Zero Pilots Given

The SNES port of Wing Commander II isn't the only Origin game that was essentially finished but unreleased. Here are two advertisements I recently noticed while working on another project: published advertisements for Pacific Strike CD (1994) and Bioforge Plus (1995). These were both 'budget' projects that were far in development when Electronic Arts decided to reorganize Origin's projects. Some material from Bioforge Plus has leaked over the years, including the completed 'gauntlet' feature. I wonder if the unreleased Pacific Strike audio or the extra missions are out there somewhere…

... but one thing Pacific Strike-related that IS out there is its largely undocumented Japanese sequel/remake. In 1998, Sony published a game in Japan called Zero Pilot which according to its packaging is credited to Origin Systems. Huh?! That's right, Zero Pilot is a licensed sequel to Pacific Strike that updates it to be from the Japanese point of view. Instead of fighting through the real World War II, you instead have a fictionalized version along the lines of Ace Combat… and given the fact that the RealSpace engine was ported to the PlayStation for two Wing Commander games, it's possible this game actually uses Origin's technology, too.

Zero Pilot: Ginyoku No Senshi (1998)
ゼロパイロット・ 銀翼の戦士
Zero Pilot: Fighter of Silver Wing
Marionette / Soliton
4 948872 100496

Like Wing Commander III PSX, there's also a published guide for the game! We haven't located a copy yet but they seem to be available cheaply in Japan. The ISBN is 4-7669-2941-1.

Over the next ten years, Zero Pilot got four sequels! Three were for the PlayStation 2 using the RenderWare engine and the last release was for the PlayStation Portable in 2008. None of these games credit Origin Systems in their legal information so whatever deal the series had about Pacific Strike must not be related… but it's pretty satisfying to see that Origin technically had a series of spinoff games that ran into the 2000s!

Zero Pilot: Kokū no Kiseki (2003)
ゼロパイロット・孤空の奇蹟
Zero Pilot: Miracle of the Solitary Sky
Opera House / SAMMY
4 991694 000789

Victory Wings: Zero Pilot Series (2004)
Opera House / SAMMY
4 991694 000970

Zero Pilot: Rei (2006)
ゼロパイロット・零
Zero Pilot: Zero
Opera House / SAMMY
Includes bonus Discovery Channel DVD
4 997766 200606

Zero Pilot: Daisanji Sekai Taisen 1946 (2008)
ゼロパイロット・第三次世界大戦 1946
Zero Pilot: World War II 1946
Marionette / Global A
4 542082 000494

Collectors should also note that there's some cool Zero Pilot merchandise out there. The first game had a poster as a preorder bonus and the second two actually had toy planes that were made as part of the Japanese 'Wing Club' series! One is an A6M Zero and the other is a Supermarine Spitfire.