Flying Shark, known as Sky Shark in North America, is a vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan and published in 1987 by Taito in Japan, Romstar in North America and Electrocoin in Europe. Controlling the titular biplane, the players must fight endless waves of military vehicles while avoiding collision with their projectiles and other obstacles. The plane has a powerful bomb at its disposal that can clear a portion of the screen of bullets and damage enemies when fired. It was the third shoot 'em up game from Toaplan, and their eighth video game overall.
Flying Shark was ported to multiple systems, each version created by different third-party developers. The game proved to be a success for Toaplan among players in Japanese arcades and garnered mostly positive reception from western critics, but the game was met with mixed response from magazines, specifically the home conversions. In 1989 the sequel Fire Shark was released. The rights to the title are owned by Tatsujin, a Japanese company formed by Masahiro Yuge.
Gameplay
thumb|left|Arcade screenshot
Flying Shark is a military-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game in which players take control of the titular biplane through five increasingly difficult levels in order to defeat an assortment of military enemy forces like tanks, battleships, airplanes and artillery as the main objective. The title initially appears to be very standard, as players control their plane over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a runway is reached. Players have only two weapons at their disposal: the standard shot that travels a max distance of the screen's height and three bombs. Yuge stated that the basic structure for the game was already decided during development of Slap Fight by pursuing the excitement of shooting and dodging, settling on the bomb and shot system, claiming that firing a bomb relieved stress from players. Yuge also stated the theme for the title was a realistic depiction of war that would involve players emotionally, as the development team had the atmosphere portrayed by the 1979 epic war film Apocalypse Now in their mind. The team also took a company trip to Thailand and wanted to convey the mood of the country's scenery with the backgrounds, with Yuge stating that the decision of scrolling said backgrounds left and right was to immerse players more with the game's world, though he expressed desire in making stages longer. The team wanted to make a title where players could clear it via tricks and knowledge accumulated through gameplay. When asked about the increasing bullet speed and starting at the second stage during higher loops, Uemura claimed that this design choice was made due to the first stage being made for beginning players and that the bullet speed would return to normal after reaching an overflow. Despite being published by Taito, Uemura stated that the publisher allowed them to reveal the project was made by Toaplan. It was then released across arcades worldwide the same month, by Romstar in North America under the name Sky Shark and by Electrocoin in Europe. In November 1988, an album containing music from the title was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and Pony Canyon. Most of the microcomputer ports were only released in Europe or North America. The NES version, which was a North American exclusive, is notable for being one of the earliest soundtracks composed by Tim Follin on the system. Flying Shark was included as part of the Toaplan Arcade 1 compilation for Evercade.
Reception
{| class="wikitable collapsible" style="float:right; font-size:80%; text-align:center; margin:1em; margin-top:0; padding:0;" cellpadding="0"
! colspan="8" style="font-size: 100%" | Reception
|-
! colspan="8" | Review scores
|-
! rowspan=2 | Publication
! colspan="7" |Scores
|-
!ARC
! C64
! ZXS
! AGA
! CPC
! ST
! NES
|-
| ACE
|
| 735/1000
| 893/1000
| 895/1000
| 784/1000
| 895/1000
|
|-
| ASM
|
| 1/12
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| AllGame
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| AmAction
|
|
|
|
| 73%
|
|
|-
| ACPC
|
|
|
|
| 65%
|
|
|-
| Am-Mag
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| CDU
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| CForce
|
| 50%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| CU
|9/10
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| CU Amiga-64
|
|
|
| 73%
|
|
|
|-
| CVG
|Positive
| 8/10
|
|-
| Crash
|
|
| 85%
|
|
|
|
|-
| Dator
|
|
|
| 2/10
|
|
|
|-
| EGM
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 22/40
|-
| TGM
|
| 74%
| 83%
| 72%
| 80%
| 84%
|
|-
| Gén 4
|
|
|
| 80%
|
| 80%
|
|-
| Happy CPU
|
| 72/100
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| MicroHobby
|
|
| 8/10
|
|
|
|
|-
| NP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 14/20
|-
| The One
|
|
|
|
|
| 76%
|
|-
| Power Play
|
| 7/10
|
|
| 5/10
|
|
|-
| Sinclair User
|Positive
|
|
|
|
|-
| Tilt
|
| 13/20
|
| 14/20
| 10/20
| 14/20
|
|-
| Your Sinclair
|
|
| 9/10
|
|
|
|
|-
| Zzap!64
|
| 63%
|
| 68%
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="8" | Awards
|-
! colspan="4" | Publication(s)
! colspan=4 | Award(s)
|-
| colspan="4" | ACE (1988)
| colspan=4 | Top 100 Games <small>(C64/ZXS/CPC)</small>
|}
According to Tatsuya Uemura, Flying Shark proved to be more popular than Twin Cobra and was "the biggest" hit for Toaplan. It went on to become Japans's second highest-grossing table arcade game of 1987 (below Arkanoid) and fourth highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1988.
Commodore Users Nick Kelly gave the coin-op a 9 out of 10 score. Computer and Video Gamess Clare Edgeley gave an overall positive outlook to the arcade original. Sinclair Users Tim Rolf stated that "it is difficult, but Taito has made it so awesomely playable that the difficulty is a real joy". In contrast, Teresa Maughan gave a more mixed outlook to the arcade version. Edge magazine praised the gameplay, visuals and music, claiming that "Toaplan arguably perfected the vertical shoot 'em up with this early effort", though the publication lamented it never received a proper conversion. In a 2010 interview, composer Manabu Namiki regarded Flying Shark as one of the shoot 'em up games he enjoys the most.
Yaegaki Nachi of Japanese magazine Oh!X gave the X68000 conversion a positive review. German magazine MAN!AC gave the FM Towns Marty port a 47% score.
Legacy
A sequel, titled Fire Shark (known in Japan as Same! Same! Same!) was launched in 1989. Its main character, Schneider, later re-appears in Batsugun.
Notes
References
External links
- Flying Shark at GameFAQs
- Flying Shark at Killer List of Videogames
- Sky Shark at MobyGames