#1944: The Loop Master

[pixelgrotto]

Top-down Planes Galore

Over the last few years, thanks to my wife's English side of the family, I've visited a fair share of interesting British museums. One of these is the Shuttleworth Collection, a neat place that features an array of planes from the early half of the 20th century. If you're ever in Bedfordshire and have a hankering to see biplanes from the 1920s, I really can't recommend a visit enough. I wouldn't call myself an aviation geek, but there's something about seeing a World War II aircraft in person that stirred my imagination, and one of the souvenirs I bought from my visit was a cool pair of socks that had pixelated biplanes on them.

I specifically bought the socks because they reminded me of Capcom's 1942, the first entry in the 19XX series of shoot 'em ups, AKA shmups. Honestly, I hadn't played much of 1942 at the time, but I've always known enough about shmups to think of the game when I see pixelated biplanes. It probably stands out in my head as an interesting example of a Japanese company making a product where the whole goal is to blow up the Japanese. Yep, 1942 puts the player in the role of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning pilot maneuvering his aircraft through the skies of the Pacific Theater, on a mission to reach Tokyo and blast the heck out of everything. Apparently the game was made with Western audiences in mind, so I suppose we have capitalism to thank for a game that is both historically accurate and not historically accurate at all. (Yes, Japan lost the war, but I don't think any of the Lockheeds in the Battle of Midway had spray guns capable of shooting a billion bullets at once.)

I recently dove into 1942 and almost all of the other games in the 19XX series, mostly because I was inspired by my British nephew, who's recently been going on about planes for hours on end. You can play almost all of them via the Capcom Arcade Stadium compilations on Steam, which repackage classic arcade games and make them easily playable without the hassle of needing to fiddle with MAME emulation. (The decision to make each game DLC that you have to buy is probably questionable, but putting that aside, these packages are pretty okay.)

Anyway, I soon discovered that the original 1942 is the epitome of a 1980s arcade quarter gobbler, with a staggering 32 levels of monotony and some of the most annoyingly tinny background music known to man. It's fun to do loops around Japanese bombers for the first ten minutes, and I've always loved the power-up that gives you two flanking planes that help soak up extra damage, which would go on to be a series staple. Beyond that, 1942 grates at the soul and has not aged well.

1943: The Battle of Midway, and its slightly remixed semi-sequel 1943 Kai, are much better. Here, we bear witness to screen-filling tsunami attacks that can instantly wreck all enemies, a more forgiving difficulty level, and varied stages that don't consist of simply flying over the ocean and rice paddies. Everything's faster and a good deal more fun, and instead of solely taking down planes, now you've got boss battles against Imperial Japanese naval fleets, ending in a fight against the battleship Yamato. And thankfully, the tinny music is gone and replaced by battle-ready tracks that are nicely catchy.

This formula is refined even further in the later games, all of which loosen up on the feeling of "one American plane versus Japan" for a progressively zanier feel. 1941: Counter Attack ditches the Pacific Theater for firefights over European skies, and despite taking place in the earlier years of WWII, your pilot goes up against enemy crafts that are so extreme in size and flavor that they border on science fiction. You'll fire away at German rockets that look like they're designed to fly to the moon and tanks that take up a quarter of the screen. The end boss is a Horten Ho 229, the German prototype bomber that never went into mass production, yet is a formidable foe in this game that is sleek and almost alien-like in its movements.

19XX: The War Against Destiny takes that science fiction appeal to the maximum and says, "To hell with a historical shmup, let's go to the future with two X's, baby!" In an amusing move that would later be replicated by the Call of Duty series two decades later (when they jumped from WWII to the arena of Modern Warfare - and later Advanced Warfare), 19XX sees you taking on the Outer Limits, a terrorist organization that somehow has a futuristic army with hundreds of expendable fighter pilots. For the first time, you can choose between three different planes: the old school Lockheed P-38 Lightning (the well-balanced one), the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito (the heavy firepower one), and the Kyushu J7W Shinden (the speedy one). All of these planes are worthy options against enemies that scale in a ludicrous fashion, and one of the bosses in the later levels is basically a mech. It's great. And because the game runs on Capcom's CPS-2 arcade board, which also powered the Street Fighter Alpha/Zero series, the action is fast and clean to a degree that's very reminiscent of the company's fighting game output.

