1943: The Battle of Midway

1943: The Battle of Midway is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up developed and published by Capcom, released in arcades in 1987 as the successor to the studio's 1942. The player pilots an American fighter, styled after a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, against the Imperial Japanese Navy in a fictionalised campaign leading up to and beyond the Battle of Midway, culminating in an assault on a heavily armed battleship. The game refined the formula of its predecessor by adding an energy meter that depletes over time and through damage, a selection of special weapons and power-ups earned by shooting particular enemy formations, and the ability to upgrade the aircraft between stages. It was a significant arcade success and was widely ported, most notably to the Nintendo Entertainment System, along with numerous home computers. What gives it a peculiar cultural resonance is the transaction at its core: a Japanese company built a game in which the player, cast as the United States, defeats the Japanese fleet at one of the Pacific War's turning points, then sold that game back to American arcades, where it took in quarters by the roll. That strange, capitalist, cross-cultural loop is part of what makes it such a fitting entry in any discussion of national identity in games.