''Airwolf'' is a series of shooter video games based on the TV series of the same name. The first game based on the series was released for the ZX Spectrum by Elite Systems in 1984. The game also was released on the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, Amstrad CPC, and

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. 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 and released by Acclaim in 1988. The game places the player in the cockpit of the Airwolf helicopter 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 missiles and a machine gun 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 GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

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