Wings 2: Aces High (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
327A playthrough of Namco's 1992 combat flight simulation game for the Super Nintendo, Wings 2: Aces High.
Wings 2: Aces High is the sequel to Cinemaware's World War I dogfighting simulation originally released for the Amiga in 1990, and it was later released (in upgraded form) for the Game Boy Advance in 2002, and completely remastered for PCs (2014) and mobile platforms (2015).
Wings 2 puts you in the shoes of one of five RAF pilots during the Great War, and has you fly twenty missions, each comprised of at least one of the game's three primary tasks.
Dogfighting is the primary game type, and it puts you against up to three enemy planes at a time. You also will fight the final boss, The Red Baron, in a dogfight. The gameplay emphasizes the limited manoeuvrability of WWI era planes, and requires master of the 'split-S' move to take on more skilled enemies. For bombing runs, you are shown a map of the local area with a target circled in red, and you must (from a top down view) destroy the designated asset. Finally, strafing runs are fairly similar to bombing runs, but have you taking out groups of tanks, truck convoys, and other vital ground targets.
The game's controls are simply laid out and are surprisingly intuitive, but they require a lot of practice. To mimic the handling of such old planes, the controls are purposely floaty and imprecise, and require you to get a "feel" for how to take turns, line up shots, and pursue enemies. They work well, but they aren't particularly forgiving. The utter lack of any instrument cluster means that speed, heading, and enemy location all have to be judged by eye. There is a code in the manual that enables a radar panel, if you really think it's necessary.
I really liked the use of a pilot roster in lieu of extra lives - each pilot can improve his skills as you fly missions with him, but if he dies, all of his progress goes with him and you'll have to choose somebody else. If you fail a mission but manage to live, you are demoted and given one more chance before the pilot is told to go home.
The graphics and sound are really cool in Wings 2. They're a bit spartan, but the mode-7 effects are good at conveying the feel of flying, and the framerate is surprisingly smooth for this style of game. The music is corny but entirely appropriate, doing a nice job of evoking the feeling of a long bygone era.
I loved Wings 2: Aces High. The learning curve is extraordinarily high, but it is very satisfying to win after you've spent so long practicing. It has always felt to me like a distant relative of Pilotwings but with weapons, and for anyone that enjoyed Pilotwings, I'd highly recommend this one.
Anyone else tend to think of Wings 2 as a distant ancestor to the Ace Combat series?
*Side note: I've read in a few places about how there is a hidden Mario-themed plane that you can unlock if you finish the game without losing a pilot, but I'll be damned if I can find it. I'm inclined to call BS on that claim, but do any of you know for sure? Are there any such secrets in the game?
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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