Finally finished this one.

I thought I never would, but gave it another go this week.

I think I was stuck on level 15 for the longest time, but started from scratch again, and made it through in about 3 days.

I am suprised this one is rarely mention whenever the toughest games topic comes up.

The last level is a killer, and the game deserves a better ending after it puts you through hell.

I say if you can beat the last level 1 out of 10 times, you would be a nintendo jedi.  I can maybe do it 1 out of 50 and I'm no slouch. 

If you can beat this game without continues you'd be a nintedo God. This game makes contra feel like sesame street.

Congrats man. I might have beaten the first level once.

I've beaten this game once. My password for level 23 is TY690

I totally forgot about this game. The best I've done is maybe getting half way through.

how many levels are there, I might give it a try this week, I think I played it for a while a few months ago, could have been 1942 though or 720 for that matter, I get # games comfused......hehe

I got pretty far into this one, but I had my NES controller hooked up to the Turbo Blaster accessory.

There are 24 levels, the last one doesn't have a password, so if you die on 23, make sure you right it down.

Good Luck!  Let me know how it goes TN.

I used to think this game was impossible to finish, and on nesticle, it damn near is, weird thing, the enemy sprites speed up and yours slows down on nesticle.  The cart plays the best, but nestopia is pretty close if you don't have one.  I havent tried any other emulators.  The reason why I got stuck on 15 a few months ago is mostly because of nesticle.  I had no idea.  When I played it on the cart, it must have been like taking the training wheels off, because I breezed through most of the levels, until getting to the last one.

For the record,  I beat it on the cart, with no turbo button.

Turbo sucks on this game. You can't shoot your lasers otherwise! TY690 (zero) will put you on Level 23 with all powerups but the last weapon one.

That's why I like the NES version so much better than the arcade, you always have the laser. I played the arcade game recently and was so frustrated, it didn't seem like a very fair fight, the game would eat alot of quarters.

I agree, if you used the turbo exclusively that would be counter productive, but if you switch back and forth, that would definitely give you an edge.

Well, beat it again just to get it on tape. I got the last level down, and know all the tricks you need to finish it semi-consistenly (1 out of 5). Maybe I can put a walkthrough together.

Anyone else been lucky enough to get through it yet?

I'm bumping this old thread, but it's still relevant.

I have been playing this game lately, the actual cart on my NES. At first, I wasn't so good. I got to level 5 or something. Then last night, it was like I was the master. I got to level 11 with no trouble at all. I had the side fighters and was tearing everything up with the "auto" and "super shell" weapons. Not once did I have to use the lightning attack and my energy seemed to be overflowing.

Then I noticed that I didn't seem to lose energy when I was hit. That's normal, because I have side fighters, right? Well, then I noticed that the side fighters seemed to be taking a lot more hits than I remember them being able to. They would flash as normal, but never went away. I did the ultimate test and just flew my plane right into the middle of one of the plane bosses ("ayako" or whatever) and did nothing. I was riddled with bullets, but took no damage and the side fighters never went away. At that point, I felt totally cheated and turned the game off at level 12. Apparently, I had some sort of glitch where my side fighters were invulnerable.

I played it again tonight. I got to level 7 with relative ease, but then started to struggle. My energy was no longer being maxed from the level-end bonus and I was having trouble getting the special weapons power ups. I made it to the end of level 8 and promptly blew up.

I seem to remember completing this game back in the day, but maybe that was 1942. I could never play 1942 again, due to the "music" (if you can even call it that). And yes, 1943 is hard on the thumb unless you get the special weapons that auto-fire.

Hmmm... Intersting bug. Never seen that one, and I've played a shit-ton of games of 1943

I did play a game of 1943 where the sea water turned Green. Other than that occasionally the sea sparkles more, or the music is slightly different.

I do believe you though, because I've seen some pretty weird stuff.

And Kudos on the bump, I can now no-death this game 4 out of 5 times, so I've come along way since my meager beginnings.

I just had a mutual defeat against the level 7 boss. I destroyed it just as it gave me the final shot. I lost my side fighters almost immediately. I don't remember what level gives them, but I also didn't see the power up again up through level 12. Does it appear anywhere else?

I seem to do the best with just the 3-way shot. Side fighters and the super shell are crazy, though.

I think a total of 3 levels give out the side fighters.

The power up stations are in almost every level, or if you mean the swirly diamond thing those are scattered throughout the game.

Sorry, I meant the side fighter power up.

Yes, the "tulips" seem to be in the same place every time.

Good job, that's a hard one, now you have to move onto this to complete the set.

That thing looks like it was sold along side Plane & Tank at Radio Shack.

And if you remember Plane & Tank, you are awesome.

I still own Plane & Tank - you're actually the first person I have ever heard mention it. You can see it laying down at the bottom...

Those Radio Shack LCD games were popular in my junior high school. I had the one where you were driving a car and had to pick up something on the side of the road(?) 

I remember the game, never had it.

I do have radio shack 'sea battle' though a little white/blue back one where you blow up planes and boats.
http://www.handheldempire.com/gam...

1943 is made by Acclam licensed through Capcom for that arcade/nes game. It opens up dropping zeros, then you navigate water spouts, then back to planes and they'll add in ground units then with boats taking shots. IT's hard, but it's fun, even has the 2 popular start/end 1943 jingles too. It as sold along side of Tiger games in popular toy stores.  http://www.handheldempire.com/gam...

I also have Battleship(mine is see through but gray)
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/MB/...

Ninja Gaiden - http://videogamemm.com/main/conte...
Sonic 2 - http://www.handheldempire.com/gam...
Sub Wars - http://www.handheldempire.com/gam...
Zelda Watch (have black one) - http://www.handheldempire.com/gam...

I had an afterburner game with a joystick. Also my favorite was a tiger Simon quest

I had the Tiger Simon's Quest and also Gauntlet.

I know what you're talking about, that Afterburner is frickin huge. There's a couple of them up on ebay I keep seeing, I want the little handheld one, but first thing is first is Mega Man 2 which I did own (Castlevania 2 after that, which I also had.)

Plane & Tank I'm going to look up and see what's what with that. You know as lame really as these little LCD games are, some of them do have a good little bit of depth that keep you going. pica-pic.com which someone here linked before has dozens of them in flash to play.

EDIT: Pica-pic has a flash version of Plane & Tank -- enjoy
http://pica-pic.com/#/plane__tank...

Plane & Tank was actually really challenging after a few levels. After a certain point, you just cannot survive.

^^^ The last line of this post is priceless.