''Airwolf'' is a series of

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

based on the TV series of the same name. The first game based on the series was released for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

Elite Systems Elite Systems is a British video game developer and publisher established in 1984 as Richard Wilcox Software. It is known for producing home computer conversions of popular arcade games. Elite also published compilations of games on the Hit-Pak ...

in 1984. The game also was released on the Commodore 64,

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

, and Atari 8-bit family. A sequel, ''Airwolf II'', was released in 1986. An arcade game based on the series was developed by Kyugo and released in 1987. A Famicom port of this game was released in 1988. Kyugo also developed a Sega Genesis game based on the series, called Super Airwolf. In the US, this game was released as CrossFire without the Airwolf license or theme song. This was not the first CrossFire game from Kyugo. They had previously developed a CrossFire game for the Famicom, which was an action platformer. This game was going to be released in the US, but the release was cancelled. The NES version was not a port of the arcade game, but was instead developed by

Beam Software Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Melbourne House, was an Australian video game development studio founded in 1980 by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen and based in Melbourne, Australia. Initially formed to produce books and software to be pub ...

and released by Acclaim in 1988. The game places the player in the cockpit of the Airwolf

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

attempting to shoot down enemy aircraft and rescue prisoners.

Gameplay

NES

The game contains thirty missions, each with the objective being to rescue prisoners being held captive in enemy bases. The layout of each level changes as the player progresses. There are three types of bases: *Home base - This is where the player can refuel the Airwolf and repair damage it may have taken. *Enemy airfield - This is where many of the enemy craft take off from. The base can be destroyed, which lessens the number of enemy aircraft pursuing the player. *Prisoner base - This is where the prisoners are being held. To rescue them, the player must successfully land Airwolf and rescue the prisoner. Airwolf is equipped with

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...

s and a

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

in order to fend off enemy craft and their weapons. In order to successfully complete a mission, the player must rescue all prisoners and reach the border of the level without losing all of their lives.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Airwolf'' on their November 1, 1987 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. ''Classic Home Video Games 1985-1988'' praised the musical score of the NES version, but described the gameplay as "dull."

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/airwolf, name=''Airwolf ''
''Airwolf'' (NES)
at GameFAQs 1987 video games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Helicopter video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Horizontally scrolling shooters Airwolf Video games scored by Mark Cooksey Video games based on television series Video games developed in Australia Video games developed in Japan Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games