Sonic Wings Special

Sonic Wings Special[lower-alpha 1] is a 1996 vertical-scrolling shooter video game developed by Video System and published by MediaQuest for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. It was ported to the arcades as Sonic Wings Limited (Aero Fighters Special in North America). It runs on a Sony ZN-1 JAMMA board. It combines the features found in the original Sonic Wings, Sonic Wings 2, and Sonic Wings 3.

Sonic Wings Special
Sega Saturn cover art
Developer(s)Video System
Publisher(s)MediaQuest
Programmer(s)Yukio Kaneda
Composer(s)Naoki Itamura
SeriesAero Fighters
Platform(s)Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Arcade, Android
Release
  • JP: July 5, 1996
Genre(s)Vertical-scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemSony ZN-1

Gameplay

Fighters

There are seven teams, fourteen pilots, and twenty-six fighters in this game, each of them consisting of two members, and a choice of two fighters per pilot, except the secret team, which has one fighter per pilot. Once a player has chosen a team, the other player can only choose a pilot and fighter of respective teams.

TeamPilotNormal fighterSecret fighter
USABlaster Keaton/Mecha-KeatonLockheed F117 Sea HawkVought F4-U Corsair
Captain SilverFairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt IINorthrop P-61 Black Widow
JapanHienMitsubishi FS-XNakajima J1N Gekkou
Mao MaoMcDonnell Douglas F-15Aichi M6A Seiran
RussiaVolkKamov Ka-50 HokumMikoyan-Gurevich Mig 3
Chaika & PooshikaIlyushin IL-102Ilyushin IL-2 Stormovik
SwedenKowful the VikingSaab AJ-37 ViggenJunkers Ju 87G Stuka
T.B. A-10Lockheed F-104 Star FighterBrewster B-239 Buffalo
P.K.F.WhityNorthrop YF-23Henschel Hs129
Lord River N. WhiteMcDonnell Douglas AV-8 Harrier II PlusBoulton Paul Defiant
NATOAnjeraDassault Rafale MDewoitine D520
Ellen & CinciaGrumman F-14 TomcatFairey Sword Fish
SecretKotomiAka-Usagi-
The ManLamborghini Diablo (Diabloon)-

A pilot's secret fighter is unlocked by completing the game with the chosen pilot.

The NATO and Secret teams are unlocked by unlocking all secret fighters in the US, Japan, Russia, Sweden, and P.K.F. teams.

Stages

There are 17 stages in this game, but only nine are playable at a time. After completing the first stage, three stages are randomly chosen out of five. The game includes a branching system that allows players to choose one of two branches after completing stages 5, 7, or 8.

If a secret fighter is chosen, alternate versions of the stages appear instead.

PlayStation version

The Japanese PlayStation version allows saving the game for more than once per round, while the PAL version does not support the PS1 Memory Card whatsoever.

Arcade version

There are six teams, twelve pilots, and twelve fighters in the arcade version. There are ten stages but only seven are playable per game. After completing the fourth stage, stages 5 and 6 are chosen depending on the player's performance. After completing stage 6, one of Fight in Orbit, Another Dimension, or Mars becomes stage 7, depending on the player's performance. In Fight in Orbit, Another Dimension, one of two different final bosses appear in the end. If all lives are lost in stage 7, continuing causes the game to start at the beginning of a stage. If one of the five last stage bosses is not defeated before it escapes, a boss-specific failure ending is shown. A character-specific ending is shown if the final Stage 7 boss is defeated, and a stage-specific ending is shown. After an item is revealed, the point value of the item increases the longer it stays on screen. The point value progresses at the sequence of 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 10,000 (maximum) points.

Reception

Notes
  1. Japanese: ソニックウイングス スペシャル, Hepburn: Sonikku Uingusu Supesharu

References
  1. Guise, Tom (September 1996). "Review - Sonic Wings Special". No. 178. Future Publishing. Computer and Video Games. p. 80. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  2. Bros, Marjorie (July 1998). "Saturn: Sonic Wings Special". Super GamePower (in Portuguese). No. 31. Brazil: Nova Cultural. p. 19.
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