U.N. Squadron Longplay (Arcade) [4K]

Game Info
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Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Year of Release: 1989
Game Review & Impressions
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One of Capcom's earliest games based on the developer's CPS1 arcade hardware, U.N. Squadron is a horizontally scrolling shooter which features contemporary fighter jets and real-world theming instead of the usual sci-fi alien blasting typical of the genre. Given its release date and the fact the game features an F-14 Tomcat, I think Top Gun may well have been an influence here.
Each of the game's mission begins with a short briefing from some guy with a strange resemblance to Elrond Half Elven, followed by a quick visit to the upgrade store to purchase equipment for the mission ahead. You get a choice of two special weapons per mission, plus the option to equip shields which protect your plane from a certain number of hits, or extending your health bar. Unlike most other shooters, weapon upgrades aren't permanent, lasting for the duration of the current mission. This doesn't really matter because you'll expend most of the ammo for these weapons before the stage ends anyway.
Having stocked up, you're thrust into the level, whereupon you'll engage in sortie after sortie against waves of enemy fighters, bombers and similar adversaries before facing off an end-of-level boss. These generally have weak points on which you need to concentrate fire in order to destroy them, and they generally take a lot of punishment before going down.
Although the game is a perfectly competent shmup, I found the whole experience to be a tad underwhelming. It's difficult to pinpoint the issue, but I think U.N. Squadron simply lacks sufficient spectacle and pacing to really draw me in. It's far from a bad game, but I don't think I'd have been inclined to play this more than a couple of times in the arcade.
Information & Trivia
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Video Notes
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Related Longplays & Videos
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Chapters
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#unsquadron
#capcom
#retrogaming

[@Bobaklives]

For those who grew up in this era, this game looked and played great.

[@LuigiLaitinen]

Oh gosh, yes.

[@AchtungBaby77]

"Looked" and "played" great, as in past tense? I just fired this up on my MAME cabinet last night and it still kicks!! Awesome 80s gaming right here ✌✌

[@BackyardEpicMovies]

I loved this one in the arcade. It stood out to me due to it's use of realistic planes and anime styling (Area 88). I found it more refreshing than the usual sci-fi space shooters of the time.

[@Se7en20082008]

Wow this looked much harder than the SNES version I'm used to playing lol. I think the SNES version had better music though and the ability to carry more weapons and fly more planes. But a solid play-through none the less.

[@EightOne01]

You only get one life per credit.

[@drlight6677]

Try playing the SNES version of U.N. Squadron on the secret Gamer! difficulty (you unlock this in the options by holding X and A on Controller 2 and selecting the difficulty with controller 1). Enemies shoot a bazillion bullets and at like twice the speed as the other difficulties lol

[@TheOctoJon]

I can’t imagine doing some of these parts with no clusters, but getting 60 a shells is a lot of boss damage.

[@TubeDeviant]

What the hell!! The Osprey was based on that aircraft on Mission 5..!! LOVE this game..! I still have it on SNES.. Brings back good memories.. =)

[@humansrants1694]

Osprey prototype was built 4 years before.

[@FlightDreamz]

Love the end credits @30:18 where the F-14 Tomcat, A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka Warthog) and the F-20 Tigershark are flying in formation while the credits roll and then peel off one by one. Never saw that screen before (played this game a lot back in the day).

[@MrRolyat98]

I remember when this started out as a manga called “Area 88”. I remember thinking the concept of mercenary fighter pilots was pretty cool. Cameras installed in the planes confirmed kills. More kills=more $$$. Entertaining story.

[@keness4768]

If you saw the anime, it hits you in the feels a bit more. Always loved this game and the snes port.

[@Supperdude9]

I only ever saw this arcade cabinet at a local super market's entrance. It doesn't exist any more, now a furniture store.

[@waynecuff3140]

Brilliant game, both versions. Carrier Airwing is also another gem from Capcom. Wish that came to Snes.

[@jamesmoss3424]

U.N. Squadron arcade game got killer graphics and kick ass music. 😀👍🎮

[@blagojpejov4155]

I played this Game is the best on Arcade and the bosses are awesome to face

[@franksflytraps]

awesome game, i remember it was so loud at my arcade.

[@blackflame4506]

Thanks for another great longplay Al! Guess this is the spiritual successor of Carrier Air Wing if I recall.

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

Glad you enjoyed it! Carrier Air Wing does indeed appear to be the spiritual successor to U.N. Squadron; I'll have to check it out!

[@taokodr]

I played the heck out of this game back in college. The first time I solved it on one quarter, I remember the manager of the arcade was standing behind me and went "Yeah!" Great game!

[@samuelcarrasquillo4590]

"How Far To Paradise?"

[@liliannakifflin6343]

Who could have known that through all these years, Underneath that cartridge of the un squadron mask, Lies the treasure of Area 88 in all this time.

