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Happy BaD! As always, I'm really bad about participating in BaD, my last blog was almost 5 months ago, but I do look forward to the BaD entries of others.

1943: The Battle of Midway is a vertical-scrolling shmup released by Capcom in 1987 in the arcades. It is the sequel to 1942, one of Capcom's earliest games and part of a series of shmups that is loosely based on the Pacific Theater of World War II. It was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, who would later go on to create Street Fighter II and Red Dead Revolver, which was originally based on his own Gun.Smoke arcade game.

As in 1942, you pilot a P-38 Lightning, a US war plane used extensively in the Pacific theater that was distinctive for having twin booms with the cockpit mounted in between them. This time, you're fighting to destroy a number of ships in the Japanese fleet at Midway Island, which was the battle that turned the tide of the Pacific War decisively in favor of the United States. Though the game is set in 1943, the actual Battle of Midway happened in 1942. This game is much more advanced than 1942 was. This time, you have only one life with an energy meter. You also now have a number of standard shmup powers such as 3-way fire, rapid fire, rockets. You also have a number of special weapons such as lightning (damages or destroys all enemies on the screen), wind (temporarily keeps enemies from appearing), tidal waves (only available on the boss stages), as well as the trademark loop-the-loop that allows you to escape enemies. Power-ups are time-limited and often must be obtained by shooting the power-up icons dropped by the red planes. There are also icons that give you two small escort planes that can also fire bullets and will shield you from three hits. 

The gameplay is more of a bullet-hell shooter style than 1942.  Each stage is divided into two parts, with the first part being dogfighting against a variety of fighter planes and bombers, with the second part being a boss battle. Most boss battles are against fleets of ships, with a battleship or carrier waiting at the end that must be destroyed as completely as possible. Each of the planes and ships in 1943 is based on real-life planes and ships deployed by Imperial Japan during the war, with the battleships and carriers bearing the names of their real-life counterparts. The small planes that make up the bulk of the enemies are based on the infamous Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters that were frequently used in kamikaze missions, and they will do kamikaze attacks in this game as well. Your ultimate goal is to destroy the flagship of the Imperial Japanese fleet, the Yamato, commanded in real life by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.  In some stages, instead of a ship, you battle either a gigantic bomber, Ayako (based on the real-life Nakajima G8N), or a squadron of mid-sized Mitsubishi KI-67 bombers (called "Daihiryu"). There are also easter eggs and secret power-ups which can be triggered by performing certain actions in each stage, one of which is a laser weapon that blasts through enemies.

1943 was ported to the NES in 1988. As with Bionic Commando, Capcom tried to make up for the NES's lack of graphical fidelity by adding extra features. You were given points at the beginning of each mission to enhance your P-38. The NES version also added charged shots, which would become standard in all subsequent 19xx games. 

The NES port also sported new names for the ships. The game sparked an outcry in when it was released in Japanese arcades because despite being made in Japan, it put players in the role of an American pilot fighting to destroy the Japanese military. So all the ships were renamed for the NES version to try and quiet some of the controversy, and these names carried over to the US release. 

The game was one of the best shmups of the 1980s, and even the NES version was quite good. 1943 sports a catchy, memorable soundtrack, though some tracks had to be dropped from the NES due to space limitations. It is also fairly difficult, with the game forcing you to choose between power-ups and replenishing your energy in addition to throwing swarms of enemies at you. But regardless, it is a fun game. 1943 is now available on the Capcom Arcade Stadium for the Switch. Along with Ghosts 'n' Goblins, it is free to play on the Switch, so if you own a Switch, check it out.