315 · Captain Skyhawk

• Soar where no man has gone before!
• NES Longplay
• Manual
• Is that a good claim for a video game? When most video games also take place where no man has gone before?
• Plot
  • Aliens have invaded Earth, and have built four land bases. These bases are designed to drain Earth's energy and feed it to their mother space station. If the space station is allowed to obtain enough energy, it will destroy the Earth with a massive laser blast. The player must destroy the enemy bases, then go after the space station itself.
  • So Independence Day
    • The box cover even has the pilot looking like Randy Quaid about to say HELLO BOYS I’M BACK
• Gameplay
  • top-down scrolling overhead isometric graphics
  • the plane, code-named the F-14VTS (a fictional version of the F-14), and must avoid the mountainous terrain while annihilating aliens.
    • So what does VTS stand for?
  • The UI
    • Altimeter
    • Power/Speed
    • Air Speed
  • Controlling the plane
  • The scenarios
    • Destroy enemy bases
      • 5 bases total, must defeat the 4 around the perimeter to blow up the 5th in the center
    • Destroy Enemy Planes
      • Speed control is toggled on when enemy planes arrive while destroying the base
      • After certain levels theres also a dog fight like in Top Gun with enemy planes. Completely different from the isometric
    • Docking the plane in the space station
      • Is it like landing the plane on the carrier in Top Gun?
    • Drop Supplies
      • Must drop directly in the isometric box indictated
    • Pick Up scientists
      • A pyramid protects the scientists which you have to destroy. Uhhh are we kidnapping scientists to build a super weapon agains their will
    • The final fight
      • Scientists, during the course of the game, are working on a top-secret Neutron Cannon. Now that cannon is built and you can take on the mothership
  • Make money blowing up aliens to purchase weapons and ammo
    • Truly a capitalist society. Earth is being threatened by and we’re still making the only defenses we have left pay for survival. Guess the pigs selling the weapons have already priced in the alien invasion into the stock market.
    • four types of weapons: Cannon, Phoenix Air Intercept Missiles, Maverick air-to-ground missiles, and Hawk bombs. The cannon is the only weapon with an unlimited supply.
• Sequels and Spinoffs
  • No sequels for this RARE game
• EGL
• NEXT WEEK - Castle of Dragon
  • Castle or Dragon

Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.

00:00 Captain Skyhawk, Soar Where No Man Has Gone Before.

00:20 And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. And I'm Sean. That's it for today, but that's okay because we have a topic right off the bat here. Captain Skyhawk, Soar Where No Man Has Gone Before. That's the back of the box. Is that a good claim for a video game when most video games also take place where likely no man has gone before?

00:48 I like to think, and I think this is just, you know, how I was seeing things as a kid, like, to any particular video game, all other video games don't really matter. You know, like, to them, they're the only ones around. They're the only game in town. Or at least their marketing department thinks so.

01:08 You know what I mean? Like, of course, it would be the place that No Man Has Gone Before. If you're going to space, no one's gone to space before. Right. And that's a great claim to make if you work for NASA's recruiting department and you're trying to get, like, you know, kids or college students, like, interested in, yeah, I want to go where No Man's Gone Before. But in a video game, I mean, like, you know, how many shmups do we play that take place in space? Like, I feel like I've been here.

01:34 But have we been here in this perspective? Right. And with this particular plane in this particular vector in this particular neck of the woods localized entirely in your bedroom or living room, depending on where you had the console. Where did you keep your consoles? Oh, they were in the living room. I didn't have a TV in my room until I was, like, a teenager.

01:57 Interesting. Okay, yeah, because I think we were a basement video game group, people. Like, our living room was really, it had a TV in it as well, but I guess my dad would have thought, like, that's for him to watch TV? Yes, yes. Okay, so, hold on. Early childhood, you know, when we had the Super NES, that was in the living room. Later childhood, that's when they kicked us down underground. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get out of my way. Exactly. Okay.

