''F-15 Strike Eagle'' is an F-15 Strike Eagle

combat flight simulation game Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games, amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and mil ...

released for

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

in 1984 by

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizat ...

then ported to other systems. It is the first in the ''F-15 Strike Eagle'' series followed by '' F-15 Strike Eagle II'' and '' F-15 Strike Eagle III''. An arcade version of the game was released simply as ''F-15 Strike Eagle'' in 1991, which uses higher-end hardware than was available in home systems, including the

TMS34010 The TMS34010, developed by Texas Instruments and released in 1986, was the first programmable graphics processor integrated circuit. While specialized graphics hardware existed earlier, such as blitters, the TMS34010 chip is a microprocessor ...

graphics-oriented CPU.

Gameplay

The game begins with the player selecting Libya (much like

Operation El Dorado Canyon The United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps carried out air strikes, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, against Libya on 15 April 1986 in retaliation for the West Berlin discotheque bombing ten days earlier, which U.S. President Ron ...

), the Persian Gulf, or Vietnam as a mission theater. Play then begins from the cockpit of an F-15 already in flight and equipped with a variety of missiles, bombs, drop tanks, flares and chaff. The player flies the plane in combat to bomb various targets including a primary and secondary target while also engaging in air-to-air combat with enemy fighters. The game ends when either the player's plane crashes, is destroyed, or when the player returns to base. According to

Bill Stealey John Wilbur Stealey Sr., better known as Bill Stealey, is an American game developer and publisher, and a former military pilot. Stealey founded MicroProse with Sid Meier in 1982 and released many flight simulators with the company. He was kno ...

the game mechanics and the content of the manuals were all based on non-classified information that received approval from the relevant authorities. Regardless, the Soviet embassy in Washington purchased four copies on launch day; ''

Commodore User ''Commodore User'', (also referred to as ''CU'') later renamed to ''CU Amiga'', is a British magazine initially published by Paradox Group before being acquired by EMAP. Timeline ''Commodore User'' was launched in October 1983 with an initial pr ...

'' speculated that this was in an attempt to learn more about the real aircraft. The game's depiction of the F-15 was significantly more accurate than its contemporaries.

Ports

The game was first released for Atari 8-bit computers, with ports appearing from 1985-87 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Amstrad CPC. It was also ported to the IBM PC as a

self-booting disk A self-booting disk is a floppy disk for home computers or personal computers that loads directly into a standalone application when the system is turned on, bypassing the operating system. This was common, standard, on some computers in the lat ...

, being one of the first games that MicroProse company released for IBM compatibles. The initial IBM release came on a

and supported only CGA graphics, but a revised version in 1986 was offered on 3.5" disks and added limited EGA support (which added the ability to change color palettes if an EGA card was present). Versions for the Game Boy, Game Gear, and NES were published in the early 1990s.

Reception

''F-15 Strike Eagle'' was a commercial blockbuster. It sold 250,000 copies by March 1987, and surpassed 1 million units in 1989. It ultimately reached over 1.5 million sales overall, and was MicroProse's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' in 1984 called ''F-15'' "an excellent simulation" with "excellent documentation". It stated that "the action is fast and furious ... the graphics are excellent". The game won the "Action game of the Year" in the magazine's 1985 reader poll. In a 1994 survey of wargames the magazine gave the title two stars out of five, stating that "the first 'classic' fighter simulation" was "well loved in its time" but "extremely dated". ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977–1978 b ...

'' approved of the

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

version's graphical and speed improvements, and ability to save progress. ''

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', is an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET. ...

'' listed the game in 1988 as one of "Our Favorite Games", stating that it "makes jet fighter combat nerve-wracking and fun at the same time".

Reviews

* '' Jeux & Stratégie'' #46

References

External links

* *
''The Official F-15 Strike Eagle Handbook''
at FlightSimBooks.com {{DEFAULTSORT:F-15 Strike Eagle (Video Game) 1984 video games Amstrad CPC games Apple II games Arcade video games Atari 8-bit computer games Atari ST games Cold War video games Combat flight simulators Commodore 64 games Game Boy games Game Gear games MicroProse games MSX games Nintendo Entertainment System games NMS Software games Video games designed by Sid Meier Single-player video games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Iran Video games set in Libya Video games set in Vietnam ZX Spectrum games