result in losing a live, as well as a penalty of decreasing the plane's firepower to his original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Completing the last stage restarts the game with the second loop increasing in difficulty. Development Flying Sharks creation process and history was recounted through various Japanese publications by composers Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura, both of which collaborated with the soundtrack and marked the first time Toaplan made use of FM synthesis. Yuge stated that the basic structure for the game was already decided during development of Slap Fight by pursuing the excitement of shooting and dodging, settling on the bomb and shot system, claiming that firing a bomb relieved stress from players. Yuge also stated the thematic for the title was a realistic depiction of war that would involve players emotionally, as the development team had the atmosphere portrayed by the 1979 epic war film Apocalypse Now in their mind. The team also took a company trip to Thailand and wanted to convey the mood of the country's scenery with the backgrounds, with Yuge stating that the decision of scrolling said backgrounds left and right was to immerse players more with the game's world, though he expressed desire in making stages longer. Flying Shark was also the first project by Toaplan to make use of the Motorola 68000 microprocessor and due to the improved hardware, it allowed the team with displaying more sprites on-screen, however the increased hardware also brought issues such as difficulties with making FM sounds and enemy planes aiming their shots at players more accurately. The team wanted to make a title where players could clear it via tricks and knowledge accumulated through gameplay. When asked about the increasing bullet speed and starting at the second stage during higher loops, Uemura claimed that this design choice was made due to the first stage being made for beginning players and that the bullet speed would return to normal after reaching an overflow. Despite being published by Taito, Uemura stated that the publisher allowed them to reveal the project was made by Toaplan. Release Flying Shark was first released by Taito in Japan on March 14, 1987. It was then released across arcades worldwide the same month in March 1987, by Romstar in North America under the