02:26 In Captain Skyhawk, which is not like an IP, by the way, Captain Skyhawk isn't, like, some cartoon or some recognizable comic book character. This is just the name of the game. And Captain Skyhawk is, I guess, like, a person piloting the vehicle. Who you never see. Yeah, you never see. The name of the plane. Yeah, you never see this person. I guess Captain Skyhawk is that guy on the front cover of the box who looks like Randy Quaid from Independence Day saying, like, you know, hello, boys, I'm back.

02:59 Like, it's like, it has, like, that same expression. So, that's what I'm picturing in my head. Do we think that Independence Day sort of took liberties with IP from whoever designed this game? Okay, so, think about it, Sean. The plot for this game is that aliens have invaded Earth. And, I mean, stop right there. That is the plot to Independence Day. So, obviously, they ripped off Captain Skyhawk. But, it gets a little more interesting, okay?

03:24 Aliens have invaded Earth, and they've built four land bases, okay? Like, if you want to get a kid hooked, you tell them that they've built land bases. Not, like, that they're probing people. Not that they plan to, like, disguise themselves as humans. No, they've built land bases. And these bases are designed to drain the Earth's energy and feed it to the mothership.

03:45 If the mothership obtains enough energy, it will destroy the Earth with a massive laser blast. And I know we're talking about the plot of the game and everything, but I do have an issue with the way that's worded, because it makes it seem like a video game mechanic that you will see throughout this game. It's time. Yeah, that is, like, you know, there's an energy meter that, like, you basically need to be keeping track of. Like, whatever that thing in Mass Effect 3 was that you had to, like, always have in the back. Readiness? Yeah, like, what's my readiness?

04:15 Galactic readiness, yeah. Yeah, like, you know, I don't want to be able to monitor that stuff, so I'm glad they didn't do that. But it does sound like that, based on the wording in the plot. So, you, the player, must destroy the four enemy bases, and then eventually go after the mothership itself. So, basically, Independence Day. Yeah. I think this would have been more okay and less of, like, a peeve of, like, well, they're kind of, this sounds like the story was written in the manual, like, completely separated from the game itself. But I think it would be less of a peeve if there was, like, if there was a little bit of banter between these missions.

04:52 Because, like, it's not just go destroy the base, come back, refuel, go destroy the base, come back, refuel. Like, there's other stuff that you're doing, like picking up scientists and, like, resupplying other stuff on the, you know, on Earth. And if there was just, like, some characters that, like, there's a reason that this specific guy got kidnapped, I think it would make more sense. And then this whole, like, race against time, while it might not be mechanically important, would be, like, part of the story, at least. Yeah, and I think it does need just a little bit of Metal Gear-style cutscenes.

05:32 Exactly, yeah. You know, or just, like, just some extra world building here, because you do get different scenarios in the game, and the objectives are read out on screen. But otherwise, you know, I don't know where we are on the Earth.

05:47 You know, like, occasionally you'll see, like, a sphinx in the desert, and it's like, all right, they just don't have those everywhere, guys. Like, you know, like, those were specifically placed. The great, specifically placed. By the aliens.

06:01 This is the great gridded plains of Egypt. You know that area of Egypt where everything's sort of gridded? Yes, absolutely. I think that's true. Well, actually, that's what it looks like from far enough away. You know, like, how, like, when you fly over rural America, it does look like, wow, so we just, like, marked off all the territory in squares, but really that's just how farming works?

06:24 I did. Anyway. It did take me a while to know that. Yeah, go ahead. Say, it is not really a shmup. I don't want people to think that this game is a shmup like Gradius or any kind of horizontal or vertical shmup. This is more like a isometric shooter game and then, like, suddenly becomes a Top Gun style fighter shooter game, you know, for specific scenarios. So, to focus just on the isometric one, it's top down, but again, isometric, so you're kind of like at that 45 degree angle. Everything, as Sean hinted at, is, like, polygon-ish, or at least it has the implication of some 3D effect. So, there is a altitude matters in a game where you're controlling a ship.

