Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

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awbacon
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Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by awbacon »

https://youtu.be/adZ1g3nxBvA

Still wild to think this game is 30 years old...but somehow it is! While I may be a bigger fan of vertical shmups vs horizontal ones Carrier Air Wing still is a ton of fun. I've always felt it was the "Mega Man" of shmups based on the weapon selection and what will/wont be a good choice against the next stages boss. Definitely a lot of strategy in the same way you'd strategize your weapon selection for the robot masters in Mega Man.

Which makes me wonder...why did Mega Man never get a shmup? lol
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pablumatic
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by pablumatic »

I do like Carrier Airwing and am glad its in Capcom Arcade Stadium (finally!).

I have however always felt it a bit inferior as a spiritual sequel to Area 88/U.N. Squadron. Less choice of weapons, bosses weren't as inspired, music not as inspired. Shooting through buildings is cool, but a bit strange.
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SPM
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by SPM »

awbacon wrote:Why did Mega Man never get a shmup? lol
It did, a terrible one! In Mega Man 8! :mrgreen:

Also: This might fix that! Astral Gunners Trailer

Image
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
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Mortificator
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Mortificator »

Elemental Master is sliiiiiightly Mega Man-esque in that it has selectabe stages and you get new weapons for beating bosses.
pablumatic wrote:I do like Carrier Airwing and am glad its in Capcom Arcade Stadium (finally!).

I have however always felt it a bit inferior as a spiritual sequel to Area 88/U.N. Squadron. Less choice of weapons, bosses weren't as inspired, music not as inspired. Shooting through buildings is cool, but a bit strange.
I think my enjoyment went UN Squadron SNES > Carrier Air Wing > UN Squadron arcade, though it's been a while. CAW would climb higher if it didn't have auto-draining health.
RegalSin wrote:You can't even drive across the country Naked anymore
awbacon
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by awbacon »

Mortificator wrote:Elemental Master is sliiiiiightly Mega Man-esque in that it has selectabe stages and you get new weapons for beating bosses.
pablumatic wrote:I do like Carrier Airwing and am glad its in Capcom Arcade Stadium (finally!).

I have however always felt it a bit inferior as a spiritual sequel to Area 88/U.N. Squadron. Less choice of weapons, bosses weren't as inspired, music not as inspired. Shooting through buildings is cool, but a bit strange.
I think my enjoyment went UN Squadron SNES > Carrier Air Wing > UN Squadron arcade, though it's been a while. CAW would climb higher if it didn't have auto-draining health.
My biggest complaint is the damn warning sound effects you get with low health. Drives me nuts
Creamy Goodness
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Creamy Goodness »

Good game, but that auto fire system is annoying. Kind of an unnecessary way to add challenge.
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wht11
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by wht11 »

Sorry this isn't entirely on topic (for this game itself) but reading Mega Man of shmups this just came to my mind, "Emerald Illusion Impact 2" (or "E.I.Impact 2" as it's given for short):

https://rvceric.itch.io/eiimpact-2

I think it really has a nice feel to it and while not immediately evident, last Stage sure has some "Mega Man" moments, not to mention on higher difficulties.
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BrianC
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by BrianC »

Not a shmup, but what do you think of the Willow AC game? That has a bit of a Mega Man feel to it.
OldSkoolShmuper
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by OldSkoolShmuper »

First learned of CAW in '91 in the pages of video games & computer entertainment (U.S.)
Their AMOA'1990 show report.haha they mention bio-ship shmup that I'm obessed/w xD

https://i.imgur.com/baj7XZz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QeP2TNv.jpg
Image

https://i.imgur.com/ZAHV6kl.jpg


UN Squadron got a-lot of replay value in the SNES ver.
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wht11
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by wht11 »

BrianC wrote:Not a shmup, but what do you think of the Willow AC game? That has a bit of a Mega Man feel to it.
You think so? Why? I take it you meant E.I.Impact 2 and if so don't agree on it on first reaction (shmup or not). As from "forum rules" (not that it sounds stiff bringing it up, it's only because of the common sense): "there won't be any concrete definition of a shmup".

I felt like playing it a bit anyway, so I'll have the opportunity to think that through.


