F-15 Strike Eagle (video game)
| F-15 Strike Eagle | |
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Cover art
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| Developer(s) | MicroProse |
| Publisher(s) | MicroProse |
| Designer(s) | Sid Meier |
| Platform(s) | Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, PC-8801, Sega Game Gear, MSX, NES, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum, Arcade |
| Release date(s) | 1985 1986 (Amstrad CPC), 1987 (ZX Spectrum). 1991 (Arcade) |
| Genre(s) | Combat flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
F-15 Strike Eagle is an F-15 Strike Eagle combat flight simulator first released in 1985 by MicroProse. It is the first in the F-15 Strike Eagle series comprising also the sequels F-15 Strike Eagle II and F-15 Strike Eagle III. It was initially released for the Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, and Commodore 64, followed by ports to other systems. An arcade version of the game was released simply as F-15 Strike Eagle in 1991. It uses higher-end hardware than was available in home systems, including the TMS34010 graphics-oriented CPU.
The game begins when the player selects Libya (much like Operation El Dorado Canyon), the Persian Gulf, or Vietnam as a mission theater. Play then begins from the cockpit of an F-15 already in flight and equipped with a variety of missiles, bombs, drop tanks, flares and chaff. The player flies the plane in combat to bomb various targets including a "primary" and "secondary" target while also engaging in air-to-air combat with enemy fighters. The game ends when either the player's plane is destroyed or when the player returns to base.
The game was ported to the IBM PC, being one of the first games that the company released for IBM compatibles. The initial IBM release came on a self-booting 5.25" floppy disk and supported only CGA graphics, but a revised version in 1986 was offered on 3.5" disks and added limited EGA support (really just the existing CGA graphics, but with the ability to change color palettes if an EGA card was present). The popularity of F-15 Strike Eagle led to several more ports on the ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, NES, Game Boy, and Game Gear.
F-15 sold over 1.5 million copies, and was MicroProse's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987.Computer Gaming World in 1984 called F-15 "an excellent simulation" with "excellent documentation". It stated that "the action is fast and furious ... the graphics are excellent". The game won the "Action game of the Year" in the magazine's 1985 reader poll.Antic approved of the Atari ST version's graphical and speed improvements, and ability to save progress.Compute! listed the game in 1988 as one of "Our Favorite Games", stating that it "makes jet fighter combat nerve-wracking and fun at the same time".
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