''Pilotwings'' is a series of flight simulation

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

beginning with the 1990 video game '' Pilotwings'' and most recently ''

Pilotwings Resort is a flight simulation video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console, developed by Monster Games and published by Nintendo. It is a sequel to the 1990 Super NES video game '' Pilotwings'' and the 1996 Nintendo 64 game '' Pilotwings 64 ...

'' in 2011. One of

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

's franchises, the series was released on the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

(Super NES),

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

, and

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

. Notable for its revolutionary 3D gameplay, ''Pilotwings'' was created by

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...

, with the games being developed by

Nintendo EAD commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EAD and formerly known as Nintendo Research & Development No.4 Department (abbreviated as Nintendo R&D4), was the largest software development division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. It was pr ...

(''Pilotwings''), Paradigm Simulation (''Pilotwings 64'', in collaboration with Nintendo EAD), and Monster Games (''Pilotwings Resort''). All three games were published by

Gameplay

All three games in the series have gameplay elements in common, such as

hang gliders Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

and

jet pack A jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack or flight pack is a device worn as a backpack which uses jets to propel the wearer through the air. The concept has been present in science fiction for almost a century and the first working experimental d ...

s. They also have mission modes. ''Pilotwings Resort'', unlike the previous two games in the series, is set on Wuhu Island and is in Autostereoscopy 3D.

Games

''Pilotwings''

is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

. It was developed by

's Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD) division, led by producer

. The game was originally released in Japan on December 21, 1990, shortly after the launch of the Super Famicom. It was released as a

launch title Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the players, and surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 A ...

for the Super NES console on August 23, 1991 in North America, with a European release following in 1992. ''Pilotwings'' is an amateur flight simulator game in which the player attempts to earn pilot licenses through lessons in light plane flight,

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sports, air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium al ...

skydiving Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

, and the use of a rocket belt.

Bonus stage A bonus stage (also known as a bonus level, bonus round, or special stage) is a special video game Level (video games), level that awards the player a rapid windfall of benefits such as points, items, or money. The first bonus stage in video game ...

s and levels involving an

attack helicopter An attack helicopter is an armed helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the offensive (military), offensive capability of engaging ground targets such as enemy infantry, military vehicles and fortifications. Due to their ...

are also available. Each event offers unique controls and gameplay mechanics. To increase the realism of the game's flight simulation, the developers extensively utilized the Super NES's

Mode 7 Mode 7 is a graphics mode on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled on a scanline-by-scanline basis to create many different depth effects. It also supports wrapping eff ...

capability, which mimics

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

by rotating and scaling flat objects. The game was well received upon its release, largely thanks to its graphical presentation. The game has since been re-released on the

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

service for both the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

and the

New Nintendo 3DS The is a clamshell design dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo, originally released on October 11, 2014 in Japan and rolled out to all major global markets by September 25, 2015. It is the fourth system in the Nintendo 3DS fam ...

consoles in

PAL region Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25& ...

s, North America, and Japan. A sequel, ''

Pilotwings 64 is a 1996 flight simulation video game developed by Nintendo and Paradigm Entertainment, Paradigm Simulation and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was one of three launch game, launch titles for the Nintendo 64 in Japan as well as Eu ...

'', was released for the

in 1996. After many years of announcements and cancellations, Nintendo unveiled a second sequel, ''

'', for the

handheld at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2010 which released in 2011.

''Pilotwings 64''

is a

for the

, originally released in 1996 along with the debut of the console. The game was co-developed by Nintendo EAD (who developed the original game) and the American visual technology group Paradigm Simulation. It was one of three

launch titles Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the gamer, players, and video game culture, surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 ...

for the Nintendo 64 in Japan as well as Europe and one of two launch titles in North America. ''Pilotwings 64'' is a follow-up to '' Pilotwings'' for the

, which was a North American launch game for its respective console in 1991. Also like that game, ''Pilotwings 64'' received production input from Nintendo producer and EAD General Manager

. ''Pilotwings 64'' is a 3D amateur flight simulator that puts the player in control of one of six pilots as they try to earn pilot licenses through various forms of aviation. The events are flying an

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

, using a

, and

. Several bonus tasks are offered, such as

and a human cannonball test. The game also puts focus on allowing the player to freely explore its detailed 3D environments, most notably a miniature representation of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The game received positive review scores and praise from gaming publications and news sources alike for its visual presentation and flying controls. Similar to its Super NES predecessor, ''Pilotwings 64'' serves to demonstrate the graphical capabilities of its gaming hardware. Although the flight simulator did not enjoy the same commercial success as its fellow launch game ''

Super Mario 64 ''Super Mario 64'' is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first ''Super Mario'' game to feature 3D gameplay, combini ...

'', ''Pilotwings 64'' nonetheless went on to sell over one million copies worldwide.

''Pilotwings Resort''

is an

amateur flight simulation A flight simulation video game refers to the simulation of various aspects of flight or the flight environment for purposes other than flight training or aircraft development. A significant community of simulation enthusiasts is supported by s ...

for the

handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...

, developed by Monster Games and published by

. It is a sequel to the 1990

game '' Pilotwings'' and the 1996

game ''

'', and takes inspiration from the 2009 Wii game Wii Sports Resort. Similarly to its predecessors, it was confirmed as a launch title in North America and Europe. In Japan, Australia, and New Zealand it was released on April 14, 2011. Nintendo re-released the game, along with some of their earlier, published games for the Nintendo 3DS, as a downloadable title via

Nintendo eShop The is a digital distribution service for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, and formerly available via the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo eShop served ...

. The downloadable version became available on November 1, 2012 in Japan, November 22, 2012 in the PAL region, and December 20, 2012 in North America.

Notes

References

External links

Official Pilotwings Resort Page
{{Main franchises by Nintendo Flight simulation video games Nintendo franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1990