1944: The Loop Master is the last 19XX game I played, because it's the last one available in the Capcom Arcade Stadium. It takes the action back to WWII, but the gusto and fury of all the futuristic stuff exhibited in 19XX: The War Against Destiny is present and accounted for. Hello, my biplane can shoot lasers? Sure, why not! Technically, this one was developed by Eighting and not by Capcom, and all I know about Eighting is that they made the Bloody Roar games and Battle Garegga, another shmup with a cool soundtrack that samples the techno track "Jupiter Jazz," by Underground Resistance. They did a good job, and while 1943 and 19XX: The War Against Destiny stick out in my memory more than The Loop Master, I can safely say that this one features a little dude who parachutes out of your plane when you die. About time I finally saw my pilot!

Honestly, I'm not a great shmup player. I played all of these casually on my Steam Deck, and I never would've made a dent in them in the arcades. But there's something about the 19XX series that's appealing to me, at the very least on an aesthetic level. It's probably the highly detailed 2D pixelated artistry that goes into the top-down depiction of these warplanes, which are given the same slavish fanboyism that you see in Japanese mecha franchises. I think back to the several times I've visited Japan and been to antiwar exhibits like the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Minus a few groups of nationalist nutjobs, Japan's by far and large a deeply antiwar country - but there do exist otaku who nerd out over WWII-era tech, usually not in a "the Imperial Japanese Army was right" sort of way, but in a way that basically says, "the Yamato was one of the biggest battleships ever constructed at 70,000+ tons, I shall now proceed to write an essay about why that was cool." And you know, I can appreciate that attention to technical detail, just like how I can respect the planes on exhibit in the Shuttleworth Collection. So give the 19XX games a whirl if you like planes or simply dig fine artistry - and go visit the Shuttleworth and buy those socks while you're at it.

#pixel grotto #now playing #1942 #1943: the battle of midway #1941: counter attack #19xx: the war against destiny #1944: the loop master

[neverstopgaming]

19XX

19XXシリーズは、第二次世界大戦中に実際に起きた出来事を題材にした縦スクロールシューティングゲーム群です。 最初の 3 つのゲームは非常に人気���あり、Capcom Generations の第 1 巻やその後の Capcom Classics Collection など、いくつかのコンピレーション タイトルに収録されました。

#19XX Series #1941: Counter Attack #1942 #1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen #1943: The Battle of Midway #19XX: The War Against Destiny #1944: The Loop Master #194X Series #1942: Joint Strike #1942: First Strike #Capcom #SHUMP #Shoot'em-Up #Vertical Scrolling Shooter

[devileaterjaek]

#gaming #capcom #1944 the loop master #shmups #arcade #2000 #planes #aircraft #japanese games #jpn #jp #capcom games #epilepsy warning #epilepsy #flashing lights #cw epilepsy

[tevvoplays]

Rock n' Barrel Roll [1944: The Loop Master]

#youtube #arcade #capcom #retro games #retro gaming #video games #videogames

[g4zdtechtv]

Cinematech's Trailer Park - Capcom Home Arcade

Featuring the first ever re-release of Alien vs. Predator!

#Cinematech (blog) #Trailer Park #gaming #1944: The Loop Master #Alien vs. Predator (arcade) #Armored Warriors #Capcom Sports Club #Captain Commando #Cyberbots #Darkstalkers #Eco Fighters #Final Fight #Ghouls 'n Ghosts #Giga Wing #Street Fighter II #Mega Man: The Power Battle #ProGear #Strider #Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

[replayxvalue]

Player Review-1944: The Loop Master (2000) Developers-8ing/Raizing Publishers-Capcom Platforms-Arcade, GameTap Series-194X Genres-Vertical Scrolling Shooter Modes-Single-Player, 2-Player Co-op Arcade System-CP System II

1944: The Loop Master is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Capcom's 19XX franchise. As I stated in my review of 1941: Counter Attack, it feels like every game in the series is ACTUALLY the same game, getting better and better each time until they produce the final product, which would be this.  This isn't Capcom's greatest effort in the vertical-scrolling shooter genre BUT it is definitely one of the best.

