World War 2: Battles of South Pacific

I first played this game when it came out in 1992-93. At the time, I was very much into history, particularly WW2 naval and aviation history. So what I first loved about this game was the accurate, statistical descriptions of almost every ship and type of aircraft that was deployed, on both the Japanese and American sides, during the campaign in the Pacific. From the battleships, such as the New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, Yamato, Musashi, Kongo, Ise, etc., to the carriers such as Yorktown, Wasp, Enterprise, Hiryu, Soryu, to all the hundreds of cruisers and destroyers, mine sweepers and transports, the game is dead on accurate and every ship portrayed is verifiable.

The same is true of the aircraft: SBD's, Wildcats, Zeros, Kates, and Vals are all represented in proper historical contexts.
Beyond the ships and planes in the game, the game also boasts excellent gameplay. It features long-term strategic campaigns, intermediate, historically accurate battles, and quick skirmish games that are all extremely satisfying. Also, you have control of your forces on both a strategic map where you move taskforces of ships and assign missions to aircraft, and also a more direct, "tactical" control, where you can assign individual targets to each plane and direct individual ships to fire on specific targets during surface battles. It is extremely satisfying to assign all your planes to attack a carrier, a carrier you have been searching for all over the Pacific, and watch as bombs and torpedoes find their marks and reduce the flattop to burning rubble! It's also great fun to play a quick skirmish that features two huge surface fleets clashing, and watch as all the battlewagons get to do what they do best, which is fire their huge guns in anger without worrying about annoying air attacks.
The level of control and depth is astounding, especially for a game of this age. You control your sea and boat planes and your taskforces. You can divide your aircraft squadrons down to the individual planes, with each having experience that must be considered. There are limited options of control with ground forces and submarine attacks as well. This is a game I highly recommend, and one that I spent countless hours enjoying when I was younger.