Flak Attack (フラック・アタック Furakku Atakku?), known as MX 5000 in Europe, is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game released by Konami in 1987 for arcade platforms. The players controls the most advanced fighter of the army, the "MX 5000" (a modified F-15E). The game was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service for its Xbox 360 console and for Windows-based PCs on September 15, 2010. It was also re-released for PlayStation 4 in 2016 and Nintendo Switch in 2020, as part of the Hamster Corporation's Arcade Archives series.
Plot[]
There is a war between two nations. The enemies came and bombed your secret base. The last hope of our nation lies in your advanced MX 5000 fighter jet, so you decide to take revenge by destroying the supercomputer coordinating the enemy attacks, Zeta X.
Gameplay[]
Flak Attack features gameplay similar to Sky Shark, with constant waves of oncoming enemies that must be destroyed and a boss at the end of each stage. The player's fighter has a regular forward shooting weapon to shoot down enemy planes, as well as bombs to blow up enemy tanks and anti-aircraft artillery. In addition to the enemy opponents, there are also a few environmental hazards the player will have to look for, such as erupting volcanoes that throw up rocks in the air and boulders that come out from a big lava lake.
The game consists of five stages, and the ending can only be reached after beating the second loop, which has increased difficulty.
Unlike most common vertical shooters, where power-up capsules are released after destroying certain large enemies or special enemy formations, Flak Attack features a unique power-up system. On the top HUD, there are two gauges, "Plane" and "Tank":
- The "Plane" bar will slowly start to fill up as the player destroys enemy aircraft. When the bar completely fills up, a power-up icon will appear stationary on the field; upon pickup, the player's main weapon will upgrade. The player starts with a twin machine-gun that can only shoot three pairs of bullets at a time. When upgraded, the player's main weapon is changed for a laser. While the laser covers a much narrower area, only traveling a slim line forward, it in turn allows to shoot many more projectiles (almost a straight line), effectively covering more vertical space at once. The second and last upgrade is a twin laser, which covers a wider area. While fully filling up the "Plane" bar again will still produce more weapon icons, these will only give 1,000 points on pickup instead.
- The "Tank" bar has a similar function, but it will only fill up by destroying grounded enemies, as well as certain few airborne enemies (like boulders from the lava lake). When the bar completely fills up and the spawned bomb upgrade icon is picked up, the player will drop three bombs instead, covering a wider area; and on the second upgrade, the player will drop five missiles, covering an even greater area; and afterward, any further bomb icons will also give 1,000 points on pickup.
When the player defeats an end area boss, the current completion amount of the two bars will be converted to score points and both bars will be reset, regardless of how full they were, so the player will have to start filling them up from the beginning again on the next stage.
In addition to these two weapons, there is also speed power-up (S) that makes the player's plane maneuver faster. It randomly appears under ground targets or lava lake boulders.
Another unique feature of Flak Attack is the way end stage bosses are taken on. The player's plane "swoops" in and can be freely maneuvered and pointed in multiple directions, not just toward the top of the screen. It is possible to get up behind the boss and lay in some bombs. Only bombs will work against the bosses themselves and auxiliary ground-aircraft artillery, but the regular weapon will take out of any rockets or support fighters that may be launched against the player.
Gallery[]
Packaging artwork[]
Screenshots[]
Promotional artwork[]
(front)
(back)
Trivia[]
- The so-called "secret base" the enemy bombed in the very first scene (as well as from where the player's MX 5000 is launched from) was apparently inspired by Mazinger Z's secret base, having a nearby pool draining its water and deploying the ship from inside it.
- The MX5000 appeared as a cameo fighter in Airforce Delta Strike along with other Konami's famous fighters, like the Vic Viper, TwinBee and Jerry Mouse.
- The Stage 1 BGM, "Counter Attack", was used in other Konami games such as Devastators, and again in Sexy Parodius in the Special Stage "Maniac of Shooting".
- Also, the boss BGM, "Counter Work", was remixed in Kokoro Belmont's DLC BGMs in Otomedius Excellent.
External links[]
- GameFAQs
- MobyGames
- MX5000 [Model GX669] at Gaming History