What makes this one so much better than it's predecessors? Let's start with the visuals. 1944 being created over a decade after the first game in the series means massive graphical upgrades, it means more detail, it means better looking stages, better designed enemy aircraft and that more can be happening on the screen at once which adds to the chaos and difficulty of the gameplay. There seems to be an actual art direction and an attempt to create an actual atmosphere around the game so it doesn't feel so empty and devoid of character. Each stage feels like it’s own battle and it's own moment within the war so there is some semblance of story here. Titles that ran on Capcom's CPS-II arcade system board used the Qsound processing algorithm so this game could have a legitimate soundtrack and vibrant sound effects. The background music has a very "Top Gun/80's action movie" flavor to it.

The problem with the previous games is that they were so tedious and repetitive that they almost didn't feel like games at all, they felt like tasks or chores..things you didn't want to do but you had to do. 1944 actually feels like a game. It's actually fun to play both alone and with a friend. Strategizing on how to take out each special target and how to get to it's weak points without taking substantial damage was actually entertaining as opposed to just mindlessly floating through level after level of boring enemies that barely offer a challenge. The game calculating the amount of enemies on the level you destroyed actually makes sense for this installment more than some of the earlier games in the series because it's actually hard to destroy some of the different tanks, warships and bombers. I actually ended up with less than 100% accuracy in 1942 or 1943 for some levels because I got tired of even pushing the fire button.

THE GOOD -Capcom teamed up with Eighting/Raizing to create this title who you may know for creating the Bloody Roar franchise, but they are also absolute masters when it comes to the vertical-scrolling shooter genre. If you can't have any fun playing this...you just don't like these types of games.

-Although there is still isn't much of a story present in this game, they at least do their due diligence to create a unique and interesting atmosphere around it. I assume that because it deals with an event that actually happened (World War II), Capcom didn't want to put their own spin on it, which is understandable but at the very least the game feels like it's own world. It has it's own energy.

-If you are able to utilize the charge shot properly as well as the other power-ups, the stages actually go pretty quickly.

-The game is only 15 levels so even though right off the bat it's alot more fun than the games that preceded it, it doesn't give you a chance to get bored of it before it's over.

THE BAD -1944 isn't as interesting as many of the other games in this genre and even some distributed by Capcom themselves because it deals with our own actual history so it doesn't have as much material to work with as titles that went the science fiction route. This is more of a nitpick than anything though because there is nothing actually wrong with using a more realistic atmosphere for a game.

I give 1944: The Loop Master a 7.9 out of 10 SOLID

#194X #19XX #1944: The Loop Master #Capcom #CPS-2 #Eighting #Raizing #Player Review #Video Game Review #World War II #WWII #8ing #Arcade #Vertical-Scrolling Shooter #GameTap #2000

[6ad6ro]

#final fight #arcade #ghosts n goblins #strider #gaming #1944 the loop master #capcom #arcade1up #photo #anikiii #i finally got a ff arcade! #i love it! #it's not a full arcade but it's kinda better imo? #was only $150 omggg #it's perfect like one of the best things i've ever owned #leaves in demo mode 24/7

[pembrokewkorgi]

@krunchylex and I drink alcohol and play arcade games.  Much fun is had.

#mame #arcade #let's play #pembrokewkorgi #krunchylex #three stooges #kung fu master #jack rabbit #1944 loop master #capcom #data east

[tinycartridge]

Capcom Arcade Stadium brings yes, more old games to Switch ⊟

Here’s my favorite bit out of The Game Awards, which I’ve been told happened last night. In February, Capcom is launching Capcom Arcade Stadium on Switch, a free download that comes packed with free 1943, with more arcade games as paid DLC bundles. Here they are:

Pack 1: Dawn of the Arcade (’84 ’88): VULGUS, PIRATE SHIP HIGEMARU, 1942, COMMANDO, SECTION Z, Tatakai no Banka, LEGENDARY WINGS, BIONIC COMMANDO, FORGOTTEN WORLDS, Ghouls ’n Ghosts

