History VideoGame / WingCommanderTheKilrathiSaga

* NationalStereotypes: The first games plays up your Japanese, Chinese, Australian, Belgian, African and American pilots quite a bit. From the second game we still have your 26th century samurai and EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench ColonelBadass, but the trope gets toned down in later games.
* NonMammalMammaries: Wing Commander seems to be a little confused about this. In the ''Secret Missions 1'' [[ExpansionPack add-on]] to the original ''Wing Commander'', the Kilrathi priestess is shown with a multi-part bra covering three sets of human-style breasts. The intro to ''Prophecy'', however, has a wall drawing of a nude Kilrathi female with one pair of human-style breasts.

* PlotlineDeath: [[spoiler:Spirit]] in ''Wing Commander II''; in ''Wing Commander III'', [[spoiler:chasing Hobbes results in Vaquero's death; Flint's fate in the novelization, dying in the final mission]]; [[spoiler:Vagabond]] in ''Wing Commander IV''; [[spoiler:Dallas and Hawk]] in ''Prophecy''
* ProudWarriorRace: As a predatory species evolved from an unusually dangerous homeworld, the Kilrathi are disproportionately geared toward war and conquest. In a slight twist, they actually approve of deception and stealth as opposed to "honorable" combat (probably stemming from their feline evolutionary path: as any cat owner will tell you, deception and stealth are part of what cats ''do''). (Fortunately, the Kilrathi speak non-mangled English.)

* ReassignmentBackfire: at the beginning of ''Wing Commander II'' the main character has spent ten years on a space station in the backwater Gwynedd system, where he was assigned by an admiral who thinks he's a traitor, and hasn't flown a combat mission in all that time. Then, suddenly, the war comes to Gwynned.

** The Sivar dreadnaught from the ''Wing Commander'' add-on ''The Secret Missions'' mounts a gun that creates a gravity anomaly that increases gravitational pull 137 times, which is used to destroy the Goddard colony. The focus of the add-on is hunting down and destroying the Sivar. However, the weapon is extremely slow to fire and thus impractical for much of anything beyond devastating planets.

''Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga'' is a collection of space combat simulation games by Origin Systems. It comprises the [[TrilogyCreep first three games]] in the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series: ''Wing Commander'' (1990), ''Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi'' (1992), and ''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger'' (1994). The full story of the epic interstellar war between the catlike Kilrathi and the human Confederation which spanned more than ten years comes together in one handy source.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: A recurring theme in the series. Heroes are expected to fight like hell to live and win, but if death is inevitable, they face it with a stoic's resolve, from Spirit in Wing Commander II all the way through Blair himself in the losing endgames of III and IV, and in his final bow from the series in Prophecy. This is a feature of the books as well. Hunter in ''Wing Commander: Fleet Action'' doesn't waste time on anything as useless as sympathy for himself in facing his impending demise.

** The first three Wing Commander games are the Pacific theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[AC:[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]]] Confed are [[{{Eagleland}} the United States]], while the Kilrathi are UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan, complete with godlike emperor, warrior codes, scheming henchmen, inability to understand surrender, the whole nine yards.

This was apparently fixed in later versions, where wingmen ''vanish'' when autopiloting through the previous waypoints, regardless of whether they were still alive. Arguably even weirder.\\

* WhatTheHellHero:
** If Blair pursues Hobbes in ''Wing Commander III'', Vaquero [[spoiler:gets killed in a carrier defense mission]] and Captain Eisen calls him out on it.
** In the first game, you are allowed one ejection, and actually get a special award ceremony for doing so since the commanders are trying to discourage new recruits from getting blown up trying to prove themselves. Any further ejection, no matter if you've completed the mission objectives, gets you reamed out.

** The first three Wing Commander games are the Pacific theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[AC:[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]]] Confed are [[{{Eagleland}} the United States]], while the Kilrathi are ImperialJapan, complete with godlike emperor, warrior codes, scheming henchmen, inability to understand surrender, the whole nine yards.

'''''Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga''''' is a collection of space combat simulation games by Origin Systems. It comprises the [[TrilogyCreep first three games]] in the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series: ''Wing Commander'' (1990), ''Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi'' (1992), and ''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger'' (1994). The full story of the epic interstellar war between the catlike Kilrathi and the human Confederation which spanned more than ten years comes together in one handy source.

