Legendary Wings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Legendary Wings

Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Release date(s)	1986
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter, platform
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, simultaneous
Platform(s)	Arcade, NES
Input	8-way Joystick, 2 buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade CPU(s)	2x Zilog Z80 (6 & 4 MHz)
Arcade sound system(s)	2x YM2203 (1.5 MHz)
Arcade display	240 × 256

Legendary Wings is a video game released by Capcom in 1986. The game, which contains both vertical shooter stages and horizontal platformer stages, is known as Ares no Tsubasa - The Legendary Soldiers. Ares no Tsubasa (アレスの翼) roughly translates to "The Wings of Ares" in English.

Legendary Wings takes place 20,000 years in the future in a Greek mythos-themed world. The player controls a soldier wearing mechanical wings who flies across the landscape while shooting various flying and stationary machines with a weapon that improves with power-ups. At the end of each level, the player must defeat a dragon;after which the players land and walk into a palace. At this time a message is displayed, "The Devil is waiting for us inside the palace. Rush courageously." Once inside the palace, the player walks and flies horizontally along various platforms, shooting enemies before reaching the boss, which resembles a giant ship that shoots eyeballs ("the Devil"). The game features 5 separate levels, which loop upon completion.

Each level featured the opportunity to be sucked into two horizontal platformer mini-levels. One chance occurs when the player flies over a giant mechanized face on the ground, which shoots spirals that instantly transport the players into a non-beneficial level (preceded by the message "Danger!"). It is possible to avoid these spirals, but their speed increases each new level. The other chance occurs when a player attacks a certain ground enemy on each level, which will shoot one spiral at the players. If this Spiral touches either player, both are instantly transported to a bonus level (preceded by the message "Lucky!"), featuring numerous items worth points as well as several weapon powerups)

[edit] Weapon Upgrades

At various points in the game, a flying capsule will appear that can be shot, leaving a weapon powerup. There are 5 weapon levels, but after the player takes any damage he will drop to the next lowest level, until he loses a life. There are no extra powerups when in 2 player mode, therefore the players must share the powerups.

Level 1 Firepower This consists of a semi-automatic air-to-air weapon that travels straight ahead of the player and an air-to-ground weapon that travels slowly over a short distance. The air-to-air weapon is considerably weak and does not penetrate beyond the first target.

Level 2 Firepower This consists of rapid twin column semi-automatic air-to-air weapons and air-to-ground weapon slightly faster than level 1.

Level 3 Firepower This consists of a single-stream, constant blast air-to-air weapon and an air-to-ground weapon considerably faster than level 2. The air-to-air weapon can penetrate its targets.

Level 4 Firepower This consists of a unique, slower air-to-air weapon that splits and bounces outward to each side (or top to bottom on horizontal levels) simultaneously before rejoining and moving forward. The air-to-ground weapon is slightly faster with a longer range than the previous levels.

Level 5 Firepower This level causes the transformation of the player into a flaming bird with rapidly flapping wings. The air-to-air weapon is a wide swath of flame that travels rapidly and can be fired in quick succession. It is as wide as the level 2 twin columns, and penetrates its targets like the level 3 weapon. The air-to-ground weapon is not a great improvement over level 4. As an added bonus, the player can take damage one time and retain level 5 firepower.

The original Japanese version of the game featured a female protagonist named Michelle Heart and a male sidekick named Kevin Walker. Certain North American versions of the game (including the one contained on Capcom Classics Collection) replaced Michelle with an unnamed male counterpart, while other versions kept Michelle.

In the 1998 game Marvel vs. Capcom, Michelle Heart is included as a "striker" character. She fires a machine gun at opponents when called upon.

In the 2005 Playstation 2 game Namco x Capcom, Sylphie (the shopkeeper from Forgotten Worlds) transforms into Michelle both as part of her super attack and as part of a combination attack.