Pack 2: Arcade Revolution (’89 ’92): STRIDER, DYNASTY WARS, FINAL FIGHT, 1941 Counter Attack --, Senjo no Okami II, MEGA TWINS, CARRIER AIR WING, STREET FIGHTER II The World Warrior, CAPTAIN COMMANDO, VARTH, Operation Thunderstorm

Pack 3: Arcade Evolution (’92 ’01): WARRIORS OF FATE, STREET FIGHTER II’ Hyper Fighting --, SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO, Powered Gear Strategic Variant Armor Equipment, CYBERBOTS FULLMETAL MADNESS, 19XX The War Against Destiny, Battle Circuit, Giga Wing, 1944 The Loop Master, Progear

Ghosts ‘n Goblins is its own DLC for some reason

These old games will be more playable thanks to rewind as well as speed and difficulty settings! 

Capcom previously tried this strategy back on PS3 and Xbox 360 with the Capcom Arcade Cabinet series. I don’t know the pricing on this new set, but I feel like there’s a lot to be said about choosing your own retro bundle!

Additionally, Capcom announced a new Ghosts ‘n Goblins game, which looks really, really nice!

JOIN CLUB TINY AND OUR DISCORD Support Tiny Cartridge!

#switch #capcom #retro #arcade #capcom arcade stadium #ghosts 'n goblins #jc #gaming

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.13

1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. 1612 – Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island. 1613 – Samuel Argall, having captured Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her father. 1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey. 1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament. 1849 – Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly. 1861 – American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces. 1865 – American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union Forces. 1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded. 1873 – The Colfax massacre, in which more than 60 black men are murdered, takes place. 1909 – The military of the Ottoman Empire reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. 1919 – Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops lead by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer killed approx 379-1000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India; and approximately 1,500 injured. 1941 – A pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed. 1943 – World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility. 1943 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth. 1944 – Relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union are established. 1945 – World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany. 1945 – World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna. 1948 – In an ambush, 78 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital, and a British soldier, are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah. This event came to be known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre. 1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKUltra. 1958 – American pianist Van Cliburn is awarded first prize at the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. 1960 – The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system. 1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. 1970 – An oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed "Odyssey") while en route to the Moon. 1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan. 1972 – Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins. 1975 – An attack by the Phalangist resistance kills 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. 1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. 1976 – Forty workers die in an explosion at the Lapua ammunition factory, the deadliest accidental disaster in modern history in Finland. 1992 – Basements throughout the Chicago Loop are flooded, forcing the Chicago Board of Trade Building and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to close. 1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament. 2003 – A bus near the Vale of Tempe, Greece is involved in a major vehicle accident with a truck and multiple cars, leaving 21 students in the tenth grade of Makrochori, Imathia High School dead and nine injured during their return to their homes from a trip to Athens. 2017 – The US drops the largest ever non-nuclear weapon on Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.

#Events

[satoshi-mochida]

Capcom announced Capcom Arcade Stadium for Switch at The Game Awards 2020. It will launch in February 2021 as a free download with 1943: The Battle of Midway, and 31 additional arcade classics available as separate downloadable content packs.

Here is an overview of the game, via Capcom:

About

For old-school fans and novices alike, Capcom Arcade Stadium will bring the electrifying thrill of an arcade to Nintendo Switch, with 32 action-packed classics available to play anytime and anywhere. After downloading Capcom Arcade Stadium, players will receive 1943: The Battle of Midaway for free and can purchase the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins as a stand-alone add-on. Retro fans can then choose to purchase up to three different 10-game packs of Capcom arcade classics spanning the decades. Each pack celebrates a different era of Capcom arcade goodness, from ‘80s classics like Bionic Commando or Strider, to iconic ‘90s games like Super Street Fighter II Turbo and more. Fans can also choose to purchase the “all-in” pack, which contains all three 10-game packs in addition to the Ghosts ‘n Goblins stand-alone add-on for maximum nostalgia.

This must-have collection provides an abundance of customization options for each title, and new gameplay options including a Rewind feature that is available across all games. Players can jump back in time to save themselves or a friend from any unforeseen dangers in up to four-player local multiplayer.