07:10 And sometimes we've seen an altitude radar for games that take place in space, and it really doesn't really matter for much other than just making sure that you're lined up with the enemy. But in this game, you actually have to be concerned with lining up and also dodging terrain as you're going through. So, I think, like, the actual environments themselves add some character, whereas in other non-isometric shmups, it's either just, like, just don't run into other pixels. Like, other pixels bad.

07:39 This is more like, well, you have to think about where you are on the plane. And I think that's a pretty cool way of handling a shooter. There's a lot to unpack here. So, one, I would say that this is a shmup, just with some quirks in how it presents itself and controls.

07:59 And, two, the amount of interaction that you're having with the actual landscape. Like, yes, it does present some interesting decisions to make, but you could also just, like, not make any and just stay as high as you can. Because otherwise, this game is kind of hard to parse.

08:25 I don't know how you felt when you were controlling this thing to start and if maybe that experience changed as you were playing. But the whole, like, isometricness of this game does kind of, it's, the implementation feels very off when you first start playing it. Would you agree? Yes, because there's two big issues. And, you know, I was trying to just be kind to the game and set it up. But there's two big issues. And that is the field of view in this isometric thing is very narrow.

09:00 So, you're only seeing, like, maybe enough. You're only registering enough to see, like, maybe two enemies and a specific hallway of your range at a time. And then the other problem is, so you're not seeing much, but the scroll speed is too fast for what you're able to see. And so you're just kind of dealing with things quickly or, as Sean's mentioning, just don't deal with them at all. Like, choose to just fire and take care of things if you can, but mostly just avoid because you don't want to have to, you know, it'd be cool to fly through, like, little caves or little entryways and stuff like that.

09:42 But not only do those not exist in this game, but that would just make it harder because it's another thing to keep track of. Whereas, really, it's just hard enough to keep track of where you, the enemies, and both of your projectiles are at any given time. Yeah, and I couldn't really tell what changing your altitude actually did for you. Like, because I just kept pulling up on the D-pad, or I guess pushing down to pull up.

10:08 And if I was just using my cannon, like, I could hit anything, whether it was sort of presenting itself as being on the ground or another, like, flying thing. Like, I was still hitting.

10:20 I wasn't too sure about that, but that is definitely true of the bases, which makes it really silly, right? Yeah. Like, the bases should be the one where, like, it really does matter that you have to be low to the ground to take them on because otherwise... And, you know, they can hit you, too, so it doesn't really matter. But otherwise, what's the point of maneuvering? Other than, of course, the fact that because the game is isometric, it puts on this whole, you know, as we've said on the show before, pseudo-3D aspect to the game.

10:49 That makes it all very cool, right? There is a presentationally cool thing about the way that this ship moves very fluidly and the altitude being convincing. Like, you can tell whether you're high above the ground or low to it, not just because of the shadow, but also just because of the way that the textures work on screen and everything. Like, it definitely sells flying a ship better than, you know, better than any of the 2D shmups that we play. Yeah, I'd give a hard agree there.

11:21 Aside from the fact that, like, the only thing that you can really guarantee if you fly low to the ground is that you will probably crash into the ground. So, you may as well not really interact with that system. Is the goal ever as a plane to fly low to the ground, though? You know, it could be cool if you can control it. But, you know, the way that the arteries of the field flow sometimes, it can be kind of a pain in the ass.

11:51 But, going with what you said of, like, how this kind of sells speed and flying better than most games that we've played so far. I think there's no better illustration of this than, I don't remember, I think this might be, like, the third level and then the sixth level. Where you actually have another, like, ship. Not a ship. It's a plane. This is just, like, a stealth fighter or something.

12:21 Another plane that you're sort of dogfighting against that's sort of traveling near the same speed. And it kind of feels like a chase that you'd see in a movie. And, like, the fact that you guys are kind of going neck and neck and you're chasing him down. Like, that was probably, like, the most tense I've felt in, like, a shmup in terms of just, like, that presentational speed.