** The ending of ''Wing Commander III'' in particular - the Kilrathi's final surrender aboard the TCS ''Victory'' is based on that of the Japanese aboard the USS ''Missouri'' at the end of WorldWar2.

The games contain the following tropes:

* CompilationRerelease: ''Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga''. The first three games, re-released for Windows 95 and adjusted to run at the correct speeds on a modern computer. Also included remastered audio and music, as well as an expanded manual and a calendar listing many important dates in the Wing Commander universe. After it went out of print, it was known to reliably sell for over $100 on Website/EBay. At least one copy sold for over ''three hundred dollars''. The release of DOSBox allowing the original games (which usually sell for $20 or less on eBay) to run on modern computers has since lessened the need for ''The Kilrathi Saga'', but it still often sells for above its original retail price on eBay.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' unified Chinese dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as one of the shortest dynasty (losing the Mandate of Heaven 96 years after its proclamation; to be fair, that's much better than the three other shorter-lived dynasties, that did not survive their first 50 years, but most others would last more than 150) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided AGAINST capitulating, the closest thing to what the Society of Mandarins have in mind being the perpetually-struggling collabourationist regime under Wang Jing-Wei. Both, like the Kilrathi, see themselves as conquerors rather than rulers, and both ultimately ended up being evicted by force[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as one of the shortest dynasty (losing the Mandate of Heaven 96 years after its proclamation) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided AGAINST capitulating, the closest thing to what the Society of Mandarins have in mind being the perpetually-struggling collabourationist regime under Wang Jing-Wei. Both, like the Kilrathi, see themselves as conquerors rather than rulers, and both ultimately ended up being evicted by force[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided AGAINST capitulating, the closest thing to what the Society of Mandarins have in mind being the perpetually-struggling collabourationist regime under Wang Jing-Wei. Both resisted the idea of being changed or assimilated (as the Kilrathi likely would toward the Humans), with Japan in fact attempting to force their own culture onto the Chinese, and both ultimately ended up being evicted by force.[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided AGAINST capitulating, the closest thing to what the Society of Mandarins have in mind being the perpetually-struggling collabourationist regime under Wang Jing-Wei[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided AGAINST capitulating, the closest thing to what the Society of Mandarins have in mind being the perpetually-struggling collabourationist regime under Wong Jing-Wei[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided AGAINST capitulating (the closest thing to what the Society of Mandarins have in mind is the perpetually-struggling collabourationist regime under Wong Jing-Wei)[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols and one of the ''only two'' dynasties not ruled by native Chinese, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided NOT to capitulate to[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided NOT to capitulate to[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty (lasting for less than a century) in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided NOT to capitulate to.[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols, has the dubious distinction as the shortest dynasty in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is on the other hand the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided NOT to capitulate to.[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of the Yuan Dynasty or World War 2 [[note]]The Mongols have the dubious distinction of having presided over the shortest dynasty in Chinese history; the Empire of Japan, to whom the Kilrathi is analogous to, is also the one foreign invader to whom the Chinese as a whole decided NOT to capitulate to.[[/note]].

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted in the two [[ExpansionPack addons]] for ''Wing Commander II''. A [[TheMole mole]] is working for an organization [[spoiler:called the Society of Mandarins,]] which believes humanity should surrender to the Kilrathi, and change them from within[[spoiler:, loosely similar to their historical counterpart from ancient China]]. They apparently didn't read the history of World War 2.

'''''Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga''''' is part of the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series and is a collection of Origin Systems' previously released space combat simulation games '''''Wing Commander''''' (1990), '''''Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi''''' (1992), and '''''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger''''' (1994). The full story of the epic interstellar war between the hostile catlike Kilrathi and the human Confederation that spanned more than ten years comes together in one handy source.

''Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga'' is part of the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series and is a collection of Origin Systems' previously released space combat simulation games ''Wing Commander'' (1990), ''Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi'' (1992), and ''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger'' (1994). The full story of the epic interstellar war between the hostile catlike Kilrathi and the human Confederation that spanned more than ten years comes together in one handy source.

* MadArtist: Jazz is usually found playing piano in the Rec Room of the 'Concordia''. [[spoiler:Even when he's under armed guard and awaiting execution for treason!]]