Key Features

-Arcade at Home – Take 32 classic Capcom titles out of the arcade and into your home! Includes a free version of 1943: The Battle of Midway, three different packs of Capcom’s finest, and the stand-alone Ghosts ‘n Goblins add-on.

Pack 1: Dawn of the Arcade (1984 to 1988): Vulgus, Pirate Ship Higemaru, 1942, Tatakai no Banka, Legendary Wings, Bionic Commando, Forgotten Worlds, and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.

Pack 2: Arcade Revolution (1989 to 1992): Strider, Dynasty Wars, Final Fight, 1941: Counter Attack, Senjo no Okami II, Mega Twins, Carrier Air Wing, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Captain Commando, and Varth: Operation Thunderstorm.

Pack 3: Arcade Evolution (1992 to 2001): Warriors of Fate, Street Fighter II’: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Powered Gera: Strategic Variant Armor Equipment, Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness, 19XX: The War Against Destiny, Battle Circuit, Giga Wing, 1944: The Loop Master, and Progea.

-Variety of Gameplay Options – Turn back the clock on any “Game Over” situations using the universal Rewind feature, or take advantage of the adjustable gameplay options by selecting your Game Speed and Difficulty Level. Choose from a variety of Display Settings, Display Filters, and various frames including a variety of 3D-rendered arcade cabinets. Never worry about losing progress with 32 available save slots.

-High Scores and More – Players will build their CASPO Class by playing games, earning achievements and completing challenges in Capcom Arcade Stadium. As players build their CASPO Class, they unlock in-game backgrounds and frames, including 2D and 3D rendered arcade cabinet designs. Compete in “Timed Challenge” and “Score Challenge” game modes to claim your place on the online leaderboards.

-Play Your Way – Enjoy multiple ways to play, including handheld mode, docked mode, tabletop mode, and a vertical mode.

Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.

#Capcom Arcade Stadium #Capcom #Ghosts ‘n Goblins #Strider #Cybots #Street Fighter #Gematsu

[demifiendrsa]

Capcom Arcade Stadium - Announce Trailer

Feature trailer

It will launch in February 2021 as a free download with 1943: The Battle of Midway, and 31 additional arcade classics available as separate downloadable content packs.

Overview

About

For old-school fans and novices alike, Capcom Arcade Stadium will bring the electrifying thrill of an arcade to Nintendo Switch, with 32 action-packed classics available to play anytime and anywhere. After downloading Capcom Arcade Stadium, players will receive 1943: The Battle of Midaway for free and can purchase the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins as a stand-alone add-on. Retro fans can then choose to purchase up to three different 10-game packs of Capcom arcade classics spanning the decades. Each pack celebrates a different era of Capcom arcade goodness, from ‘80s classics like Bionic Commando or Strider, to iconic ‘90s games like Super Street Fighter II Turbo and more. Fans can also choose to purchase the “all-in” pack, which contains all three 10-game packs in addition to the Ghosts ‘n Goblins stand-alone add-on for maximum nostalgia.

This must-have collection provides an abundance of customization options for each title, and new gameplay options including a Rewind feature that is available across all games. Players can jump back in time to save themselves or a friend from any unforeseen dangers in up to four-player local multiplayer.

Key Features

Arcade at Home – Take 32 classic Capcom titles out of the arcade and into your home! Includes a free version of 1943: The Battle of Midway, three different packs of Capcom’s finest, and the stand-alone Ghosts ‘n Goblins add-on.

Variety of Gameplay Options – Turn back the clock on any “Game Over” situations using the universal Rewind feature, or take advantage of the adjustable gameplay options by selecting your Game Speed and Difficulty Level. Choose from a variety of Display Settings, Display Filters, and various frames including a variety of 3D-rendered arcade cabinets. Never worry about losing progress with 32 available save slots.

High Scores and More – Players will build their CASPO Class by playing games, earning achievements and completing challenges in Capcom Arcade Stadium. As players build their CASPO Class, they unlock in-game backgrounds and frames, including 2D and 3D rendered arcade cabinet designs. Compete in “Timed Challenge” and “Score Challenge” game modes to claim your place on the online leaderboards.