12:44 That was really cool. Yeah, I think that's the closest video games have gotten to feeling like Top Gun. Yeah. You know, like, that actually felt... Right. And speaking of, there is a whole other type of plane combat in this game that plays very much like the dogfighting that we saw in the Top Gun games. Where, you know, your ship is just kind of always present in the, you know, in the front and center.

13:12 You're facing... The camera's facing behind the plane. And then these other planes kind of fly in and ahead of you in their field of view. And the only thing I thought was weird about that, before we get into, like, whether that controlled any different than Top Gun, is that that's not really, like, the goal of other enemy planes. Like, right? Like, other enemy planes should be shooting from behind you, too. And there's no system for that. You know, they just are always advancing in front of you just to become easy targets.

13:41 And, yeah, they shoot backwards, or at least some of them do. But it just... It felt like an extra minigame because it was so inconsequential that, like, nobody is technically chasing you. You're just chasing everybody else. That, like, why is this happening? Why is the enemies so dumb? Yeah. So, I agree that this does feel kind of like an afterthought. Though I would say that, again, it does look pretty. And it does feel like a good change of pace compared to, like, the standard game.

14:13 But aside from... So, yeah, planes will approach from behind you and from in front of you. And aside from some that approach from behind you shooting missiles that are not really easy to dodge, but they're telegraphed well enough that unless you get really unlucky, you're not going to get hit by them.

14:35 Yes, they're not really attacking you. They're just targets. I think it's just, like, sort of getting enough points to interact with the economy of the game and to switch it up a bit. So, it's not perfect, but it's fun enough. Yeah, and I think also that's my distinction of why I wouldn't just call this a shmup because it has switching objectives.

14:58 Whereas shmups are almost always just get to the end of... Survive to the end of the stage and kill probably a boss. This has specific scenarios such as, you mentioned, you know, pick up the scientist, drop supplies into specific areas, drop zones, destroy the enemy planes, whether you're doing the dogfighting part or whether you're chasing them in the isometric parts. Like, it shifts enough what the goal is that, like, I hear what you're saying, sure, but, like, shmup as a genre versus, like, shmup as a trope might be, like, where this differentiates, right?

15:38 Okay, yeah. Like, this doesn't have the tropes. I'd say that it is a... It's wearing a lot of the same clothes as a shmup. Okay. The plane codenamed the F-14 VTS, which is a fictional version of the F-14.

16:17 What does the VTS stand for, then? Like, why not just make it, like, the F-99 or something, then? Like, you know, go really high, pie-in-the-sky ideas. The VTS, like, you got any ideas there? It almost sounds like they're trying to do, like, a VTOL thing because, like, you can't fight a base on the ground unless you can hover, right? So maybe they're trying to make it... They didn't know what the actual acronym was, so instead of VTOL, they did VTS, you know? Yeah, and I'm sure that was covered in the manual as well. Actually, no, it wasn't. It just says VTS. It doesn't tell you what the VTS does.

16:56 Yeah, that's pretty silly. That stinks. All right, so, you know, we talked about how the plane controls and everything, and it is weird to call this, like, a plane. Like, it's not a commercial airliner, but it definitely, like... Well, would you call, like, a jet fighter a ship? Right. No, you're right. But I guess what I mean is, is, like, it's kind of dull-looking because I feel like it has to be based on the, you know, the power of the NES, right? Like, there's something about the fluid animation and the way this thing... Like, it's just gray, and it's just a couple different shades to communicate, like, you know, some depth on it. Otherwise, it's not, like, an impressive-looking ship.

17:37 You know, you're right. But the vibe, especially of this... I don't even know what we're calling, like, the bonus mode, I guess. The, you're just flying, there's no isometric stuff going on.

17:53 You wouldn't know that you're fighting aliens because it seems like they have the same sort of 1980s-era technology that we have. So, it at least is keeping things consistent visually.

