist of white and two variants of orange! The shots used by your opponents are the same colors as well, but their shapes are quite different. Gun turrets on battleships fire what appears to be laser beams, which explode in a small radius of destruction. The best graphics for any attack, though, are the lightning and tsunami attacks you can utilize. When you plane is in the regular stages (not the up-close battleship fights), pressing the A button will release a large blast of lightning, dealing damage to everything on the screen (except you, of course!). This looks great, but it is nothing compared to the giant blast of water that covers the screen during the Tsunami attack. When you go in close for the battleship rounds, instead of calling up lightning your fighter pilot somehow calls up a giant tsunami and lays causes death and destruction via water. This is well-animated and looks gorgeous! <Graphics Rant>

Sound Effects:
Bangity-Bangity-Bang! I liked them, I don’t know about you...the individual sounds for your gun are hardly irritating, and sound much like what a cheesy 8-bit fighter pilot in 1943 sounded like. Your plane's collisions with other objects, while not quick what I wanted (a metal clang or SOMETHING), it still works, given the system. There are individual sounds for destroying large ships, small ships (ok, those are the same), cannons firing, and even for your plane taking off and doing the loop-de-loop! The sounds appear to have had REAL thought put into them, as they aren't just simple rehashes from the previous game (1942).

Music:
Honestly, I love this music. It fits the spirit and theme of the game well, and is well-written (it isn't the same 5 seconds looped over and over ::CoughHydlideCough::). The opening music at the title screen has a militaristic twing to it, and is upbeat and lifting at the same time. It's almost as if the game, right from the start, is trying to rally you to war, making you want to pick up that controller and say ''Yes, Uncle Sam (or Nintendo), I AM ready to fight for my country! I AM willing to go to war against the nefarious Japanese, even though this war ended 50 years prior to this game's making! Yes, I AM on medication!''

The music in the actual game itself is peppy and driving, making the fact that you are downing real people left and right seem trivial in the grand scheme. It is Rockman-esque in style, but still fun to listen to. There's even different music for different stages of the game, plus different music for the upgrading of your plane, fighting a boss, and when you are low on energy. Sadly, the ''Low On Energy'' tune is the only one that is truly bad, as it is irritating and uses grating instruments to get its point across. Yes, I understand the idea that the Nintendo doesn't have a large range of sounds to use for its music, but the ones they chose for this particular snippit of music were just bad choices. 'tis the ONLY thing that brought the music down, in my book.

Originality:
Sure, it’s another shooter, but this one takes place During WWII, against Japan! Hang on- A Japanese game about Americans delivering a very LARGE Japanese defeat? Does that seem right to anyone?

Now, let's count some of the originality points, kiddies:
~The fact that this is taken straight from history. C'mon, how many games are there for ANY system that have been taken straight out of history?
~The Overhead view. Most shooting games are scrolled from left to right, not top to bottom. I think it's a wonderfully ingenious idea.
~Weapon Upgrades vs. More Energy. This game put the idea of strategy into your head, as in order for you to get a weapon powerup you are forced to shoot an energy boost until it becomes the weapon you want. This makes you wonder - should you go for the bigger, badder gun and hope you can survive until the next energy boost, or should you risk going with the regular ol' gatling gun and live longer with the boost?
~Concepts of fighter pilots and their flight tactics against your plane. This one's self-explanitory, folks.
~The Lightning/Tidal Wave idea, plus all the other special weapons. Again, self-explanitory. C'mon, if this game started ripping off other games and their guns, wouldn't we KNOW it?


Play Control:
This is the cream of the crop in shooter games. You can move back, forward, left, right, firing with either the standard shot, a charged up laser (hold down the button a little bit), or a massive Lightning/Tsunami attack. Your speed is perfect, and while being able to speed up or slow down would have been nice additions, the normal game speed doesn't warrant the need for it. Therefore, it is just fine, and needs NO tweaking (although speed-up items WOULD be nice).

Enjoyment:
I would have loved to see a 2-player version of this. Oh well...the true enjoyment of this comes from the nail-biting, reflex-crunching action of dodging planes and bullets as you speed towards your target, which you intend on destroying! It's you vs. the entire nation of Japan, and THEY ARE NOT HAPPY! Just think, Japan is the country that makes all of those VCRs and compact cars no one can figure out how to program correctly, and you're going to try to take on their military! A HA HA HA HA!

Seriously, though, this game is fun because it's a shooter, and a darn good one at that. The replay value comes when you want to see if you can upgrade your plane in a different order and see if you can successfully survive going all offensive instead of a well-balanced mix, or maybe all energy. The game also has a point system, so you can play again (if you so choose) to see if you can get a higher score. My only complaint with the enjoyment of this game (other than ''I didn't enjoy it enough!'') were the lack of a 2-player mode. C'mon, if you had 2 people flyin' along, trashing the Japanese left and right...ok, I probably sound racist now. I'll just say...2 PLAYER!!!

Challenge:
Because of your “Energy” counter, you have a bit of strategy involved, especially when the screen gets cluttered with enemies (should I try to use a lightning attack, or wade through them all and risk getting hit?). It's interesting to see a shooting game with strategy aspects in it, rather than ''Shoot faster! Move here, then shoot again! Yeah!''. The challenge isn't based off of the enemies coming off of you (although it is derived from them); it is instead brought from your own skill and decisions as to what you want to upgrade on your plane. If you go all offensive and are very quick with the reflexes, this game might be very easy for you. You might space it out and give yourself more of a challenge. My only conplaint is that some of the bosses seem a little unfairly-balanced. The first giant plane (who's name escapes me) has rear guns that tear you to pieces, which just doesn't seem fair, given you are almost on top of them while fighting this giant plane.

Ending:
Given the general graphics, sound, and music level of the entire game, the ending was purely average. It didn't introduce anything new (well, ok, some graphics and music), but there wasn't much in the way of ''Pure, spectacular ending'' craftmanship. It is, for the most part, average, when compared to the system and the game itself.


Overall:
Overall, this game rules. It is a great shooter, and features excellent graphics, great music, an easy-yet-intuitive gameplay, and sounds that...well, ok, the sounds aren't the greatest, but they ARE above average for the system. If you get your hands on a copy of this game, don't sell it. It is worth what you pay for it, as its challenge and enjoyment truly are what you make of it. Make it a good one, my son, as I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I think you will too.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/27/00, Updated 08/27/00