Sky Shark (Nintendo, 548706570)

“Sky Shark” is a vertical shoot'em up by Taito. If you are familiar to the vertical shooter “1942” then you will have an idea as to the game play that is in Sky Shark. There are a lot of similarities. It is a World War 2 setting and you are flying a lone plane against the enemy. The enemy planes, tanks, etc come at you in patterns. Learning the enemy's patterns and dodging their fire is crucial to staying alive. You have only two weapons, your plane's gunfire and bombs. Power ups are provided by destroying a line of the enemy's planes attacking you. They are noted by being a different color than the other planes. Extra bombs are provided on the ground when destroying certain random targets. I find the game a little more intense than “1942.” It starts off a little hard and never lets up, getting a little harder. For me, the bosses at the end of the stages are a disappointment. For example, at the end of the first stage I really didn't know that I was engaging a boss until it was over. So the fun is really while you are blasting through the stages. If you enjoy the old type “classical” or “retro” shoot'em ups in the style of a 1942, where the action is repetitive and high scoring survival is the goal, then you will enjoy “Sky Shark.” There is good use of color and the graphics are good for the 8-bit NES. I would give it an 8 out of 10. The bosses are what really affected my scoring.