Released in 1988 by Jaleco for the Famicom Disk System, Big Challenge! Dogfight Spirit is a vertical-scrolling shoot ’em up where you pilot an attack helicopter through seven intense missions. As the only entry in the Big Challenge! series developed entirely in-house, it tasks you with dodging enemy aircraft, ground turrets, and floating mines to destroy the boss installations at the end of each stage.
How to Play
Survive each wave of enemies and destroy the stationary turret arrangements at the end of the mission. You are provided with nine lives and three health points per life. Use the D-pad to maneuver your helicopter, press A to fire your weapons, and use B to cycle through power-ups you have collected. For browser play, the D-pad is mapped to the arrow keys, A and B are mapped to the Z and X keys respectively, while Start and Select are Enter and Shift.
Tips
- Conserve your health: While starting with nine lives sounds generous, you can only take three hits before losing one, and enemy projectiles are fast.
- Weapon swapping: Collecting power-ups changes your weapon type rather than strictly increasing firepower. Find the spread or focused shot that works best for your playstyle.
- Hidden credits: You can view a secret developer credits sequence by pressing A, B, and Select simultaneously on the title screen.
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