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Pilotwings

aka: Dragonfly
Moby ID: 6632
SNES Specs
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Description official descriptions

Fly a selection of aircraft (including training vehicles, fighter planes and helicopters) through a range of training programs and missions. The more training you complete, the better the chance that you will complete the even bigger missions. Try your hand at landing, taking off, party tricks, fly through bad weather and shoot down targets.

Spellings

  • パイロットウイングス - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (SNES version)

10 People

Executive Producer
Producer
Director
Programmer
Graphic Designer
Sound Composer

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 31 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 60 ratings with 5 reviews)

Nothing more than a tech demo for Mode 7

The Good
The game adequately shows convincing 3D on 16-bit hardware. The attack helicopter levels are fun and actually resemble a game.

The Bad
The game itself is really boring with objectives ranging from flying through rings and landing on a moving target while falling with a parachute. The later levels are unforgiving with the game being punishing on how many points the instructors give you. Be prepared to replay the levels over again until you meet the score threshold.

The Bottom Line
I recommend it, but use save states to reduce frustration. If you are playing on a SNES cartridge, may God have mercy on your soul.

Wii U · by 45th&47th (1069) · 2024

A novel approach to flight games that is both realistic and fun

The Good
When released in 1990, Pilotwings was a novelty. The game showed what kind of graphical tricks the SNES could produce by making extensive use of Mode 7 scaling effects. Moreover I think it also introduced some new styles of gameplay. Pilotwings is a "sim-lite" that simulates piloting a hangglider, a rocketbelt, free-falling & parachuting and finally the more traditional bi-plane. With these aircrafts you'll have to perform stunts to complete missions. There are not many games like Pilotwings. The only games that come to (my) mind are the sequel Pilotwings 64, Aerowings and Sky Odyssey; but the last two focus only on aeroplanes. Pilotwings let me do stuff I had not done before in almost twenty years of playing computer games, which made the game interesting for me.

The gameplay in Pilotwings is more realistic than I expected it to be. All the aircraft have a certain amount of momentum, when you're flying in one direction you can't just turn on a dime and go in another direction. Both the strength and direction of the wind are also huge factors to take into account when controlling the aircraft. Thus it takes a while and a fair amount of practice before the controls become second nature and you've learned to counter the influences of wind and gravity. It was fun to pilot five completely different types of airplanes (hangglider, light plane, rocketbelt, parachute and the attack chopper in the bonus missions).

Pilotwings doesn't deafen the player with a bombardment of tunes and bleeps. It has calm and relaxing music that somewhat neutralizes the inevitable frustration that arises from the difficult mission objectives. The game's sound effects are excellent; hearing the wind blow past me while free-falling was impressive. The graphics department is decent, Pilotwings looks good for a first generation SNES title. Mode 7 effects are used to convincingly represent different altitudes.

The Bad
Pilotwings is a rather short game, if you'd do everything perfect on your first try you could probably finish it within 45 minutes. But because the game is rather difficult you'll have to train and replay a lot and you'll get many more hours out of Pilotwings. In fact I don't think there ever was a game in which I had to replay missions over and over again as much as with this one. This is mostly due to the fact that you can't save your game after a mission within a lesson. If you've scored very well on hanggliding, skydiving and the rocketbelt, you can still ruin your score with a bad performance with the light plane. This makes Pilotwings frustrating in it's later stages when you need to score a lot of points to advance to the next level / lesson.

It would have been nice if there was some sort of free-form / sandbox mode. After you've completed the eight regular lessons and the two bonus missions there's really no replay value.

The Bottom Line
A good first-generation flight game that strikes the right balance between simulation and fun. Miyamoto manages to turn the usually very serious flight-sim genre into something fun and playable.

SNES · by Roedie (5239) · 2003

Flight Club

The Good
One of the Super Nintendo’s three launch titles, Pilotwings absolutely reeks of SNES. I once heard it referred to as Mode 7: The Game, which I find is actually a pretty appropriate title. Mode 7 was a sprite scaling trick that allowed the SNES to stretch out a sprite layer to look like 3D terrain, and both Pilotwings and another launch title, F-Zero, made extensive use of it in entirely different ways. While F-Zero was a high-speed, futuristic racing game, Pilotwings is a laid-back, recreational flight simulator. At least, most of it is…

There’s not much background given to Pilotwings as you’re thrown into your first lesson. Land a biplane on a runway and skydive onto a bullseye. From there, challenges become slightly more complex, throwing in a hang glider and even a jetpack and having you fly through rings and in high wind. The goal is to do as well as possible in a number of different grading categories to receive your license and advance to the next level. It’s a pretty well done structure, as it forces you to become proficient at each of the various events while allowing a little slack for the odd poor performance. It felt great that even though I was pretty poor at hang gliding, I could make up the points by doing well in the rocket belt stages.