18:09 Yes, you're right. In fact, Sean, I made note of that as well, that there is only supernatural things going on otherwise. Like, there's no alien notes. There's just, okay, they made the pyramids able to shoot fireballs. The Sphinx are able to fight back now. Like, is that something... Were those always aliens? Maybe. Or do they control those? Like, yeah, that's what... Actually, see, that's what I'm talking about. Going back to that idea of, like, they placed the Sphinxes. Like, this is, like, that War of the Worlds type stuff where, like, they were always underground and then... Buried there. Yeah, but just the machines were buried there and now the aliens have come back.

18:45 I would have appreciated more of that. Instead, what we're getting feels like, and this is a rare game, we're getting, like, some recycled graphics from other rare games. This is a rare game? Yeah, it's a rare game, believe it or not. Interesting. Milton Bradley wants you to think that they made this game because it says Concept by Milton Bradley. And, you know, I don't have a developer diary here, so who knows how much was shared. But usually when you're the publisher, that just means that you, you know, you put forward the costs and the developer actually made everything that the game had to offer.

19:20 So, you know, take it for what you will. But, yeah, I'm having a tough time buying into anything that the game is putting down. But I'm also having enough fun just controlling the F-14 and completing the objectives. Like, even the, what was really hard in Top Gun, landing the plane on the carrier, they have a similar thing here where you have to dock the F-14 into a space station.

19:51 And, thankfully, they don't make it like, okay, but if you crash the plane, it's game over. There's no time limit. You can just sort of fiddle it in there. Yeah. But, again, it's just like, it's another thing that I'm just like, oh, wow, another change. You know, like, not that the whole game always surprises you or anything. That would have been welcomed, of course. But it's not just like, all right, another shmup clone where all I'm doing is just, the hook is that it's isometric. Like, this game went well and beyond just a new graphics approach.

20:26 Yeah, absolutely. And, like, just that thing about surprises that you said. Like, they actually do keep doing that because, you know, you get into that flow. You get into that rhythm of, like, okay, I'm going to do something in ISO space. Then I'm going to do something in fly forward space. Then I'm going to dock my plane. And you're just going to keep doing that. I'm going to buy some more missiles. I'm going to buy some more bombs.

20:50 And then, finally, after one of the last levels, you think you're just going back to the space station to dock. And now you've basically got the Omega to your Alpha, like another space station. But now you've got to blow it up. And whether or not it's a satisfying end of the game after you blow it up is kind of beside the point. But the fact that, like, you kind of thought it was going to go this way. And then you're like, oh, it's another, like, boss. That was pretty cool. I like that. But how interesting are the other objectives of the game? Like, we were talking about picking up the scientist or dropping the supplies.

21:35 It remains to be seen. Or at least we haven't commented yet on whether those things are actually fun or if they just provide something other than shoot all the enemies. With the scientist one, it's really just a re-skinned boss, which has, like, a little epilogue, if you want to call it that. Because it's still like, oh, blow up these four things, and then you beat the boss. But now, blow up these four things, and then go land, and then pick up this little pixel dude.

22:11 Whereas with the resupply missions, you kind of just, the level will end once you sort of complete it in the field. There's no boss. And it's really just like, can you time it right to get everything done and get the level over quickly? So I wouldn't say that the different objectives in the ISO space are really all that interesting. It's just at least it's not the same thing over and over. You get at least some visual changing things up.

22:49 Between stages, when you're shooting down those enemy planes in the Top Gun-style dogfighting, those are rewarded with points, which basically points translate into money in this economy to purchase weapons and ammo, new weapons and ammo, I should add. Like, better ammo than just the unlimited firepower that you have. You can never run out of ammo entirely, but you can buy better ammunition.

23:18 Truly a capitalist society that we live in, where Earth is being threatened by aliens, and we're still the only people who are, you know, like, we're the only defense left, and we still have to pay for the survival. So maybe it was all priced in. Maybe the alien invasions are already priced into the stock market. The invasion is priced in. I like that. It might be, because they feel comfortable charging us. So maybe actually all the, maybe we're buying from the aliens, for all we know.

