Chapter 345: On Track to the Top!
Despite the lack of the two-player mode, there's actually not much to be troubled about.
It was just Alexander being a programmer that wanted his code, no matter how extra and extreme, to be used to the fullest.
No matter. With how it is... the video game offering is more than impressive already.
Although it had just begun, Alexander had no doubts that it was going to be a big hit.
With all that he did, he wasn't going to be selling himself short.
The graphics and sound, and the level of sophistication achieved despite the limitations of buttons in the SNES-inspired controller are not to be dismissed.
With a few more touches, it became an excellent flight game with an emphasis on story, playability, and indisputable graphical presentation.
Succeeding in being a little more than just a detailed cockpit and shooting down fast-moving enemies.
The landing, the mid-game refueling segments, and the necessary missile strategy help spruce up the action a bit more.
Making it visually immersive with each sprite, if there ever is one, being extremely effective... especially with all the high-speed, air-to-air combat.
Clearly, with a large amount of varied and entertaining action, it would appeal to many, given that it's more than the usual shoot-em-up games.
Like the film it's based on, Flight and Fight is a fun blast.
Arguably one of the best air warfare games ever released. Offering much frustration with its difficulty.
As the missions progress, many split-second decisions, a soft touch, and total concentration are required.
With the whole game pretty much being difficult, if not impossible, to master.
Alexander distinctly remembered that Konami's Top Gun was a top-selling game even within just two weeks of its U.S. release.
After a year, its sales had surpassed 1.8 million units, eventually reaching the two million mark.
Coupled with Second Mission's and After Burner's prospects, this mishmash of a video game was more than golden.
Also, this time, the game is made available while the film is still in peak, so really no worries on both gameplay and the commercial sales part.
Of course, as a fun bonus, the Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack and other high-performing aircrafts that are considered boss-level missions, are akin to the Watchmen-Chernobyl "coincidence".
So... there's going to be much intrigue in that.
Even though in-game enemies are just "enemies", the Soviet Union and others would probably be shocked silly when they find video game bosses looking eerily similar to designs that they are still working out.
To offset the negative that might come with that, Alexander did have a song...
Sung by a girl born in the Soviet Union as a tribute to the tragedy that had just come to pass.
Or, at least, it seems like that.
More than anything, it's actually just one song from the popular Top Gun soundtrack.
-------
Milla's "Take My Breathe Away".
June 15, 1986...
The music video was finally released.
MTV or wherever it may be... that familiar and smooth synthesizer song sounded...
It had always been in the background of the film and it finally had its piece.
But did it really...
Especially when Maverick and Charlie were still the stars of the show...
[Watching every motion in my foolish lover's game]
Of course, in between their romantic scenes of chemistry, the singer was finally revealed.
[On this endless ocean, finally lovers know no shame]
To people's shock, it was actually just a girl.
[Turning and returning to some secret place inside]
A pretty girl in what looks to be a studio, glancing at a paper, and well... sang.
[Watching in slow motion as you turn around and say]
Weirdly, she had half-white, half-black hair, but this sure did leave people speechless...
Speechless, that they might just sing along...
[Take my breath away]
This chorus sure was timely.
[Take my breath away]
Then the second verse...
Then a chorus...
Then a bridge...
Chorus again...
Verse 3...
Then the crescendo...
[Take my breath away]
[My love, take my breath away]
[My love, take my breath away]
[My love, take my breath away]
This music video, the movie scenes, and the singer sure did...
Maverick and Charlie may still be the stars...
But the weird-haired girl in the recording studio was a star of her own. Milla is her name, is it not? A face they were sure to remember.
Most of them already knew the name. After all, "I'll Give You Romance" is still assiduously requested by nerds who can't wait for the animated TV show.
Anyways, the whole thing may just be interspersed with movie scenes recapping the main couple's love story.
However, with music video magic, it sure did draw a lot of people in. It even pushed those that hadn't seen Top Gun to watch Top Gun.
Which was kind of why the music video was released in the middle of summer-y June in the first place...
-------
Alexander, who can compare Berlin's and Milla's versions, found the contrast to be quite interesting.
Their voices and experiences were nowhere close to each other yet the song was still sung.
Milla, still ten, then Terri Nunn, whatever her age was. Courtesy of practice, prep, and recording sure did even the playing field.
Of course, Milla's age and the song's message were still an issue, hence the difference in the music video itself.
Terri's MV was more on emulating Charlie while Milla's MV was more on reading and telling the love story.
Funnily enough. They both adorned somewhat of the black-white hair motif.