The mode 7 effect is put to good use to render the terrain and provide smooth gameplay. The scaling of the ground makes it easy to see just how close you are to landing and allows for a high degree of precision. Using the rocket belt, you’re also able to swap the camera to an overhead position to get a better view of where you’re landing. There were still moments where I had to utilize the altimeter to tell how close to the ground I was, but I find this to be necessary even in today’s world of 3D polygonal flight simulators.

Pilotwings is a lot more light-hearted and carefree than most flight simulators of the time, focusing on fun rather than accurately depicting flight. The result is a game that’s borderline relaxing, in spite of how challenging it gets in the later stages. I absolutely love the soundtrack, which features buzzy instrumental samples similar to other early SNES games. It’s a calming soundtrack that perfectly underlies the mellow gameplay. Combined with the drone of the plane’s engine or the rush of the wind, the game provides an almost meditative atmosphere.

The Bad
So Pilotwings may not be the most compelling of concepts out there, but the combination of its steady, slow-paced gameplay and smooth, jazzy soundtrack makes for a pretty relaxing experience.

And then…

Suddenly, all your flight instructors are captured by an evil organization and only you have a license grade high enough to fly an attack helicopter on a rescue mission. I’m dead serious; after four sets of licenses, the game throws you this curve ball, completely without warning. What kind of flying club did I sign up for here? I thought I was learning how to skydive and hang glide, not training to be part of an airbourne invasion. Why does this club even have an attack chopper? Why aren’t we calling the military or police force to rescue them?

But no, with no way to opt out of this armed assault, you’re coerced into the helicopter and sent into a nest of anti-aircraft guns. A single hit from any of the super-accurate guns will send you crashing to the ground, ending any dream you may have had of buying your own private plane and skydiving with your friends. It’s brutal. It seems incredibly out of place and jarring to suddenly find yourself going to war. It doesn’t feel like violence belongs in the context of the game. I’m all for variety, but this is just unwelcome.

Since first purchasing this game, I’ve picked it up three or four times and each time given up at this stage. I tried various strategies each time, such as flying at varying altitudes and engaging enemies in a variety of ways, but I’ve seen the burning wreckage of my helicopter too many times to count. I just wanted to go back to the mellow flight lessons that make up the bulk of the game, but I was stuck. I finally finished the mission by flying extremely low; below 25 feet. It was a less than ideal situation, all around. Worse yet is the fact that this mission appears twice, as if once wasn’t punishing enough.

The Bottom Line
Jarring shift of subject matter aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Pilotwings. The relaxing tunes, droning sounds, and stiff but fair challenge results in a pretty calming game. It isn’t a very deep or diverse game, but it ends rather quickly; just before it has a chance to get stale. Few flight simulators are as friendly and welcoming as Pilotwings, and it’s unfortunate that there aren’t more like it. A game that depicts flight in such a whimsical and leisurely manner is tough to come by. Of course, the developers still forced in a combat section for no reason, but if you omit that, Pilotwings is a GOOD game that I recommend to anyone looking for a more calming way to soar.

SNES · by Adzuken (836) · 2015

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The SNES version of Pilotwings appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development history

The working title of the game, in 1988, was Dragonfly, when Nintendo showed images of in many Japanese magazines at the time. This was well was before the official release of the Super Famicom (SNES). When the game was released, the name had been changed to Pilotwings, and the graphics and game structure was significantly different from the images shown previously.

Game Center CX

Pilotwings has been featured on the Japanese television show Game Center CX on three separate occasions. It was originally chosen as the challenge game for Season 9, Episode 9 (Feb. 16, 2010) but host Shinya Arino was unable to complete the game.

Arino challenged the game a second time for a special live broadcast celebrating his 40th birthday, which aired from 8 PM, Feb. 24 2012 until 6 AM the following day. After ten hours, he finally ran out of time, unable to complete the final stage, and had to give up again. This was the first time he'd failed to complete a game during a live broadcast.

Not wanting to disappoint his fans, Arino challenged the game for a third time at a live event in Iwate Prefecture before a live audience of hundreds of fans. With help from the ADs and several fans, he managed to clear the final stage just as the two-hour event was coming to an end. This event was the focus of Season 16, Episode 7 (July 5, 2012).

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  • MobyGames ID: 6632
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. New Nintendo 3DS added by Harmony♡. Wii added by samsam12.

Additional contributors: gamewarrior, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Joao Pinheiro, FatherJack, firefang9212.

Game added June 14, 2002. Last modified June 7, 2024.