(edit)
oh crap, scratch that altogether, because I just completely misunderstood, didn't I? Sorry lol.
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BrianC
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by BrianC »

I was referring to the Capcom arcade game based on the movie Willow where Willow has a pellet attack and a charge similar to Mega Man. However, the game also has a second playable character, Madmartigan who uses a sword. The game also has a level with yoku blocks.
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by XtraSmiley »

I like that description of Edward Rand, based on a picture of a biplane, the author writes that its a biplane shooter...
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Flashman
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Flashman »

I credit fed my way through it on Arcade Stadium but honestly I didn't like it that much; I echo all the above points that it just feels inferior in almost every way to U.N.S, would have been nice to see arcade U.N.S on Stadium as well but I guess that's tied up in expired copyright issues.

The SNES version of U.N.S is one of my favourite SHMUPS of all time (a lot of people complain about the money grind but if you "git good" and can manage the earlier levels without getting a plane upgrade, you hardly have to hit those convoys) I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to get into the genre - it's hard without been SHMUP hard, has some beautiful graphics and music - game play also amazing. Anyone pretty much should be able to practice enough to 1cc it, hard mode is a lot more challenging but I managed that with some work, and I'm by no means a good player.
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Marc
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Marc »

Tried it out last night as it was one of the few games on CAS I hadn't booted up. Managed the fourth level, the constantly decreasing energy would be pretty annoying if it were not for the fact that it's pretty generous with refills. Pretty interesting, I'd agree that SNES UN is probably the better of the three games, but this isn't so bad.
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OldSkoolShmuper
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by OldSkoolShmuper »

Flashman wrote:I credit fed my way through it on Arcade Stadium but honestly I didn't like it that much; I echo all the above points that it just feels inferior in almost every way to U.N.S, would have been nice to see arcade U.N.S on Stadium as well but I guess that's tied up in expired copyright issues.

The SNES version of U.N.S is one of my favourite SHMUPS of all time (a lot of people complain about the money grind but if you "git good" and can manage the earlier levels without getting a plane upgrade, you hardly have to hit those convoys) I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to get into the genre - it's hard without been SHMUP hard, has some beautiful graphics and music - game play also amazing. Anyone pretty much should be able to practice enough to 1cc it, hard mode is a lot more challenging but I managed that with some work, and I'm by no means a good player.
UN Squadron on SNES got more of my time than SMW did. Really liked the gameplay additions from the arcade version.

I'll never forget this preview cause it convinced me to but UNS.

Image

I'd always thought an SNES version of CAW would have been more fun than the arcade, but Capcom must've been too buzy with porting SFII to bother with CAW.
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Flashman
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Flashman »

Yeah the Arcade version of U.N.S is fairly similar in gameplay and mechanics to arcade CAW, though I like U.N.S better.

It's fair to assume if they'd gone the same route with CAW on the SNES there would have been another classic produced, but as you say they had 5 versions of SF2 to get ported over :D
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by OldSkoolShmuper »

arcade reviews

ZZAP! (UK)
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Sinclair User (UK)
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Printed impressions, opinions/reviews of the SNES version of Area 88 / UNS
below, from those days (not 1-3 decades later, lol)

(i think this one is CVG or Mean Machines)
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Zero magazine (UK)
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CVG (UK)
https://i.imgur.com/ouFTCEv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tf9LlXf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/o2hlcFo.jpg

EGM (USA)
https://i.imgur.com/7GbOLjw.jpg

GamePro (USA)
https://i.imgur.com/hnE884Y.jpg

Mean Machines (UK)

https://i.imgur.com/K8dQXzK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6zdPfdC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iLQnyHs.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/20Qmc4U.jpg
Last edited by OldSkoolShmuper on Sat Jun 19, 2021 7:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Marc
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Marc »

Game reviews were endearingly shit back then. I've still got a bunch of Your Sinclair mags knocking about somewhere, might have to dig them out later.
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OldSkoolShmuper
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by OldSkoolShmuper »

Yeah they were shit

I'm adding some more from UK computer 'zines.

edit: I'll use this post for Carrier Air Wing stuff I find.

ImageImage

Image

Image
Randorama
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Re: Carrier Air Wing - the Mega Man of shmups

Post by Randorama »

BrianC wrote:I was referring to the Capcom arcade game based on the movie Willow where Willow has a pellet attack and a charge similar to Mega Man. However, the game also has a second playable character, Madmartigan who uses a sword. The game also has a level with yoku blocks.
The "Ninja Gaiden" thread would possibly benefit from a discussion on this game, and I would certainly join it :wink:

Played CAW today, and it is definitely one of those old, easy (I 1-CC it without too many problems, using the F-14 Tomcat) but certainly enjoyable titles that Capcom produced in spades. Final stage remains one of my favourite final stages ever (off to space! Destroy a shuttle and a satellite!).

Good times :wink:
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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