A single-seat single-engine fighter, the most successful of its generation (mid 1970s) and one of the best dogfighting aircraft ever produced because of its maneuverability and large size.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
The backbone of the U.S.A.F. Built in a consortium with four other NATO countries, the Fighting Falcon is a multirole fighting jet with speeds up to 1500 mph. Used in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attacks. Manned by a crew of one or two, depending on model.
Don't expect F-16 Fighting Falcon to be an easy arcade-style shooter -- this is a complex simulator. Two gamepads are required to use all of the controls and players will need to read the entire instruction booklet to fully understand what they are doing.
The game takes place over ten levels. The focus is air-to-air combat and no ground targets exist. All of the enemies are MiG-25 Foxbats. Only two are encountered on the first level, but by level ten there will be eight, though no more than three ever appear on screen at the same time. Fly both day and night missions, destroying all 44 MiGs to win.
F-16 Fighting Falcon comes in the Master System's card format, instead of the more common game cartridge.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
F-16 Fighting Falcon is influenced by the more complex flight simulation games found on computers.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
F-16 Fighting Falcon probably does the best it can do on the Master System, unfortunately that is not enough. More time was spent on the details of the F-16 than on the rest of the game.
You will need two controllers to play this game. Controller one handles primary functions such as flying your aircraft and firing its weapons. Controller two is used to speed up or slow down, lock-on to enemies, use flares, and to switch between auto-pilot and manual control.
Flying the F-16 may sound complicated but since it is difficult to crash you shouldn't have any problems. Your only concern should be the enemy fighters who can be kept track of on radar. Many other instruments are also on the screen, some of which are confusing and not always needed. Basically you should pay attention to weapons, altitude, and fuel. Weapons and fuel are limited so once you run out you cannot complete the level.
Graphics are very unappealing. Your view is from a first-person perspective. Solid colors are the only backgrounds and enemy fighters are basically gray or white triangles. White dots form a grid over the ground which is the only way to tell the difference between the ground and the sky. Most of the primary instrument panels are easy to read at least.
Sounds are good and bad. You hear a constant noise which is supposed to be the F-16's engine. It is loud and should have been left out. On the positive side the 20mm gun is the best sounding gunfire in any Master System game. That is surprising since this game was an early release on the Master System and is in the card format. Considering the release date, one would think Sega could have reused the sound effect on all of the action games in cartridge format that followed. Unfortunately they didn't.
Along with the bland graphics and weak sound there is also boring gameplay. Players simply fly around trying to shoot enemy fighters. Of course, that is what flight combat simulations are about but this one has no rewards, you never see your plane, and there is no landscape. F-16 Fighting Falcon is the only flight simulator on the Master System leaving simulation with no other options. The dogfights are not too interesting though so it is doubtful anyone will really enjoy playing this game.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
A few fighters are the only things to shoot at.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
Bland and boring to look at.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
20mm cannon sounds great.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
Gets boring and repetitive fast.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
There are 33 pages filled with detailed information.
~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide
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