Arcade Archives Fighting Hawk

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1-2 Alternating (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Fighting Hawk is a Shmup released in Arcades in 1988, ported to PlayStation 2 as part of the Taito Memories II Volume 1 Compilation, then ported to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2022. This game is set in a then-contemporary environment with players taking on enemy tanks, helicopters, and other military vehicles both real and fictional.

Fighting Hawk must be one of the least-mentioned Shmups I’ve ever reviewed, with the only reason most websites seem to mention it at all being due to the fact that it was developed by Taito. Despite the recognizable name and a pretty good 2D pixel art presentation, this is a pretty unoriginal and somewhat mediocre entry in the genre, and a particularly difficult one due to the abundance of enemy bullets, your sluggish speed, and the way the game restarts you back at checkpoints with each one-hit death. This makes for an experience that is, in my opinion, just not very fun. Add in a lack of co-op and honestly I think the presentation is the only positive thing here.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to get as far as they can in one run. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

At $8, the Arcade Archives release of Fighting Hawk seems absurdly pricey, especially given how generic it seems and how poorly it plays. With this being the case, I just cannot recommend this game. There are countless Shmups on the Nintendo Switch, do not waste your money on one this overpriced and mediocre.

tl;dr – Fighting Hawk is a mediocre Shmup with a good presentation but frustrating, overly-difficult gameplay that’s a slog to play and just not very fun. You have too many better options for Shmups on Nintendo Switch to waste any of it on this game.

Grade: D+

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