escape. The last is perhaps the most difficult part, since the Fortress explodes shortly after the core is destroyed and the player only has a short window of time in which to escape, with the exit never situated in the same place as where the player entered the maze. Development and release Air Fortress was developed by Japanese video game maker HAL Laboratory. "SUGA," the password for the final air fortress, is a reference to Air Fortress director, game designer, and programmer Hiroaki Suga. While the US version credits sound composer Hideki Kanazashi as "Rodeo Kanagushi", the Japanese version credits him as "Jumper Kanagushi". HAL America offered Air Fortress by mail order through a national advertising campaign. Players who purchased the game through HAL received a free Air Fortress T-shirt. Reception Air Fortress garnered average reviews from critics. VideoGames & Computer Entertainments Andy Eddy remarked that the game offered "a great deal" of originally with its mixture of arcade and adventure aspects, but found the music to be repetitive and felt that the overall design could have used more color. Nintendo Power gave the game positive ratings to its audiovisual presentation, control, challenge and fun factor. Computer Entertainer commended the visuals but noted that the game's difficulty increased quickly after the first fortress, and found the shooter sequences less interesting than the fortresses. Play Times Oliver Menne highlighted its smooth scrolling and lack of flickering, while praising HAL for their work with the graphics and music. Retrospective reviews for Air Fortess have been more mixed. AllGames Shelby Babb expressed that the game "does a good job at combining levels of side-scrolling shooting with exploration-style adventure." Game Freaks 365s Stan Stepanic praised the music but felt mixed with the visuals, while criticizing its gameplay and difficulty level. Hardcore Gaming 101s Adam King felt overall mixed about the audiovisual presentation but commended the controls. A writer for Jeuxvideo.com gave the title a positive outlook. References 1987 video games HAL Laboratory games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Horizontally scrolling shooters Run and gun games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in outer space