Video games with Space Shuttles

[parrothead]

Due to the final Space Shuttle mission STS-135 starting today, I decided to discuss about video games that feature Space Shuttles. What are some video games that feature them or other similar spaceplanes?

The first two to pop up in my mind are the one seen at the beginning of Sega's 1987 arcade game, SDI - Strategic Defense Initiative, and the one seen in Absolute Entertainment's 1991 North American-exclusive NES title Space Shuttle Project, which video game designer legend David Crane was probably involved in the development of this.

In the 1989 original Game Boy version of Tetris, if you complete the highest level with the fastest speed, you get a good ending that shows a shuttle-like spacecraft that's probably actually one of Russia's spaceplanes. In the 1998 Game Boy Color remake, Tetris DX, it was shown in the last two endings; however, where is the fuel tank?

In 3D gaming, the oldest one I can think of is from Blast Corps, followed by the Moonraker-based stage in Goldeneye 007, and finally the first and only Aero Fighters title with 3D computer graphics, as well as the sixth and final title in the series, Aero Fighters Assault, which I used to have this.

Are there others that I'm missing? If so, tell about them.

[Nester the Lark]

Here are two that come to mind:

At the end of the "Cruise the World" mode of Cruis'n World on N64, your vehicle gets loaded onto a space shuttle and sent to the final race on the moon.

In the final level of Carrier Air Wing (a sequel of sorts to UN Squadron/Area 88), you have to fight a Saturn rocket with a Space Shuttle attached to it.

[The Qu]

Didn't Top Gun have a final mission where you shoot down a shuttle?

[kirbychu]

Only one I can think of right now is Sonic Adventure 2. About halfway through the story the heroes highjack a shuttle to reach the space station Eggman is hiding on.

[nocturnal YL]

I just watched a TAS of Diddy Kong Racing last night, and yeah, you have access to a space shuttle after defeating Wizpig for the first time.

Space shuttles appear in Mario games too, most notably the ones that Mario and Co pull from grasses in SMB2U. There are spacecrafts in SMG series too, but you don't use them as a means of transportation.

There are stages where you infiltrate one in Drill Dozer. (Ugh, forget about it, it's just a giant drill)


[EDIT/b] - Oh, totally forgot. SEGAGAGA on Dreamcast.

[8bitretroshit]

Jul 10, 2011 1:32:26 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

I just watched a TAS of Diddy Kong Racing last night, and yeah, you have access to a space shuttle after defeating Wizpig for the first time.

That's more of a rocket than a space shuttle though

It's actually just a flying lighthouse

[Deleted]

Halo: Reach has a space shuttle. You use it to get to some Covenant alien super-ship...though once you've left the atmosphere it sheds enough parts that it turns more into an ARWING.

[parrothead]

Now that the Space Shuttle program is completely retired, I will show all other video game appearances that I have gathered between this thread's first post and the final landing.

* There is a space shuttle in the Shutter Bug 3 mission of the N64 game Pilotwings 64.
* The final stage of Sega's arcade game and some of its ports (except the MD/GEN version), Shadow Dancer, takes place at a launch base with a space shuttle on it.
* The original Aero Fighters has not one, but I think two final bosses, depending on how well you succeed. One of them is a spaceplane that kind of resembles a space shuttle.


And here are some information I gathered from another forum.

* The stage 1 boss in Air Gallet looks very similar to a space shuttle.

* A Space Shuttle in Incoming (Dreamcast, PC) and in the Florida stage of Vigilante 8 2nd Offence, are both as background objects. It's even on the front cover of Incoming. And there is one in Perfect Dark Zero on XBox 360 that looks kind of similar. It can be seen in one of the screenshots on this webpage.

* In No More Heroes 2 for Wii, one of the mini games (whereby you earn cash) has you collecting rubbish from outer space and bringing it back to Earth via a shuttle, to be dumped in our seas!!! Check it out.

* A space shuttle can be seen in the OP, final stage and ED or Rolling Thunder 2. The game's plot was probably influenced by the James Bond film, Moonraker.

* There is also this 3DO game by Software Toolworks:



That's about it.

[parrothead]

*bump*

I forgot to mention Jetpac having one, which is the "U2".

[parrothead]

*bump*

While there has been some space-related news recently, I noticed that in the ending of the Game Boy game Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (now available on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console), Mega Man used a Space Shuttle to leave Dr. Wily's exploding space station.

And a few days after the final landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis, I forgot to mention Space Shuttle Columbia being featured in the Pewter City Museum of Science in the 1st Generation Pokemon titles ( R / B / G / Y / FR / LG ). Here is what Bulbapedia said:

In the Generation I games, the plaque accompanying the space shuttle model reads "Space Shuttle Columbia"; however, in the Generation III remakes the plaque simply reads "Space Shuttle". This is probably due to the fact that on February 1, 2003, the real Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry during its 28th mission, killing all seven crew members. The reference to Space Shuttle Columbia was kept in the Japanese version of the Generation III games.

Others I found were in:

Strike Gunner (located at 1:25)

AND

Starfight

And here is something kind of interesting about Starfight:

Starflight spawned a sequel, Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula, and was very much the spiritual predecessor to the more popular, but similarly themed Star Control 2. An unofficial sequel released without the Starflight name due to the inability of the designers to gain the rights to the title from Electronic Arts is the lesser-known Protostar. It has also been confirmed that Starflight was an inspiration for the Mass Effect series developed by Bioware

EDIT:

I noticed that in Irem's 1993 fighting game Perfect Soldiers (known outside of Japan as "Superior Soldiers"), when you get to the final boss Seleous (known outside of Japan as Skull Reaper), his stage will take place at a launch base with an aged Space Shuttle on it, but according to the map screen, it takes place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That's odd.