Jump to content
Due to a large amount of spamers, accounts will now have to be approved by the Admins so please be patient. ×
IGNORED

1945kIII - Orientalsoft's booming vertical shooter from the year 2000


Recommended Posts

Ever since finding & playing River Raid, 1942, Slap Fight & subsequently Zynaps on a few different 5&a1/4’s on our trusty family C64/128 in the late 80’s, I was hooked by the shoot-em-up genre.

 

Since those days I have found that most of my arcade gaming style addictions have been largely based around the short but incredibly sweet style of gaming that the shoot-em-up genre exudes..

623622799_1945kiiiscreenshot.jpg.4d77cb967b9af6e71051040197e7d82f.jpg

World changing historic events aside, about 7 years ago I found this game through MAME while seeing what other 194X... games were there to download & try.

 

1945kIII is a sublime and very polished vertical scrolling shooter which was sent to the arcades in the year 2000 by Korean Developer Oriental Software. I'm fairly certain that this game was an Asian market only release as I've never seen it in any arcades within Australia, America or the UK (anyone who has seen a 1945kIII machine anywhere, please let me know!)

 

There is little to no story line at all attached to this master-piece of shoot’-em-up coding, which in my mind is a good thing because it looks like the people who made this game had three main boxes to tick during development:

- Assured Re-playability through Variation

- Excellent weapons & effects

- A difficulty curve that can be learnt by almost anyone who gives it a few credits.

 

You start off with a choice of 10 aircraft from various nations such as Japan, Britain, Germany, Korea etc (The tenth plane is the 1945kIII special craft you sometimes get when using the random plane selector). The Major difference between 1945kIII and it’s peers is that there are 10 fighters to choose from which all have their own unique upgradable fire power & weapons.

1083308397_Shipselection.jpg.c4ba1d707cfd1d9659b25871b3e49e5e.jpg

 

Every fighter has a 2-stage standard fire technique so when hitting the fire button once it shoots off it’s version of a laser/pulse/bullet stream plus that fighters 2nd stage fire, like homing missiles or circular rotating destruction blades(no other way to explain that fire style), which all aid in mowing down the Alien(assumed) hordes.

Each plane also comes with its own unique special Bomb and Charge-Up Fire special. The bomb’s are the usual get-out-of-jail-free-card where upon activation something like a large attack bomber or set of planes will come from the base of the screen & fly slowly to the top that will clear most on-screen enemies while also absorbing any enemy bullets that happen

to be within the special attack/bomb’s effect area. This can be a saving grace in some of the busier levels and also a complete life saver when trying to escape some of the later bosses bullet formations.

screenshot.jpg.ee027a99fe610902260958c8a51c8ccc.jpg

The most gratifying thing about 1945kIII, though, has to be The Charge-up fire button attack, which is accessed by waiting for the special bar at the bottom left of your screen to fill by destroying enemies and avoiding any airborne enemies & any incoming fire (luckily you do not die on direct contact with an enemy, yet merely lose portions of your special charge-up meter – enemy fire will kill you though) .. the mentioned meter will change colours from green, when the charge fire is un-usable, to yellow where it does become useable but at diminished potency and/or time the effect stays on the screen, the next stage is Red which is doubly more destructive than yellow, then, if you stay alive long enough wihtout contact being made with any enemy craft & manage to get your special bar up to the end where it begins flashing you can then hold the fire button down for a few tense seconds you’ll unleash one of the most satisfying moves you can pull in any vertical shooter.

Depending on plane you choose it could be a huge yellow phoenix that slowly rises from the bottom to the top of the screen destroying everything in its path or a massive barrage of gigantic 3D rendered missiles that tear apart anything in their way including end of level bosses!

 

The gameplay always feels fair with the only the harsher cheap shots coming at you from the beginning of stage 3 and onwards – so, early on when you do get blasted out of the air you know it was only your fault… which is nice and it really keeps you in the “One-More-Go Zone” for longer than your partner/boss/parents would like haha

116708434_Explosionscreenshot.jpg.9b76430ddb83b5afb04cbca47731aac4.jpg

 

It's by no-means a bullet-hell kind of shooter but is very much along the veins of the 1945 & Raiden games. It may even be a Korean rom hack of one of the 1945 games, who knows - it's extremely hard to find any solid info on the development of this game.

 

IF any of you who are reading this are fans of vertical shooters or even just shooters in general & want to try something different with a lot of variation (10 planes, all having unique fire, bombs AND charge-up special attacks to master…) and have an appetite for massive explosions and powerful armaments: I strongly suggest you get this game and give it a few spins

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice review ArcadeMyk.

 

I love vertical scrolling shmups as well. I've seen this game on RetroUprising and have been meaning to give it a shot. Your review just may inspire me to do that. :) For those curious about the current scores: http://www.retrouprising.com/arcade.php?act=Arcade&do=stats&gameid=4820

 

The plane selection types and the selection screen itself reminds me very much of the Aero Fighters series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review. I'll have to dig this out next time I'm in MAME.

 

In the same genre, I quite like Gigawing. The reflect barrier is an interesting variation on the hold down to blow everything up mechanic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

thanks @Pessimeister & @ajfclark, much appreciated!

 

I posted my review to the UK Retro Gamer Magazine's users game review submissions section also so I hope it can get the word out about how fun this game really is & get more people addicted to it.

 

Had a look at those scores on Retro Uprising - they seem about right. Back when I was playing it quite often maybe a few times a week I could nearly manage a million points on one credit, so someone who isn't playing on keyboard or on a tiny laptop screen like I was back then would have a much better chance than me.

 

I've played Gigawing but haven't yet had a crack at Aero Fighters - will be grabbing the rom this weekend & will give it a spin =)

 

Cheers,

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hotdog Storm springs to mind for some reason too. Maybe just because the name doesn't sound like a vertical scrolling fighter shooter thing so it stuck in my memory. I haven't played it for years.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...