Play Your Way – Enjoy multiple ways to play, including handheld mode, docked mode, tabletop mode, and a vertical mode.

Pack 1: Dawn of the Arcade (1984 to 1988): Vulgus, Pirate Ship Higemaru, 1942, Tatakai no Banka, Legendary Wings, Bionic Commando, Forgotten Worlds, and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.

Pack 2: Arcade Revolution (1989 to 1992): Strider, Dynasty Wars, Final Fight, 1941: Counter Attack, Senjo no Okami II, Mega Twins, Carrier Air Wing, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Captain Commando, and Varth: Operation Thunderstorm.

Pack 3: Arcade Evolution (1992 to 2001): Warriors of Fate, Street Fighter II’: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Powered Gera: Strategic Variant Armor Equipment, Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness, 19XX: The War Against Destiny, Battle Circuit, Giga Wing, 1944: The Loop Master, and Progea.

#Capcom Arcade Stadium #Capcom #video game #long post #TGA 2020 #Nintendo Switch

[devileaterjaek]

1944: The Loop Master (Capcom, arcade)

#1944 #arcade #shmup #gaming #capcom #90s #arcade games #arcade gaming #sprites #pixels #video games #shoot em ups

[ao3feed-stucky]

by ArvisTaljik

Soulmates across time.

In present day, near the village of Ornes, France, James "Bucky" Barnes works on his master's thesis in history while he fantasizes about meeting a WWII American GI.

In 1944, during the Battle of Ornes, Steve Rogers is a young soldier facing the horrors of the battlefield.

Mourning the death of his friends from enemy fire, Steve volunteers to bring the message for retreat so he can save everyone else in his battalion. While on his mission, mustard gas surrounds Steve and though he thinks he is dying, he finds himself in a peaceful green meadow where he literally trips over Bucky.

Bucky doesn't believe Steve is who he says he is, a soldier from WWII. But a powerful attraction grows between them, and if Steve is truly a visitor from the past, then he is Bucky's dream come true. The problem is, Steve's soul wants to finish his mission, and time keeps yanking him back to relive his fateful last morning over and over, even as his heart and body long to stay with Bucky.

Will Steve have to choose between Bucky and saving his friends? Will time come to an end for them both, leaving them both alone?

Words: 7838, Chapters: 3/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton, Nick Fury

Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Shrunkyclunks, Howling Commandos - Freeform, Relatively accurate descriptions of the effects of Mustard Gas, World War II, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travel in Loops, Things get better each time, Period-typical Homophobia (World War II), First Times, Falling In Love, Slow Burn

#Bucky #AO3 works tagged 'James Barnes/Steve Rogers' #ao3feed #stucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #c

[replayxvalue]

Player Review-1941: Counter Attack (1990)

Publishers- Arcade [JP/NA]: Capcom EU: Electrocoin, SuperGrafx [JP:] Hudson Soft Directors-Yoshiki Okamoto Designers-Akira Nishitani, Noritaka Funamizu, Toshihiko Uda Programmer-Yoshihiro Shindome Artists-Akemi Kurihara, Akira Yasuda, Sadaki Matsumoto Composers-Hiromitsu Takaoka Series-194X Platforms-Arcade, SuperGrafx Genres-Vertically Scrolling Shooter Modes-Single-player, 2 Player Co-op

1941: Counter Attack is the precursor to the 19XX: War Against Destiny title which would be the fourth installment in Capcom’s vertical, side-scrolling shooter series. While occurring earlier in history, 1941 is actually the third game in the series following 1942 & 1943 Kai/1943: Battle of Midway. Capcom’s final and perhaps best attempt at a legitimate entry in this genre is 1944: The Loop Master, but for now let’s take a look at this one and see how it stacks up against it’s predecessors as well as other games in the genre.

