Strikers 1945 II

Lore & Background

Strikers 1945 II is a vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up developed and originally published by Psikyo for arcades in 1997, following up on Strikers 1945. Kuusou Kagaku handled ports to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn for Psikyo, with a re-release by Success in 2000. In North America, Agetec released the PlayStation version under the title Strikers 1945 in 2001, while Midas Games issued it as a budget title in Europe in 2003. The game later appeared in Taito's Psikyo Shooting Collection Vol. 1: Strikers 1945 I&II for PlayStation 2, became a downloadable title on PlayStation Network via GungHo Online Entertainment, and reached Android and iOS through Mobirix as STRIKERS 1945-2. Another version, developed by S&C Entertainment, was released on Google Play with the plane fire button removed, making it autofire with only bomb and charge icons available.

Players choose one of six World War II-era fighter planes, using machine guns and bombs across eight stages. The first four stages appear in random order, while the latter four are linear. After completing the game, a performance report is shown, and the game loops with significantly higher difficulty. Each game starts with three lives, with an extra life awarded at 600,000 or 800,000 points. Losing all lives offers a continue option, but the score resets. In console versions, from the fifth stage onward, losing all lives also forces the player to restart that stage from the beginning.

The story picks up after the previous game: the C.A.N.Y. forces have been defeated by the Strikers, but a new faction called F.G.R. has acquired C.A.N.Y. technology and intends to trigger global war using massive mecha. The Strikers are called back to stop them.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Strikers 1945 II as the sixth most-successful arcade game in its November 15, 1997 issue. The game was mostly well received. Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine gave the Saturn version scores of 9, 8, and 8 out of 10, while French magazine Consoles + rated both the Saturn and PlayStation ports at 88%. Player One also gave the arcade version 88%. However, GameSpot's Miguel Lopez rated the PlayStation release 5.8 out of 10, recommending it only for genre fans. IGN's David Smith gave it a "good" 7.3 out of 10. Chester Barber of Next Generation awarded the PlayStation version two stars out of five, calling it a decent shooter of a nearly extinct type that had not aged well, though worth a rental for fans of older games.

Reader's Guide

Strikers 1945 II was mostly well received. Three reviewers from the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine gave the version for this system scores of 9-8-8 out of 10, while French magazine Consoles + rated both the Saturn and PlayStation ports at 88%. Similarly, the original arcade version received a score of 88% from French magazine Player One. On the other hand, Miguel Lopez from GameSpot gave the PlayStation release only a 5.8 out of 10, recommending it just for fans of the genre. IGN's David Smith voiced a similar opinion but gave it a 'good' score of 7.3 out of 10. Chester Barber reviewed the PlayStation version for Next Generation, rating it two stars out of five, stating that it is a decent shooter of a type that's all but dead but has not aged well. The game was also included in Psikyo Shooting Collection Vol. 1: Strikers 1945 I&II by Taito for PlayStation 2, and later released as a downloadable title for PlayStation Network by GungHo Online Entertainment. A version for Android and iOS by Mobirix (as STRIKERS 1945-2) was released, and after S&C Entertainment developed another version, it was released on Google Play with the plane fire button removed, making it autofire and only tap the bomb and charge icons.

Did You Know?

• Agetec released Strikers 1945 II for the PlayStation in North America under the title Strikers 1945 in 2001.
• Midas Games released it in Europe as a budget title in 2003.
• An Android/iOS version by Mobirix removed the plane fire button, making it autofire.