Sky Shark

Sky Shark

Sky Shark (released in Japan as "Hi Sho Zame" and in Europe as "Flying Shark") is a military, vertical scrolling shoot 'em up game in which players take control of the titular biplane in five increasingly difficult levels to defeat a selection of military enemies such as tanks, battleships, airplanes and artillery as the main objective. At first glance, the title feels very standard, as players control their aircraft over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a runway is reached. Players only have two weapons at their disposal: the standard shot, which covers a maximum of the height of the screen, and three bombs. The bombs are powerful weapons that can wipe out any enemy within their effective radius. Scattered throughout each stage are various items that appear by destroying certain enemies: Shooting down colored waves of enemy planes will generate items such as "S" power-up icons, point bonuses and extra lives. Certain enemies on the ground spawn "B" icons that increase the player's bomb supply when they are destroyed. Each time the player lands on a runway beyond the first take-off, the number of bombs is increased by 3000 points. The player is initially awarded three lives and bonus lives are awarded from 50000 points. The game uses a checkpoint system where a downed single player starts at the beginning of the checkpoint he reached before he died. If he is hit by enemy fire, he loses a life and the aircraft's firepower drops to its original state. Once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the player throws more credits into the slot to continue playing. When you complete the final stage, the game starts again, with the second loop increasing in difficulty. In April 2020, M2 announced a new version of Flying Shark as part of their M2 ShotTriggers publishing label. It was initially announced for the Nintendo Switch.