Sonics Wing

The world's hope hinges on your combat skills and sheer determination as an "aero fighter". Defend the world from unknown alien forces that are attempting to take over the world. You must extract these unknown forces before they can execute their plot for dominance. After conquering the unknown forces, the battle continues into space where the "controlling intellect" dictated the take-over attempt. You must seek and destroy this evil force to prevent it from seizing other worlds.

This game uses basic shooter mechanics. Press button 1 to fire normal weapons; this can be upgraded by collecting P or the rare F items, though the maximum power level has a hidden ammo count, after which you will return to the previous power level. Press button 2 to use a powerful special attack; uses are limited to how many B items you've collected (every life starts with two). Some ground enemies will drop score items when destroyed; interestingly, they appear as the currency of the selected character's nation. By default, you start with three lives, and can acquire one more at 200,000 points.

Aero Fighters is famous for its large cast of characters, unheard of in 1992. Each pair of characters represents one of four nations. The two player sides may only select the four characters given (one for each nation). In a two player game, only a single nation can be chosen.