View source for F-19 Stealth Fighter

{{Short description|1988 video game}}
{{About|the video game|the aircraft designation|F-19}}
{{Infobox video game
|title = F-19 Stealth Fighter
|image = F19 Stealth Fighter cover.jpg
|caption = DOS cover art
|developer = [[MicroProse]]
|publisher = MicroProse
|director =
|designer = [[Sid Meier]]
|programmer = [[Andy Hollis]]<br/>Sid Meier<br/>Jim Synoski
|artist = Max D. Remington III<br/>Murray Taylor
|composer = Ken Lagace
|platforms = [[DOS]], [[Amiga]], [[Atari ST]], [[PC-98]]
|released = 1988 (DOS)<br/>1990 (Amiga, ST)<br/>1992 (PC-98)
|genre = [[Combat flight simulation game|Air combat simulation]]
|modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]]
}}
'''''F-19 Stealth Fighter''''' is a [[Combat flight simulation game|combat flight simulator]] developed and released in 1988 (PC [[DOS]]) and 1990 ([[Amiga]] and [[Atari ST]]) by [[MicroProse]], featuring a fictional [[List of military aircraft of the United States|United States military aircraft]]. It is the [[16-bit]] remake of the [[8-bit]] game ''[[Project Stealth Fighter]]'', which was released for the [[Commodore 64]] in 1987. It was also ported to the [[NEC PC-9801]] in Japan only, and the DOS version was re-released on [[Steam (service)|Steam distribution platform]] in 2015.
''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' was developed before the public unveiling in 1988 of the [[F-117 Nighthawk]] attack aircraft – which the video game sought to represent – and carried over the focus on the fictional [[F-19]] from ''[[Project Stealth Fighter]]'', based on the 1986 F-19 model kit released by [[Testors]]. Although an aircraft selection screen offering the real F-117 was added, MicroProse's rendering of the optional "real" jet was based on the deliberately vague 1988 press photo of the aircraft and had distinctly wrong, stubby and wide proportions.
Critically acclaimed, the game was followed in 1991 by ''[[Night Hawk: F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0]]'', which finally removed the old, fictitious aircraft design and instead offered only a new, much more accurate model of the real F-117.
==Gameplay==
[[File:F-19 Stealth Fighter screenshot.png|thumb|left|Cockpit view]]
In the game, the player takes on the role of a pilot flying missions of varying difficulty over four geographic locations: [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Gaddafi's Libya]], the [[Persian Gulf]], the [[North Cape, Norway|North Cape]], and [[Central Europe]]. The game can be played under conditions of conventional warfare, limited warfare, or cold war (in the latter, even being detected by the enemy can lead to a major diplomatic incident).
The player can choose appropriate ordnance from a wide range of realistic armaments, and the game features convincing behavior from [[AI]]-controlled units such as enemy aircraft, [[Surface-to-air missile|SAM]] sites and [[radar]] stations. These behave in accordance with the situation – patrolling at first, but launching into a highly aggressive search if the player is detected. Other features of the game are a realistic system of radar detection, where the player's varying radar signature is visually compared with the energy of incoming radar pulses at different ranges and powers, and a variety of endings appropriate to the outcome of each mission. These include the player being rescued by a [[V-22 Osprey]], a ''[[Pravda]]'' newspaper headline proclaiming the capture of the pilot, or an outraged ally or neutral nation protesting the destruction of their aircraft.
The pilot roster in the pre-game menu keeps track of the missions, rank, score and medals awarded to each player. Pilot fatalities are permanent, which contributes to the extended campaign feeling of the game.
== Copy protection ==
At the beginning of the game, the player has to pass "Aircraft Identification Exam" - a picture of a plane is shown and the player must select the correct plane from a list. If the player selects the wrong plane, they will be restricted to flying training missions with preset equipment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=F-19 Stealth Fighter Screenshots for DOS|url=https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/f-19-stealth-fighter/screenshots/gameShotId,439671/|access-date=2021-09-27|website=MobyGames}}</ref>
==Development==
After the completion of ''[[Project Stealth Fighter]]'' for the [[Commodore 64]] by designers Jim Synoski and [[Arnold Hendrick]], [[Sid Meier]] and [[Andy Hollis]] were brought in to work on the PC conversion. Hendrick wrote of the new game: "The only thing borrowed from the C64 would be the game scenario concepts, military equipment research data, and perhaps some flight dynamics algorithms". Despite its planned 30 September 1988 release being delayed to mid-November ''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' was very popular, selling out in just two months.<ref name="CGW2"/>
MicroProse released the game on the same day that the United States military first admitted the existence of its [[F-117A Nighthawk]] stealth fighter.{{r|ferrell198907}} Before the game's release, many had speculated on a missing aircraft in the [[United States Air Force]]'s [[1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system|numbering system]], the [[F-19]]. The game was based on an educated guess about what the secret stealth fighter would be like. Subsequent revisions of the game incorporated the actual F-117 as well as the F-19.
The original boxed version of the game came with a range of accessories, such as a thick manual full of information on the late 1980s flying machines of the U.S. and the USSR, various keyboard overlays, a comprehensive manual covering stealth and fighter tactics, and roughly-sketched maps of each warzone.
