How to play 1943: Kai on Mac

Game summary

Developed and released alongside the Family Computer version, 1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen is an arcade game, an "alternate" version of the original 1943, released in 1987[3] only in Japan. Most of the graphics and sounds have been reworked, and the game has been made more "extreme" (laser-firing WWII planes and ships that run on ground). Further, the trademark P-38 has been replaced with a Boeing Stearman E75 N68828. In 1991, this version was converted to the PC Engine as simply 1943 Kai, again Japan-only; this version itself contains many additional levels and original music. The game is set in the Pacific theater of World War II, off the coast of the Midway Atoll. The goal is to attack the Japanese air fleet that bombed the American aircraft carrier, pursue all Japanese air and sea forces, fly through the 16 stages of play, and make their way to the Japanese battleship Yamato and destroy her. 11 of these stages consist of an air-to-sea battle (with a huge battleship or an aircraft carrier as the stage boss), while 5 stages consist of an all-aerial battle against a squadron of Japanese bombers with a mother bomber at the end. As in 1942, players pilot a P-38 Lightning. Controls are also similar: button 1 fires main weapons, and button two performs two special actions: a loop maneuver like in 1942, or one of three special attacks in exchange for some of the player's fuel. Indeed, players now have only one life, in the form of a large "fuel" meter; constantly depleting, but refillable by collecting various powerups (chiefly "Pow" icons). In 2-player mode, when both players overlap their planes on screen, the energy bar can be transferred from the player with more fuel to the player with less. Destroying a complete formation of red enemy planes will result in a power-up, such as a health boost or a new main weapon. There are cheat codes, different for every stage, ranging from holding down a fire button or pointing the joystick in certain direction, player(s)
First released: Feb 1987

Play 1943: Kai on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play 1943: Kai on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

1943: Kai installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install 1943: Kai like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