The History of 1942: The First Big Hit | CAPCHROMOLOGICAL | Rewind Arcade

Chapter four of the CAPCHROMOLOGICAL video series where we look at every single Capcom game in chronological order. Today we set our sights on 1942, Capcom's first big arcade hit that really put them on the map and became the start of their popular 194X franchise of games.
Written & Produced by Chris Baines
Special Thanks:
Azita Marie (KittyMecha)
Gameplay:
Chris Baines - / @rewindarcade
Nenriki Gaming Channel - / @nenrikigaming
arronmunroe - / @arronmunroe
Graphics & Video:
RingoStarr39
The Arcade Flyer Archive
Sprite Rips:
Chris Baines
Magma MK-II
List of music tracks:
"Mission 1" - 19XX: The War Against Destiny
"Doomsday Weapon" - Cyberbots
"Forced Assault" - Aliens vs. Predator
"War Machine's Theme" - Marvel vs. Capcom
"The Abandoned Bridge" - Cannon Spike
"Defying the Grips of Fate" - Chris Baines
For a list of sources please email or DM me.
#capcom #capchromological #shmup #shmups #1942

[@RetroGameShowcase]

The amount of levels is what drives me crazy with this game. All other shmups at the time barely passed the 15 levels mark.... they really wanted the continue quarters rolling in.

[@RewindArcade]

It is really REALLY long and repetitive for a shmup. I’m honestly not a big 1942 fan, but I love the hell out of 1943.

[@Dongled]

It's so bizarre to me that Japan would be cool with making a game where you play as Americans blowing up Japanese planes.

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, I am under the impression that Capcom wasn’t expecting for it to be a big hit in Japan since it was made with the West in mind and for the obvious reasons you stated, but it really blew up over there and was their big breakout title which is pretty crazy (and strange).

[@Retrofire-47]

Japan was an occupied territory post-WW2, its education system reared the next generation of Japanese on Western values

[@ergastolo4281]

Japanese people understood that this is just a videogame, so there was no need to take it personally

[@losalfajoresok]

The first game I ever played on MAME and one of my favorites games ever. Amazing job!

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you, appreciate you watching!

[@KjinKaden]

Man this is an amazing video!! It’s easy to tell the amount of effort you put into this. Please keep it up! I’ll be watching every video from now on!

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks a ton, really appreciate it!

[@pauloninjinha]

Fantastic. I'm loving this series. Keep up the good work

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you so much!!

[@ManoOne-Music-Production]

Thank you for this video! I grew up playing 1942 on my Amstrad CPC 6128 home computer in France

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks for watching! That’s awesome you’re playing Amstrad version!

[@nykraftlemagnifique]

Great video here ! You bring lot of information, you made a real work behind this video, thank you so much. Hail from France

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you, appreciate you watching!

[@PragmatikReviews]

That's an odd plot for Japan. But I do like the idea of them looking at the original idea and being like, "eh, this sucks." in almost every level of marketing

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, I’m really upset there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of footage or info of the cancelled game. I want to see how truly “bad” it really was. 😅 Thanks for watching man!

[@stuartcopland6243]

This game is where I found Capcom! I find the success of the 194x series despite the fact that it's a Japanese game about shooting down Japanese planes fascinating, I wonder how much of a snapshot into post-WWII Japanese psyche it actually was back in 1984. I can't imagine the same success in reverse, even today.

[@RewindArcade]

I think what’s really interesting is that it seemed like Capcom wasn’t too sure of how it would do in Japan since it was being developed with Western audiences in mind. I also imagine Japanese youth had a different view of it and probably cared little about its theme as long as the game was fun. I was curious if it had made any headlines in 1984/85 in Japanese newspapers sort of how Mortal Kombat did in the West in the 90s, but I couldn’t find anything.

[@chid255]

Excellent video, I really liked 43 for the Nintendo, although it killed my thumbs after a while haha. Never tried its predecessor, but its always been on my radar! Even still I often listen to and often hum the soundtrack for the NES version of 1942. IMO its musical genius, and sometimes brings a tear to my eye.

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks Chid!! 1943 is one of my favorite shooters on the NES. Excellent game! 1942’s soundtrack is certainly the finest example of masterclass music composition. The way that high pitched whistle drones on with the same note over and over just touches my soul in a way no other soundtrack can. The absolute pinnacle of video game music! 😂

[@RewindArcade]

@kevinr278 As much hate as it gets, the NES MAX controller was my favorite controller as a kid. No idea how it’s aged, but this serves as a reminder that I need to track one down, haha.

[@MIKandJEAN]

Real shame it was never ported to Megadrive/Genesis! The hardware was made for these games including Commando, Ghosts'n Goblins, ect and even Shinobi 1987.

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, it's surprising that it never happened! It seems like Capcom didn't really develop much for the MD/Genesis, but instead simply licensed their properties for Sega to develop themselves.

[@ΝίκοςΒεζδρεβάνης]

Happy 40th birthday, _1942!_ (1984-2024)

[@Blueflag04]

I remember playing the nes version and hating the sound

[@RewindArcade]

It has some of the worst music and sounds in any video game EVER, haha. The arcade version is almost just as bad. 😅

[@mortenera2294]

​@@RewindArcadeDid you know there's a bootleg/hacked version of the arcade ROM with music from the Commodore 64 port? It's difficult to find, but it sounds way better in my opinion

[@RewindArcade]

@mortenera2294 I wasn’t aware of that. Pretty cool!

[@trokrani0]

I was shocked when I realized that this Japanese game was a game where you were a US soldier blowing up Japanese planes, because with all the war crimes that the US committed against Japan, killing more than 1 million Japanese, how could they do such a thing? The fact that Japan is a US colony and the US is rebuilt Japan pro-US, it breaks my psychology.

[@MrMLD1972]

👍🏾