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U.N. Squadron (Area 88 in Japan), is a shooting/action arcade game by Capcom. It is based on the anime/manga Area 88. Although it doesn't bear any resemblance to the original history, it still uses many of the characters and place settings. Here, their mission is to stop a terrorist group known as Project 4. It was followed by the sequel Carrier Air Wing.

Gameplay

The game is a typical side scrolling shooter, going against the trend of other arguably more traditional Capcom shooters, such as 1942, 1943: The Battle of Midway, and Giga Wing, which present a vertical scrolling.

The player can choose between three mercenary pilots: Shin Kazama, Mickey Simon, and Greg Gates. Each pilot flies a specific plane and has slightly different capabilities.

Pilots

• Shin Kazama: Shin flies an F-20 Tigershark; the weapons on his plane fire forward only but at a quick pace. Shin and his plane are the most balanced combination available.

• Mickey Simon: Mickey flies an F-14 Tomcat; the weapons on his plane also fire forward only, but are also larger (albeit slower), inflicting more damage than Shins plane.

• Greg Gates: Greg flies an A-10 Thunderbolt; this plane has smaller forward fire than either Shin or Mickey's planes, but it also fires a second stream downward at a 45° angle from the forward firing stream.

Weapons Shop

Before entering a level, the player has the opportunity to purchase special weapons or added defenses in the shop. The player earns money for this shop by destroying enemy planes and vehicles during levels and, when the level is finished, any unused weapons are converted back into money.

Weapons

Arcade version

Weapons

Depending on the level and which pilot they have chosen, players will encounter two of these eight different weapon enhancements in the weapons shop:

• Bulpup: Launches missiles forward at various angles.
• Bulpup II: A more powerful Bulpup.

• Phoenix: Homing missiles that go after any enemies on the screen.
• Falcon: A more powerful Phoenix.

• S. Shell: Shoots a large long shell at enemies that inflicts more damage than regular guns.
• S. Shell II: A more powerful and larger S. Shell.

• Bomb II: Allows you to drop powerful bombs from above.
• Napalm: More powerful than Bomb II in that it ignites the ground when it lands.

Defense

After selecting (or passing up) additional weapons, players are offered one of three defensive enhancements (these are the same on every level):

• Energy Tank: Adds more life to the lifebar when the level begins.
• Shield: Absorbs damage from enemy fire or collisions.
• Super Shield: Same as Shield, but can absorb more damage.

SNES version

Depending on which plane has been purchased, players can buy any combination of these weapons.

• Cluster Shot: Shoots a cluster of explosives which expand from the center of the plane.
• Bomb: Drops bombs from under the plane.
• Phoenix: Homing missiles that go after any enemies on the screen.
• Napalm: Drops from the plane and causes a large explosion along the ground when it lands.
• Falcon: Drops like a bomb but continues across the bottom of the screen until it hits a target.
• Gunpod: Shoots bullets upward on an angle.
• Super Shell: Shoots a large shell at a target.
• Sailing Missile: Similar to the Gunpod, it shoots missiles upward.
• Thunder Laser: Shoots a laser in the shape of an arrow at a target.
• Bulpup: Launches missiles forward at various angles.
• MegaCrush: This weapon rains down on the enemy planes hitting everything on the screen.

During gameplay

Once a level has been entered, the game scrolls to the right with the enemies approaching from many directions. Land, sea, and air units are encountered in the various stages.

The player's main gun has infinite ammunition and can be upgraded by picking up accumulating POW points. POWs, which appear when the player destroys certain red enemies, can be found as green, blue or yellow glowing orbs inside a small box. Each color POW is worth a different amount of points:

• Blue POW: 1 point
• Green POW: 2 points
• Yellow POW: 4 points

The player's current number of POWs and the amount needed for the next gun upgrade is displayed in the upper left corner of the display. Each upgrade generally requires more POWs to get than the last upgrade, and so forth.

Special weapons, on the other hand, are limited in ammunition and have no ability to upgrade in level. The character's plane can take a number of enemy hits before being destroyed and has a brief period of invulnerability after each hit. This makes the game a little less frustrating.

Like many shooters, the game is very challenging. Levels frequently include large numbers of enemies attacking simultaneously, with subsequent vast amounts of firepower on screen. The player needs quick reflexes to navigate through all this fire while still attacking their enemies. Only a skilled player is capable of finishing the game with few (or any) continues.

