Flying Shark

NA flyer

### Platforms

Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, FM Towns, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, X68000, ZX Spectrum, PC

### Genre

Shoot 'em Up

**Flying Shark** (飛翔鮫, *Hishou Zame*), also known as **Sky Shark**, is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Toaplan and released in 1987 for Arcades. It was ported the subsequent years to various home computers of the time and to the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 2022 the game was included in the *Flying Shark! Shark! Shark!* compilation by M2 for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, as part of their *Toaplan Arcade Garage* label. In 2023 it was released digitally for PC on the Steam and GOG storefronts by Bitwave games.

## Story

The battles of World War II were non-stop marathons of attrition on the sea and in the skies. No squadron has more kills than yours and no one in your squadron is better than you. That's why they call you the Sky Shark.

Just as the battle seems lost, U.S. P.O.W.s are marched further into enemy territory and an uncertain fate. Through sheer cunning and determination, the Sky Shark has to penetrate the enemies' first line of defenses. But he has yet to locate their command post and the American P.O.W.s. The artillery fire flies from all directions, pummeling Sky Shark, but he fights on.

Sky Shark, risking it all, flies into the swarm of oncoming enemy attackers. It's his last chance to save the day...

## Gameplay

*Sky Shark* is a vertically scrolling shooter in which players pilot a biplane over enemy-packed landscapes as they attempt to destroy waves of enemy aircraft, as well as ground-based targets such as tanks and gun emplacements. Naval vehicles are also featured, from small single-shot craft up to heavily-armed battle cruisers. If the player is hit by a bullet or the planes collide with each other, the player loses a life, with the game ending when all lives are lost. The game can be continued depending on the machine settings. The game consists of five stages, and after clearing the fifth stage, the game loops back to the second stage while the difficulty level increases. From the second loop onward, the first stage is cut off and the game becomes a loop of stages 2 through 5.

There are two types of weapons for the ship: the main shot (up to six levels), which fires a radially expanding number of bullets as the player collects more power-up items, and the powerful bomb, which explodes when the player presses a button, damaging enemies and canceling out enemy bullets. There are no speed-ups or weapon changes. The power-up item is a yellow panel with an "S" on it. The yellow panel with the letter "S" on it appears when the red plane formation that appears occasionally is annihilated. A yellow formation will give you a bonus, and a white formation will give you a 1-up item. Note that neither formation fires any bombs.

The bombs do not explode immediately after being fired, but fly forward a short distance and then blast a certain area. They can only be fired once the stock is depleted. The stock is increased by taking the red item (B) that appears when certain ground objects are destroyed, but it is added to the bonus points when the stage is cleared, and returns to the default stock of three on the next stage. In addition, only one red item (B) can be displayed on the screen, so if there are multiple red items (B), the player must collect them one by one or they'll disappear. The maximum number of bombs can be found on the 4th and 5th planes.The maximum number of bombs which can be stocked up on depends on each stage.

Towards the end of each stage, a large enemy appears, which acts as a boss for that stage. After that, regardless of whether or not the player defeated the large enemy, the player will reach the landing area and the stage will be cleared. At this point, a bonus is added depending on how many bombs the player has in stock.

### Items

* (S): Appears when the red squadron is annihilated. If you take it, your ship will be powered up one level.
* (B):Increases the number of bombers in your inventory by one. Basically, it appears when you shoot a certain ground character. Two of them will not appear at the same time.
* (1UP):Appears when you annihilate the white squadron. It can only appear a maximum of twice per game. The location where the white squadron appears is random, and it will appear twice at the beginning of the second stage at the earliest, and around the third stage at the latest.

### Bonus Scoring

* Earn 1000 points by annihilating the yellow squadron.
* Earn 3000 points for each Bomber you have when you clear a level. After the score is added, the number of Bombers you have is reset to 3 and you move on to the next level.

## Gallery

UK flyerX68000 coverAmiga coverZX Spectrum coverNES coverFM Towns cover
## Trivia

* In *Batsugun* it is revealed that Romu Schneider, one of that game's protagonists, was the pilot of the Flying Shark.

## External Links

* GOG store page
* Steam store page
* Bitwave Games