1941: Counter Attack

The prequel to 1942, like the other games in the 19XX series, is a top-down shooter set in World War II. One or two players control a P-38 (for player 1) or a Mosquito (for player 2) and shoot down enemy planes and ships. As in the previous games, one button shoots the plane's weapon (which can be upgraded by collecting power-ups) and the other makes the plane fly a loop that destroys everything on the screen (or inflicts additional damage on the bosses fought at the end of each level). The normal ammo is infinite, while the upgraded weapons have limited ammo. Holding down the weapon button will charge up a bar at the bottom of the screen and a special shot can be triggered, the effect of which varies from weapon to weapon. The plane has a life bar that starts with three points. Each hit or loop used consumes one life point. You get new life points at the end of levels or by collecting power-ups. Other power-ups available are help pages and ghost planes. Three continues can be used, and one point is added to the score when one of them is used (a feature first introduced by this game and then copied by other shoot-em-ups).