[@ArttuTheCat]

I tried many times - for over 30 years 😹 - to look for this game to my Commodore 64 and Amiga 500. And still trying 😹. The arcade version of U.N. SQUADRON looks and sounds awesome 😺👍🕹️. Thanks for an awesome retrospective longplay video, AL82. 😺👍🕹️

[@robertwilson3866]

You should buy the arcade version and connect it up to your TV. Is very possible now

[@ArttuTheCat]

@@robertwilson3866 Hey, i forgot this old comment 😹👍. In fact, last year's October, I dropped by at a local retro game store in Tikkurila Vantaa, (Finland 🇫🇮) and found this game for the Commodore 64 as a tape version - CiB - and paid only 6,99€ 😹😺👍🕹️.

[@robertwilson3866]

@@ArttuTheCat Nice, are you a C64 collector then?

[@ArttuTheCat]

@@robertwilson3866 Yes. I'm also the Amiga 500 collector 😺👍🕹️.

[@solarflare9078]

The Amiga port of this game was not bad for a Tiertex offering, but still quite poor

[@commandervile394]

I used to play this a Pizza Hut back in the 90s. Played it at one of my birthday parties. Then I rented the SNES version sometime later. It wouldn't be until the mid 2000s where I discovered there was an anime and manga of this game and they're pretty damn good if you're into fighter jets and retro anime.

[@natejennings5884]

I still have an old SNES cart of U.N. Squadron. One of the best shooters on the SNES.

[@LuigiLaitinen]

@@natejennings5884 Yeah, me too!

[@limelightraver5690]

My story is very similar, when I was a little kid back in the mid 90’s I can remember our family going to my favorite round table Pizza restaurant and I remember standing there in the arcade, my eyes starstruck as I watched the big kids playing this game. I remember being fascinated by it and like just you, it would not be until the 21st century that I discovered that the game was based on an anime which as you rightly said is “pretty damn good” and and no wonder, after all Area 88 is a powerful anti-war dogfight thriller about what it was like for soldiers turned mercenary’s who felt like they had no place left in society except the battlefield in the post-Vietnam years of the late 70s and early 80s. Even though the main character of the anime is Japanese, a good majority of his fellow mercenary’s that he befriends happen to be Vietnam Veterans that have had extreme difficulty readjusting to civilian life and have finally given up on American society due to their PTSD and inability to support themselves in a “normal” occupation due to the lack of benefits for Vietnam Veterans at the time. As a result they have returned to the battlefield as mercenary‘s for hire because they feel that the society they want to return to for them is it’s gone forever and for one of the characters anyway it’s actually literal because among the ranks of the Vietnam veterans in the story is one former member of the South Vietnamese Air Force so in his case, there is LITERALLY no society to return to since South Vietnam lost the war. So as you can see, a very depressing and scathing indictment of how so many Vietnamese veterans were treated in the aftermath of the war. And even though the story is a work of fiction it is inspired by some real history as there were a sizable amount of disgruntled, disillusioned Vietnam veterans that literally did do things like this after the war, some really did actually become soldiers of fortune after feeling that society for them was something they could never go back to anyway given their emotional, psychological and financial baggage. So it’s quite fitting that the anime is set between the years of the late 70s and early 80s as is it making a cynical statement about what was going on during that time in Vietnam’s aftermath as the hotspots for soldiers of fortune after Nam became no longer places like Southeast Asia but rather the war prone regions of northern Africa and the Middle East which indeed are the primary settings of Area 88 In fact now that I think about it, it reminds me of something that was penned by a real Vietnam veteran who wrote an autobiographical novel about his harrowing experiences in Vietnam, A novel that would later be adapted into Stanley Kubrick‘s immortal antiwar classic film Full Metal Jacket “Home... It hasn't changed... It just isn't the same anymore... It's not America anymore. I'm not standing in the country I was born in and I am not the person I was born to be. Drive-in movies don't show me pictures I care to see anymore. Ice cream tastes like clay. Breasts are coconuts with nipples of black rubber. I can't remember... when did I go there... and why? And why did I come back? And where am I now? I don't know... none of us really know. The world we knew just... ran away... it's gone... and where are we? We're alone... that's where we are, bros... there it is... no slack, payback is a motherfucker, we are alone. Meanwhile... all around us... like bloated white spiders... civilians cluster in their plastic shacks... polishing imaginary Cadillacs.” - Gustav “Joker” Hasford, Vietnam Veteran and Writer If that doesn’t perfectly sum up how it felt to be a veteran in Vietnam’s aftermath and just how truly difficult it was for these people to readjust to civilian life then I don’t know what does.

[@commandervile394]

@@limelightraver5690 Spot on, man. I can only imagine how recent war veterans feel knowing Iraq and Afghanistan pretty much ended up the same, 20 year long endevours of constant bloodshed only to amount to nothing, and then coming back home to see a society so divided and eating itself up alive. All the while, those responsible for the creation of the wars, handling of the wars, and societies' slow economical and sociological collapse itself get to live their lives unhindered and avoid accountability. It's a damn shame, but hey, such is war and life. I guess until we finally wake up and realize it's all BS, and try to change, resist, or refuse to be part of it. All easier said than done though.

