Overall 7.7 Graphics 7 Sound 4 Addictive 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
6.7
Drums, Whistles & Rolls thejunkcan
Ah yes, 1942...a game full of Drums, Whistles & Rolls. Those are the 3 words required to describe the game.
Going to the graphics, we have impressive usage of individual sprite "scaling" to represent planes gaining in altitude. To the colors? Colors are top notch, with no projectile being made "invisible" by the background.
Sound? I wasn't kidding when I said "Drums, Whistles" because most of the soundtrack is just that! In fact, the "coin
insert" sound effect is just a very small excerpt from one of the songs in the soundtrack, which is just lazy. Sound effects on the other hand are mediocre.
As typical from the 1942 series of games, this game has a hook and keeps you hooked with said hook. Killing the medium size enemies feel rewarding, and how moderately easy it is to gain extra lives, you may be at this cabinet for a long time.
Depth? Did you say...32 stages!??!! No, I am not kidding you, this game has 32 stages, but during the early stages the game can get somewhat repetitive, which is bad news for the addictiveness, hence why it is at a 9 for addictiveness.
Difficulty even on the "easy" difficulty is hard, and I actually MEAN hard. You have the small enemy planes that are basically like bugs & attempt to distract you by their movements, while at the same time firing bullets at you. You also may feel cornered because no matter what position on the map you are on, enemies will come from that position and shoot you down. See what I mean by "hard"? Is it a bullet hell game or a shooter game, you tell me.
In general I give this game a 6.7 out of 10. This game could've used more care in the sound department. I'm not familiar with Capcom arcade boards so I don't know the sound chip of this game in particular. What I can tell you is that if you want to play a mediocre shooter, then 1942 is the right choice...for you!
Graphics 7 Sound 4 Addictive 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-29-21
Review Replies: 0
- SCORING -
Small planes are 30, 50, 70, 100, 150, or 200 points each.
The small red planes that fly formations of 5 or 10 are 100 points each. Shooting all the planes in the 5 plane formation awards 500 bonus points. Shooting all the planes in the 10 plane formation awards 1, 000 bonus points. In both cases, when the last plane of a formation is destroyed, a powerup marker appears and is worth 1, 000 points when picked up.
Occasionally a small airplane comes slowly out of the lower left or lower right hand side of the screen and flies towards the top. When hit, it turns into a special figure which awards 5, 000 points when picked up.
Medium size planes are 1, 000 or 1, 500 points each.
Large bomber planes start at 2, 000 points each. The score for each consecutive bomber destroyed without the player dying is 500 points more than the previous one, up to a maximum of 9, 000 points. When the player’s ship is destroyed, the score for the bombers is reset back to 2, 000 points.
here are four boss planes. They appear at the end of stages 26, 18, 10, and 02 :
The stage 26 boss plane is worth 20, 000 points.
The stage 18 boss plane is worth 30, 000 points.
The stage 10 boss plane is worth 40, 000 points.
The stage 02 boss plane is worth 50, 000 points.
For all enemy planes that require more than one hit to kill, each hit on them gives 100 points.
At the end of each stage a bonus is awarded for shooting down percentage and for unused loops :
100% = Special bonus 50, 000 points (in older revisions, the game displays 10, 000 points bonus but 50, 000 points are actually awarded).
95-99% = 20, 000 points
90-94% = 10, 000 points
85-89% = 5, 000 points
80-84% = 4, 000 points
70-79% = 3, 000 points
60-69% = 2, 000 points
50-59% = 1, 000 points
Under 50% = 0 points
Unused loops are 1, 000 points each.
Finishing the final stage awards 10, 000, 000 points.
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* On stages 27, 20, 15, 08, and 04, a V-formation of red planes will come straight down from the top. If all 5 of the planes are destroyed, a Black/Red POW appears, giving the player an extra airplane when picked up.
* On stages with the wingman powerups, use them to kill off the large bombers easily by crashing a wingman into them. You will get a second chance to get them back later on.
* On the stages with the boss planes, save all your loops; shoot at it quickly, loop down to avoid the shots, shoot at it again and THEN loop. You should be able to kill it this way.
* Most of the time it is easier to keep only one wingman rather than both; that way it's easier to maneuver around enemies. If you miss the red airplanes that give you the wingman powerup, kill off your plane (assuming you have some remaining) and the game will place you back before them.
* An interesting bug : If you win an extra plane from points when killing a boss plane, no extra planes will be awarded on the basis of points. Extra planes can still be obtained by getting the Black/Red POW, but no point-based bonuses will be awarded for the rest of the game.
* The end of stage bonus for 100% shooting down is actually 50, 000 points, even though the game displays a 'special' bonus of only 10, 000 points.
When the player loses all of his ships, the game offers to continue for another credit. If this option is chosen, the game continues where it left off but the score is reset to zero.
* There are 6 kinds of powerups : Quad fire, destroy all enemies on screen, 2 wingmen, make enemies stop shooting temporarily, extra loop, and extra life. Note that the destroy all enemies powerup does not destroy the small slow plane that has the 5, 000 bonus item pickup.
Quad fire powerups are found on stages 32, 28, 24, 20, 16, 12, 08, and 04.
Destroy all enemies powerups are found on stages 31, 21, 19, 18, 11, 07, 03, and 01.
Wingman powerups are found on stages 30, 26, 22, 18, 14, 10, 06, and 02.
Extra life powerups are found on stages 27, 20, 15, 08, and 04.
Stop shooting powerups are found on stages 27 and 15.
Extra loop powerups are found on stages 23, 18, 17, 13, 09, and 05.
* % and point up stages are 29, 25, 21, 17, 13, 09, 05, 01. During these stages none of the enemies fire on the player except the large bomber planes.
* If the player earns enough bonus planes so that 10 ships or more are in the reserve, the 10 remaining ships indicators are replaced by the Greek letter sigma (?).
User Notice 
-1.png "1942 (Revision B) Title Screen")
-2.png "1942 (Revision B) Screenshot 1")
.jpg "1942 (Revision B) Box Art Front")
-3.png "1942 (Revision B) Screenthot 2")
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