Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

Never played it but I thought this game was crap compared to its sequel.

It actually had me giggling like a schoolgirl when I was playing it :ok: Only thing, I had to turn down the DOSBox cycles to around 300 otherwise I'd keep crashing into the first available mountain :P

I think this game is nearly 21 years old, not 11 as mentioned in the review.
Welcome to the zeros.

Hey - you forgot... you forgot Bruce Lee :cry:

Just kidding - excelent game :ok:

What clones of it exactly are there? And are any of them freeware? I love this game, but i've played it to DEATH.

That is correct. I've changed it. Swiss probably made a little typo and didn't notice. The one and two key are awfully close to each other :P

Sopwith is one of those Highly Recommended Ultimate Abandonware Classics* that everyone should have played at least once.

My brother and I used to contest in who can make the best looking stunts (crashing optional), had lots of fun with it :)


* where highly recommended in my personal dictionary reads the description 'with a lot of sentimental value' ;)

Hi,
I played both Sopwith I & II to death and back on moms good old XT machine. Sopwith one was almost unplayable, but I became a total master op sopwith II. I recall reaching level 9 (or something) on one occasion, which was two levels beyond the point where your plane flies so fast it becomes impossible to make a looping :D
I still played this when I had flashy games like hero's quest and so on. Incredibly addictive. Heartily recommended.

Cheers,
Lodewijk

That is correct. I've changed it. Swiss probably made a little typo and didn't notice. The one and two key are awfully close to each other :P [/b][/quote]
Waaahhhh ... did I say it was from 1994 ??? :cry: Sorry ... I know better. And I LOVE this game. With only one level it's quite easy to play this to Death but during the last 21 (!) years I copied it over and over again to my PC and over and over again I loved it ...

And a second sorry that I didn't mention Bruce Lee :max: - hey, I didn't notice "Wizards of Wor" either ...


:D

I used to play this game on my Tandy 1000. I got it in an arcade classics pack, but it was titled "Red Baron". I loved this game. This kind of game makes me wish I still had that Tandy. OK, maybe not.

Thumbs up for getting this classic on the site, I remember playing it ageeess ago. Time to go play it some more :ok:

great game :kosta:
Sopwith II was the first game that i played

Ah, the best version of this game was the Arcade vector graphics. No color, just lines and just as funny addictive. I've got one in a local wharehouse.

If you like this game, I suggest you try Triplane Turmoil sometime. It rocks.

Great game, but, anyone knows how does the multiplayer option work?

No, as It states in the review Which leaves me a question of my own, is he (David) done yet? :D

Um... am I missing something, or did i find a glitch. I cannot throttle down and it gets realy annoying because i keep running into a mountain. Could someone please explain what im doing wrong?

I don't know, I still don't know all teh controls, but if i remember, there IS a throttle down key.

[quote] I don't know, I still don't know all teh controls, but if i remember, there IS a throttle down. [quote]
Yes I do know that throttle down is "z" (I read the review all the way through, it often is helpful). But that is not the problem. I press "z" and i do not throttle down. It has no effect on the game at all. I have downloaded it on two computers, each with a DOSBox and twice on each. If there is a enemy plane that I want to avoid i speed away and dodge it, but i crash into a mountain going that fast unless i cycle down to about 100 which takes alot away from gameplay. Could someone please help?

Wow... this game is such a blast from my past, I just HAD to register to use the forums! :D I remember playing this on my folks' IBM (CGA monitor, 256k of RAM, and two--count 'em, two!-- 5 1/4" floppy drives!). I think my favorite thing to do in this game back then was turn upside down and drop a bomb on myself. I might have actually beaten the game once; it's hard to say.

Welcome to the forums.

Actually, the upside down bombing is rather annoying, as i find myself upside down a lot :|

No, the game must be runned in 100 or less cycles, and it isn´t so bad. But if u like a quick game with better game play u will keep crashing into mountains... In both modes Sopwith its a really good game

This was a fun game just to kill some time. :ok: I would bomb the enemy's airstrip and create a hole and just watch the enemies planes just fall in and explode. :w00t:

LEARN HOW TO DESTROY THE ENEMY's RUNWAY! See "6"... :sneaky:

The thing I like most about this game is that it takes a while to master. When you've learnt the skills, you can manage quite easily. And there are a lot of things to do, apart from completing the mission.

I have a few comments and hints, addressing some of the frustrated players in this forum.

CPU cycles
I recommend somewhere around 200-250. Any less gets either boring or too easy or both. Right now I'm playing at 230.

1. You cannot throttle both ways.
The trick about this game, is that you need to use the "flip" button quite often, pretty much whenever you need to change the throttle direction. It will feel awkward at first, but keep at it. I've never used the Z key (or any other key, for that matter) to throttle down.

2. Play with bombs!
The best aspect of this game is what you can do with bombs. Practice dive bombing at high speed rather than trying to time them flying horizontally. You do not need a steep angle in order to make a good dive. The best thing about this game is that the faster you fly, the better the bombs perform, in terms of precision.

3. Be creative with bombs!
When driving towards the right, try flying upside down, straight ahead. Then, approaching an enemy, drop a bomb right into his face. You will need some speed in order to make this work.

4. Vertical bombing.
Another way to make your bombs hit their targets is to hurl them straight up in the air. For some reason, your biplane's "belly" must be facing the right, not the left, or your bomb will explode in mid-air, killing you. Try to learn what angles are "legal" for dropping bombs, in order to know your options.

5. Create chaos with bombs! :titan:
When another plane makes you loop forever, invent some chaos by hurling a bomb or two straight up into the air. What goes up, must come down. This will in some cases lead to the bomb hitting your opponent on its way down. Just don't get hit yourself.

6. Destroy the enemy runway!
It is actually possible to keep the enemy in the middle base grounded! This is not an easy task, but it is very cool when you succeed. In order to do this, you must blast a large hole in his runway. Target the spot just beneath where he spawns. As you dig deeper, you may notice that he's somewhat slower at taking off. And finally he will not take off at all. Then he will be at your mercy entirely. You can now shoot him, bomb him dead, or kill all the targets without his bullets up your behind.

:w00t:

This may sound a little too good to be true, but it IS. It requires a lot of bombs, though, and some skill, as you obviously need to return to base and reload several times. The crater you make beneath his spawn point must be probably three bombs deep, and at least three bombs wide, if you hit the right spot.
:ok:
I guess those of you who thought you had exhausted this game just got a new challenge...

My 1st game on PC XT 4.77 Mhz
hehe

Hi, just downloaded this on advice from a friend, looks like fun but it's far too fast, trolling through the forums i saw that it is possible to 'cycle down' but i can't work out how to do that on xp. any advice?

advice is 'use dosbox'

DOSBox
Download DOSBox
Use DOSBox
DOSBox Tutorial
Dosbox, the ultimate oldschool gaming experience

So the review mentions making new levels, how do you do that?

.

modern port
 

Just on the off chance that you lot aren't already aware of it, there's an SDL port of sopwith which will run natively on Linux, Windows and other supported platforms, head to http://sdl-sopwith.sourceforge.net/ to get it.