1943: The Battle of Midway is a top-down shoot-em-up arcade game released by Capcom in Japan in 1987 and the United States in 1988. It's essentially a crazy shooter version of the Battle of Midway, as stated by the title, where the United States Navy won its most decisive victory over the empire of Japan in World War II. But you'll shoot down a lot more than four Japanese aircraft carriers in this game version, with your single plane no less.
The game has 16 stages where the player faces off against incoming waves of Japanese fighters and bombers. At the end of each is either an aircraft carrier type boss, a large warplane "flying fortress" style boss, or a few waves of tough planes that launch their own fighters at you. Levels with the carrier boss are split in two with the second half taking you closer to the ships to attack them.
The regular enemy planes with a red color will drop power-ups when the last one of their group is shot down. You can upgrade from your starting guns to hardware ranging from a shotgun blast to artillery shells and even a laser. Other power-ups include the health restoring Yashichi and a plane icon that grants the ability to call two wingmen in who attach to your wingtips and add to your firepower. Keep a watch in the clouds as bonus item icons in the shape of animals and food will occasionally appear and give you power-ups the red planes don't.
At 16 levels of pretty much the same scenarios run over and over, the game does begin to become repetitive. Teaming up with a friend for some cooperative action can alleviate this to an extent, but likely you'll both decide to go do something else before finishing unless you're very much into shoot-em-ups. Though later entries in the 19XX series become more varied and sophisticated, this game can still be fun to play at least a little of, especially for those interested in the history of arcade shooters or Capcom's back library.