==Reception==
''[[Computer Gaming World]]'' in 1989 gave ''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' a very favorable review and acclaimed the game's level of realism, stating that "to master this program you are going to have to do your homework. The documentation includes tutorials on aerodynamics and flight principles, radar, stealth technology, air-to-ground tactics, and air-to-air tactics".<ref name="CGW"/> A 1992 survey in the magazine of wargames with modern settings gave the game three stars out of five,<ref name="brooks199206">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1992&pub=2&id=95 | title=The Modern Games: 1950 - 2000 | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=June 1992 | accessdate=24 November 2013 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=120}}</ref> and a 1994 survey gave it two-plus stars.<ref name="brooks199401">{{Cite magazine |last=Brooks |first=M. Evan |date=January 1994 |title=War In Our Time / A Survey Of Wargames From 1950-2000 |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=114 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=194–212}}</ref> ''[[Compute!]]'' favorably reviewed the IBM PC version's graphics and realism.<ref name="guerra198904">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1989-04-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_107_1989_Apr#page/n71/mode/2up | title=F-19 Stealth Fighter | work=Compute! | date=April 1989 | accessdate=11 November 2013 | author=Guerra, Bob | pages=70}}</ref>
''Computer Gaming World'' recognized ''F-19'' as the "Simulation Game of the Year", calling it a perfect marriage of modern technology and game.<ref name="CGW3"/> [[Software Publishers Association]] gave the game its Excellence in Software Award for "Best Simulation".<ref name="scisco198908">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1989-08-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_111_1989_Aug#page/n7/mode/2up | title=the Envelope, Please | work=Compute! | date=August 1989 | accessdate=11 November 2013 | author=Scisco, Peter | pages=6}}</ref> The [[Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum]] selected ''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' for a 1989 exhibition on "Flight Enters the Computer Age".<ref name="ferrell198907">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1989-07-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_110_1989_Jul#page/n13/mode/2up | title=Flight into History | work=Compute! | date=July 1989 | accessdate=11 November 2013 | author=Ferrell, Keith | pages=13}}</ref> In 1990 the game received the sixth-highest number of votes in a survey of ''Computer Gaming World'' readers' "All-Time Favorites".<ref name="cgw199001">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1990&pub=2&id=67 | title=CGW Readers Select All-Time Favorites | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=January 1990 | accessdate=15 November 2013 | pages=64}}</ref> The game's ports won the [[Golden Joystick Award]]s '91 in the category "Best Simulation - 16 Bit".<ref>''Computer & Video Games'' 115 (June 1991)</ref> ''F-19'' was ranked as the 29th best Amiga game by ''[[Amiga Power]]'' in 1991,<ref>''Amiga Power'' 0 (May 1991)</ref> and as the 52nd best game of all time by ''Computer Gaming World'' in 1996.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_148.pdf | title=150 Best Games of All Time | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1996 | page=72}}</ref>
''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' was awarded the [[Origins Award]] for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1988" and "Best Screen Graphics in a Home Computer Game of 1988".<ref name="originsawards">{{cite web | url = http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1980s/The1988OriginsAwards/tabid/3231/Default.aspx | title = The 1988 Origins Awards | publisher = [[Game Manufacturers Association|The Game Manufacturers Association]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121216052144/http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1980s/The1988OriginsAwards/tabid/3231/Default.aspx | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-12-16 | access-date =}}</ref>
[[File:F19-projections.gif|thumb|The F-19 fighter model for the game.]]
==Reviews==
* ''[[:fr:Jeux et Stratégie|Jeux & Stratégie]]'' #56<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/jeux-et-strategie-56/page/70/mode/2up | title=Jeux & stratégie 56 | date=March 1989}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name = "CGW">{{citation | date = January 1989 | last = Sipe | first = Russell | magazine = [[Computer Gaming World]] | title = The Plane that "Wasn't" There  | pages = 16, 39}}</ref>
<ref name="CGW2">{{citation | date = Feb 1989 | last1 = Hendrick | first1 = Arnold | last2 = Meier | first2 = Sid | magazine = [[Computer Gaming World]] | title = Designers' Notes: F-19 Stealth Fighter  | pages = 46–47}}</ref>
<ref name = "CGW3">{{citation | date = October 1989  | magazine = [[Computer Gaming World]] | title = Game of the Year Awards  | pages = 41–42}}</ref>
}}
==External links==
* {{moby game|id=/f-19-stealth-fighter}}
* {{abime|id=478}}
* [http://www.flightsimbooks.com/f19stealthfighter/ ''The Official F-19 Stealth Fighter Handbook''] at FlightSimBooks.com
* [http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?18935-A-Look-Back-at-F19-Stealth-Fighter-by-Microprose/ A Look Back at F19 Stealth Fighter by Microprose] at FlightSim.com
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1988 video games]]
[[Category:Amiga games]]
[[Category:Atari ST games]]
[[Category:Cold War video games]]
[[Category:Combat flight simulators]]
[[Category:DOS games]]
[[Category:Golden Joystick Award winners]]
[[Category:MicroProse games]]
[[Category:NEC PC-9801 games]]
[[Category:Origins Award winners]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Video game remakes]]
[[Category:Video games designed by Sid Meier]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:Video games set in East Germany]]
[[Category:Video games set in Germany]]
[[Category:Video games set in Iran]]
[[Category:Video games set in Libya]]
[[Category:Video games set in Poland]]
[[Category:Video games set in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Video games set in the Soviet Union]]