F/A-18 Interceptor Amiga Intellisoft 1988 Bob Dinnerman

F/A-18 Interceptor Amiga

F/A-18 Interceptor is an Amiga-exclusive combat flight simulator released by Intellisoft in 1988. F/A-18 Interceptor was designed and programmed by Robert Dinnerman.

Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, landmarks modelled include Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Everyone remembers flying under the bridge in an F/A-18 Hornet.

In F/A-18 Interceptor the player pilots the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet or the General Dynamics F-16 Falcon. F/A-18 Interceptor  was an impressive flight sim for its time and became a fan favorite due to its fun gameplay. Of the flight sims in this era F/A-18 Interceptor is the most arcade-like.

F/A-18 Interceptor was the first combat flight sim to feature switchable external, out-of-cockpit views.

F/A-18 Interceptor Armaments

• AIM-120A AMRAAM medium range missile
• AIM-9L Sidewinder short-range anti-aircraft missile
• GE-M61 close-range 20mm cannon
• ECM Pod

F/A-18 Interceptor Missions

• Visual Confirmation
• Emergency Defense Operation
• Intercept Stolen Aircraft
• Search and Rescue Operation

F/A-18 Interceptor Air Combat Maneuvers

• The Aileron Roll
• The Break Turn
• The Inside Loop
• Split-S
• Vertical Half-Loop
• Barrel Roll
• Inverted Flight

JetFighter - The Adventure IBM PC MS-DOS 1988

Velocity Development released JetFighter aka Jet Fighter for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1988. In JetFighter players pilot the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the General Dynamics F-16 Falcon or the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

JetFighter was programmed by Bob Dinnerman and designed by Bob Dinnerman and Moses Ma. Jet Fighter  audio was composed by Dave Warhol.

JetFighter is an expanded version of Dinnerman's own F/A-18 Interceptor of 1988 on the Amiga.

JetFighter is a combat flight simulator that focuses on dogfighting versus MiGs, but JetFighter features precision bombing aka surgical strikes as well. There are 30 missions in Jet Fighter.

PC JetFighter is notable for its super-smooth rendering engine, holographic HUD, multi-function displays (MFDs), proper in-game joystick calibration and interpolated cockpit views that pre-date virtual cockpits. The JetFighter camera can seamlessly transition from bird's-eye map view to cockpit. In addition, JetFighter features carrier take-offs and landings and a full-screen map that updates in real-time.

JetFighter displays in 64-color EGA 320x200.

JetFighter requires 480K of free conventional RAM.

JetFighter was distributed on 1x 3.5" 720kB DD diskette and extracts and installs to hard disk drive via JetFighter Automatic Installation Program and PKSFX Fast! Self-extract Utility v1.1 by PKWARE. The install size is 550 kbytes and consists of 17 files.

How to take off in JetFighter:

• Hit 1-key to start engine
• Hit B-key to release breaks (not needed on carrier take-offs)
• Hit 0-key for 100% thrust
• Pull back on joystick to take off
• Hit G-key to retract landing gear

JetFighter 2: Advanced Tactical Fighter IBM PC MS-DOS 1990

Velocity Development released JetFighter 2 for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1990.

JetFighter 2 was designed by Bob Dinnerman of RD Technologies and Matthew Harmon and Moses Ma. JetFighter 2 was programmed by Bob Dinnerman and Matthew Harmon. JetFighter 2 audio was composed by Dave Warhol and Eric Hammond (AdLib).

JetFighter 2 features 130 missions. In addition to the F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet and F-16 Falcon, players can pilot the Northrop F-23 Black Widow and the Lockheed F-22 Lightning II, which are Advanced Tactical Fighters (ATFs).

JetFighter 2 displays in 256-color VGA 320x200. Graphics-wise, JetFighter 2 added sky hazing (horizon color gradients), ground hazing, light-sourcing and tailorable ground color and texture levels. In addition, explosion cores and smoke trails are 3D, not sprite-based.

Audio-wise, JetFighter 2 supports AdLib and Gravis UltraSound.

JetFighter 2 requires an i80286 12 MHz CPU and 490-512K of free conventional RAM.

JetFighter 2 was distributed on 2x 3.5" 720kB DD diskettes and extracts and installs to hard disk drive via JetFighter 2 Installation Program. The install size is 1.5 megs and consists of 50 files.

