1942 is set in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and is loosely based on the Battle of Midway. Despite the game being created by Japanese developers, the goal is to reach Tokyo and destroy the Japanese air fleet; this was due to being the first Capcom game designed with Western markets in mind. It went on to be a commercial success in arcades, becoming Japan's fifth highest-grossing table arcade game of 1986 and one of America's top five highest-grossing arcade conversion kits that year. It was ported to the NES, selling over 1 million copies worldwide, along with other home platforms. The player pilots a Lockheed P-38 Lightning dubbed the "Super Ace". The player has to shoot down enemy planes; to avoid enemy fire, the player can perform a roll or vertical loop. During the game, the player may collect a series of power-ups, one of them allowing the plane to be escorted by two other smaller fighters in a Tip Tow formation. Enemies included: Kawasaki Ki-61s, Mitsubishi A6M Zeros and Kawasaki Ki-48s. The boss plane is a Nakajima G10N. The game has "a special roll button that allows players to avoid dangerous situations by temporarily looping out of" the playfield. In addition to the standard high score, it also has a separate percentage high score, recording the best ratio of enemy fighters to enemies shot down. In Japan, Game Machine listed 1942 on their January 1, 1985 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade cabinet of the month. It went on to be Japan's seventh highest-grossing table arcade game during the first half of 1986, and the overall fifth highest-grossing table arcade game of 1986. In the United States, it was one of the top five highest-grossing arcade conversion kits of 1986.