Fire Mustang on MD, USAAF Mustang Arcade + Horz WWII shmups

[gigadrive32]

I don't remember seeing any threads on Fire Mustang by Taito for the Megadrive. edit: i did some googling and did find a post on the old shooter forum. but that was a long time ago and not much info could be gleened from it. not that *my* post is going to be all that informative, just one that might get a little a few people interested.

Fire Mustang is a sidescrolling ~ horizontally scrolling WWII shmup. the closest thing to Fire Mustang, that seems to be more well-known is, P-47 Freedom Fighter on the PC-Engine.

both Fire Mustang and P-47 were arcade games, and naturally, both arcade versions are more impressive than their console MD and PCE counterparts.

the arcade version of Fire Mustang is called US AAF / USAAF Mustang, and it's by UPL, whereas Taito I guess picked up the home MD version.


both Fire Mustang and its arcade parent USSAF Mustang (and both versions of P-47) provide a much-needed break from the vertically scrolling Capcom 194x and Psikyo Strikers 1945 series of shmups... even though both versions of 'Mustang are 14 and 15 years old (1991 MD - 1990 Arc) which makes them roughly the same age as 1941 Counter Attack.


hard to find pics of MD Fire Mustang box covers, manual, cartridge
http://i16.ebayimg.com/03/i/03/68/ee/7b_1_b.JPG
http://www.wolfgames.com/mdfiremustang.JPG

can't find an arcade flyer of USSAF / US AAF Mustang though.



but for now, here's the arcade flyer of Jaleco's arcade P-47
http://img234.exs.cx/img234/733/p47flyer4xl.jpg


and AiCOM's home PC-Engine ver. of P-47
http://img234.exs.cx/img234/5954/p47pce7fy.jpg

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/tg16/02/p4704.gif
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/tg16/02/p4703.gif

so I guess this thread is not just about Fire Mustang / USAAF Mustang but also for P-47 Freedom Fighter and really, any horizontally scrolling WWII shmup. I can't think of any others off-hand at the moment. can you guys?

MOD EDIT: imbedded large images changed to links for those poor bastards on narrowband. -TF

[gigadrive32]

to my pleasant surprise, I just found out that P-47 The Freedom Fighter / The Phantom Fighter got a sequel, P-47 Aces. from playing it for about 10 min, I could tell this is a destinctly '1990s' shmup with NeoGeo class graphics & audio. nice colors. faster play. fairly decent bosses, etc.

^__^

[gunbird18]

Yeah, I don't find much talk about P-47 Aces around here. When I found it and played it on MAME I fell in love with it, mainly for the graphics and the WWII-style planes. But I found the game to be pretty hard and I seem to suck at most horis anyway.

I love it when these developers show the huge planes being picked apart by your shots. Another great shmup that does this is Sky Soldier by SNK. Quite an old-skool shooter and vertical, but I love how they show the bosses being shot up with bullet holes and such. I believe this is used to some extent in Battle Garegga/Bakraid and also in 19XX from Capcom.

The graphics in P-47 Aces seem to resemble those in Zed Blade for the Neo Geo. I'm wondering if the two games have the same developers?

[gigadrive32]

Yeah, I don't find much talk about P-47 Aces around here. When I found it and played it on MAME I fell in love with it, mainly for the graphics and the WWII-style planes. But I found the game to be pretty hard and I seem to suck at most horis anyway.

I love it when these developers show the huge planes being picked apart by your shots. Another great shmup that does this is Sky Soldier by SNK. Quite an old-skool shooter and vertical, but I love how they show the bosses being shot up with bullet holes and such. I believe this is used to some extent in Battle Garegga/Bakraid and also in 19XX from Capcom.

The graphics in P-47 Aces seem to resemble those in Zed Blade for the Neo Geo. I'm wondering if the two games have the same developers?

I'll have to compare the graphics of P-47 Aces to those of Zed Blade. It is an interesting point you bring up because the graphics of the original P-47 seem to resemble those in Silk Worm.

[Darkcomet72]

Yeah, I don't find much talk about P-47 Aces around here. When I found it and played it on MAME I fell in love with it, mainly for the graphics and the WWII-style planes. But I found the game to be pretty hard and I seem to suck at most horis anyway.

I love it when these developers show the huge planes being picked apart by your shots. Another great shmup that does this is Sky Soldier by SNK. Quite an old-skool shooter and vertical, but I love how they show the bosses being shot up with bullet holes and such. I believe this is used to some extent in Battle Garegga/Bakraid and also in 19XX from Capcom.

The graphics in P-47 Aces seem to resemble those in Zed Blade for the Neo Geo. I'm wondering if the two games have the same developers?

P-47 Aces was done by Jaleco, Zed Blade was done by NMK. Those 2 companies are arguably the most underrated shmup developers of all time.

Plus, Manabu Namiki did some of the music for both games

[gigadrive32]

how do you guys feel about UPL's USAAF Mustang arcade, Taito's MD version Fire Mustang, as well as the original Jaleco P-47 arcade and AiCOM's conversion of it to PCE ?

[Blue Lander]

I've got P-47 on the PC Engine, but I haven't played it much. Just the first couple of levels. But the little I played felt rather mundane and boring. Is there something really special about this game that I'm missing?

[dave4shmups]

I've played both USAAF Mustang Arcade, and MD Fire Mustang, I and think the latter is much more playable. It has pretty drab graphics, but it's a very fun hori, IMO.

[gigadrive32]

cool, thanks for your thoughts guys. it seems horizonally scrolling WWII shmups are a somewhat rare breed. I've been having fun playing MD Fire Mustang last night and again tonight. I really enjoy horizonally scrolling shmups more than vertical shmups, I love the WWII theme. I only wish there were more and better games like the USSAF / Fire Mustang and P-47.