1943: The Battle of Midway
Introduction
1943: The Battle of Midway was developed and published by Capcom, released in arcades in 1987 as the direct sequel to 1984’s 1942. Set once again during World War II, the game puts players back in the cockpit of a fighter plane, this time a Lockheed P-38 Lightning battling through a campaign loosely themed around the historical Battle of Midway against waves of Japanese naval and air forces. The sequel introduced a health bar in place of the original’s single-hit-death system, letting players absorb a limited amount of damage before losing a life, alongside a new power-up system that let the plane transform into a more heavily armed Super Fighter after collecting enough energy capsules. 1943 preserved the series’ signature Loop maneuver from the original 1942, again granting brief invincibility and clearing enemy bullets from the screen, while adding new large ship-based boss battles that demanded different tactics from the aerial dogfighting of most stages. Its refinements over the original helped 1943 become one of the most successful entries in Capcom’s long-running 19XX vertical shoot ’em up series.
