Ghost Pilots

Ghost Pilots is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up game released in 1991 by SNK.

Story
In World War II, thousands of brave pilots risked their lives to fight for their countries.

Many stories have been told about them, but one story has not been told; the story of two pilots named Tom Phillips and Charlie Stingray. The allies were being attacked by a mysterious Nazi leader who attacked from two sides. On one side they attacked only by air, on the other they attacked by both ground and air. The two pilots, Tom and Charlie, set out to defeat the attack at an incredible disadvantage.

That they were able to overcome these unbelievable odds led people to question if they were "superhuman". They became known as the "Ghost Pilots".

Gameplay
The game's mechanics are basically straight forward with elements similar to that of Capcom's 1940 series of games. Unlike most scrolling shooters, the vehicle is a seaplane instead of ship or airplane. The A Button fires bullets, and the player can also hold the A button for a semi-automatic fire. The B Button is used to launch bombs from the inventory. The Player starts with 3 bombs.

Next the player has to choose the bomb types for the seaplane. In the first and last stage, the player has a choice to start with either the mega bomb or the magnetic warhead. In the sea strike stage, the player also has the gas flame bomb to choose. In the air strike stage, the player also has the air mines to choose. In a 2 player game, both players cannot choose the same bomb type.

The player has to battle airplanes, tanks, gunboats, jets and many other units. Along the way Power ups can be collected for stronger and more widespread firepower, star medals can be collected for bonus points and bombs can be added to the inventory for more bomb attacks. A player can have a maximum of 9 bombs. Soon the player has to face a big boss, consisting of bombers, tanks and other large war machines. The player needs to aim for weak points to destroy the bosses. Some bosses fire dangerous fireballs that split when shot by the player, making the battle more difficult.

The player is destroyed when shot once by enemy fire or rams into an enemy unit, then the player has to continue with the next seaplane left in the inventory. The first stage is two part which means there is no checkpoint in between. When the player reaches a checkpoint, the overall score is boosted. After the first stage the player can choose to do either the sea strike stage or the air strike stage first. The sea strike stage consists of mostly sea and land units while the air strike stage consists of a majority of air units. If the player makes it past both stages, the last stage is two part and then the player must face a tank boss the size of a city to win the game.

Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Ghost Pilots on their April 15, 1991 issue as being the seventeenth most-popular arcade game at the time. Likewise, RePlay reported the game to be the tenth most-popular arcade game at the time. The title was met with mixed to positive reception from critics since its release in arcades. It holds a 60% on the video game review aggregator GameRankings.

AllGame 's Paul Biondich and Kyle Knight compared Ghost Pilots with 1942 and 1941: Counter Attack, regarding it as a rip-off and criticized the sluggish controls, lack of enemy variety and uninteresing power-up system. Consoles Plus ' Kaneda Kun and François Hermelin praised the graphics, sound design and playability but felt mixed in regards to the presentation and criticized the presence of unlimited continues. Computer and Video Games ' Frank O'Connor also compared the game with Flying Shark, criticizing its design and programming, regarding it to be an average but mediocre vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up. Famitsu 's four reviewers scored the Neo Geo version a 24 out of 40. In contrast, GamePro 's Rigor Mortis gave very high remarks to the pseudo-3D visual design, sound, cooperative two-player mode and lack of slowdown during gameplay.

In a similar manner as Biondich and Knight, Hobby Consolas ' Manuel del Campo also compared Ghost Pilots with 1942. However, del Campo praised the graphics, sound design and playability but criticized its short length. Likewise, both Génération 4 's Frank Ladoire and Joystick ' Jean-Marc Demoly commended the game's animated visuals, controls, sound and playability. Player One 's Cyril Drevet drew comparison with 1941: Counter Attack and Flying Shark as well but gave positive remarks to the visuals, animations, sound and longevity but criticized its low difficulty level. Superjuegos ' Alberto Pascual noted that its difficulty level was high and praised the audiovisual presentation but felt mixed about the originality on-display. Última Generación 's Javier S. Fernández reviewed the Neo Geo CD version, stating that it embodied the spirit of older overhead shoot 'em ups but criticized the presence of unlimited continues, a sentiment shared by Kun and Hermelin. Ultimate Future Games also reviewed the Neo Geo CD version but stated it was not as fun as Viewpoint, criticizing its slow pace.

Ghost Pilots has been met with mixed reception from retrospective reviewers in recent years. Nintendo Life 's Gonçalo Lopez commended the Nintendo Switch released for being a solid port, praising the visuals and sound design but criticized its lack of balance.