23:49 I get it from a systems thing. They should have just, like, they should have rewarded you with alien tech for blowing up the aliens, right? Like, that would have, obviously they would have to also look like alien ships, to Sean's earlier point, that, like, it doesn't feel like you're even fighting aliens. But I do think that this is a missed opportunity to be like,

24:09 Earth's all in it together, except for these guys who make the ammunition. They don't care if we live or die, because I guess they'll have the ammunition. I guess, like, if you can head Canada away to just, like, oh, we're going to, I'm just going to look at this as we picked up enough supplies to then convert it into missiles and bombs, and you're not being charged to resupply your own ship. Because, like, they're called credits, and I know that that is 100% just, you know, money, but it's abstracted enough away that you can sort of,

24:46 maybe your CO isn't really trying to rip you off. Yeah, it's like the, that's this universe's version of the MCU Tesseract stuff that just constantly just keeps being like, yep, we have more of this, not Tesseract, but the Kree stuff from the first Avengers film just continually just keeps showing up to be like, yep, we use this tech to make new weapons that created new supervillains. Ah, yes. You know, just always explaining it away. Like, yeah, remember that stuff from the first, it's like, yeah, we blew up those aliens and changed it into this stuff. So you have your regular cannon, you have, I'll give them the cool names, the Phoenix Air Intercept missiles, the Maverick air-to-ground missiles,

25:31 and the Hawk bombs. And you can buy these, and they do come in limited supply, and they do also have fluctuating cost, not between levels, but just like, they don't all cost the same. So the missiles, then the intercept missiles, then the air-to-ground missiles, and the Hawk bombs all have, you know, slightly scaling up cost. And yeah, because one of them, when you're upgrading, when you're purchasing something for the cannon, you're not buying ammo for the cannon, you are upgrading the cannon. So you are getting a faster fire rate, and by the time that thing's fully upgraded, you can just hold the button down, instead of, like, mashing it. And I thought that was cool, that there was both, like, long-term and short-term purchases,

26:21 because then you end up having to, like, you'll have to actually restock your missiles, and restock your bombs, but those cannon upgrades stay. That being said, I did find it kind of difficult to use all of these at, like, on the actual field. Like, I could, I know that, like, directional input mattered, so I was able to get, like, the sort of spitfire, like, expanding,

26:47 like, projectile, and I was able to do, like, the cluster bomb, it just sort of hits everything out there, but I don't think I was able to use the actual, like, missile missile at all. Yeah, it's funny, because it's not directional, even though it feels like it, because there are other things in the game that are directional. You can barrel roll in this game, you can do a barrel roll.

27:09 You can, with the weapons, though, it is about how it's pressed. So, for instance, the air-to-ground missiles, the manual describes it as just lightly tapping the B button, instead of a hard press. It really felt like I was, I was, okay, that makes sense. No, yeah, you believed it, so it became what it was, but, like, the bombs, you have to press the, you have to, like, hold and release the B button, right? So you have to do, like, a full push up and down on your, with your thumb, whereas the air-to-ground missiles is, like, a quick tap, and obviously, like, we know from all platformers that the NES can recognize the difference, which in itself is pretty novel, but we have not really seen

27:54 this in many other kinds of games other than jump functionality, right? Like, I don't think we've ever seen how you shoot is based on, or, like, even just switching what type of ammo you use is based on how you press the A and B. It reminds me, and maybe this is an X thing, but did Mega Man have this? No, Mega Man made it so that you can, you switch with the select button, or the start button. I think it's the start button. So when I'm thinking of Mega Man charging up his piece here. Oh, you're thinking of a Mega Man game we haven't played yet. Oh, okay. The charge beam hasn't been introduced yet. Damn, okay.

28:33 I feel like there was a game where you, I feel like there was a game that did charge a shot. I just can't remember it, but you're... No, you are right. There are definitely games we've played with a charge shot. Maybe even, it's been a while, but obviously most Metroid games have that. I'm not sure if the first Metroid game had that or not, but yes, definitely there has been games with a charge shot. Cool, cool. I have vague memories of things sometimes. On the sequels and spinoff side, no sequels for this game made by Rare. Is that surprising? Is that rare to see Rare not make a sequel?

