Jet Impulse (2007). Play online

Summary

Jet Impulse landed on the Nintendo DS as an oddball flight simulator that never made it beyond Japan, even though a North American version was slated under the placeholder name DS Air. Nintendo announced the title at its pre‑E3 press event on May 9 2006, positioning it as a hobby‑level aerial experience rather than a hardcore sim.

The game lets you tinker with aircraft by swapping out parts and armaments, tailoring each plane to personal playstyle. Its co‑op mode runs over Nintendo Wi‑Fi Connection, so two players can dogfight or team up in real‑time despite the handheld’s modest hardware.

Despite the ambition, the planned US release was scrapped, leaving Western fans to discover the title only through imports and scattered reports. Its blend of simple controls, customizable jets, and online pairing makes Jet Impulse a curious footnote in Nintendo’s DS catalog.

Storyline

Jet Impulse is set on an Earth‑like world scarred by a past nuclear war. Two superstates, the Union and the Allies, formed after the conflict. Thirty years later the Allies launch attacks, prompting Avalon, the Union’s strongest state, to send the Akitsu air force against the Allied member Mardock.

Naomi Moriha, callsign Jasmine, and the player are fresh recruits of Akitsu’s Globe Force. Their first sortie goes wrong when a defector shouts “Neopax approaches” while trying to escape. They later stop a terrorist strike on a Union petroleum plant and meet a veteran Mardock ace who chooses not to fire.

The campaign against Mardock turns grim. An anti‑AA run is disrupted by Crimson, leaving only Jasmine, Delight and Cactus alive. Cactus drops a bunker‑buster that destroys a government bunker but also civilian shelters, making the victory feel like a massacre.

Union forces are weakened when Professor Vladimir’s Neopax order, using Zera as a front, invades with nuclear threats. Betrayed by their own government, Jasmine and the player join a resistance, spark a revolution, and assault Midgard. The final air strike destroys Neopax’s HQ; Crimson crashes into a dam to stop it, and the surviving trio enjoy a hard‑earned vacation.