Dan Kitchen's Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator

The Good
This game hit roughly the same time "Top Gun" was popular on NES. I only had my 7800, though, so I requested this game for Xmas, thinking they'd be similar. However, Tomcat was FAR superior, in my opinion. Tomcat requires the player to take off and reach cruising altitude on his own, rather than having the computer do it, as on NES. It was necessary to use controls on the game console itself, to allow for actions such as raising and lowering landing gear. All action and shooting, however, was controlled by the joystick, and thus you never had to find a control to maneuver at a bad moment.

The Bad
The game was excellent; however, it had a few snags. The controls on the console forced the player to sit near it (and consequently, near the screen....how many times did my mother yell at me for that!). Also, there were controls to be learned that the game manual never covered, such as how to switch from missiles to machine guns. Also not mentioned in the manual....you had to cut thrusters after takeoff....if you didn't, you'd use up your fuel and wind up crashing into the ocean: not good! Also, unlike a real combat situation, you only had one enemy at a time. Finally, landing was difficult....I found the easiest way was to adjust my altitude to 65 ft, and simply coast in to the carrier at that altitude

The Bottom Line
Somewhat difficult to learn, but fun once you have mastered the basics. I recommend finding someone familiar with the game to teach you.