The popularity of the 1986 film Top Gun Hard Lock resulted in several licensed video games that have been released since the film’s theatrical debut. The Ocean Software version of Top Gun was released for various home computer formats in 1986. The game was released for Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC. It is a one-on-one dogfighting simulator with 3D wire-frame model graphics; versus more traditional sprite-based graphics and straightforward gameplay of the Konami game. The game has one and two-player modes; in the former, the opposing aircraft is flown by the computer.
The Konami version of Top Gun was released for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in November 1987 in the United States. It is an adaptation of an earlier arcade game by Konami titled Vs. Top Gun, released for the Nintendo VS. System. The NES version sold two million copies.[1]
Piloting an F-14 Tomcat fighter, the player, as the film’s protagonist Maverick, has to complete four missions. Given a choice of missiles, and starting with a training mission, the player is sent after an enemy aircraft carrier, an enemy base, and finally an enemy space shuttle. The game has two endings. If the player loses but achieves a minimum score of 50,000 points, a still shot is shown of the player being presented the Top Gun plaque that was awarded to Iceman in the film. If the player completes all four missions and successfully lands on the aircraft carrier, a scene is shown of the F-14 taxiing on the carrier and the player waving to the LSO crew.
Gameplay takes place from the cockpit’s point of view and consists of two main themes: dogfighting and landing the aircraft. For the dogfights, the player is allowed to pick between three missile types, each varying in the target locking area they can be fired at. Landing of the aircraft can be particularly difficult as it requires the player to control both speed and angle of aircraft. The point of view for the final part of the landing sequences is from the side of the aircraft carrier with the F-14 coming in from the right side of the screen.
Top Gun: The Second Mission, released in Japan as Top Gun: Dual Fighters, is the second Top Gun game produced by Konami for NES. It was released in Japan on December 15, 1989, in North America in January 1990, and in Europe and Australia on October 24, 1991.
Top Gun: Danger Zone, developed by Distinctive Software and published by Konami, was released for PC (DOS) in 1991. Have a choice of two aircraft – F-14 Tomcat and an F-18 Hornet. The choice of missions is eight – intercept, escort, clear airspace, provide air support and run interference. Also have to participate in the “Top Gun Challenge Board” in the Officer’s Mess and also have a choice of playing against the CPU or against another human player in split-screen mode.
