Software:Sonic Wings Special

Sonic Wings Special
Sega Saturn cover art
Developer(s)	Video System
Publisher(s)	MediaQuest
Programmer(s)	Yukio Kaneda
Composer(s)	Naoki Itamura
Series	Aero Fighters
Platform(s)	Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Arcade, Android
Release	JP: July 5, 1996
Genre(s)	Vertical-scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade system	Sony ZN-1

Sonic Wings Special is a 1996 vertical-scrolling shooter that combines the features in Sonic Wings, Sonic Wings 2, and Sonic Wings 3. It was ported to arcade as Sonic Wings Limited (Aero Fighters Special in North America). It runs on a Sony ZN-1 JAMMA board.

Gameplay

Fighters

There are 7 teams, 14 pilots, and 26 fighters in this game, with each team consisting of 2 members, and a choice of 2 fighters per pilot, except the secret team, which has 1 fighter per pilot.

Once a player has chosen a team, the other player can only choose a pilot and fighter of the respective team.

Team	Pilot	Normal fighter	Secret fighter
USA	Blaster Keaton/Mecha-Keaton	Lockheed F117 Sea Hawk	Vought F4-U Corsair
	Captain Silver	Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II	Northrop P-61 Black Widow
Japan	Hien	Mitsubishi FS-X	Nakajima J1N Gekkou
	Mao Mao	McDonnell Douglas F-15	Aichi M6A Seiran
Russia	Volk	Kamov Ka-50 Hokum	Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig 3
	Chaika & Pooshika	Ilyushin IL-102	Ilyushin IL-2 Stormovik
Sweden	Kowful the Viking	Saab AJ-37 Viggen	Junkers Ju 87G Stuka
	T.B. A-10	Lockheed F-104 Star Fighter	Brewster B-239 Buffalo
P.K.F.	Whity	Northrop YF-23	Henschel Hs129
	Lord River N. White	McDonnell Douglas AV-8 Harrier II Plus	Boulton Paul Defiant
NATO	Anjera	Dassault Rafale M	Dewoitine D520
	Ellen & Cincia	Grumman F-14 Tomcat	Fairey Sword Fish
Secret	Kotomi	Aka-Usagi	-
	The Man	Lamborghini Diablo (Diabloon)	-

A pilot's secret fighter is unlocked by completing the game with the chosen pilot.

The NATO and Secret teams are unlocked by unlocking all secret fighters in the US, Japan, Russia, Sweden, and P.K.F. teams.

Stages

There are 17 stages in this game, but only 9 are playable at a time. After completing stage 1, 3 stages are randomly chosen out of 5. The game includes a branching system that allows players to choose 1 of 2 branches after completing stages 5, 7, or 8.

If a secret fighter is chosen, alternate versions of the stages appear instead.

PlayStation version

It allows saving the game for more than once per round, while the PAL version does not support the PS1 Memorycard at all.

Arcade version

There are 6 teams, 12 pilots, and 12 fighters in this version. There are 10 stages but only 7 are playable per game. After completing Stage 4, Stage 5 and 6 are chosen depending on the player's performance. After completing Stage 6, one of Fight in Orbit, Another Dimension, or Mars becomes Stage 7, depending on the player's performance. In Fight in Orbit, Another Dimension, 1 of 2 different final bosses appear in the end. If all lives are lost in Stage 7, continuing causes the game to start at the beginning of a stage. If one of the five last stage bosses is not defeated before it escapes, a boss-specific failure ending is shown. A character-specific ending is shown if the final Stage 7 boss is defeated, and a stage-specific ending is shown. After an item is revealed, the point value of the item increases the longer it stays on screen. The point value progresses at the sequence of 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 10000 (maximum) points.

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score CVG 1/5 Super GamePower 3.5

External links

• Sonic Wings Special at MobyGames
• Sonic Wings Limited at the Killer List of Videogames