The war comes to America! It's less than a year since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and America's naval forces are on the high seas, engaging the Japanese navy in sea and air combat, protecting the United States from invasion. 1942 is a 2D, top down view, vertical scrolling shooter that lets you pilot a propeller-prop naval fighter to engage and destroy hostile planes over the sea. Armed with a pair of forward mounted machine guns, your fighter is designed for shooting Japanese aircraft out of the sky.
However, the Japanese planes are armed, too, and do their best to reciprocate. One shot is all it takes to destroy your plane while some of the enemy planes require more than one shot to eliminate. The odds are against you, although you're not entirely defenseless. Your agile plane can perform loops to evade enemy fighters and gunfire. When each new life, you have three loops available to use at any time and some destroyed enemies leave power-ups behind to increase your plane's firepower. You also have three planes to use and, if you lose one, can continue the level with another. Do you have what it takes to be a naval aviator and dogfight with Japan's elite pilots?