29:10 It's surprising because I feel like this game is solid enough to warrant one. I mean, I imagine the sales must just not have been there. Or Milton Bradley holds the IP rights for just the name.

29:26 But I mean, I guess it's kind of surprising. It's also surprising just the Captain Skyhawk name, right? Like, I just, I think it feels kind of generic and throwaway. And that's also what might have surprised you from thinking like that this wouldn't be a Rare game, that they would have had like established NIP around their various games. And that Captain Skyhawk just feels like a game you would get from

29:55 Tecmo or Victakai, not necessarily Rare. But then again, like Rare hasn't really been in Rare form like from the games that we've played. They kind of have bounced between like shovelware and kind of interesting games, haven't they? So they don't, like they're not really,

30:16 they're not really known for building, like world building yet, right? Yeah, you're right. No, they're just an established name. It's kind of funny that, you know, we think of them for their good games, of which there are five, but we have 21 skip-its from Rare. Yeah. So that's a really bad ratio and we should probably just stop talking about them in such high regard when Konami manages to have five essential games and eight play-its out of 24 total games. Like that's much more impressive. Oh, absolutely. Rare's trash. Yeah, I'm never going to play Banjo-Kazooie again.

30:52 Because it's a trash game. It's actually not, it's no Super Mario 64. I'm just going to say it. Absolutely. I've never played it, but I have to take your word for it. I don't think you've ever played Super Mario 64 either. I've played, you know, the, you know, the first part. Great. Yeah, the first part. That sounds like, that sounds very confident for somebody who has played Super Mario 64. They always talk about the first part. I did. I played the first part. I climbed up the tree. No, I know, but that doesn't mean anything. You know what I mean? I climbed up the tree. I walk around the castle.

31:22 I... Yeah, but you didn't even enter the castle. That's not the first part. No, no, no. I walk in the castle. I jump into one of the paintings and then I die. Okay, that tracks. That sounds, you know what? You actually are more convincing than the aliens in this game. Are we sure the aliens just aren't Russia? Nintendo, what's going on? Why? You raised a great point early on this episode and I haven't been able to shake that feeling.

32:02 One other quick thing before we get to the Essential Games list because we're due for it. But did you feel also, whether it was the dog fighting or the isometric, that things did blow up easier than in other shooting games we've had? And I don't mean that the game itself was easier. The game is hard because projectiles are always shooting at you and you have a narrow field of view and everything. But I was surprised at like, I don't know if it has like lock-on technology or something, but I was doing better here than I ever was in like Top Gun.

32:33 So, okay, do you mean in either of the categories or just the isometric? I mean both. Yeah. Okay. Like I just feel like the spread on my projectiles was taking care of a lot of enemies. Yeah, I think once you've upgraded your cannon, like, and, I think once you've upgraded your cannon, you're doing pretty well and I think also there might be a more generous hitbox in the isometric stages. Like I think the, your projectiles are kind of coming out of the center of your mass instead of out of like the nose of the plane because you would just, I would just be doing these sweeps and it would basically take care of the entire screen in some instances.

33:18 Um, so I think that definitely there, but I was actually in the like more behind camera sections, like the bonus stages, the more dogfighting ones, I guess. Uh, I, I would have a bit more trouble there because your aim is a bit more finicky. so I, I, that one still felt challenging to get, uh, regular hits. Um, but no, definitely felt easier, uh, just hitting stuff on the isometric area. And we didn't mention this, but dropping the, the supply drops and picking up the scientists, those are done to build this neutron cannon that they're working on. You're dropping the supplies to give it to the scientists and you're freeing the other scientists that I, I guess have been, uh, held captive.

34:07 So the manual certainly does a lot of work here on like what the neutron cannon is and that like, you know, once you've freed all the scientists, your secret weapon is complete and you'll be able to take on the alien space station, the mothership, right?

