Skyfox

Skyfox is a sci-fi combat flight simulator created by Ray Tobey originally for the Apple II and published by Electronic Arts in 1984. The game was ported to ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64, where it became a commercial hit. In 1986, it was also converted to Amiga and Atari ST.

As the pilot of the super-advanced Skyfox plane, you will need to defend Earth from an alien invasion. You will have lasers and several types of missiles to destroy alien planes and tanks across 15 different scenarios. Enemies can be seen on the radar at the bottom of the screen. Skyfox is considered the game that made the "cockpit view" famous. All the sci-fi combat sims will use this technique, including Wing Commander and Star Wars: X-Wing.

The gameplay, after a while, becomes a bit boring since there is not much to do apart from destroying enemies. Thank god you also have to go back to the base to refuel. Considering this game was created for an 8-bit computer in 1984, it was an incredibly advanced title and a real milestone in the history of video games.

Strangely, the sequel Skyfox II: The Cygnus Conflict was created by Dynamix without the involvement of Ray Tobey.