While being rooted in historical context, the game doesn’t provide much incite or commentary on the events it depicts, and for a series that ran from 1984 to 2000, you would think that there would be some semblance of a story that you could piece together between games but that really isn’t the case. Vertical-scrolling shooters such as these are generally boring anyway and exist as a “cash grab” in arcades because while patrons may on the basis of aesthetics find this interesting enough to play, most people don’t have the patience or the hand-eye coordination to actually be good at them, and when there isn’t really much going on around the action it becomes a pretty mundane playthrough very quickly. With each new game in the series Capcom seems to get a little better at providing an entertaining experience but it seems like they are actually just making the same game over and over, tweaking it little by little until it’s better, and the last game in the series is just the one they wanted to make from the beginning but the technology at the time wasn’t up to snuff.

1941 being the third game in the series is obviously a lot better than 1942 & 1943: Battle of Midway, which are barely different from one another but all-in-all there isn’t much fun to be had playing this. What makes it worse is it’s also fairly easy so where a lot of these type of shooters still have the element of mystery because you won’t make it far enough in the game to find out just how much of a waste of time it is, you may actually witness this first hand.

I’ve actually beaten this game and made it to the end but that sense of accomplishment I usually feel when I complete a game didn’t exist here especially because they didn’t even use the ending to actually add any story elements or anything interesting at all. In the credits they name for you the “bosses” of the game which are just a series of generic tanks and aircraft and then player 1 & player 2 fly off into the sunset. That’s it, that’s the whole thing.  The games is about 6 levels of mildly well designed settings and tedious boss fights and that’s it.

The game isn’t exactly a disaster. Capcom added this game to several of their “classic” compilations to be released on more modern consoles & handhelds so it wasn’t considered a fail for them, and for the time that it came out and it’s genre I can see how this was considered a notable entry but in hindsight the game has not aged well and offers a virtually empty experience by today’s standards. Even for it’s time period games that predate it like SiniStar & Galaga offered a something that; while repetitive, had way more to offer in terms of style & flair which I assume is why those games are iconic and 1941 is virtually unknown to a lot of gamers and especially the casuals.

THE GOOD -Pretty significant graphical upgrade from the previous game: 1943 Kai/1943: The Battle of Midway. -The level designs offer a lot more detail than 1942 & 1943 so you at least have something moderately interesting to look during gameplay. I would imagine that before this you couldn’t have many objects on screen at once so that significantly reduced how you could depict each setting. -The fire rate on your weaponry is perhaps the biggest improvement of this installment in the series. The much weaker fire rate of your aircraft’s artillery in the previous two games slowed down the gameplay.

-This is one of the shorter games in the series which is good because even if you decide to play this for an extended period of time, you can complete it or make significant progress in a reasonable time frame.

THE BAD -I assume that because this is an arcade game and it’s not really meant for home consumption (although it was released for SuperGrafx) Capcom didn’t think a story was necessary. It’s also based in the realistic setting of World War II so maybe they didn’t want to actually tamper with real world history, but you can’t offer gameplay this tedious and not at least try and break the monotony with some semblance of a narrative. It feels like everything you do is for nothing. It’s JUST a game and that’s it. Buttons and actions.

-Because the game is based around a legitimate war a lot of the stage designs and designs of the playable/non-playable aircraft, warships & tanks are pretty bland. There isn’t much room for their designers to flex their muscles.

I give 1941: Counter Attack a 5.2 out of 10 SNOREFEST

#1941: Counter Attack #1990 #1941 #World War II #WWII #Player Review #Video Game Review #194X #19XX #Capcom #Arcade #Supergrafx #Vertical-Scrolling Shooter #Electrocoin #Hudson Soft

[6ad6ro]

nobody asked but here’s my quick review of arcade1ups final fight cabinet:

