Let's talk 1942 & 1943: Battle at Midway

nesjess

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So I just got from Hawaii and got a chance to visit Pearl Harbor again since going as a kid. It was a sad place to visit and eye opening as far as the affects it had on the nation and bringing us into WWII. Plus, all the other controversies involved like the internment of Japanese-Americans which Bill Clinton took the time to formulate an official apology for during his time in the Oval Office.

Anyways, I was reminded of the awesome classic Capcom/Romstar shooters 1942 and 1943 which are both loosely based off events that occurred in the Pacific. Both games were designed by Yoshiki Okamoto who also designed Konami's Time Pilot and Gyruss.

I think either would be a great shooter to have in the game room. So I have a few questions:

Anyone own one or both of these games? I've seen artwork, but were there dedicated cabinets? I think I've seen a cockpit version at one point, but not sure if it was a conversion. And what's the story with the Williams licensed version? And I see that it's a "unique" pinout, neither JAMMA or Capcom classic. So you can only play this if you have the original wiring or you need to make your own wiring?

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I'm a big history buff and definitely want to pay a visit to Pearl Harbor eventually..

The games.... I'm not sure 1942 was just one specific event, just a generalization, moreso. 1943(Battle of Midway) was more specific to that. All of those ships mentioned were real. The final boss, Yamato, was deemed the biggest battleship ever! Even more powerful than Germany's Bismarck!

You forgot about the 'Williams' version of 1942. I remember seeing ded. 1942s- not sure if it was also a kit game. 1943s, I usually have seen them in Dynamo cabs. Although the last one I saw was in a Qix cab!:eek: Pretty sure there no st-downs....
 
I owned a 1943 at one point. It was a fun game. The cab was beat so I got rid of it. I now own 1942 on my PC 10. Would love to vist Pearl Harbor.
 
I went to Pearl Harbor a couple years ago. I was surprised at the number of Japanese tourists and how rude they are. The USS Arizona Memorial is simply amazing and has to be experienced to understand the magnitude of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Most of the games I have seen were conversions. I don't know if there were dedicated units.
 
At present i own 1942, 1942 PlayChoice, 1943, 1943 Midway Kaisen, and 1944...
Played the kaisen one last Saturday, and it´s damn addictive!

I owned a 1943 at one point. It was a fun game. The cab was beat so I got rid of it. I now own 1942 on my PC 10. Would love to vist Pearl Harbor.

It´s (funny enough) a poor conversion, and not as fun as the original 1942..
 
@Schusler: Like I said, both are loosely based on events during WWII. And I stress "loosely." And I was wondering what the story was behind the Williams licensed version. Same game, just different company? Odd. I would think 1943 would be seen in more Dynamo cabs since it's JAMMA and came afterwards. Though, did Capcom even use Dynamo cabinets in the mid-80s for their games?

@airlair: Yes, there are A LOT of Japanese tourists in Hawaii. Some are rude and some are nice, just like every other person. They are the biggest tourist population in Hawaii though. Waikiki may as well be called Japantown.

The USS Arizona is eerie. It's amazing that they left it there as basically a underwater grave site (over 1000 died when it exploded and sunk) with ship parts still exposed above water. There is still oil leaking from the ship as well.
 
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I have a williams 1942, but it's not dedicated (I don't think there was such a thing). Eventually I'd like to get it out of the pac cab (horrible ergonomics for a game with a heavily used button), and maybe end up with both 1942 and 1943 in dynamo cabs. I think those would look sweet side by side. :D

Search for williams 1942 if you want more of the story on that. I don't know it well enough to retell it. I think yellowdog is the one who had the story on it.
 
maybe end up with both 1942 and 1943 in dynamo cabs. I think those would look sweet side by side. :D

Hmm, so I guess they were just kits. Just like most Capcom/Romstar games, or in your case Capcom/Williams. I completely agree. Having them side by side in Dynamo cabs would be so awesome.

I'll try to read up more on the Williams version. It seems interesting.

Thanks Jeff!
 
I can't recall what cabs I saw the majority of 1942's in BITD. I do know for a fact; I've never seen a Williams 1942.... Mostly Capcom....
 
Yoskiki Okamoto-san

I had the pleasure of working for this industry legend at Capcom (but not directly)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiki_Okamoto

He's really one of the reasons why 1942 was such a good game. He also was the designer for Time Pilots before leaving for green pastures (Capcom)

He grew to become head of all studios/game development.

He's a shooter guy originally but pretty much refined the Kick and Punch games into SF2 when it was code named FF2 just to fool execs at Capcom. They didn't want it to be a SF game as the original was not successful compared to FF. FF2 was ordered but Okamotos inspiration was to revive the fighting game and after a couple of years WW was unveiled to Execs as it really was.

I know this is a bit of highjacking... but I wanted to get back to why 1942 was great and it goes back to developer vision. Okamoto is the kind of guy that is vision first. So many titles were created under his leadership in supporting the game vision.
 
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I know this is a big of highjacking... but I wanted to get back to why 1942 was great and it goes back to developer vision. Okamoto is the kind of guy that is vision first. So many titles were created under his leadership in supporting the game vision.

Not a highjack at all! Your Capcom knowledge and info about Okamoto is most welcome. Thanks for the background info.
 
1942 is almost his like launch title with him being at Capcom. He was very pissed at how he was treated at Konami. Developers bolting to another company was nearly unheard of BITD.
 
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