The Backlog: Pilotwings

I decided to play Pilotwings for the Super Nintendo this week for the backlog blogpost. Pilot Wings is a flight simulator of sorts. Planes are not the only vehicle here, the player can also skydive, use a jetpack, paraglide, and even use a helicopter. At least that is as far as I've gotten when it comes to the machines you can use. The first 4 levels of the game have you basically going through obstacle courses with these flying machines and methods, trying to get the highest score possible. The player’s score is calculated depending on how closely they follow the instructions from the instructor assigned to you. The tasks range from going through rings, hitting floating structures, or getting hot wind updrafts. After a given task is completed,  there are targets or runways the player uses to land, this is easier written than performed. 

Each vehicle or mechanism handles differently, right when you feel comfortable with one they throw another unfamiliar one at the player to master. After the fourth level the game’s narrative changes dramatically. Each of the previous four levels are merely obstacle courses, with an instructor that lets you know if you passed certain flight rankings. The 5th level has you rescue your instructors in a real in-game war with a helicopter that shoots missiles. You use these missiles to shoot down anti-aircraft guns.. For the longest time I thought Pilotwings was mainly a showcase game, something that Nintendo released in the Super Nintendo’s early life cycle to demonstrate the system's abilities. But after the 5th level, it appeared much more than that. 

The Super Nintendo launched with five games, Super Mario World, F-Zero, SimCity, Gradius 3, and Pilot Wings. Most of these games showcased the upgraded 2D visuals of the system but F-Zero and Pilotwings showed the potential 2D plus potential. I say 2D plus because mode 7 graphics aren't exactly 3D but they're close enough that when the Super Nintendo launched, if you saw Pilotwings in action at home, your mouth would drop at just how interesting and third dimensional it looked. Matt, from Mean Machines, a UK based video game magazine, said in 1991 that, “Pilotwings offers 3D graphics unparalleled on any other games system outside of the arcades. The effect is truly stunning, with a full rotating landscape that will astound and amaze you” (“Pilotwings - Super Nintendo - Mean Machines Review”).

F-Zero, with its mode 7 attributes, was slightly different from Pilot Wings, as its showcase was more about speed and the flat, 3rd dimensional-like tracks. Pilotwings used both the vertical and horizontal area potential, even showing a bit of draw distance above and below you. When traversing with a light plane, going through rings, it feels like you’re playing a 3D game even though it really wasn't 100%. There wouldn’t be a complete 2D plus game that would even reach its heights until Starfox, also made by Nintendo, would hit the system in 1993. And I say that Starfox was only able to beat its graphics because it was a true 3rd dimensional game for the Super Nintendo. 

Anything that Nintendo creates and wows their audience, always influences games that come after it. Though there hasn’t been a modern take on Pilotwings, its effects are surely still felt today, as its feel and navigation can surely be seen in other air flying games, though I can’t name them off the top of my head. But surely it has had an impact, I would be surprised if it hasn't. 

The game mostly holds up to modern game standards, the only part that may not, surprisingly, are the once declared amazing graphics. With historical context in mind, the game is a great time and you admire how much it pushed the system. But if you directly compare it to more modern games, it may feel a bit aged, with the environments looking flat, being merely small pockets of land, and the sprites looking silly in a near 3D environment. The gameplay however, still feels tight and enjoyable to play. 

Works Cited:
“Pilotwings - Super Nintendo - Mean Machines Review.” Archive.org, 2024, web.archive.org/web/20100715055813/www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/review/138/pilotwings.php. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.