it’s amazing and i love it so gd much just wow one of my fav things i’ve ever owned. considering reg cabs run $2000+, these having multiple games and starting at $400 feels like a steal? tho realistically u can find em anywhere for $300 and they always go on sale. i got mine black friday for only $150. like $150 for an arcade cab!? holy shit yeah ok! it’s only 3/4 the size of a reg cabinet. and has an lcd instead of a crt. no heavy arcade guts bc it’s emulating. no coin slots/chutes. these prob all sound like cons, but realistically? these are all kinda good things imo. it’s light so u can actually move it easily (yeah have fun tryin to move a reg cab on ur own). it’s small enough to fit into a normal bedroom etc (u ever want the best nightlight in the world)? and u don’t hafta worry about replacing impossible-to-find arcade crt (also low power consumption thank god). the emulation feels perfect btw like i can’t tell the difference tbh... the games included are: “final fight”. obviously... which is amazing n my fav arcade game prob! “ghosts ‘n goblins”. which is great n another fav n perfect for this kinda thing bc it’s super hard? but u keep goin back to it to see how far u can get. then “strider”. which is just one of the coolest cap platformers ever. and finally “1944 the loop master”. which is a very good, pretty, and solid shmup. honestly i love all of these games and it gives the cab an amazing sense of variety. i might have wanted to swap out 1944 for somethin else, but i feel almost like i’m spoiled sayin that. it’s a fantastic selection! it has a nice on\off switch on top so u don’t hafta unplug it or have it on a power switcher etc! and it has a sound switch to swap between “silent, normal, loud”. silent is perfect to select a game n just run the demo mode (my fav part besides playin the games). normal is standard volume for playin a game. and loud is PRETTY dang loud? i assume thats for wantin to still hear it a bit if u wanted to have it in a room with other arcades or if ppl were hangin out. loud won’t blow ur eardrums out or nothin! n it only has one speaker but it works pretty well n sounds fine imo. the sticks are great. feel really good tbh! i’ve heard them called “good sanwa clones”. buttons are fine but not as good as the stick? no satisfying “click”. i’ve heard the street fighter cabs or the older 1ups had much worse sticks, but they clearly fixed it with their newer ones and w final fight in particular! i’ve had zero input issues so far with either player (it has two sets of sticks/buttons for 2 player). the cabinet aesthetics is amazing quality n they perfectly recreated the final fight cab art. it looks and feels like a real cab, but totally clean and brand new. IT’S INCREDIBLE! i’m glad they started including clear plastic covers for the stick/button area so u can even play w greasy pizza fingers n not worry about rubbing the design off. it’s all just exactly what you’d want imo. if i were to have any real critiques? it’d be the fact they have no way to access soft dip settings. meaning u can’t access things like difficulty? which when u consider they make street fighter 2 multicabs? it seems insane. that alone would make me rly consider not buying any of their fighting game cabs. default arcade difficulty is usually cheap as fuck. this should be fixed and i don’t care what excuses they have why it’s not in there. but the final fight cab (n i assume same for all their cabs) it’s set to freeplay. unlimited credits. so you can just manually decide how many “coins” ur willin to use at the start? which is honestly FINE and most of the games are super tough and perfect for this kinda thing. if u can have self control w self-limiting credits, it’s perfect. and anyone wanting to beat any of the games real quick still could just by mashing in credits. tho ghosts ‘n goblins is thankfully still set up to be rly challenging even w unlimited? i love it! obv it woulda been nice to have lightup coin slots n chutes? even if they were fake? but nbd. and i wish they had a few settings for aesthetics like scanlines or crt warping/wrapping etc? but again i don’t NEED that and the display looks great imo. you can still select a game and it’ll run a demo/eyecatch? but it woulda been neat if u waited on the game selection menu and it cycled thru the eyecatches. again none of these are rly mandatory changes. and tho access to the game settings (at least difficulty) NEEDS to be in later cabs? it’s weirdly fine to not have it with this game selection? it’s great  as it is, but just lacks little bonuses u might like. oh and sadly there’s no good way to softmod em yet, and there’ll prob never be a way on these? people already have good methods to use these cabs as a base for good retropie setups tho! it just involves soldering so i’ll prob keep this one standard (it only has two buttons per stick anyhow). it took me a few hours to set up alone, but it was kinda fun tbh? all in all, it’s maybe the best $150 i’ve ever spent on something i didn’t need. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT! if u have the money to spare n can get it at a good price, and it has a game selection you’d want, i’d say DO IT. if they ever make one based around street fighter iii? i’d prob buy it even if i don’t rly have room! it’d hafta have difficulty settings tho like they need to figure that out geez... anyways! good purchase. love it. i just run it in silent demo mode all day like it’s perfect.

#long #i rly do adore it