1944: The Loop Master

1944: The Loop Master is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game made by Capcom in 2000. Unlike previous games, the programming for this arcade was done by a separate company called 8ing/Raizing. The game is the 5th of a series of World War 2 vertical shooters made by Capcom. The game takes place in the heated battles of 1944 during the Second World War as a super ace pilot attempts to defeat an entire army.

Gameplay
The arcade operates and plays like most standard shooters. The objective of every level is to shoot enemy planes, tanks, trains, turrets, battleships, and defeat the boss after each level. Unlike its predecessor, 19XX: The War Against Destiny, the game plays more like the early games in the series. Despite the opening description of the plane stats, both planes operate equally, and are only available to the first or second player respectively. The games does borrow from 19XX in that it has a form of charge up system. By holding the fire button down, the charge bar will fill, and when full, the plane will fly up and become temporarily invincible. The game also has the standard bomb button, which causes Tomahawk Missiles to fly up the screen doing major damage to any enemies they hit.

The health system in the game also works unlike the previous games in the series. The plane has a health bar which decreases after every hit. However, players start with only one life, and the game sparingly gives health boosts.

Wingmen
The option of wingmen is much more present in this game than others in the series. A small golden plane icon flies down the screen at certain times which releases a wingmen icon. Wingmen add some extra fire-power, but are vulnerable to enemy fire.

Beginning with stage 8, wingmen fire laser shots.

Stages
There are 15 stages in this game.

As an arcade board option, Stage select allows player to start the game at stage 1, 6, or 11. If stage layout is set to endless, player can also choose round number to 1, 2, or 3, with higher round being more difficult.

During any boss battle, there is an invisible time limit for each battle. The mission is failed when there is at least 1 core among all boss units are not destroyed within time limit. Mission failure does not change game progress, but it prevents the player from getting clear bonus.

After destroying Stage 15 boss Appare Toride, the game ends if stage layout is set to 1 loop, or the game continues with stage 1 with enemy firing faster bullets, if the stage layout is set to endless.