| Air Inferno | |
| Developer: | Taito |
| Publisher: | Taito |
| Designer: | Tsukasa Fujita Toshiaki Tsukano[1] |
| Genre: | Flight simulator |
| Modes: | Single-player, |
| Platforms: | Arcade |
| Arcade System: | Taito Air System |
Air Inferno is a 1990 flight simulation arcade video game developed and released by Taito, in Japan, Europe and North America. A spin-off from Taito's Landing series, Air Inferno is an aerial firefighting simulation that involves piloting a helicopter on various rescue missions, shooting a fire extinguisher to extinguish flames while rescuing civilians.
Like its predecessor Top Landing (1988), Air Inferno uses flat-shaded, 3D polygon graphics. Both games run on the Taito Air System hardware which uses 68000 (12 MHz) and Z80 (4 MHz) microprocessors as CPU and a TMS320C25[2] (24 MHz) digital signal processor as GPU.[3] The game comes in two types of arcade cabinets: a deluxe motion simulator cockpit cabinet[4] and a standard cockpit cabinet.
In Japan, Game Machine listed Air Inferno on their August 1, 1990 issue as being the most-successful upright arcade/cockpit unit of the month.[5]
The arcade game received positive reviews from critics. Sinclair User magazine it an 89% score, praising the "fab" 3D graphics, "realistic controls" and for being "something very different compared to the usual arcade machine."[6] Julian Rignall rated the game 88% in Computer and Video Games magazine.[7] Nick Kelly rated it 85% in CU Amiga.[8] David Wilson rated it four out of five in Zero magazine,[9] and 80% in Your Sinclair.[10]