After the unexpected enjoyment I found with 1942, I expected 1943 to be a bit of a disappointment. As I said before, I don't really care for shoot 'em ups, and I expected it to just be more of the same. Well, I was certainly surprised, and though I liked most of the changes, I'm still not very into shoot 'em ups after this.
I found 1943 to be much harder than its predecessor, but it has a lot more replay value, better graphics, much better music, and generally a lot more depth. And some weapons having an autofire option was a godsend. The ability to change your weapon up, to choose how to increase your stats, to have the lightning attack and charge laser available, the hidden items, the new bosses on every level... It all adds up to a much more enjoyable and captivating experience than 1942.
On the other hand, despite the fact that you have infinite continues, only having one life means that if you die, you're going back to the beginning of the stage. And until you get used to the game and its mechanics, you will find yourself dying very often, very quickly. And when you die, you restart the level without your special weapon active. This isn't always a problem, but on some stages, there are a lot of enemy planes before you get an opportunity to find a weapon again. Not to mention, there is no password to send you to the last stage, so if you want to take a break from the game, you'll have to replay stage 23 each time.
Of course, my primary goal was to destroy the battleship Totaku on stage 24, clearing the game. I set some personal challenges at the start of the game, as well as a few more as I began to learn more about the mechanics of the game:
- Destroy Totaku
- Collect a yashichi bonus item
- Collect a side fighter bonus item
- Complete a stage with a 100% destructive rate
- Complete a stage with a 0% destructive rate
- Complete stage 16 (the end of the easy stages) without continuing
- Reach rank 6 in all five stats
- Reach one million points