[@Maurogabproductions]

me: wow, this game its very cool omg no way

[@johnsonlong8491]

Reminds me of "flying contra" in NES

[@EightOne01]

The Japanese version has a special stage where you have to shoot the bombs off of as airliner. (Just like in the Area 88 anime when the plane Saki is on is marked for his assassination.)

[@christidavis7295]

U.N. Squadron Longplay (Arcade) [4K]

[@Gencoil]

1:00 - Chocolate raaaaiiin

[@zukoulou7464]

Aere 88 in japanese version. By Capcom. _ 3 pilots : * Shin Kazama. From Japan. * Mickey Simon. From USA * Greg Gates. From Danmark. Only on Super Nintendo.

[@deptofcarstereorepair]

lol, music between missions has similar motif as opening of Final Fight

[@inceptional]

You know, I think the SNES version is better overall. Other than the headshots in the HUD, which clearly look nicer here, I like the SNES version more all round. Kudos to the SNES there. Still really like the arcade version too though.

[@thatcokestuff]

I think SNES soundtrack is top notch, probably my favorite soundtrack of the time

[@drlight6677]

@@thatcokestuff SNES OST is definitely better due to the SNES's godly sound chip. I also like being able to choose which stages to play in which order (or at least groups of stages in certain orders) and being able to buy new ships.

[@mlopez-t1b]

You are a beast! 🫡

[@nunyabizness3866]

How did the SNES version manage to sound better with better music?

[@marijandesin8226]

1:05 Chocolate Rain

[@f.floriano]

Baita jogo bom!!!

[@KawaiiNeko333]

So what is to keep Namco from buying the rights to Area 88 and then making Ace Combat 8 off of it? This kinda thing would fit since it'd be five years (in universe) since AC7.

[@jstarsc0mm]

how did you practice to get so good at sonic 3 and knuckles?

[@selami32]

CPS1 4K edition

[@xxxpensive1415]

Flashback...i remember this game took all my candy money🤬

[@TechRyze]

I'm sure that your teeth are happier, even if your eyes aren't!

[@JIBAN911]

これは日本版のエリア88ですね。

[@elsenorx5936]

Es distinto al del arcade

[@stephenaremu78]

Do you want this on capcom 2nd Stadium?

[@drlight6677]

Unfortunately Capcom hasn't brought any of their games involving legal licenses to Capcom Arcade Stadium 1 or 2. Would love to have this and the SNES version (with slowdown cleaned up), Alien vs Predator, Marvel Super Heroes, The Punisher, the two Dungeons and Dragons games etc. on a Stadium 3 but highly doubt it'll happen.

[@hsuwei-yen472]

F20!!!???

[@darrenclements6028]

Shame that there was no mega drive version

[@inceptional]

I'm thinking the far less colours would have made it hard to do the looks of this particular game full justice. Much of what looks good about the art here is great colouring. But it's possible it could still look more than good enough on Genesis with some really smart use of the limited colours. In every other way it looks like it could have managed it pretty closely though.

[@Jac2Mac]

@@inceptional But it was also the fact that the evil empire known as Nintendo had some VERY cruel rules, such as for example, if Capcom released a game like UN Squadron for the SNES, then they were NOT allowed to do a Sega Genesis port at all, and Sega couldn't do a port of UN Squadron themselves due to the SNES version existing.

[@inceptional]

@@Jac2Mac Yeah, that was a bit of a douche move on Nintendo's part. It worked out pretty well for me as a SNES owner though.

[@Jac2Mac]

@@inceptional And you REALLY have to wonder why Konami didn't license their late 80s and early 90s arcade games before 1991-92 to Sega to reprogram for the Sega Genesis who could do it even better, much like what happened with the Capcom games reprogrammed by Sega.

[@inceptional]

@@Jac2Mac Aye, we all know. It's public knowledge some of the shady practices that were going on because of Nintendo's monopoly.

[@stephenaremu78]

I heard the snes version is better

[@LuigiLaitinen]

Yes, it is.

[@solarflare9078]

Better in some aspects like having a completely adjusted gameplay loop and some extras, but the arcade definitely has the better graphics, sound, and is overall better for having a no frills experience

[@humansrants1694]

@@solarflare9078 Snes had frequent heavy slow down but was a great game.

[@leonardoflorentin]

those are the least japanese and danish people look alike i've ever seen, what's up with japanese cartoons portraying them as if they were some kind of slavs or scandinavians? that's some inferiority complex if you ask me.

[@youBrakeIHonk]

Where's the tas 😥

[@michaelallenjones]

I played the arcade edition a long time ago it is way harder

[@easportssucks4347]

That's because arcade games were designed to kill you as much as possible. All about feeding those quarters!