Aero Fighters Assault Comes into View

Thursday morning GS News met with Koji Furukawa, the president of Video System Co. Ltd., Mitsuo Kimura, the president of Video System USA (recently renamed from McO'River), and project director, T. Sakon, to discuss their latest title, Aero Fighters Assault for the Nintendo 64.

An updated version of Sonic Wings for the Super Nintendo, Aero Fighters Assault is a mission-based air combat title created in conjunction with Pilot Wings 64 and military flight sim developer Paradigm Entertainment.

The game sees the player as a member of Project Blue, a UN peacekeeping air force that's the only thing keeping the evil military organization Phutta Morgana from taking over the world. Phutta Morgana has already immobilized the world's ground forces and the navy is otherwise tied up, leaving it up to the player and his team to take on the organization.

Airships at the player's disposal include F-14B Tomcat, FS-X, A-10A Thunderbolt II, SU-35 Super Flanker, and more, so the player can dogfight jets, sink ships, destroy buildings, and take on game bosses ranging from huge, spider-like mechs to enormous floating fortresses. Game levels take place in such locations as a partially submerged Tokyo, high up among the clouds over New York, above the Pacific Ocean, near Monument Valley, and at Cape Canaveral defending a space shuttle launch.

The game also supports a two-player deathmatch mode and the use of Nintendo's Rumble Pack controller add-on. Contrary to the norm, Aero Fighters Assault will actually be released in the US before it's released in Japan (where it'll be called Sonic Wings Assault) and will hit store shelves this Thanksgiving.

Be sure to check out the following screenshots and video, and then look up the full preview of the Japanese version of the game.