Researching this vertical shooter franchise led me to discover that the notorious Phoenix Games handled Sonic Wings Special on PS1 in Europe, releasing it as late as 2004. That’s the same publisher behind such low effort guff as Snow White and the Seven Clever Boys and Winky the Little Bear. It was a time when interest in 2D retro-style shoot’em ups was arguably at its lowest, at least within the US and Europe, leaving budget publishers such as Phoenix, Midas, Empire and XS Games to grab the rights at rock bottom prices.
Things couldn’t be more different nowadays, with publishers scrambling to make modern sequels to better known shooter franchises. We’ve already seen a follow-up to Andro Dunos, and the likes of Truxton Extreme, Apidya’ Special and Psyvariar 3 are well underway. In the meantime, we’re being treated to Sonic Wings Reunion – a new entry in a franchise that gained traction in the ‘90s, more commonly known in the US as Aero Fighters.
The name Aero Fighters is more apt than the alternative moniker, as this shooter is of the military variety, pitting aircraft against helicopters, ground units, fighter jets and the occasional UFO in a modern day setting.
After picking a skilled pilot, one of which is a dolphin, it’s then a case of dodging unmissable pink enemy bullets while deftly grabbing power-ups, additional bombs, and currency tokens that vary depending in which part of the world you’re flying over – with this being a continent hopping quest to overthrow a shadowy organisation. Each pilot has their own bullet formation along with a bomb, although these don’t vary a great deal from one pilot to the next aside from a couple of exceptions, such as the duo of European pilots who flood the screen with stacking dolls.
Stage orders are shuffled, and consequently the difficulty level for each is even, with not even one standing out as more challenging than the rest. They’re incredibly short too, lasting under two minutes each, culminating in a playtime of around 12 minutes – fleeting even by arcade-style shooter standards. Even with the peculiar omission of a tutorial I was able to reach the final boss on easy mode using just one continue. Normal mode doesn’t do much to up the ante, with bosses requiring no more than two well-timed bomb blasts to defeat.
Most shooters have a defining feature, or even multiple, but in Sonic Wings Reunion’s case nothing here stands out. At a push, it’s the extended character roster, with around ten different pilots to experiment with, each of which has an illustrated ending scene. A wingman can be selected (or declined to gain an extra bomb) and between missions the two will interact…using some of the most basic and broken dialogue imaginable. One conversion simply reads “Have you seen my sister?” followed by “No, I haven’t.” Adding to this air of sloppiness are typos and grammatical errors, such as the online leaderboard referred to as a “leaders board” and the controller option on the menu being in lower case.
Other options are few. There’s the ability to show the aircraft’s hit box, which is always appreciated, and the screen can be rotated. Four difficulty modes are on offer, all of which have infinite continues, although your score does reset to zero upon retrying. A training mode unlocks after the first playthrough which lets you choose a starting level and toggle other options. This may prove useful if you’re aiming for a 1CC, although it’s doubtful anyone well versed with the genre will need to practise for very long.
Visually, there’s little on display to suggest this is a brand-new entry that has been designed with modern hardware in mind. Bosses lack grandeur (one is simply a small UFO that hovers around) and while the backdrops are in 3D and have destructible elements, they’re often bland. This is especially true of the desert stage. Also noticeable is the weird mishmash of explosions, with some being realistic and others using pixel art, while the otherworldly final stage uses a putrid colour scheme that’s close to nauseating.
When taking the lacklustre visuals, the extremely short playtime, the rough presentation and lack of modes into account, you’re left with something that feels unfinished. It seems that the developers were given a small budget and a short development cycle to create something worthy – perhaps with the misguided belief that shoot’em ups can be made both cheaply and quickly – and this is all they were able to produce with the resources available.
Sonic Wings Reunion isn’t in anyway broken or unplayable. The action is fluid, the controls are responsive, and the bullet formations are more than manageable. In a way it’s perhaps appropriate that it feels like it has come straight from 2004 – wonky translation job and all. But this isn’t 2004, and expectations are higher nowadays. Packages such as this tend to lean into nostalgia too, which is another missed opportunity here, with not even a text-based history.
So, while not a turbulent ride, Sonic Wings Reunion nevertheless feels like it wasn’t quite ready for take-off. It’s an experience that barely gets off the ground, let alone soar high.
Red Art Games’ Sonic Wings Reunion is out now on PS5 and Switch. A PC version is also available.