One such EM game was Jet Rocket, a flight simulator released by Sega in 1970 that featured cockpit controls that could move the player's aircraft around a landscape displayed on a screen and shoot missiles at targets that would explode when hit.
[2] The game displayed three-dimensional terrain with buildings, produced using special belt technology along with fluorescent paint to simulate a night view.
[4] Sega released several other similar EM flight combat games, including Dive Bomber (1971) and Air Attack (1972).
[7] Sega's last EM combat flight simulator was Heli-Shooter (1977), which combines the use of a CPU processor with electro-mechanical components, screen projection and audio tape deck.
This simulator used simple filled wire frame graphics and a small generic battle space to allow players to fight MiGs in an F-18 or F-16.
There were also titles released for the Atari 2600 that simulated flight combat, two examples being Mattel's Air Raiders (1982) and Milton Bradley's Spitfire Attack (1983).
[16] During the 1990s to early 2000s, there was a transition from traditional video game platforms like arcades, to consoles such as the original PlayStation, for their ability to be played at home.
[17] Several rival publishers rose during this period such as NovaLogic with titles like the Comanche Series that simulated helicopter combat, and Electronic Arts with Jane's WWII Fighters which improved upon features such as detailed visible damage.
Sega's R360 motion simulator cabinet notably features full 360-degree rotation, used by the arcade games G-LOC: Air Battle and Wing War.
This type of classification applies to many historical combat simulators, and typically includes aircraft from all nations participating in the conflict.
Modern jet survey simulators have been developed as well, such as US Navy Fighters (USNF) and Jane's USAF by Jane's/Electronic Arts, typically with simplified and generic modelling of radar, navigation, and weapons.
The turn of the century saw advancements in technology that increased the capabilities of these simulators, simplifying and improving their weapon handling and flight models, as well as updated visuals.
Early iterations of simulators in this genre include the release of EF2000 by Digital Image Design (DiD) which quickly garnered a dedicated following, including a user group that produced a detailed online manual of weapons and tactics, as well as the popular Falcon 4.0, a detailed simulation of the USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon.
The sequel, Jane's Longbow 2 (1997), was one of the earliest simulations to take advantage of hardware accelerated graphics, including advanced lighting.
1998 saw the release of Enemy Engaged: Apache vs Havoc by Empire Interactive, which allowed players to choose to fly for either the US or Russia.
Digital Image Design, with their release of F-22 Total Air War in 1998, allowed for a transparency into the larger strategic battlefield by use of multiple screens and a "God's eye view".