''Project Stealth Fighter'' is a

combat flight simulator Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games, amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and mili ...

released for the Commodore 64 in 1987 by

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizatio ...

, featuring a fictional

United States military aircraft United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

. During the time of the game's release, there was heavy speculation surrounding a missing aircraft in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

's numbering system, the

F-19 F-19 is the designation for a hypothetical US fighter aircraft that has never been officially acknowledged, and has engendered much speculation that it might refer to a type of aircraft whose existence is still classified. History Since the uni ...

. ''Project Stealth Fighter'' was later renamed ''

F-19 Stealth Fighter ''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' is a combat flight simulator developed and released in 1988 (PC DOS) and 1990 ( Amiga and Atari ST) by MicroProse, featuring a fictional United States military aircraft. It is the 16-bit remake of the 8-bit game '' Pr ...

'' and was

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...

in 1988 for the

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...

systems with much improved graphics.

Gameplay

In the game, the player take on the role of a fictional fighter pilot flying missions of varying difficulty over four geographic locations:

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

, the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

, the North Cape, and

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

Reception

The game was critically acclaimed. ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' in 1987 stated that ''Project Stealth Fighter'' pushed the limits of 8-bit hardware (noting the resulting great difficulty in landing at airfields) but concluded favorably: "Timely? It couldn't be more so. Realistic? Yes ... Challenging? Definitely!" In a 1994 survey of wargames the magazine gave the title two stars out of five, stating that ''F-19'' and ''F-117'' had superseded it. ''

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET c ...

'' in 1988 called the game "a superlative flight simulator". It praised the graphics, stating that they improved on those of the company's ''

F-15 Strike Eagle The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without rel ...

''. The magazine concluded: "If you're to have only one flight simulator in your library, let it be this one ... ''Project: Stealth Fighter'' is Microprose's best". 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 ...

version's review in ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazine ...

'' stated "''Project Stealth Fighter'' is excellent, and sets new standards to which other must now aspire". ''ACE'' stated the game as certainly enjoyable and the rating for C64 version is 863 out of 1000. ''Project: Stealth Fighter'' was awarded the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 aw ...

for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1987". The game was nominated for the

Golden Joystick Award The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

s '88 in the category "Best Simulation - 8 Bit". A port to the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 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 t ...

version was first advertised in 1988 prior to the game being renamed for the 16-bit releases. By the time it was published late 1989, it used the ''

'' title in-game but was still packaged as ''Project Stealth Fighter''. A review in ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

'' called it "the best Speccy flight sim to date".. Both the Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions were subsequently reissued as ''

'' in the same packaging as the 16-bit versions. In late 1990, the combined sales of ''

'' across four platforms took the game into the UK Top 20 All Format games chart.

References

External links

* *
''Project Stealth Fighter'' (Commodore 64)
at Lemon64
''Project Stealth Fighter Manual on Steam''
{{flightsim-videogame-stub 1987 video games Cold War video games Commodore 64 games Flight simulation video games MicroProse games Origins Award winners Video games developed in the United States ZX Spectrum games Video games set in East Germany Video games set in Iran Video games set in Libya Video games set in the Soviet Union