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Jul 17, 20215 min read

MicroProse Challenge Redux: Spitfire Ace


The author's personal copy is of the later Commodore 64 port. The first wave of MicroProse products developed exclusively by Sid Meier in Atari BASIC were dubbed in company flyers as "The MicroProse Challenge." At first they were a triefecta: Hellcat Ace was covered previously in this blog, Chopper Rescue took Dan Gorman's Choplifter concept into sci-fi cavern levels, and Floyd of the Jungle was a sort of Donkey Kong meeting Montezuma's Revenge in a Tarzan-like story setting that was also the company's first true multiplayer release. All 3 of these would be re-released in some upgraded form (usually only ditching the BASIC requirement) but the 4th, Wingman, would instead fade into obscurity.


Wingman is a real mystery but still deserves some commentary space as it is part of the MicroProse legacy. It is the final MicroProse game to require BASIC and culminated the flight concepts of Hellcat Ace, side-scrolling arcade gameplay of Chopper Rescue, and multiplayer capability of Floyd of the Jungle into one package. In theory it is a grand concept for the time (downloading and playing in an Atari 8-bit emulator at least once is recommended), but it flopped in execution and became the first game to disappear from company catalogs. Reports of crash-inducing bugs abound and no surviving copies of packaging or documentation appear to be out there. Wingman is MicroProse's first significant failure but if the string of successes that followed is any indication it was learned from well.


Just before the close of 1982 Meier completed today's subject, the 4th MicroProse game: Spitfire Ace. It is the first company title to be built in assembly instead of BASIC...and that is about all that sets it apart from its predecessor. Seriously, anything about the concept, engine and execution of Spitfire Ace can be found in the previous post on Hellcat Ace because they are identical. Technical aspect aside, the one significant change is obviously the setting from flying for the United States in the Pacific to the Royal Air Force in Europe. Here is the mission structure for Spitfire Ace:


1. Intercept Dornier 17 level bomber(s) during the Battle of France

2. Intercept Junkers 87 "Stuka" dive bomber(s) while covering the evacuation of Dunkirk

3. Dogfight against a Messerschmitt 109 fighter sweep opening the Battle of Britain

4. Combat air patrol for Luftwaffe night bombing raids

5. Survive and defend against a bounce by German fighter(s) during take-off

6. Defend London against bombers at night during the Blitz

7. Cover Hurricane bomber interceptions by dealing with 109 fighter(s) during the Blitz

8. In the Mediterranean, scramble to protect your airbase on Malta from a Stuka raid

9. Evade fighter cover in a Martin Baltimore on reconnaissance over North Africa

10. Survive Luftwaffe fighter cover as your Bristol Blenheim bombs Cologne

11. Get the jump on any Focke Wulf 190(s) while covering the Normandy landings

12. Combat air patrol on the lookout for incoming V-1 "Buzz Bomb" cruise missiles

13. Survive a strategic night bombing raid on the Ruhr Valley industrial complex

14. Tangle with the new Messerschmitt 262 jet fighters while on bomber escort


Compare with Hellcat Ace and there is little to contrast, though at least the order and variety of missions has some variance. Presumably the various models of Spitfire (I through XIV) that flew in the war are the primary fighter flown unless mentioned otherwise, but as weather conditions and weight of armament are always variables that cause flight characteristics to differ day-to-day the simplified game engine does what it can by at least accounting for performance differences between fighter and bomber (including the danger of return fire from attacking the rear of a bomber). Victory music has been changed to God Save the King while defeat takes a much more somber route. And it is still way too easy to achieve that World's Greatest Fighter Pilot rating by being selective about scenarios.


Most everything about ports applies the same as well. The C64 version was handled by the Hellcat Ace C64 team, Verovsky and Gray. It had two editions, the latter from 1983 (which the author owns) boasting actual cockpit graphics albeit with a much choppier frame rate and the inability to support more than one opponent at a time. Awalt likewise handled the 1984 IBM PC version which only has CGA graphics and PC speaker sound (and is not recommended for play on a PCjr), however it boasts the capacity to play via keyboard, an exclusive 15th scenario, and takes the bolder approach of using swastikas for the victory counter.


Spitfire Ace is the only early MicroProse flight game (aside from Wingman, which was long-dead by 1986 anyway) to not be included in the Top Gunner Collection compilation for Atari and C64. While no reason for this has been verified, it makes sense that since Hellcat Ace is there and the experience is near-identical there was no point in taking up the additional disk space. Thanks to its PC ports both Ace titles survived in the company catalog all the way through 1987, right before MicroProse launched its classic 16-bit line (no longer just enhanced ports of their 8-bit offerings) made for Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and Tandy/EGA-capable PC compatibles.


It would not be wrong to think of Spitfire Ace, not as a sequel or alternative to Hellcat Ace, but as a standalone scenario disk. Since they are the basically the same game the same applies in the Hellcat Ace post regarding playing these games via emulation (the only viable means available anymore); just be sure to disable BASIC in the Atari version because it could cause problems. The spectrum of choice is identical: Atari for best gameplay, C64 for best graphics, and PC for most options. Like the rest of the MicroProse Challenge games, included documentation is specific to the system (Atari and C64 manuals are separate and tailored) albeit resulting differences are minimal and this trend would only last through the end of 1983.


So why have a separate post for Spitfire Ace at all? Four reasons: covering both Ace games in an early post would have been too much content in the author's judgment; the author happens to own a copy of Spitfire Ace; it is significant on its own as perhaps the first computer game to portray both flying of the Supermarine Spitfire and the Battle of Britain which would be recurring themes in many simulations to follow; finally, while a small step, the continued focus of the first-person flight theme and change from BASIC to assembly is a progression toward what would culminate in Sid Meier's ultimate production for 8-bit computers, F-15 Strike Eagle. The author does not own copies of either Chopper Rescue or Floyd of the Jungle thus is on the fence about whether to cover them separately or proceed to the next step in MicroProse flight: Mig Alley Ace and introduction of the venerable Andy Hollis.


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