History VideoGame / Sidewinder

** The game focus on ColdWar-era air combat. The plane roster features primarily planes from the 60s to 70s with there being no 5th-generation planes.

* ''Sidewinder'' ([[UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} PS1]], 1996). Released as ''Bogey Dead 6'' in North America and ''Raging Skies'' in Europe.

* ''Sidewinder MAX'' (UsefulNotes/PS2, 2000)

* AfterTheEnd: Due to massive climate change, the world in these games is left largely uninhabitable, with the population surviving on mega-floats. Various missions take place in the ruins of real-life locations, such as Paris and Mt. Fuji.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: FN is good, WORF and ANGIL are evil. There's no real nuance in these games.

** The original game had its controls improved, difficulty levels were added and the mission briefings significantly rewritten (likely due to complaints from Japanese gamers that the original briefings [[GuideDangIt were unclear]]) for its western releases. These improvements would be [[RecursiveImport backported]] to Japan for the game's budy, you could change the difficulty level freely as opposed to being locked to whatever difficulty you selected when starting a new save file, and the "ACMI" view was made a normal option in replay mode instead of being hidden behind a cheat code.

** After an event known as the "Black October Incident", the developing country Eskara is caught in a bloody civil war betwen a rebel movement called the Reform Alliance, who want to open up the country to foreign investment, and the socialist Goshawk-Goskill government. You are Kazuya, one of a group of mercenary pilots called "Fighting Birds" hired to put an end to the conflict.

** The original game had its controls improved, difficulty levels were added and the mission briefings significantly rewritten (likely due to complaints from Japanese gamers that the original briefings [[GuideDangIt were unclear]]) for its western releases. These improvements would be [[RecursiveImport backported]] to Japan for the game's budget "The Best" rerelease.
** When ''Sidewinder F'' was reprogrammed as ''Lethal Skies'', the plane crash and menu graphics were improved, the ability to freely change difficulty levels as opposed to being locked to whatever difficulty you selected when starting a new save file was added, and the "ACMI" view was made a normal option in replay mode instead of being hidden behind a cheat code.

** The developing country Eskara is caught in a bloody civil war betwen the pro-Free Market Reform Alliance and the pro-socialism Goshawk-Goskill government. Mercenary pilots called "Fighting Birds" have been hired to put an end to the conflict, among them the player character Kazuya.

* JustPlaneWrong: The first game features the F-22 as a selectable plane, but it's codenamed "Superstar" and looks completely different from the real thing. Strange, as ''VideoGame/AirCombat'', released a year prior, features an accurately named and modeled F-22 (though licensing issues could be a factor).

** The game has a much heavier focus on story than any other games in the series. The cast has defined appearances, personalities and a lot of dialogue. There's an ingame encyclopedia detailling the factions, history and geography of Eskara. After missions, the player can even hang out in the base's pub and choose to speak with their fellow pilots and the base's staff, who have actual relationships and whose dialogue will change depending on mission completion or failure.

** The developing country Eskara is caught in a bloody civil war betwen the pro-Free Market Reform Alliance and the pro-socialism Goshawk-Goskill government. Mercenary pilots called "Fighting Birds" have been hired to put an end to the conflict.

* FlatCharacter: Due to dialogue in these games being kept to a minimum aside from some stock radio chatter from your wingmen, it's hard to find anyone in the cast with any degree of character development. Averted in ''MAX''.

** A group of rogue corporations have banded together to conquer the world. In response, the U.N has assembled an airforce.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted in the PS2 installments, which track damage to your fuselage, radar, engine, and wings separately. Taking radar damage makes it harder to lock on with radar-guided missiles, engine damage slows you down, and wing and fuselage damage affects your maneuverability. And, of course, taking too much fuselage damage destroys your plane.