F-16 Simulator Parts

Simulator, F-16

Combat flight simulators are simulation video games (similar to amateur flight simulation software) used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and military flight training which consist of realistic physical recreations of the actual aircraft cockpit, often with full-motion platform.

Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to variety of subject matter available and market demand.

Prior to the rise of video games, Sega produced arcade games that resemble video games, but were in fact electro-mechanical games that used rear image projection in a manner similar to the ancient zoetrope to produce moving animations on a screen.

The earliest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator (1982) had crude graphics, simple flight models – and a combat option, with "dog fighting" in a World War I Sopwith Camel. This feature was removed in the simulator after v4.0, though the Camel itself remained as one of the standard aircraft for some time. Shortly after Microsoft Flight Simulator was released for the 8-bit computer, Microsoft released Jet in 1985. This simulator used simple filled wire frame graphics and a small generic battle space to allow players to fight MiGs in an F-18 or F-16. The five or six frames per second refresh rate was barely playable. There were also titles released for the Atari 2600 that attempted to simulate flight combat. Two of the more successful examples are Mattel's Air Raiders (1982) and Milton Bradley's Spitfire Attack (1983). However, flight controls are limited on these as the 2600's controller consists of a joystick and a single button.