Being a young video game fan is torture for many. For legions of gamers they only receive new games on birthdays or random holidays. I consider myself fortunate in that regard. Growing up with a full family still living at home meant we bought new games every few weeks. But eventually that gravy train stopped and at one point Legendary Wings was the only game I had for a very long time. You would think all those months spent replaying it over and over would have made the game endearing. But it’s the opposite. Legendary Wings is a game that, while decent, is still very flawed and not very fun.
Legendary Wings is an interesting game like other Capcom arcade ports. The Greco Roman architecture meets future technology world is incredibly unique. In fact it is still pretty distinctive to this day. The NES version improves on the arcade game in a number of ways. But at the end of the day the game’s repetition ultimately kills it. Its leagues better than 1942 but not something I would recommend.
There were a number of changes made to the NES edition of Legendary Wings from both gameplay to visuals. Visually The NES game is more varied than its arcade counterpart. The arcade game was a consistently brown game right up until its conclusion. Each stage of the home version not only has its own distinct color palette but more visual variety thematically. While the overall detail is less than the arcade I prefer what they did on the NES. It is also blessed with a fantastic soundtrack that is once again better than the arcade. At this point Capcom were on a roll with their arcade ports but it bears repeating just how much better the Nintendo games were.
This is a game of two halves. Primarily Legendary Wings is an overhead shooter. Your angel is equipped with a pistol and bombs for ground based targets. There is a simple power-up system that upgrades your main gun up to five times. The NES version reduces the number of power-ups for each upgrade from two to one. The weapons were also redesigned for the better. The second upgrade, the twin laser, is larger. Your second power-up is a focused beam of fire that is incredibly powerful. Unfortunately the next step is the worst. It produces a weak single shot with two rebounding balls that can’t hit the broadside of a barn. But it is worth the pain of tolerating it to reach the all-powerful phoenix which attacks with waves that kill enemies in one shot.
Your weapons function as makeshift armor as each reduces your power one level. At full power the phoenix can take three hits before it is lost. It is incredibly powerful and almost game breaking at that. For a genre that revels in one hit deaths Legendary Wings is incredibly lenient in that regard. You have to go out of your way to actually die. Once your weapons are reduced it starts the typical shmup death spiral but honestly that is rare. The game does have a massive spike toward the end but never reaches the insane levels of its coin op big brother.
In addition to its overhead shooting segments Legendary Wings also has side-scrolling areas. The Danger Zones and Palaces differ from the arcade in that you have full flight at all times. This is a huge change and one that makes these sections tolerable. To make up for it each palace has more obstacles and more intricate design, full of dead ends and breakable walls. But free flight kind of ruins the enemy placement. I’ll still take these slow yet easy areas over the plodding arcade version any day of the week though.
For all of its improvements the NES version of Legendary Wings still suffers due to repetition. Structurally every level is identical. Every stage features a Guardian that attempts to suck you into a danger zone. At first it is easy to avoid but midway it is all but impossible to escape. Each danger zone uses the same graphical tile set and only differs in layout. You face the exact same demon statues followed by a dragon in every stage. Five stages with two segments each of the same thing gets tiring quickly. Combined with the ease with which you’ll breeze through the game I can’t imagine most staying interested long enough to see the end.
In Closing
Legendary Wings is not a bad game but it isn’t all that good either. The unique setting is interesting but the game does not capitalize on it. There are too many better shooters on the NES to settle for one that is only above average.
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