1942

Developer: Micronics     Publisher: Capcom     Released: 1986     Genre: Shooter

Capcom are one of the few third parties that have created long lasting hits in nearly every genre.  For platformers you have Mega Man.  For fighting games you have Street Fighter.  But for shooters their only long running series are the 19XX series of games.  Next to its contemporaries 1942 is a fictional take on World War II.  While it is an old game, being released in 1984, it was unique for its time and pretty cool.  At least it was in the arcade.  Something went horribly wrong with the NES port, leaving it as one of the worst games for the system.

With its real world setting 1942 stood out among the shooter crowd.  It was a simplistic game too, technically which made it easy to port to the various computer formats of the time.  The NES version isn’t too shabby considering its developer.  But what ultimately dooms it is the year of its release.  By 1985 Konami had ported Gradius to the system.  Gradius might as well have been a Super Nintendo game in comparison.   Against that kind of competition 1942 can’t compete.

1942 is a simple game at heart and that applies to its weapons system.  POW icons increase the power of your regular shots significantly.  This will be your primary weapon for most of the game.  Collect it again grants two smaller ships that function like options from Gradius.  Unfortunately they are not invincible as in that game and can be destroyed.  Your only defensive option is the barrel roll, which grants temporary invincibility.  These are limited but incredibly useful once mastered.

A simple game is by no means bad.  But what ultimately kills 1942 is its repetition.  Nearly every plays out in an identical fashion.  Groups of smaller planes arrive in predetermined waves while other ships weave in and try to hit and run.  Larger airships show up every now and again to break up the monotony but not often enough in my opinion.  There are boss battles but they are infrequent.  That is a shame as the game could really have used something to make it more exciting.

And so it goes for nearly all thirty two levels.  The pacing will drive you utterly mad as everything moves at a snail’s pace.  Enemy waves are slow which is maddening as they are utterly predictable.  Every now and then if you aren’t careful the screen will fill with enemies, at which point it almost grinds to a halt.  That’s about as difficult as it gets however.  There are infinite credits so seeing the ending is just a matter of willpower.  The biggest challenge is staying interested long enough to reach the end.  What you see in the first few levels is what you get basically as the game never changes.  Whether that is good enough to actually want to play this old game is a matter of preference.

Capcom once again chose Micronics for the home port of one of their arcade games.  In this case however the results aren’t as bad as their usual output.  It helps that 1942 wasn’t exactly a looker to begin with.  The blue seas and grassy areas comprise the entire game and never change.  The last few stages feature what might be city buildings but they look near indistinguishable from the rest of the game.  There is some slowdown and flicker although it is minimal; this is still a Micronics joint.  This is the least offensive of their NES work however.

As staid as the graphics are they don’t compare to the worst aspect of the game, the music.  There really isn’t any music in the game outside of the end level jingle that lasts a few seconds.  The one looping “song”, if you can even call it that, which plays during the entire game is just a series of repetitive drum beats.  It is the only sound you will hear for the entire thirty two level journey.  It never changes; the “music” drones on endlessly until you beat the game or are driven insane.  Madness.

In Closing

Truth be told 1942 was good for its time but not anything special.  Even if the NES port were better 1942 would still be a middling game in the system’s library.  About the best you could say is that 1942 was a necessary step to get to the superior 1943.  Play that game instead.