34:23 But it doesn't pay off in game. There's no, it doesn't feel like certainly like that, that's a cool final power. Um, if you remember in Terra Cresta, once you like collected all the pieces of your ship and everything, you actually turned into a phoenix, right? And that was really cool and we said that was one of the coolest parts of that game. Uh, this doesn't necessarily do a lot of building up that like, oh, neutron cannons like online, time to completely obliterate this thing but even graphically, it just looks kind of the same. It looks the same. You're just going up to the ship and now you just, you know, you pop all the bulbs

35:01 and that means you win and then you poke, you poke it in the eye after. You pop all the bulbs, you poke it in the eye, game over. Um, the, the projectiles you're shooting look exactly the same as they do with normal fire. Um, and the fact that there's so little buildup it's just sort of giving you updates. It's just like a status update. Like, okay, we got half of it done. Like, oh, it's all done now. Um, that's why I think that this needed more, you know, like story beats. Like, put some cut scenes in there like we were talking about. That, that would have sold it more, I think. Well, there's nothing left to sell. We have to do the essential games list.

35:42 I think, actually, Rare did something cool here with an isometric shooter game. Uh, they really, just like they did with, um, RC Pro-Am and, um, they didn't make Marble Madness, but like, Marble Madness also pulls it off. It's fun when these pseudo 3D games actually, like, still work today and they don't become, like, Atari 2600 style graphical messes where it's like, yeah, you just have to, like, use your imagination to understand what's going on. It's like, it's very clearly presented and, uh, and so that alone made this, like, a visually and, uh, honestly, like, a surprising entry in the shooter genre, where I think the game falls flat and why it won't get my Essential Games list vote is because I think that the actual

36:36 assignment, right, the actual, like, objectives aren't all that interesting, uh, and it's just kind of creating, like, the, it's creating, like, a workaround for why they couldn't just continue to make destroying the enemy bases and going through the levels more interesting and so instead, the four enemy bases all just wind up being kind of the same level again with more or less enemies and different colored graphics, but they didn't change anything about that and they disguised that by giving you other little objectives throughout to be, like, okay, that's how we'll break this up rather than being, like,

37:10 no, the isometric part is what we're going to commit to and we're going to continue to subvert expectations on, like, what, how that functions, you know, again, like, there would have been a use to the altitude to, like, soar under things or, like, you know, almost, like, navigating an on-rails puzzle, you know, in a sense, like, these are the kinds of things that I think I was expecting once I started to get familiar with the game and once I realized what it was actually offering, it was just kind of giving me little,

37:38 little time wasters and so the actual game is impressive and I think NES fans should check it out, but I don't think it's enough to recommend to a general audience and so it won't be on my essential games list.

37:51 Sean? Yeah, this was tough because it was, like, while I was playing it I was definitely debating, like, do I vote this essential? Because it's very, it's become very rare for me to have that thought even cross my mind. game. and it's sort of the same thing for me. I think that this game has a lot going for it, but of what it has going for it, it, like, they're, they're just, it just doesn't happen very often. Like, they're, the game is actually very short and the moments that, that were the high points, and there, there are those, and when they are high, they are high,

38:34 but they're just, you'll blink and you'll miss them. Like, when you're sort of in the isometric areas, and you're fighting against other jets like you, and it kind of feels like a race, or like something out of Spy Hunter maybe, and you're kind of jockeying for position, and then you're able to finally down him, like, that felt really good, but it only happens like three times in the entire game. So, like, yeah, the presentation's great, a lot of the stuff that you're doing is fun, but it just, it feels like half of the game is here. So, if there was, if they ever did make Captain Skyhawk 2, I'd have high hopes that that would be an essential game, but alas, it didn't happen. But this one is just a play it for me.

39:25 Next week, we'll be playing Castle of Dragon, not to be confused with the hit game show Castle or Dragon. Castle or Dragon? Yeah, you know, that hit game show that you always catch on the game show network at like 3 in the morning, Castle or Dragon, where the three contestants have to guess whether the thing behind the curtain is a castle, like, from Transylvania, or a live dragon. I don't think I ever caught that one. Huh. We must not be watching the same game show network.

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41:22 stuff. Those up stuff Those suck Those! Thank you.