During the game, the player may collect a series of power-ups, one of them allowing the plane to be escorted by two other smaller fighters in a Tip Tow formation.

[10] The game is loosely based on the Battle of Midway, which was a turning point in the Pacific War when the Americans began defeating the Japanese.

The music of the Commodore 64 version is based on the main verse of Ron Goodwin's 633 Squadron film score,[12] with arrangement by Mark Cooksey.

[28] 1942 was Capcom's breakaway hit, eclipsing in popularity the company's preceding three titles: Vulgus, Sonson, and Pirate Ship Higemaru.

While noting the game's scenario was "an odd subject for a Japanese arcade manufacturer" to take up, he said it has "nice" graphics and had an "original" gameplay feature in the form of the percentage high score.

[1] Retrospectively, Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame called it "a fondly remembered" shooter and praising the special roll button, "perfectly balanced" gameplay, "colorfully detailed" graphics, and "nifty" power-ups.

The arcade version was added to the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on December 21, 2010, and in the PAL and North American regions in January 2011.

The game series has sold a total of 1.4 million units worldwide as of December 2019, and stands as Capcom's 18th best-selling franchise.