Landing Series

The "Landing" series consists of "Midnight Landing", "Top Landing", "Landing Gear", "Landing High Japan" and the rescue-helicopter spin-off "Air Inferno", all exclusive to arcade or arcade collections.

Midnight Landing (ミッドナイトランディング) released in 1987, using its graphical limitations to simulate taking off and landing a passenger plane under various weather conditions against the night sky. Initially it was intended to take place during daytime but that proved impossible with the technology of the time. Heavily inspired by PC simulation games, it used the same pseudo-3D graphics and dots to represent the runway lights. Bringing this genre to arcade and utilising unique joystick controls along with the sound capabilities (For English flight announcements and realistic sound effects) is what made Midnight Landing noteworthy. The arcade cabinet itself was made to resemble a cockpit, the inside is partially sealed when the door is closed, keeping it pitch dark inside. The landing itself makes the cabinet vibrate, a lot of priority was placed on immersion. The gameplay is quite difficult, it's known for being nearly impossible to get a perfect score; the highest score that has been recorded was 781/800 in 2016. A standee of a real stewardess was propped up near the cabinet to promote it. Recently the game was ported to the Playstation 4, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch, becoming the first Landing series title to be available outside of arcades.

Top Landing (トップランディング) released in October of 1988, using the same base cabinet design as Midnight Landing. It was the first Taito game to implement proper 3D and to use the "Air System" Hardware. The gameplay is relatively similar to the previous entry, over the different stages the weather, time of day and the size of your passenger plane changes. As you play, there's a chance of spotting UFOs in the sky, and if you finish all stages Bub from Bubble Bobble will be next to your initials in the score rankings. The general terrain surrounding each of the featured airports is recreated faithfully. There's a lot more importance placed on music, a couple of tracks include an arrange of "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and a song that would later be used in Jet de GO. Standees of Reika from Time Gal as a flight attendent were also made to promote the game.

These games were the first vehicle simulators from Taito and served as a basis for the next to be developed, including the Densha de GO! series. Both were popular outside of Japan, particularly in France, Germany and the USA. The use of music in both of these games were sparse but impactful. The Zuntata member, Shizuo Aizawa, was the music composer for both games.

Air Inferno (エアインフェルノ) is a spin-off released in June 1990 on the Taito Air System. You pilot a helicopter on rescue missions and control a fire extinguisher to put out flames. It's fairly easy to get a perfect score, and the music was composed by Aizawa once again.

Landing Gear (ランディングギア ) released in 1996 on the Taito JC system. You can pilot a trainer aircraft, small jet aircraft, seaplane, passenger plane, jumbo jet, fighter aircraft and space shuttle. The weather and time are fixed so there's less variety to the gameplay and scenery but otherwise it builds on Top Landing. The cabinet is more typical but provides easier control and allows you to change viewpoint. Shuichiro Nakazawa composed the music for this title, he would later be known for the Gamera 2000 soundtrack.

Landing High Japan (ランディングハイジャパン ) was the last true Landing game, released in 1999 on the Taito Type-Zero System. You pilot the Boeing 747-481D, Boeing 767-281, Boeing 767-381, Boeing 777-281 and Boeing 777-381 coming from All Nippon Airways. The controls are considerably more realistic and there's more of a focus on keeping the passengers calm. The music is rather stylish, composed by Kazuko Watanabe who is also known for Psychic Force.

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Jet de GO! Series

Jet de GO! (ジェットでGO!) released on February 3rd, 2000 for the Playstation, later ported to Game Boy Color and Windows 98/Me in 2001, named after the Densha de GO train simulation series. Much like Densha de GO, the Playstation release of Jet de GO also came with a specialized multi-joystick controller. The game was made in collaboration with Japan Airlines (JAL) and you play as a beginner pilot for them and take off then land at various real-life airports. You get updates from your flight assistants and see the status of your passengers as you fly. If you fly longer distances and rack up enough miles, you may unlock secrets or specials, primarily aircraft, bonus pictures and movies. There was a lot of importance placed on the artistic presentation and sound of the game, with BGM composed by Hiroyuki Misawa, Yoshikazu Kamata and Dr.Haggy along with vocals from JunkieAsMachine. The player can pilot a Handley Page Jetstream, Boeing 767-300, Boeing 747-400 and unlock the Boeing 737-400, McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (Nicknamed "J-Bird") and Boeing 777-300 (Nicknamed "STAR JET").

Jet de GO! 2 (ジェットでGO! 2) released in 2002 for the Playstation 2 and Windows Me/XP. At its core it was an improved version of Jet de GO, now allowing you to fly from and to the entirety of Japan. While flying, the player can take looks inside and outside of the plane from many different angles and take even more control of the landing. The music was composed by Shu Nakazawa and once again sung by JunkieAsMachine. Included are writings and photos expressing the history of JAL, guidelines for the airports and explanations of the aircraft mechanics along with various videos. The player can pilot a Boeing 737-400, Boeing 747-400/D, Boeing 767-300, Boeing 777-200/300 or DC-10-40. Unlockable aeroplanes include the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, Douglas DC-8 and NAMC YS-11.

Jet de GO! Pocket (ジェットでGO!ポケット) released in 2005 exclusively for the PSP. It removes some of the features from Jet de GO 2 and doesn't add very much to speak of. You can pilot a Boeing 747-400, Boeing 767-300, Boeing 777-200, Boeing 737-400, Airbus A300-600, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 or Douglas DC-8.

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Other

Energy Airforce (エナジーエアフォース) is a realistic combat and flight simulation game, released in 2002 for the Playstation 2. Lockheed-Martin collaborated with Taito for development in order for the aircraft to be reconstructed as faithfully as possible. The game and its sequels were an attempt to bring realism to the casual console gamer, it is often compared to but plays very differently from Namco's Ace Combat series. You take the role of a mercenary pilot flying alongside a wingman who you can command through the story. There's also an arcade mode that allows you to go through fixed missions without being held back by the physics; some of these missions are rather interesting, including fighting against WWII-era aircraft and UFOs. You can pilot a F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, X-35C Joint Strike Fighter, F-16 Update or F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Energy Airforce aimStrike (エナジーエアフォース aimStrike!) released in 2003 for the Playstation 2, building off of the original, it's usually accepted as the best in the trilogy. The terrains were expanded, there's an all new campaign, weapons were reworked and graphics were greatly improved. There's a new Strike mode which allows you to create your own missions by comfiguring the number of enemies, allies, location and weapons in play. You can pilot a Boeing F-15C Eagle, Lockheed Martin F-16C, Lockheed Martin F-16AM, Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22A Raptor, Lockheed Martin X-32C, Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II or Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II.

Over G Fighters released in 2006 for the Xbox 360. It's very similar to the original Energy Airforce, but takes a few elements from aimStrike too. It prioritised having a high amount of lengthy missions and varied environments above all else. The game also has an online multiplayer mode available through Xbox Live, where you can play 'Versus' or 'Arena'. You can pilot a A-10A Thunderbolt II, OA-10A Thunderbolt II, F-1, F-2A, F-2B, F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-15J Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, TF-18A Hornet, F/A-18A Hornet, F/A-18E Super Hornet, F-22A Raptor, F-35B Lightning II, X-35C Joint Strike Fighter, F-117A Nighthawk, JAS-39A Gripen, MiG-29A Fulcrum-A, Su-27 Flanker-B or Su-33 Flanker-D.