Milla was more because she liked the Sia costume a lot while Terri's was more on "artist expression" and being musically unique.
How they went about it sure was a disconnect from each other but the effect and impact were still the same.
Anyways, that sure was interesting to Alexander... but it couldn't be anymore amusing than what he did.
Marshmello had his singer-songwriter debut with the TMNT and Mystical Adventure earworm...
With "Danger Zone", people now had a face to work with... and what a face it was.
Like Milla, there was also a music video to work with...
A rock riff from an electric guitar kicked things off and it was off to the danger zone from there...
[Revvin' up your engine]
[Listen to her howlin' roar]
[Metal under tension]
[Beggin' you to touch and go]
[Highway to the Danger Zone]
The chorus sure did mean it...
[Ride into the Danger Zone]
Then the second verse...
Danger Zone-filled chorus again.
A bridge into more Danger Zones...
Then Verse 3!
Another chorus... and the repeat to send it off...
[Highway to the Danger Zone]
[Gonna take it right into the Danger Zone]
[Highway to the Danger Zone]
[Ride into, the Danger Zone]
Like "Take My Breathe Away", this sure was interspersed with Top Gun movie scenes...
Mostly with action-packed and adrenaline-inducing ones...
With a reveal of the singer behind it.
Unlike the shocking Milla, this Marshmello fellow sure was something else.
Was it even a reveal if you're just a white-suited man wearing a weird bucket mask?
For most of the video, it was mostly this bucket mask in the background of the Top Gun scenes.
Weaved and edited to form compelling visuals along with the music. As if challenging viewers to try and spot its white-bucketness throughout the movie.
With those cheery eyes and an always smirking face.
As if mocking them.
Mocking them for never ever knowing whose beneath it.
That wasn't Alexander's intent with the whole thing but it is what it is.
The man in the video wasn't even him. It was a paid rando... posing and holding up a guitar and whatnot.
Even Old Sullivan was peturbed by the whole deal.
The boy just needed to write a song, record a demo he was satisfied with, and the team will do the rest. Without all the emotion, passion, and effortful video work of it.
Clearly, his grandson just hacked the whole popular musician business.
Alexander didn't deny it. 'Cause he really just did.
Of course, to make matters worse for the music industry, he's only just begun.
Music videos, singles, records, albums, ranking charts, and whatnot.
The often-dismissed Creed Music, with Marshmello, along with handpicked artists like Milla, will have an encroaching hand in all of it.
Before people could notice, it's all too late...
------
Then again, people did notice and they could only be speechless with it.
As if some Top Gun video game still wasn't enough... it had to have a popular Top Gun soundtrack selection as well.
With songs already on their way to the top of the charts.
Did they need to be reminded that Top Gun was going to be a force to be reckoned with?
'Cause, they already knew that it sure was!
With everything already being mid-June came, films like Back to School and Ferris Bueller's Day Off came into the spotlight.
Top Gun was knocked off the top spot but it was reliably in the top 3 with a scary box office accumulation of about $55 million already.
These comedy and romance films may have unexpected appeal but did it really matter?
That wasn't exactly the first time that Top Gun would be ousted around, after all.
Nor was it the last.
In the next week, Karate Kid part II and Robert Redford's Legal Eagles became the next duo to do so.
A week after that, the addition of Ruthless People and Running Scared duo got Top Gun to the Top 6th in rankings.
Suffice to say, Creed Pictures' solo offering really took quite the beating.
Still, wasn't this a normal trend for a film that has been screening for many weeks already?
If anything, Top Gun was still so scary that it soldiered through like the hot, macho-filled film that it is.
Being able to accumulate more than $75 million throughout this supposedly tumultuous month isn't exactly that much of a beating, is it?
Gosh! That already dwarfed many old and irrefutably new films of 1986.
A very scary sentiment given that theater companies weren't really in the hurry to shelve it just yet.
Some forces tried to put it down but the Navy's 400% increase in recruitment froze their attempts in place.
Sure enough, the prospects of being an unstoppable juggernaut were already there.
This was the 1986 box office champion in the making... and there's not much that can be done about it.
The competition could only look on.
With the lot of them only hoping that their projects could be half as good.
Plus the enviable popularity of the compiled soundtrack album and the sought-afterness of the video game throughout June...
Then there's the toys and the bomber jackets... Just wow!
Whether it be in terms of box office or matters outside-the-box office... Top Gun was truly on track to be at the top in all of them!
It sure didn't skip a beat in any of it!