Aero Fighters 3 / Sonic Wings 3, 1cc -1st loop, Kowful & River, (MAME) player JAM

Описание: After taking a hiatus from the shmup genre for awhile, I decided to ease back into it with the goal of achieving a first loop 1cc of Sonic Wings 3. I've always had a soft spot for the Sonic Wings series due to its simplicity, fun factor, and quirky charm. If you're interested, you can watch my play throughs of the first two games in the series on this channel. This clear was done using auto-fire.

Please turn on subtitles or closed captions (cc) for commentary.

GAME BACKGROUND:
Sonic Wings 3, known as Aero Fighters 3 in Europe and America, made its arcade debut in 1995. This third instalment in the Sonic Wings series features a diverse cast of characters, with many familiar pilots returning from previous games, alongside a few new additions. The game is divided into two loops, but each loop is relatively short, lasting only about ten minutes and consisting of 8 stages. The brevity of the stages gives the game more of a boss rush mode feel.

One unique feature of Sonic Wings 3 is its branching paths leading to different stages. After defeating a boss in certain stages, a mysterious plane appears. If you destroy its left wing first, you'll follow one path; if you target the right wing first, you'll embark on an alternative route. Each route offers distinct stages and culminates in a different final boss encounter. In my experience, the left route is the easier of the two, and that's the path I chose for my first loop clear. Within a loop, two out of the eight stages are bonus stages where the primary objective is to collect points from relatively simple, and at times, static enemies.

The controls are straightforward, featuring a fire button and a bomb button. Each character possesses a unique shot type, speed, and bomb style. With a substantial roster of characters, there's likely a pilot to suit every player's preferences.

The game's "vertizontal" layout, a combination of vertical scrolling and horizontal layout, can make reacting quickly to the fast bullet patterns challenging. As a result, memorization and strategic planning become crucial. Personally, I find the planning and strategy involved in mastering the Sonic Wings series to be enjoyable. It offers a refreshing and fun alternative to the more complex bullet hell games found in the style of Cave.