Windjammers

Legendary arcade game developer Data East struck a deal with SNK early on in the Neo-Geo's life to produce a handful of titles for the budding hardware. Some of these titles would go on to be some of the best loved and well received games on the Neo-Geo. While one could argue that all of Data East's games on the Neo are awesome, this jaded gamer firmly believes that Windjammers is far and away the best of the bunch.

Developed in 1993 and released in early 1994, Windjammers came out at a time when the arcade was saturated with one on one fighting games that came out in the wake of 1991's Street Fighter 2 and Fatal Fury. When it came out, though, curious arcade goers looking for a quick break from their usual fisticuffs and fireballs discovered a competitive 1v1 game that was just as deep, fun, and satisfying to play as the fighting games that surrounded it. While the simple premise and approachable learning curve were the icing on the cake, the hardcore gaming crowd quickly realized that layers of delicious depth awaited those patient enough to master the mechanics. 

Windjammers went on to be a modest success in the arcade, but didn't fare so well in critical reviews of the day due to its simplicity. The lack of any meaningful home port to 16 or 32-bit consoles during the 90's didn't help it gain traction in those early days. In modern retrospective reviews, though, Windjammers is often lauded as one of the best games in the Neo-Geo library and has seen a modern sequel that came out in 2022 due to the resurgence in popularity. This game is a true timeless classic that every gamer should experience.  

Windjammers is basically pixel art air hockey with panache. While the principle of the game does not get more technical than flinging your frisbee past your opponent and into their goal, how the frisbee gets there is where the depth comes in. Data East gives the player six characters to choose from, and each character has various stats that affect how they play in the arena. 

The six characters are broken up into three categories:

• Beginner Class: Speed over power

• Intermediate Class: Balanced (ish)

• Expert Class: Power over speed

If you've never played the game before, I do recommend starting with the beginner class. The added speed on these characters helps you move around the ring quicker to get a better handle on how to defend yourself during a match. And defend yourself you will, as all characters have a bevy of different ways to get past your defense. 

The arenas are set up like an air hockey table with the frisbee being able to bounce off of every wall. Each arena's goals also have different point targets. The large, yellow targets are 3 points, and the smaller red targets are 5 points. Each arena's targets vary in size, with some of the more advanced stages having very small red targets at odd angles. What's more, each of the 6 or so stages have different types of ground material that will affect your overall speed, much like a tennis game. The more advanced stages also have barriers set up in the middle of the ring the frisbee can bounce off of as well, leading to some tricky shots and more guessing games for your opponent. 

Each match is a best of three, 30-second rounds. Time move by quickly in this game, and doing power moves (explained below) or holding onto the frisbee for too long can eat precious time away from the clock. That said, if you're winning and you see five seconds on the clock, you can use those tactics to steal a win due to a time out. There is no way to change the match time, or really any other game parameters. The game is super light on options with only the difficulty setting and a dedicated versus mode being offered. If playing on AES, the versus mode still uses each players limited set of four credits. If you have a unibios installed you can use a cheat to turn on unlimited credits for each player. Putting the game in MVS mode does not let you select versus mode. 

Even with only two action buttons, Windjammers has quite a bit of depth. The A button functions differently depending on if you're on offense of defense. On offense, you have several options available to you. Pressing A while standing will throw the frisbee forward, but you can also press a direction along with the A button to send the frisbee flying at different angles. The arenas are set up with walls that rebound the frisbee, so you can set up confusing attacks by throwing the frisbee toward a wall and let it zig-zag toward your opponent rather than in a straight or diagonal line. What's more, you can also do various sweep motions on the controller to curve the trajectory of the disc, like throwing a curve ball. The B button will lob the frisbee toward the opponent where they will either have to catch it, or it will land on the ground resulting in two points for you. 

On defense, simply let a frisbee hit you to catch it. If you're far away from where you think the frisbee will go, you can press the A button along with a direction on the controller to do a slide catch. This maneuver is especially important for the slower characters. If your character is set up for a perfect catch, pressing the A button as soon as you catch the disc will enable a special move unique to your character that has added power and speed above your normal throws. These power shots can sometimes knock the opponent into the goal along with the disc, landing you some points. Alternatively, if you press B during your powerup, you will do a power lob where the disc will spin sharply on its edge and careen across the ground and into your opponents area. These are tricky to catch. 

Two player is the way to play this game, and you can tell that very little thought was put into the single player experience. Outside of the regular matches, there are a couple bonus stages where you can use your frisbee in a bowling game to score extra points. Outside of that, there isn't much incentive to play the computer unless you want frame-perfect counters to your every move. Windjammers is the perfect competitive game to play with gamers who aren't great at fighting gamers due to how approachable it is. I've never met anyone who didn't immediately fall in love with the game. And when friends come over to my house to play some games, Windjammers is always one of the first games we break out.

Graphically, there isn't much going on here. Even for 1994, the 74 mega-bit cartridge was quite small for the day; so, there is not much variety. That said, the six characters are well drawn and animate well enough for the fast action on display. The arena's are not all that different from each other save for the mid-arena barriers in the advanced stages and the different colors on the ground that denote what type of material is used. 

Music is fine, and fits the action well enough. You won't be listening to these tunes outside of the game, though. Sound effects are great, and capture what you'd expect our of a wild frisbee game. Voices are sparse, with the female announcer having the bulk of the lines. Each character has one or two catch phrases, and a couple grunts and groans each. The catch-phrases are actually done in each character's native tongue, which is a nice touch. 

Windjammers won't blow your socks off in the graphics or sound department, but it will suck up all of your time if you find a friend to play it with. It's a simple game with simple mechanics - but the amount of fun you can have while playing far outweighs any sort of negativity you can throw at the game. It's solid, well balanced, and a ton of fun. 

Okay, now the tricky part - the price. Windjammers is one of the more sought after AES games in the modern market with a complete Japanese copy selling for $1000 on the low, low end, to $1500 on the high end. The US release is hard to pin down, but expect to pay over $2000. The Neo CD and MVS versions can each be had for under $100. Thankfully, the game saw a modern re-release just a few years ago on Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, and Nintendo Switch by DotEmu. While I'm not a big fan of some of the updates, the game plays the same overall and is how I recommend most people play it due to the high prices for an original. The re-release was popular enough that it warranted a brand new sequel that came out in 2021 on modern platforms and is an excelent, modern take on the game that leans into everything that made the orignal great while expanding the move set and options. It's a stellar sequel and is still one of of the most fun competitive games ever created. 

No matter how you choose to play the game, Windjammers is one video game that I'd recommend be in every gamer's back pocket. It's a fun time by yourself, sure, but it is one of the most approachable competitive games you'll ever play. So, what are you waiting for? Go out a buy it right now, get a friend (the modern version is online), and throw some frisbee!

An aside: Vice has a neat article from a few years ago detailing how the game was revived in the modern era. Unlike most Neo-Geo games from the 90's, modern SNK does not own the rights to Windjammers or the rest of the Data East properties. As such, it is not published or affiliated with SNK.