Fighting Hawk © 1989 Taito.
The player controls his fighting plane 'Falcon' and fights against enemies in each round of grassy plain, iceberg, glacier, snowfield and city. His final aim is to shoot down the enemy's snowfield newest bomber 'Dragon Hat'.
Taito L System hardware
Prom Sticker : B70
Main CPU : (2x) Zilog Z80
Sound CPU : Zilog Z80
Sound Chips : YM2203
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2
Even if the title screen says 1988, Fighting Hawk was released in March 1989 in Japan.
Many Japanese gamers expected this game to be along the lines of Toaplan's "Flying Shark". But the game didn't match up with Toaplan's usual style. So, the game was a flop.
Fighting hawk's BGM and graphic engine were re-used in "Master of Weapon". Originally, Master of Weapon (at a very early stage of development) was planned to be a sequel to Fighting Hawk.
The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'H !'.
* Stage selection screen: like many others games in the Taito library, this game has a hidden stage selection screen. Here is the process :
1) During boot-up, press the 'service' button.
2) "Service switch error" should appear; if it does, press 1P START (x3) and the service button (x1).
3) Stage Selection screen should appear.
1. Flying Shark [TP-027] (1987)
2. Fighting Hawk (1989)
3. Fire Shark! [TP-017] (1989)
Sound composer: V. Ohashi (Pinch Panchi)
CONSOLES:
Sony PS2 (jan.25, 2007) "Taito Memories II Joukan [Model SLPM-66649]"
Game's ROMs.
Game's screenshots.
See goodies section.