Levels and Bosses

Arcade version

• 01. Frontline base - Missile Tank
• 02. Thunderstorm 1 - Stealth Bomber
• 03. Forest - Forest Fortress
• 04. Desert - Ground Carrier
• 05. Canyon - VTOL Bomber 'Byson'
• 06. Cave - Cave Carrier
• 07. Airbase/Clouds - Giant Bomber 'Bullhead'
• 08. Military Base - Arsenal
• 09. Ocean - Sub-Boss: Submarine. Boss: Battleship 'Minks'
• 10. Thunderstorm 2 - Project 4 Airborne Fortress

SNES version

• 01. Frontline Base - Missile Tank
• 02. Thunderstorm - Stealth Bomber
• 03. Clouds - Stealth Fighters (Mercenaries)
• 04. Desert - Ground Carrier
• 05. Ocean 1 - 'Seavet' Submarine
• 06. Forest - Fortress
• 07. Ocean 2 - 'Minks' Battleship
• 08. Canyon - High-speed bomber
• 09. Cave - Ceiling Machine
• 10. Project 4 Base - Sub-Boss: Giant VTOL aircraft. Boss: Project 4 ship

Ports

U.N. Squadron (known as Area 88 in Japan) was ported to the SNES in 1991. The principle difference between the SNES version and the arcade version is that in the SNES game each pilot can use a range of planes. All pilots start out with $3000 and the basic F8 Crusader and can buy other aircraft as they progress. Other differences include:

• Single player only,
• Different planes may be used by each pilot in contrast to the fixed planes of the arcade version,
• More and different power-ups may be purchased in the between-level store,
• An overhead map is used between levels,
• If a player dies during a level, the player must restart that level from the beginning,
• Missions can be tackled in any order chosen by the player,
• Shin increases his firepower the most quickly, Mick gains double ammunition from reloads and Greg receives double vitality back from fuel tanks, and recovers from being damaged twice as fast as the others (see below).
• Mickey Scymon is known as Mickey Simon.
• If a player takes damage, his/her ship will temporarily fall into critical condition. During this condition, any hit will kill the player. Once the player's ship recovers, albeit with less energy, he/she is safe again. However, if the player allows his/her energy meter to drop too low, the player's ship will stay critically damaged permanently, unless he/she finds an energy recovery item.
• The stage and boss BGM is different than in the arcade version.

The SNES version also includes more aircraft than the arcade version:

• F-8E Crusader: This is the generic aircraft that players start with. The ceiling for the Corsair's gun power is very low and the aircraft can only carry three types of special weapon.

• F-20 TigerShark: The cheapest aircraft that can be purchased after completion of the third mission. This aircraft has mediocre weapons capability but it is well suited to both air and ground attack.

• F-14D Tomcat: The F-14D Tomcat is intended primarily for air-to-air combat and carries no real ordinance for attacking ground targets. It is the most maneuverable of all of the aircraft.

• A-10 ThunderBolt II: Intended for ground attack, the A10 fires two shots for every gun burst. One travels forward and the second (slightly weaker) shot travels at a downward 45-degree angle.

• YF-23 Stealth Ray: Capable of carrying a wide range of armaments, the YF23's primary attribute is that of Stealth. As such, the enemy's guided weapons, such as missiles, will not track the plane.

• F-200 Efreet: The best fighter available in the game. The Efreet has the highest weapon power ceiling, can carry all of the special weapons, can carry more special weapon ammo than any other fighter and is tough to destroy. As such, it is the most expensive fighter available in the game and it is easy to play the whole game without ever having enough money to purchase it. (The EF-200 Efreet is nearly identical in appearance to the MIG-31 Firefox from the movie of the same name.)

External links

• U.N. Squadron at Arcade-History
• Area 88 at the Killer List of Videogames
• U.N. Squadron at MobyGames
• U.N. Squadron at the Killer List of Videogames
• Template:GameFAQs
• UN Squadron SNES review from Mean Machines Archive
• Area 88 review at the Anime Super Famciom Web Resource Center

• Capcom games
• Arcade games
• Super NES games
• Amiga games
• Atari ST games
• Commodore 64 games
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• 1989 arcade games
• 1991 video games
• Scrolling shooters
• Cooperative video games