Air Duel (World, M72 hardware)

Mastering Air Duel starts with picking the right aircraft for your playstyle: choose the fighter jet if you prefer fast movement and concentrated fire ideal for taking down bosses quickly, or the attack helicopter if you want wide-spread shots to clear swarms of small enemy craft and ground targets with less precise aiming. Your core controls are an 8-way joystick for movement, a primary fire button, and a bomb button that clears all on-screen bullets and destroys most enemies in its blast radius. Prioritize collecting power-ups as you progress: 'P' icons upgrade your primary fire up to 3 maximum levels (unlocking bonus secondary weapons like homing missiles for the jet and incendiary rounds for the helicopter), 'B' icons add extra bomb stock, and 'S' icons give a temporary speed boost. Hidden 1-up icons can be found by destroying specific unmarked ground structures, most notably the large office building halfway through the first urban stage. For boss fights, learn their repeating attack patterns instead of reacting randomly: the stage 2 canyon attack helicopter boss, for example, will fire 3 waves of spread bullets before diving across the screen, so you can safely hide in the far left or right corner during its dive to avoid damage, then target the weak spot under its main rotor for double damage. Save your bombs for high-stakes moments: don’t waste them on small groups of enemies, keep at least 1 bomb in stock for every boss fight to clear unavoidable bullet patterns. If playing in 2-player co-op, pair a jet and a helicopter: the helicopter can clear all lower-screen ground targets and small enemies, while the jet focuses fire on high-priority flying enemies and boss weak points to clear stages far faster than playing solo.