JetFighter 3 IBM PC MS-DOS 1996

Mission Studios Corporation released JetFigher 3 for IBM PC MS-DOS 5.0 in November of 1996. 

JetFighter 3 is a technically impressive "arcade-like" or entry-level combat flight simulator.

In JetFighter 3 players pilot the F/A-18 Hornet or the fictional F-22N Lightning II Silver Bullet, which is a carrier-based ATF.

JetFighter 3's 3D Simulation engine was designed and programmed by Bob Dinnerman of RD Technologies.

JetFighter 3 Features

• TEXTUREAL & 3DNA proprietary rendering engines
• Virtual cockpit with redout, blackout, sun wash, look into turn and head G effects
• 3.5 million square miles of USCS-sourced texture-mapped terrain
• Geographic regions: Cuba, Chile, Argentina
• 90 combat and training missions
• Smooth clouds, light-sourced shading
• Cams: Wingman, External, Chase, Tactical, Weapon, Flyby, Remote, Carrier, Steadycam
• Full-screen realtime map view
• Cinematic menu navigation (70 megs of pre-rendered FMV) or drop-down menu navigation
• Built-in multimedia military encyclopedia
• JetFighter 3 Mission Editor

Hitting the Esc-key calls up a drop-down menu with 8 tabs consisting of dozes of options that can be tailored on-the-fly.

JetFighter 3 displays in 256-color VGA 320x200 or 256-color SVGA 640x480, 512x384, 640x350 or 640x400.

JetFighter 3 requires an i80486DX4-100 MHz CPU and 8/16 megs of RAM (VGA/SVGA).

Control-wise, JetFighter 3 supports CH Products F16 Combat Stick, CH Products F16 Flight Stick, CH Products F16 Fighter Stick, CH Products Flight Stick, CH Products Flight Stick Pro, CH Products Mach 1, CH Products Mach 1 Plus, CH Products Mach 2, CH Products Mach 3, CH Products Jetstick, CH Products Virtual Pilot, CH Products Virtual Pilot Pro, CH Products Force F/X, Logitech Wingman, Logitech Wingman Extreme, Logitech  Wingman Warrior, Microsoft Sidewinder, Microsoft Sidewinder Pro, Thrustmaster Flight Control System, Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS, Gravis Blackbird, Gravis Thunderbird, Gravis Firebird, Gravis Phoenix, Generic 2-button joystick and Generic 4-button joystick.

JetFighter 3 graphics supports software-rendered 3D or hardware-accelerated 3D via 3dfx Voodoo or Voodoo Rush chipsets, which can result a 400% better framerate. JetFighter 3 supports 3D accelerator cards such as Diamond Monster 3D, Orchid Righteous 3D, MAXi Gamer 3dfx, Deltron Flash 3D, Skywell Magic 3D and 3dfx Voodoo.

JetFighter 3 music supports General MIDI, Roland MPU-401, Roland Sound Canvas, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Stereo, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16, Sound Blaster AWE-32, Sound Master, Pro Audio Spectrum, AdLib Gold, Microsoft Sound System, AudioDrive, Ensoniq SoundScape, Audio Producer 10, Gravis UltraSound, Gravis UltraSound Max, .WAV Jammer,  InterWave, Nvidia Sound System, Tempo and MultiSound.

JetFighter 3 sound effects support Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Stereo, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16, Sound Blaster AWE-32, Sound Master, Pro Audio Spectrum, AdLib Gold, Microsoft Sound System, AudioDrive, Ensoniq SoundScape, Audio Producer 10, Gravis UltraSound, Gravis UltraSound Max, .WAV Jammer,  InterWave, Nvidia Sound System, Tempo and MultiSound.

JetFighter 3 was distributed on 1x CD-ROM and extracts and installs to hard disk drive via JetFighter 3 Installation Program. The install size of JetFighter 3 is 27 megs and consists of 160 files. The install size for JetFighter 3 Platinum -- which includes the JetFighter 3 Enhanced Campaign CD -- is 40 megs and consists of 350 files. JetFighter 3 streams FMVs from CD-ROM.

JetFighter 3 Ordnance

• M61A1 Vulcan Cannon
• AIM-9 Sidewinder Heat Seeking Missile
• AIM-120 AMRAAM Radar Guided Missile
• AGM-65 Maverick Air to Ground Missile

See also: Combat Flight Simulators --- WinUAE Amiga Emulator --- Best Amiga Games.