Overview
A-Jax (known in Europe as Typhoon), which is not to be confused with a similar 1987 shoot-'em-up of the same name) is a sci-fi shoot-'em-up developed and released by Konami for arcades in 1987.
Set in futuristic 2007, A-Jax has players control two units of an elite combat unit of the same name (an AH-64 Apache known as the "Tom Tiger" and a F-14 Tomcat known as the "Jerry Mouse") as they repel an invasion of a combined alliance of aliens an unnamed Earth superpower.
Similar to Contra, the game features two types of stages that are drastically different from each other. The majority of the stages, in which players pilot the Tom Tiger, is played in a vertical-scrolling perspective similar to Taito's Twin Cobra and features a power-up system similar to other Konami shoot-'em-ups. A few key stages, in which players pilot the Jerry Mouse, are played in a behind-the-back scalar-3D perspective similar to Sega's After Burner.
The European release of the game, re-titled to Typhoon, features some differences from the original, the main one being a re-arranged stage layout (where the 3rd, 1st, and 2nd stages of the original game becomes the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stage). It also features a new music track used for the 1st stage.
The A-Jax version of the game later received a port for the Sharp X68000, released exclusively in Japan on November 29, 1989. The Typhoon version of the game was ported to the Amstrad CPC (by Imagine), Commodore 64 (also by Imagine), and ZX Spectrum (by Ocean), all released exclusively in Europe in 1988.
A-Jax was later digitally re-released for the PlayStation 4 in 2015 (March in Japan, September in North America, and October in Europe) as part of HAMSTER'S Arcade Archives series, featuring both original and Typhoon versions. It was also included in the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection compilation for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 2019.
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