Aerobiz

Infobox VG
title = Aerobiz


developer = Koei
publisher = Koei
designer =
engine =
released = vgrelease|JP=April 5, 1992|NA=February 1993
genre = Business simulation game
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings =
platforms = Super NES, Sega Genesis
media = Cartridge
requirements =
input = Super NES or Sega Genesis controller (only 1 controller is used for all 4 players)

"Aerobiz" ("Air Management: Ōzora ni Kakeru" in Japan) is a business simulation video game for the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive/Genesis game consoles, released in 1992 by KOEI.

As CEO of an international airline, the player has a limited amount of time to expand their business to become the industry leader against three other airlines (either AI-controlled or human opponents). The player has control over many aspects of how their airline develops, such as the name, investments, what routes to fly, plane purchases, and much more while at the mercy of world events such as politics (for instance, if you run your airline out of Moscow, you can initially only buy Soviet planes, and you have a harder time negotiating with Western nations) and natural disasters. The player can also get the company involved in peripheral businesses such as hotels.

The sequel "Aerobiz Supersonic" was released in August 1994 for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis. The player is presented with a wider variety of options in everything, but the game play is much the same. Another sequel known as "Air Management '96" was released only in Japan for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation.

Gameplay

Aerobiz features two scenarios: 1963 to 1995, and 1983 to 2015. The players then choose a city for their airline's headquarters. This allows a certain amount of handicapping: some cities, such as New York, London, and Tokyo, start the player with many airplanes and a large amount of money; others, such as Lima, Nairobi, and Honolulu, start the player with only a couple of airplanes and a small amount of money. The players then select a difficulty level, which affects the amount of passengers, world events, and the reactions of the passengers to those world events, and the win conditions.

The gameplay is superficially straightforward: players negotiate for access slots at each airport, buy airplanes, then open routes and start flying.

The "routes" command allows the player to open new routes (up to 30), change existing routes, or close unprofitable/redundant routes.

The "negotiation" command allows the player to assign representatives to bid for access slots into each airport or give back unneeded slots.

The "trade" command allows the player to buy and sell airplanes.

The "budget" command allows the player to set the maintenance, service, and advertising budgets.

The "marketing" command allows the player to run special ad campaigns in order to boost traffic.

The "investment" command allows the player to set up airport hubs to create new routes, build hotels to attract passengers, and buy and sell stock in charter companies.

The "board meeting" command gives the player some hints on possible moves to make in order to increase business.

Information on the cities, distances between two cities and any air routes flying between them, and data on the player's company is also available.

After each player has made their desired moves, the game shows any world events that affect the players (for instance, a labor strike will delay shipments of aircraft from that company, while an Olympic Games will boost traffic worldwide, particularly to the host city). The game then shows the results of direct competition between airlines flying the same routes, then it shows the quarterly results of sales, expenses, profits, and passengers flown. After the January-March quarter of every year, it also shows annual results.

The game is won by the first player to achieve the win conditions: link all 22 cities and carry a certain number of passengers (between 2.5 million and 4.5 million, based on difficulty level), all while remaining profitable. If a player goes for four quarters with a negative balance, the company is declared bankrupt and offered reorganization. If the game goes for 32 years (128 turns) without any player meeting the win conditions, the game is called a loss.

Cities

*flagicon|People's Republic of China Beijing, China
*flagicon|Argentina Buenos Aires, Argentina
*flagicon|Egypt Cairo, Egypt
*flagicon|India Delhi, India
*flagicon|Hong Kong|colonial → flagicon|Hong Kong Hong Kong
*flagicon|United States Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
*flagicon|Nigeria Lagos, Nigeria
*flagicon|Peru Lima, Peru
*flagicon|United Kingdom London, UK
*flagicon|United States Los Angeles, California, USA
*flagicon|Mexico Mexico City, Mexico
*flagicon|USSR → flagicon|Russia Moscow, USSR (later Moscow, Russia)
*flagicon|United Kingdom → flagicon|Kenya Nairobi, Kenya
*flagicon|United States New York City, New York, USA
*flagicon|France Paris, France
*flagicon|Brazil Rio de Janerio, Brazil
*flagicon|Italy Rome, Italy
*flagicon|Singapore Republic of Singapore
*flagicon|Australia Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*flagicon|Iran Tehran, Iran
*flagicon|Japan Tokyo, Japan
*flagicon|Canada|1957 → flagicon|Canada Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Airplanes

*Boeing 707
*Boeing 727
*Boeing 737
*Boeing 747
*Boeing 747-400
*Boeing 767
*Douglas DC-8
*McDonnell Douglas DC-9
*McDonnell Douglas DC-10
*McDonnell Douglas MD-11
*McDonnell Douglas MD-12
*Lockheed L-1011
*Ilyushin Il-62
*Ilyushin Il-86
*Ilyushin Il-96
*Tupolev Tu-154
*Concorde
*Airbus A300
*Airbus A310
*Airbus A320
*Airbus A330

External links

*moby game|id=/aerobiz
* [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/data/563508.html Game FAQs]