1942: Joint Strike
XBLA boxart
Developer(s)	Backbone Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Composer(s)	Norihiko Hibino[1]
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 (XBLA), PlayStation 3 (PSN)
Release date(s)	XBLA: 2008-07-23 PSN: 2008-07-24
Genre(s)	Vertical scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Co-op
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+
Media	Download (150MB XBLA)

1942: Joint Strike is a video game developed by Backbone Entertainment for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network. It was released in 2008.

Despite the name, the game is an amalgamation of various elements of the 194x series.For example, it includes health meter and bomb system from 1943: The Battle of Midway; charge-fire, land-based battle sections; and rank increases from 1941: Counter Attack, fighter lineup, bomb-based end-level bonus, level rank system from 19XX:The War Against Destiny.

Game play

The game played like the classic 1942 arcade game, but with 3-D hi-def graphics.

Continue and level select options are unlocked by beating the game once.

Fighters

• P-38 Lightning: medium health, medium speed, medium power, lowest missile
• de Havilland Mosquito: highest health, lowest speed, highest power, highest missile
• Kyūshū J7W Shinden: lowest health, highest speed, lowest power, highest missile

By completing the game on Wing King difficulty, a black and red version of Shinden becomes selectable. It is a fully powered Shinden.

Joint Strike

Joint Strike is available in multiplayer mode. During multiplayer gameplay, the game's standard homing missile attacks are replaced with Joint strike attacks. Joint Strike attack is selected at the beginning of the game.

• Shot Link: Fires a fireball at the other ally fighter.
• Chain Lightning: Fires lightning at the other ally fighter, but regular weapons cannot be use when Joint Strike is in effect.
• Clash Blast: Drops a bomb between both players. The size of blast radius grows larger when player-controlled fighters are farther away from each other.

[ Items

Weapons

Current weapon power level is increased by picking up the same weapon item as the fighter's current weapon.

• Machine Gun
• Spread Shot
• Laser

Limited Weapons

These items have limited ammo. With exception of bomb, all items have limited time span whether they are fired or otherwise. When timer reaches 0, it is replaced by regular weapon.

• Rockets
• Special Machine Gun
• Bomb: Increases bomb stock by 1.

Others

• Health: Increases fighter's life point.
• Medals: Bronze, silver, gold medals worth 300, 500, 1000 points respectively.
• Yaschichi: Completely refills fighter's life point.
• 1up: Increases life stock by 1.

Levels

There are 5 levels in the game.

At the end of each level, a rank is given based on the amount of time used to complete the level.